November Carnival Announced!

Hello fellow APLS! It's Burbanmom checking in to give you the topic for next month's carnival. And what a wonderful time of year to host the APLS blog! Fall is in the air and our thoughts are turning to the wonderful holiday season ahead. And, for most of us, that means a lot of shopping to be done!

Whether you're buying the perfect ingredients for a Thanksgiving feast or searching for stocking stuffers from the big red man, you will undoubtedly be faced with the decision of whether to buy local products or ones shipped from afar. Do you feel buying locally plays a large role in healing our environment? Are you a true locavore or do you make exceptions for certain items? What obstacles to buying locally do you face? Do you have any tips for others looking to buy locally? Or are there other factors, such as cost or limited selection that force you to buy items made in other parts of the world?

So many different areas to explore on the topic of buying local. I look forward to reading your posts on this topic!

To participate in November's Buying Local Carnival, please submit your posts to aplscarnival (at) gmail (dot) com by November 10. The carnival will be published at The Green Phone Booth on November 15. As always, thanks for participating!

And The Winner Is . . .

Affluent Persons Living Sustainably.

Yup! I kid you not. After all kinds of discussion, brilliant suggestions on new names and oodles of polls, we're back to where we started.

Here is the final breakdown on votes in case you've been unable to access the poll, which seems to have gone up in flames.

Affluent Persons Living Sustainably: 27%
All People Living Sustainably: 21%
Aware People Learning to Live Sustainably: 16%
Adaptable People Learning to Live Sustainably: 8%
Aspiring for Progress and Living Sustainably: 16%
Arden People Learning to Live Sustainably: 1%
Amidst Abundance, People Learning to Live Sustainably: 10%

We had a total of 86 votes, which is nearly double the number of votes in the last poll on this subject.

So, the people have spoken. Or at least clicked. We'll keep our original name and ask you to please stick with us. If you've had disagreements with the term Affluent, we hope that you'll still enjoy the community of aware, ardent, adaptable and aspiring people who all care about the same thing. Please continue to write (or at least read) posts on the topics we explore in our carnivals. Please continue to connect with others in your area via the regional groups. And, if you feel so inclined, you can use the new logo which Melinda from One Green Generation so thoughtfully created for us.

Thank you everyone for voting and commenting and discussing. We hope to see you at the next carnival on November 15, hosted at Eco Burban. Stay tuned for carnival topic details.

New APLS Carnival Up!

The October Carnival is up at Farmer's Daughter. Go check it out!!

APLS Stands For . . . You Decide

Please vote for what you think our APLS acronym should stand for. You can vote for as many options as you like. I, unfortunately, could not include all the ideas submitted because this darn poll limits me to 7 choices. Please feel free to comment, as well. Whomever's idea is ultimately chosen will get $50 donated to their charity of choice. Thank you!



Be sure to check out this month's carnival at Farmer's Daughter on Wednesday, October 15, to see what fellow apples think about educating others.

Poll closes on Saturday, Oct 18.

A is for . . .

You decide! Check out the new contest for a new APLS acronym over at Green Bean Dreams.

Great Lakes APLS: Discussion Group

How have you been? It's been a long time and I apologize for that. Why do I always bite off more than I can chew at back to school time? Then, throw in a presidential election and I am just over-extended! That said, I think it's high time for a local, Great Lakes region APLS discussion & advice group.

Got Apples? I do. Lot's of 'em. That's sort of a common theme here in the Great Lakes region. They're cheap, they're delicious, they're local and they're very kid friendly. How are you all preserving your apples for winter? I for one and planning to can applesauce, freeze apple pie fixings and try to create some kind of root cellar. But how? We are still experiencing some warm days here in Michigan. Our nights are pretty cool but when the sun is out, our day time temps can reach into the 70's and that's not root cellar cool.

So, Great Lakes APLS, what are you doing with your local apples?

If you haven't signed up for our local Great Lakes APLS group, please feel free to join here. We look forward to having you! Also, welcome to new Great Lakes APLS members Condo Blues, Selina & Ann Marie! I will be adding your name to our regional bushel basket straight away!

APLS Carnival Topic for October

Hello fellow APLS! My name is Abbie and I blog at Farmer's Daughter. I write about my attempts to live a sustainable life with my husband, our adventures in gardening, cooking, local agriculture, and some of my experiences as a high school environmental science and botany teacher. I grew up on an apple orchard, so I hope you're all enjoying apple season in your areas!

I also hope you're ready to contribute to the APLS Blog Carnival for the month of October! This month's topic will be:

Education!

How do you educate yourself about sustainable living? How do you pass that knowledge on to others? Do you educate your family members and friends? Are you a member of environmental organizations? Do you do volunteer work?

Please submit your posts to aplscarnival (at) gmail (dot) com by October 10. The carnival will be published at Farmer's Daughter on October 15.