It is Monday again. Before I start to catch up on all my emails and make the phone calls, I wanted to write a little about my weekend. It started on Friday. We met with our new insurance agent. No big deal, right? Actually it is. When you are working on a green project there are aspects of the insurance on the project that are different from a conventional project. There has been recent litigation over green projects that lost incentives because the contractor didn’t complete the work on schedule. Are you covered for the issues surrounding making LEED certification due to building constraints? How about the site. Say something happens to the materials that are all reclaimed or recycled products, have you been adequately insured for the actual replacement costs of like materials, or just the industry standard cost? Enter “Green Insurance.” This is a growing area of insurance that everyone who sells insurance should be looking into. If you are working on a green project, you need to make sure that your bases are covered. Our agent is Mark Rabkin He works for Althans Insurance, and knows what he is talking about. Afterward, I met with local legend Susan Sharpe. We talked about the history of Cleveland and all the cool things that are going on here. It was a great conversation! After reading the comments on the recent Plain Dealer article, I was glad to hear some positivity! We were out the door fairly early for us on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Fresh Fork Market. We love this concept and are excited about them being here. Bud’s post can be found here. We have yet to take advantage of their system, as it is a little unwieldy for the two of us. Needless to say we were thrilled to find out about the new program that they are putting together. They were sampling local apples and cheeses and showing off the quality of their local grass fed beef. The food is top notch and when we mentioned eggs, Trevor swooned over the quality of their selection. I admit they were beautiful eggs, and only days old. Our issue is that we eat so few eggs that the 5 dozen minimum is a big issue-even if they do last for many weeks. Enter Bob’s new program. They are working to establish a CSA opportunity. CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and would allow for families to join and buy an established basket of goods for weekly pick up. The baskets would be prepaid by the quarter and would include common ingredients: coffee, cheese, roast, eggs, and variable product that you would choose. This would allow you to access the best products, fresh weekly, locally produces at lower costs. I am all in for the Spring quarter, and encourage you to visit their site, or email Bob@freshforkmarket to express your interest.
As tasty as they look!
What I wasn’t expecting was to find the most fabulous chocolate store on the corner-LILLY Handmade Chocolate. We were drawn in by the cool decor and attractive display. Inside, we were greeted by fabulous smells of chocolate and bacon-yes, I said bacon! I was pleased to find a wonderful selection of imported wines and beers. They know what they are doing, as the selections were the perfect accompaniment to chocolate. The chocolates themselves were more than just delicious, they were works of art! With flavors like The Southern Gentleman (Makers Mark, chocolate and pecans) and In The Pink (pomegranate juice and dark chocolate) these are truly chocolates from heaven. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, rush over and pick up sweets for your sweetie here! You can find them at 761 Starkweather, near Lucky’s Cafe and tell Lilly that Robert sent ya! Better yet, call them at 216-771-3333 and order ahead. Saturday night was the Planet Green Anniversary Party. It was great fun! I LOVE this shop! Planet Green features natural cleaning products from Green Clean and items from APOC (A Piece of Cleveland)
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Cotton Tees from Planet Green
Additionally, they have a great selection of organic cotton apparel and sustainable furniture. I even saw a few food products and soaps. Rebecca is the owner and was excited to tell me about her second store. It will be in the Cleveland Clinic in the new retail area that they are adding. It seems like a perfect marriage to me.
Wine racks and more from APOC
The crowd was great and I finally got to talk with Chris and Ezra about APOC and the cool things they are doing. They have just launched their blog and will have the latest news there! We ended the evening at a going away party for our friends Ben & Brandy as they embark for Sacramento. The event was held at my favorite sustainability bar-Great Lakes Brewery. Sunday, we had brunch with friends at Market Cafe. We are avid brunchers and are happy to find more and more locations for great brunch. We loved our tasty brunch here and can’t wait to go back! Afterward, Roger and Russ took us to see the deconstruction project that they are working on. They are dismantling a convent and salvaging what would surely have ended up in a landfill. They have saved old bookcases, cabinets, doors windows and a ton of other goodies. They have a bunch more that are up for sale, so if you need a vintage door with transom (complete with frame), beautiful fireplace bricks or some other building supply that is about 100 years old, let me know and I will put you in touch. Who knew that we could have so many great green activities in one weekend in winter? Cleveland really does rock!
