Get your kids involved in Earth Day this year with these great reads.

Have a handful of Taylor Maid Farms coffee cans lying around your house?  Our Pinterest board has great ideas for how to transform these vessels into something beautiful, from lanterns to hanging gardens.

Now that you’ve calculated your carbon footprint, it’s time to take concrete steps to reduce it.  A simple, productive way to do that is by working from home one day per week. Working from home boosts productivity and lowers your carbon footprint by reducing your commuter miles.

Every Wednesday, my backyard patio (pictured above) transforms into my office for the day.  In the uninterrupted serenity of my succulent garden, it is my most productive day of the work week.   In fact, several studies reveal that employees who work from home are more productive and have higher job satisfaction.

But it’s not just about productivity, of course!  Let’s take a look at how I’m lowering my carbon footprint by abstaining from the commute 1 day per week.

My commute from Petaluma to Sebastopol is 18.8 miles each way, or 37.6 miles round trip.  By plugging this data into the carbon calculator at Native Energy, I find that working from home one day per year prevents 1 ton of carbon from entering the atmosphere!

Lower carbon footprint, more productivity and higher job satisfaction.  Now that’s a recipe for success.

Understanding your family’s carbon footprint is the first step in learning how to reduce it. This simple quiz from The Nature Conservancy will assess how much CO2 your family’s activities generate through transportation, diet, and shelter. Armed with this knowledge, you can create a family action plan for reducing your environmental impact.

Have you always dreamed of growing a garden but have limited space? Two words: vertical gardens. These links give step by step instructions on how to build them, hang them and grow them.

Recycled Pallet Vertical Garden

Painted Pallet Vertical Garden

Vertical Vegetable Garden

At TMF, using responsible packaging has always been a priority for us.  That’s why we package our coffee beans in a recycleable steel can, and why we we offer a $1 discount for reusing that same can.

In our Coffee Bar we offer compostable coffee cups from World Centric, but we’d love it even more if our customers brought their own eco-friendly coffee mugs.  Whether you make a DIY travel mug from mason jars or purchase one-of-a-kind, hand-painted cups from Etsy, BYO is the way to go.  We’ll even give you a discount.

More than 25% of the world’s pesticides are used on non-organic cotton, according to the Organic Trade Association. In California alone, cotton crops are coated with 6.9 million pounds of chemicals every year. Luckily, Sonoma County companies are pushing the envelope by sourcing only 100% organic cotton. Look no further than our friends and neighbors Farm Fresh Clothing.  Farm Fresh uses American- grown organic cotton and non-toxic water-based to create their fresh teeshirt designs.

Another local favorite is Santa Rosa based Indigenous Clothing, a brand at the cutting edge of sustainable fashion. Indigenous sources organic threads from South American artisans while partnering with 300 weaving and hand-looming groups. Their handcrafted, eco-friendty fashion collections combine creativity, simplicity, and respect for cultural traditions.

We hope you support these brands next time you shop!

Are you passionate about the art and craft of being a barista? We want you to join our team for our future Coffee Bar & Roastery at The Barlow. This is a fast-paced, demanding position that is not right for everyone. If you want to build a career in coffee, contribute to a growing company, and become a professional barista, this job is for you. Drop us a line if you:

• Have previous espresso bar & pour over experience
• Have high attention to detail and ample patience
• Thrive in a fast paced setting
• Know what “third wave” means
• Have an unquenchable desire to build your coffee skills
• Value sustainability, team-work and the Sonoma County lifestyle
• Have exceptional customer service, hospitality, and interpersonal skills
• Can provide excellent recommendations
• Are a giver of high-fives.

Email your resume to alissetaylormaidfarmscom  (alissetaylormaidfarmscom)  

Nestled in the lovely Town Green neighborhood of Windsor, Café Noto is the perfect destination for that quick commuter cup, or for sitting back and enjoying the friendly service and cozy atmosphere of this community-oriented café. Delight in a beautifully hand-crafted espresso beverage paired with a breakfast sandwich, burrito, or quiche, or for those in the mood for something sweet, a pastry made by Cavaliere’s Bakery in Santa Rosa. Under the same ownership of Margaret and Steve McCabe, word has it that Cavaliere’s is getting a facelift, expanding into a combined bakery and coffee house, and that a third Café Noto location could be in the works soon! Café Noto is located at 630 McClelland Drive in Windsor; Cavaliere’s is at 2600 Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Want to learn how to increase student performance in public schools, grow edible walls and green your school cafeteria? Be inspired by this TED talk by New York public school teacher and green educator, Steven Ritz. If you’ve never heard of TED, its a minefield of inspirational talks from thought leaders around the world. We’re obsessed with TED. You will be too.