egg hunt.

Ok, Twitter. Now you're just showing off.

We'd hit something of a roadblock with the post we were intending to... post... this morning. When coffee failed to fix the problem, we knew we were in trouble. And so we turned to our old standby: procrastination. No sooner did we log on to @gogreenologist than we heard from @onefoodguy, asking about where to get farm-fresh eggs. #Eureka!

Oh, eggs. We love eggs. They're full of protein and OMEGA-3s, they can be sweet or savory, hard or soft, scrambled or un-scrambled, carried on spoons, and hidden in the out-of-doors. And wow, are they cheap.

There are times at which we do not love eggs, however; this mostly has to do with the way the egg is introduced to the world. Is it laid, free of hormones, chemicals and antibiotics, in a town we have heard of, where its mother is allowed to peck and scratch and bob her head in the open air as free as her little chicken heart desires? Or is it pumped full of junk we can't pronounce on a commercial farm somewhere in Indiana and laid in a giant warehouse by a hen who's never seen the light of day? There's a big difference, and we can taste it.

The point is, local is better for more reasons than just the carbon emissions created in the shipping of goods. Local eggs, for example, from the small-production dairy farms around Massachusetts, are more likely to be hormone/antibiotic-free and laid from hens who are actually allowed to free range (none of that "open-cage" stuff). Why do we care about this? Aside from the fact that we figure we're exposed to more chemicals than we'd like just by breathing and don't think we need any more from our food, local eggs, in our experience, actually taste better. For reals, yo. Flipping delicious. They're creamier, more flavorful, and the yolks (we swear) are the yellowest yellow we have ever seen. (Probably because free-range chickens eat leafy greens, which help turn their yolks yellow. How do commercial farmers get yellow yolks? They put dye in the chicken feed. Yup.)

Where can you get your hands on some local eggs? Lots of places. If you want to stick to the mean streets of Boston (or Cambridge or Somerville), we've listed the places we've found the little local ovums below. If you feel like daytrippin' for your dairy (do it, do it!) check out FarmFresh.org (a Rhode Island-based site, but works for MA, too), and search their database for a farm to visit and buy from directly.

One final thing we love about eggs: shells. Go here to see all the glorious ways in which you can harness the power of what you probably thought was nothing more than a fragile little membrane. Think again!

Find local eggs at these locally owned businesses:

Boston:

Savenor's Market
Lionette's Market
Foodie's Urban Market
South End Formaggio

Cambridge:

Savenor's Market
Formaggio Kitchen
Harvest Co-op
Sofra Bakery

Somerville:

Kickass Cupcakes
Sherman Market
Dave's Fresh Pasta

Of course, it's always a good idea to call before you go; inventory at a lot of these places is small, just like the farms they source. Happy hunting, folks.

twitter is kind of awesome.

So. Twitter. We must confess, we kind of hated you for a period of time, in the same way we kind of hated the cool chicks in middle school. You were all up in everyone's business, gossiping about everyone's dinners, the interiors of their refrigerators, whether farms were REALLY organic or just low-spray, and how the cheese cart at Troquet is "so totally not the best in Boston." We felt out of the loop (and kind of chubby). And what was the story with all those pound signs flying around? #nickcarter? #noonprop8? #munchkins? Who accidentally hits the # sign that often? We were confused and generally bothered.

But recently, we've been making a few more friends on this here Twitter. We get the whole hash mark thing now (#eureka!), and we're feeling a little better about ourselves. We heard from the Green Mountain Farm to School project, a Vermont-based group that brings local, healthy produce and educational programs to fifteen schools in the Northeast Kingdom. Not only are their kids benefitting from "eating the rainbow" and learning about the farms supplying their lunches, they're little budding foodie poets: "Crunchy like a bunny eats, crunchy like a horse eats, crunchy like we eat, crunchy is so yummy!" Love.

We also heard from Amy Cotler, whose new book, The Locavore Way: Discover and Enjoy the Pleasures of Locally Grown Food, looks like it's pretty much the awesomest. (We know it's not a word. We don't care.) We're excited to read a copy and let all of you Greenologist folks know how you might use it as a tool for living small.

And then there was this from @eatboston. All we'll say is that we always thought it would be great if food and fashion (our two favorite things) could be combined some way, somehow. It would be creative! It would be edible! It would be a nexus of delicious fierceness! Now? Maybe not so much.

Yup. It's official. We love Twitter. We love the kids in Vermont, we love finding new books, and even though it grosses us out a little, we kind of love meat hats. Goodbye, Luddites. Hello, @newluddite.

whatever happened to the green bean?

Hi, folks.

Some of you might recall having a conversation with a wee lady in Spring of 2009 about a totally awesome business that she was starting. It was home delivery of farmer's market produce! It was affordable! It was sustainable! It was awesome! It was the Green Bean. "Wait a minute," you might be thinking to yourself at this very moment. "Whatever happened to the Green Bean? They kind of just fell off the face of the earth." Sad, but true.

Well, folks, it turns out that the Green Bean's inherent awesomeness made a certain supermarket conglomerate a little nervous. Said conglomerate, being emotionally blocked and a poor communicator, sent the Green Bean a pretty nasty letter that more or less put the kibosh on all the awesomeness. "But green beans and pea pods aren't even the same thing!" we said. "Scary legal stuff! Really scary financial stuff! More scary legal stuff!" they replied. And so the Green Bean was put back on the bench before it even got the chance to play. Lame.

We were so frustrated, we considered quitting the whole game and moving to France, just to get out from under Corporate America's thumb for a while. But our friends and family said, "Are you crazy?! You can't give up! That's what this whole thing is about!" And then we visited some more farms and talked to some more farmers. And then we got back from France and remembered how much we like it here. And then we saw Food, Inc. And then it was on, baby.

So now we're back, and we're doing it for the locals. But not just the local farms. This time, we're doing it for the whole community. We're bringing you locally-farmed meats and produce. We're helping you shop at local businesses more often and more effectively. We're supplying you with the tools and recipes you need to make living and eating locally easy and awesome. We're constantly bringing you new tips and ideas about ways to green your life and save money, all while supporting the community and economy around you.

So. The Green Bean is gone, but Greenologist is here. We're crazy excited, and we hope you are, too. This blog will keep you updated with information about our services, website (currently being built by the wonderful folks at MBATeam and up at the end of this month), and community members who are helping us turn Greenologist into a reality, so be sure to check back with us regularly. In the meantime, follow us on Twitter at @gogreenologist, or on facebook.

Many thanks, and we'll be seeing you.

Lauren