The workout she did was called IntenSati. A little bit like spinning without the bike or zumba with a lot more yelling. Look it up.

Then I saw this post by Jessica Earley about Dance Therapy:

When I saw both of these, I was also reminded of a reference in a Daniel Pink book to Laughing Clubs or Laughter Yoga. It works. Don’t believe me?

Clinical research on Laughter Yoga methods, conducted at the University of Graz in Austria; Bangalore, India; and in the United States has proved that Laughter lowers the level of stress hormones (epinephrine, cortisol, etc) in the blood. It fosters a positive and hopeful attitude. It is less likely for a person to succumb to stress and feelings of depression and helplessness, if one is able to laugh away the troubles.

A house that can fit on a flat bed trailer. Now for sale!

See also: The Small House Book by Jay Shafer, the man who designs and builds these tiny houses.

Have you got better ideas? Better links? Better videos? Books? Let me know.

Thanks to *faircompanies, who made many of these awesome and inspirational videos.

1. Newspaper, wood and string, suitable for starting a woodburning stove or fireplace.
   
2. Char cloth, for the rustic campers – I first saw this made by a crazy man in a top hat, and he was using old underwear as the fabric.
3. pine cones dipped in wax, not a bad idea for something more crafty and decorative, in this case fitting a holiday / winter theme.
4. Last but not least, something to put out your fire, a fire extinguisher made from vinegar, water and baking soda in a repurposed soda bottle.
   

1. Winter Park Harvest Festival
   This website exists right now to promote an event, happening November 20th in “Central Park’s West Meadow”, whatever that means. Already, the site has loaded up with some great how-to articles for growing your own food and announcing some smaller events leading up to the festival.
2. A Local Folkus
   Started in 2007, this locally-sourced blog is written by John Rife, who is now taking an active role in advancing the Slow Food and Slow Money movements here in Central Florida. He is well-known for taking massive continent-spanning road trips in his camper named Kodi, along with his wife and his dog. Now John talks about heritage, local markets, gardening, and local events, with lots more road-tripping thrown in. Subscribe and enjoy!
3. The Good Garden
   I recently met author Sarah Kinbar through a local gathering called Florida Creatives Happy Hour, and it turns out we shared a former employer. Sarah has years of experience with traditional print magazines, and now she is stamping out daily posts on her site about growing food and fun things you can do with the things you’ve grown – lots of fun recipes and personal stories. Sarah also works with a team of contributors to make sure there is a “fresh” post every day!
4. Edible Orlando Magazine
   Apparently, this website is also available in dead tree form… This brand new magazine produced locally about the great culinary escapades and I believe it is very focused on the Slow Food movement. As of this writing, all their content is locked inside the digital edition in the sidebar, but the full magazine’s content is available there. The site is part of a network called Edible Communities, which also produces a healthy number of podcasts in addition to almost 60 regional magazines.
5. The Thin Chef
   This blog is a weekly entry by “thin” Katie Farmand, who happens to be one of the editors of the Edible Orlando mag above. She makes no promises about being a diet blog: In her own words, “Not low-calorie, or low-fat, but food that is real, whole, and fuels your body.” Still, there are some fun-looking recipes here, and it’s worth checking out.

Like I said, these are certainly not the only 5 sites about food in Orlando, or even about this particular subject. At the same time, I hope you have learned something, and will continue to learn by checking out these sites!

Some links via: Anjali Fluker, Orlando Business Journal

sad fact: over 1 million plastic bags are consumed per minute globally.
gut-wrenching fact: marine wildlife mistake plastic bags for food and die.
frustrating fact: supermarkets and politicians will take years to sort it out.
happy fact: making morsbags will help, with immediate effect.Fnd out more about Morsbags, spread the word and make a bag of your own. You can meet other Morsbaggers in our forums

It’s all about having a group of friends around to chat whilst simultaneously making shopping bags out of old duvet covers, curtains, fabrics from charity shops, etc, to distribute en masse to shoppers to help protect marine wildlife.

Morsbags are fully recycled, fun and easy to make (see our pattern), washable, portable, foldable, unique, cheap, biodegradable and reusable.

When enough morsbags have been made, pods hand them out to happy and surprised shoppers heading into their local supermarket. Hurrah!

On a similar note, a recent book read of mine had a chapter on raising chickens, not only for producing eggs, but as pets. There’s a great (sad) story involving some local predators as well, and the construction of an automatic chicken coop door.

The book is called Made by Hand, and it’s authored by the editor of Make Magazine, Mark Fraunfelder. In addition to the dozen or so other chapters about Mark’s journey toward self-reliance and connecting with his surroundings, he talks about tutoring his daughter, moving to the South Pacific and some other great stories that can’t be missed.

The Fair Trade Project is holding a poker run–bike style! Registration is only $5 and will start at 2:30pm at Austin’s. The 10+ mile ride will start at 4 and take you to local stores that sell fair trade: Chamberlin’s Natural Foods, Enzian Theater, Ten Thousand Villages, Whole Foods and Austin’s. You’ll pick up a playing card at each stop to complete your poker hand.

We’ll have great prizes from each stop for the person with the best hand, plus additional prizes, including great stuff from local bike shops. After we give out the prizes at 6:30, we’ll have a free show featuring local music.

Even if you don’t participate in the ride, we hope you’ll join us for the show. See you there!

Read more from The Fair Trade Project Facebook Page:

The Fair Trade Project seeks to help disadvantaged producers receive a just price for their goods while building relationships and encouraging social and environmental responsibility. When people are paid a fair price for what they produce, they can pull themselves, their families, and their communities out of poverty.

You can make a difference simply by buying fair trade products.

• Hand-made food
• It was all grown locally
• Community
• Deliciousness
• Someone made a video about it!

When Life Gives You Lemons, Preserve Them! from OrganicNation on Vimeo.

From Organic Nation.tv – A Quick Tutorial On How To Preserve Lemons (Video):

We caught up with blogger/foodie/activist Rachel Weidinger, who also happens to be an expert preserver, at her Homegrown Village booth at MakerFaire 2009 in San Mateo, California. She showed us how to preserve fresh lemons with salt so they will last a year and taste delicious added to omelets, hummus, salads and pasta:

Special thanks to Homegrown.org and FarmAid for putting on this great event! You can fiind more tips from Rachel on her blog AKitchenOfHerOwn.com or follow her on Twitter @Rachelannyes.

-Dorothee

Chris Heuer, who I’ve seen speak at a local blogging conference a couple of times, posted this audio to a phone-blogging service called Utterz yesterday, and got a cool response. Here’s Chris on The Mind Body Connection:

Do you have any experiences with this phenomenon? Go over to Utterz and reply to Chris’ post. I know he’ll appreciate it.

Thanks to the bloggers over at Simple Shoes for posting this… a fun way to think about Shrinking Your Eco Footprint.