Spring is here and it brings sunshine, flowers. gardening, rainy days and all play-dates on the sunny days. I enjoy fresh produce and have honestly been trying to be more conscious of what I feed my family. So the idea is having a vegetable garden sounds great, but the actuality of keeping it up is often more work that I feel like dealing with. You can always buy organic produce at the grocery store or at the farmer's market so that you get that homegrown feeling without having to put in the work yourself. The problem is that although I enjoy Farmer's Market I never get there in time especially since I have to bring a very curious almost 3 year old along with me.

I recently learned about a new company called Green B.E.A.N. Ohio. Last year my friend Celia and I went in on the Fulton Farms Happy Box for their summer season. While I enjoyed the new fruits and vegetables that it introduced our family to I often felt like I threw away or gave away almost 1/2 of the produce some weeks just because I had no idea what to do with it before it went bad.

This year when I learned about Green B.E.A.N. Ohio I was excited because this was the perfect solution for our family. It is organic, local, fresh and delivered right to my doorstep weekly or biweekly plus they deliver to Dayton, CIncinnati and Columbus area year round!

"Green B.E.A.N. Delivery sources from local farmers and artisans whenever possible. The company also provides all natural products that consumers cannot get locally. Green B.E.A.N. Delivery has to stay commercially viable, so it needs to provide products like bananas, etc. The service is year-round, so they source closer to home in the summer than in the winter. During the winter, they source certified organic U.S.-grown produce."

There is a base $35 box but you can easily upgrade each week. Now here is the part that I like the most:

"Members can customize their Orders between Thursday at 3 p.m. and Monday at noon the weekend before their delivery. On your Customize Order page you can add groceries and change the contents of your produce bin."

That right there is GOLD to me. You are able to go to their site each week and see exactly what you are going to get in your delivery that week. If you are a weekly meal planner this is great for any meal planning ahead of time. 

Now breaking down the price it can be about $10 more to do any CSA than going to the grocery store and picking out the produce yourself. But I did notice how much longer my Green B.E.A.N. produce kept than what I typically buy at the grocery store (almost 3 weeks longer on some items!). That plus not having to run from store to store or trying to make it to the Farmer's Market on time with my kiddos is worth the price difference to me.

If you are interested in Green B.E.A.N. Ohio there is a special code for 50% off your first produce bin coupon code for all our lovely readers. Plus if you mention me as your referral (Amy Wells) they will give me a small discount too for any future boxes I purchase. When you checkout be sure to use the coupon code DFDmlBR this coupon expires on 4/23/12.

Have you done a CSA in the past? Or maybe you're thinking about doing a new one this year. We'd love to hear what other ones are out there.

Disclosure: Green B.E.A.N. Ohio did provide me with a produce box to try and to base my post upon and I do earn a discount on my order if you mention my name. But this post is all my opinion and was not affected by their product.

Here is a list of all the other local blog sites that I know of. If you are planning on going out of town you might find some of these other sites to be a great resource!

ALABAMA

ALASKA

ARIZONA

ARKANSAS 

CALIFORNIA:

http://www.510families.com (Bay Area)

COLORADO:

http://ColoradoMoms.com (Denver Metro, but serves all of Colorado)

CONNECTICUT

DELAWARE

FLORIDA:

http://www.pensacolawithkids.com (Pensacola, FL)

GEORGIA

http://www.CummingLocal.com (Metro/ North Atlanta)

http://www.AtlantaWithKid.com (Atlanta)

http://www.AtlantaDealSites.com (Atlanta) 

HAWAII

IDAHO

ILLINOIS:

http://www.chambanamoms.com/ (Champaign-Urbana)

http://www.gowestyoungmom.com/ (Far western suburbs of Chicago)

http://mykidlist.com (near west suburbs of Chicago)

http://www.ArlingtonHeightsMoms.com (Northwest Suburbs of Chicago)

http://way2goodlife.com (Chicago NW burbs) 

http://www.supersuburbs.com/ (NW Chicago 'burbs - Elk Grove, Itasca, and Schaumburg, specifically) 

http://www.littlelakecounty.com (Lake County - North Suburbs of Chicago)

 http://www.chitowncheapskate.com (Chicagoland in general but specifically Lake County/Northern Suburbs)

http://www.toddlingaroundchicagoland.com (Chicagoland)

INDIANA:

www.indianapoliswithkids.com (Indianapolis and surrounding areas)

IOWA

KANSAS

KENTUCKY

LOUISIANA

MAINE

MARYLAND

MASSACHUSETTS

MICHIGAN:

http://www.grkids.com/index.html and http://kidsonthegrand.com/ Grand Rapids

www.midmittenkids.com (Greater Lansing area)

MINNESOTA

MISSISSIPPI

MISSOURI

MONTANA

NEBRASKA

NEVADA

NEW HAMPSHIRE

NEW JERSEY

NEW MEXICO

NEW YORK:

http://albanykid.com/ (Northeast NY)

http://www.saratogamama.com

NORTH CAROLINA:

http://www.highcountrymomsquad.com

http://www.thecharlottemoms.com

NORTH DAKOTA

OHIO

OKLAHOMA

OREGON

PENNSYLVANIA:

http://www.HarrisburgAreaMoms.com

http://www.chestercountymoms.com

http://www.montcomom.com

http://www.delawarecountymoms.com

RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH CAROLINA

SOUTH DAKOTA

TENNESSEE 

TEXAS

UTAH

VERMONT

VIRGINIA

WASHINGTON:

http://www.soundsfunmom.com/ Covers the South Puget Sound

WEST VIRGINIA

WISCONSIN

WYOMING

I found this super awesome deal on Keurig K-cups and I HAD to share it! This deal is HOT and won't last long.

48 Keurig Green Mountain Coffee Collection K-Cups for $19.99 + free shipping

Right now Kohls is offering the Keurig K-Cup Green Mountain Holiday Coffee Collection 48-Pack for the in-cart price of $24.99. The price goes down once you put it in your cart. Be sure to use the coupon code "SMS295" from RetailMeNot.com and it cuts it to only $19.99 plus free shipping. It brings it down to only $0.42 per K-Cup and that's the cheapest I've ever seen. Sales tax is added where applicable. The box is an assortment of spicy eggnog, french toast, and gingerbread flavors. This deal ends today.

Spring is here today and we've found a few great deals for you! All these deals are only valid March 20, 2012

Rita's- First day of spring free Italian Ice from 12-9pm

Bravo and Brio Italian Restaurants- 50% off all Ravioli for National Ravioli Day

Caribou Coffee- $2 Medium drinks

I've been Pin-spired and have found several super cute and fairly easy looking things on Pinterest that I'm really looking forward to trying. I'll be sure to let you all know how they go.

Top Ten Pin-spired Ideas

1. Warm weather and sunshine. I just love this idea sending someone a box of sunshine!

2. I practically live in skirts during the spring and summer and these are easily made from upcycled tees.

3. These SUPER easy DIY headbands are so cute and perfect for spring.

4. Even your front door can join in on the springtime fun.

5. These birds nests are perfect for baby showers and Easter. (PS- I actually made THESE but Once A Month Mom wrote a great post on it)

6. Grey and yellow is perfect for spring and such a cute color combo.

7. Dulce de Leche Banana Toffee Pie- sounds like a delicious spring dessert for a company.

8. I'm SO doing this for any spring break trip. IKEA remote holder to car caddy genius!!

9. How to: Victoria's Secret model's eye makeup.

10. Printable spring cleaning checklist and challenge!

I'm linking up at Many Little Blessings' Top Ten Tuesday.

If you have been wanting to visit the Boonshoft Museum then be sure to mark your calendars! The Boonshoft Museum is offering a free admission day on Tuesday, March 20! Door opens at 4pm and closes at 8pm. Regular admission is $8.50 for adults and $7.50 for children, so FREE is a great deal! This museum is a super fun place for kids. There are plenty of hands on activities to entertain kids of all ages. There are exhibits where children can act as car mechanics, vets, judge and recycling workers. There are also waterplay tables, slides, planetarium and even an indoor zoo.

You can find this and lots of other great events on our Calendar!

I had a GREAT birthday yesterday and after hardly cooking for a week I feel like I need to step it up this week. Although somehow even though we ate out most of last week I still felt like I was washing dishes all day every day. Does anyone else ever feel like all you ever do is dishes?! Well, here's what we have planned for this week

Monday- Dinner with family

Source: kraftrecipes.com via Amy on Pinterest

Wenesday- Shepherd's Pie (Irish food theme at House Church)

Source: kraftrecipes.com via Amy on Pinterest

Thursday- Spaghetti and Garlic bread

Friday- Zachary Pasta and Cheddar Garlic biscuits

That's what I have planned for this week. What are you planning on making this week?

I'm linking up over at  I’m an Organizing Junkie.

It's birthday week. That's right I said BIRTHDAY WEEK. It starts exactly one week before your birthday and sometimes lasts a week after. Birthday week is full of eating out and using all my birthday freebie coupons that are flooding my inbox. There isn't much cooking on birthday week, so be warned. Be sure to check out our list of birthday freebies and you can get tons of great birthday deals too.

Monday- Leftovers (we had pizza Sunday with friends and have a whole pizza left)

Tuesday- Date night with our boys (we are each taking one of our boys out to dinner. C and I are going to Buffalo Wild Wings for our date.)

Wednesday- House Church hearty snack theme: Ham and Cheese Sliders

Thursday- Trader Joe's Teriyaki beef with fried rice

Friday- Family date night out

That's what I have planned for this week. What are you planning on making this week?

I'm linking up over at  I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Today's topic is polka-dots. I decided to pull out a few of my Easter and spring decorations. Aren't these the cutest chicks ever?!

I've decided that I'm going to participate in the March Photo A Day challenge. I've never done anything like this before and I'm not good at taking pictures ever- let alone on a daily basis. But I wanted to challenge myself and try doing things differently.

So how hard is it to do the same thing every day? Well I am about to find out. Have you ever participated in a Photo A Day Challenge? I'd love for you to join me this month. Just remember if you post on twitter use the #MarchPhotoADay hash-tag. Plus be sure to let me know that you are doing it and I'd love to follow you too.