lizelle

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Banning farm images? Really?

Image of Blackberry Meadows Organic Farm (Fawn Township, PA)

I just signed Slow Food USA’s petition against legislation in three states that would criminalize taking photos or videos of farms.

If you, too, believe that a well-managed farm should have nothing to hide, and that consumers have a right to see how their food is produced, please join me in signing their petition.

Please help raise awareness and stop this silly effort from spreading to other states and send a clear message that consumers have a right to know where our food comes from.

Thank you from your farm-hugger friend.

Visual & Paperless Tools that I Love

 

Pinterest is a paperless solution to my growing collection (er, pile) of magazine clippings. It’s for visual people, people who love inspiration boards, and those who write notes with pictures. Add your dream remodel pieces, keep track of your favorite recipes, or start your virtual Christmas shopping list (really early!). Simply add the “Pin It” function to the bookmark bar and pin away! Scroll down your virtual pinboard and you’ll find a visual feast of images you and others have pinned. Inspired by someone else's collection, repin it to your page (don't worry, they'll get credit). Pinterest keeps track of repins, discussions, and pinboards to follow. And, they have section called Gifts where posted products are organized by price range, clever. This has become a visual addiction!

 

Evernote is an awesome tool for organizing your notes, links, and page clippings for your own use or to share. More text-based, virtual notebooks are neatly organized and easily accessible. I’ve been keeping track of interesting getaways, food products, birthday venues, game stats, and Easter basket ideas. In addition, you can tag all entries for easy searches, find friends, and tweet entries. Finally, they have voice memo capabilities so you can remember your to-do list. Open a new account and create your first notebook then download the cute little elephant icon for your browser and begin clipping. 

 

Soup Can of Cookies

My friend, Skye, got me thinking more about recycled packaging. She's full of ideas that are both nice to look at and good to our earth. Inspired by her creative eye and good sense of repurpose packaging, I came up with these little cookie holders for the holidays. I typically design small bags out of paper but had quite a few old tin cans that needed homes (My husband was probably relieved that I started using them!). With some material leftover from other projects, I came up with this little container. Inside were little gingerbread people and apricot-pistachio squares that were handmade by mommy and daughter.

Here's what I used: grey felt, black rick-rack ribbon, mini jingle bells, silver paper, "handmade by" rubber stamp, red ink pad, chenille stems (label tie), cellophane bags, and white Uni-Ball Signo pen (LOVE this pen!!). Grey felt and chenille stems were purchased at Michael's, and everything else can be found at Paper Source. And, I used my own handy dandy hot gun. 

Point Reyes Farmer's Market

This weekend marked the beginning of the Point Reyes Farmer's Market, held in downtown Point Reyes Station. The weather was sunny and breezy, the perfect setting for everyone to meet the local farmers! Although there were lots of food to choose from and guest chef, Adam Mali from Nick's Cove, had a tasty cooking demo, we waited patiently for some exceptional grilled cheese sandwiches (with lamb, egg) from Straus Family Creamery. We then sat ourselves atop of some hay bales and enjoyed our lunch. In addition, the market had a lovely garden for kids to plant and water. Next to the garden was another great attraction for kids of all ages. I called it the tub of treasures where children were encouraged to play hide & seek with marbles. So much fun!

The Farmer's Market is open every Saturday from 9:00am to 1:00pm.

Grass-fed or Bust

My husband first introduced me to grass-fed beef a few years ago. I was skeptical but, after tasting it, agreed that grass-fed cattle had more depth in flavor and was better than any other beef I’ve ever tasted. I also understood, to some degree, that grass was more nutritious and natural for animals than grain. However, I didn’t realize the significance and importance of grass-fed animals until watching Food Inc. Since watching this film, I’ve been slowly campaigning for all sorts of things related to good local food amongst my family and friends.

I came across eatwild.com while reading Holy Cows and Hog Heaven by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms. What a great online source for grass-fed animal issues. I especially love their map of all the local pasture-based farms. Just click on a state and - wow – just look at all that information!

Mama look, treasures!

Things I found this week...

photo by Studio Violet

While perusing Studio Violet, I found these pieces. They are lovely and looking at them gives me so much pleasure. I would love to fill our china cabinet with these treasures.

photo by Style Me Pretty

I still find lots of inspiration in stylish wedding magazines and websites. So, I was very excited to stumble upon Style Me Pretty, a well-designed and elegant wedding site. There are so many stunning images to see.

photo by Sara Hicks Malone

Before I had kids, I used to entertain quite a bit. Now, it’s more about creative tea parties and speedracer-anything, with a few wine pairing dinners sprinkled between playdates. To feed my healthy appetite for party ingenuity, I turn to Party Perfect, a blog by Sara Hicks Malone on – what else – parties, inspirational parties. And, of course, I love that she recently featured a birthday party on my favorite Disney story, Alice in Wonderland. Well, I have about 5 months until my daughter’s birthday, so back to work!

photo by Slice of Delight

Whether it’s triple milled or simply something that puts a smile on my face while bathing, soaps are small treasures that I cannot live without. So I love discovering new soaps, especially handcrafted ones. These mini Neapolitan bars, by Slice of Delight, are both eco-friendly but hard to resist!

photo by Veer

I love visiting Veer. I always find wonderful ways to incorporate typographic design into our home, like this whimsical “typography” decal. Place on your wall and viola! instant art!

10 Simple Things...

and you can do to change our food system. Get involved!

Willy Wonka & the Crayon Factory

I felt like the little boy Charlie as I opened each box of beautifully crafted race car crayons, handmade by Ivy Lane Designs. (Sigh) Unfortunately, they are not for me but for my son for his upcoming third birthday party. I wanted a party favor that was eco-friendly and had some kind of race car theme (my son calls himself a speedracer). Of course, I found the perfect solution on one of my favorite sites, Etsy.

Not only are these well designed but also good for our environment conscience community - all the crayons are made with recycled/upcycled materials. The crayon colors are rich and bold - Ivy even made several pink race car ones for the girls attending the party (what a gem). And, each set is carefully packaged in a recyclable gift box.

Oh, I just love them! Thank you Ivy!

Papaver Vert

photo by Papaver Vert

I can't decide what's cuter, the mini bud vases or nesting bowls. Oh, and there are so many other delightful wool creations by Papaver Vert. All the pieces are handmade using a renewable resource, wool. Great conversation pieces, lovely to look at, and soft to the touch... What's not to love?