good green news

This morning I went on a tour of the wholesale flower markets. It was a one time BBG class and it was wonderful. I'd been very curious (and fully intimidated) about the markets since my FIT days when I traipsed through the heart of it every day. Anyway the tour was a lovely whirlwind, I don't think I've totally processed it yet. But I did learn a lot, most importantly we learned about a few stores that will sell to individuals. Another great thing was that the teacher, Nancy Kitchen, offered to help/advise on flowers for the wedding. I'm still hoping to use Lebak Flower Farm, but in case it doesn't work out it's good to know what the alternatives are. 

Some other good news; Mood now carries organic cotton knits and twills, as well as some bamboo and hemp knits. Not really anything that will work for current Jewelweeds products, but someday. Hopefully if enough people ask, they will start sourcing more sustainable fabrics. It's nice to have a resource for these that I can actually touch! There are more and more companies selling online, but I really need to touch stuff. Swatches really don't do it for me, you can't see how it drapes and many times fabrics look and feel totally different when uncut. I can't really explain it, but somehow you don't get the full essence of the fiber.

Also, Daytona is trying to cut back on using so many plastic bags. It used to be that even the smallest piece of ribbon got put in a small plastic bag and the ladies would mark the yardage and price right on it so there was no way around getting plastic from them. But today, I was escorted to the cash register so that she could just tell the owner how much to charge me. And she asked if she could just put my stuff in a bag I already had. And, and they had a sign on the counter asking customers to bring their own bags! Progress!

plant sale and a new project

A few new beauties to add to our survivors. Hopefully we can get a new window box soon! The pea crate on the right has lasted much longer than expected, I think this would have been it's 3th summer. Can that be right? The most exciting new plant is a Sweet Bay. I've wanted one for a while now. I love the idea of just picking your bay leaves off the tree and putting them directly into your soup. I hope it does well in a container for for now, maybe someday we can plant it in a garden...

I love how the lavender looks next to the chive blossoms. 

I've finally got to doing some block printing this weekend. I've been meaning to get to this for so long! Hopefully that means I'll have some new stuff in the shop soon....

a little rant

I promise that this will not become a wedding blog, but I couldn't keep this to myself. Also it's not totally wedding related, it's just how I came this unfortunate information. I was about to purchase some paper lanterns for the wedding on the Pearl River website (despite my nothing from China decree, well, let's make that a less from China decree, because honestly it's almost impossible, especially when labeling is so bad in this country, but that's a whole other topic) and I decided to take a look at their ceramics. Soon how we never have enough bowls, so I figured I'd get a few to match the ones we already have. Well, apparently we've been eating out of lead-laced "decorative only" bowls. ARGHHHH! I bought a set of these (along with a matching teapot) when I lived in San Francisco and was totally broke and shopping at the dollar stores.

This has unleashed a great fury of obsessive behavior (no surprise to anyone who knows me) to figure out the safest options for anything and everything that has anything to do with anything I put in my mouth. My father recently freaked me out by telling me that the beautiful yellow fiestaware bowl that I love and is the only thing big enough to handle dough for two loaves of bread, may have lead in the glaze. I did a little internet research and the results were inconclusive for yellow. I did however discover that you can buy a lead testing kit here. So I think that's what I'll do.

So all this takes me back to why I'm freaking out about this in the first place. I've been trying to put together our wedding registry, and this put a kink in the works. That's not true, I would have freaked out anyway, but the idea of creating this nest of stuff that will be with you and see you through all sorts of Thanksgivings, bake sales and the nourishment of  your future family really kicked me over the edge.

If anyone has any suggestions for bake ware, I'd love to hear them. I think I've found some good options for cookware (All-Clad and Le Creuset, which I wanted anyway, lucky me!), but everything in the baking sections have some sort of non-stick finish or are made of aluminum. I just wish they specified what kind of non-stick it was. ARGH.....