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.....

rhubarb

This past weekend we took a little road trip to visit the house where the wedding will be held. We brought along my mother and Rachel, our lovely caterer. She wanted to come see the kitchen and get the lay of the land, and we wanted to do some measuring and figure out some more detailed logistics. The house was even better than we remembered it and Ben and I congratulated each other for finding such a great spot. (We won't mention that I found it on The Knot....) Hopefully Ben will be able to finish off the website he is building for the owner of the house soon, I'll keep you posted on that. 

I also want to give a shout out to Rachel, whom we've connived into catering our wedding, something that she doesn't usually do, which I do not blame her for at all! Her company Particular Events, has charming new website which you should check out, especially if you are in the market for an awesome caterer for your next dinner party, picnic, or gallery opening. Rachel is also one of only a few people who worship rhubarb as much as I do. She's got a blog post all about it, complete with a simple and delicious recipe. Speaking of which I still have a few cups of rhubarb in my freezer that I put up last summer. I think I must make a pie. I'm excited about preserving more food this summer, it was really nice being about to dig into the freezer and pull out something fresh (well, you know what I mean) I've learned a lot too of what not to do this year. Invest in better freezer bags, or better yet find something non-plastic in which to freeze in. Any ideas? I would also like to learn more about canning. And get a deep freeze!

Poppytalk Handmade!

Come visit Jewelweeds at the Poppytalk Handmade Market! This month it's a Mother's Day and Kid's theme. Thanks to Jan and Earl making it all happen.

see you there!

74 degrees at bbg

mini quilt

I've been itching to start on quilt for a while now. More nesting I suppose. I really wanted to make a new one for our bed, but this little temptation happened first. I actually have quite a few pieces pieced (does that make any sense?) for a larger one, but half way through I decided that I wanted it to be more monochromatic, so now I have pieces for half of two quilts. A while back, my friend Lora was doing a little spring cleaning and gave me a bunch of quilt cotton that she never got around to making. So the instant gratification fiend in me devised this little number for her daughter. It's not perfect, and at first I really didn't like the color combination (I do now) but it's really nice to have one quilt, even a mini quilt under my belt.