Author Archives: maryjane

WINNER!!!! Giveaway: Ca-ute hand-warmers!

On October 30 we offered up a pair of red hand-warmers (see below) to our readers who told us how they prefer their bananas and we pulled Patty W. from our basket of names.

Patty W said on:

“I love sliced bananas on my peanut butter sandwiches.”

Congratulations Patty. Watch for an email from the farm!

And the original post was:

Meet our newest Project F.A.R.M (First-class American Rural Made) vendor and win the red hand-warmers
pictured below. project-farm-logo

bananas_4641

The ca-ute hand-warmers and headband pictured above are the work of three sisters who call themselves “A Few Good Bananas.” The sisters make hats, headbands, hand-warmers, and gloves, with a combination of recycled and new materials and intricately handmade adornments. Their combination of boiled wool, cashmere, and other materials makes their products warm and lightweight. “We are passionate about our creations. We have taken extreme care to give every item its own unique personality, making sure that no two pieces are alike.”

From their website:

About Us
A Few Good Bananas is the creative child born to three sisters who value family, friendship, and community. Our family taught us very early on that it was more important to have active and creative minds than money. Our mom was one of the original up-cyclers. She found innovative ways to use thrift-shop finds or items that outlived their original purpose and passed that trait on to each of us. Our father used to say “never buy green bananas because life is short, and you never know if you will be around long enough for them to ripen.” After our dad passed away, our mom always put “a few good bananas” on her shopping list. Our friends, family, and customers tell us that when they shop, they think fondly of how A Few Good Bananas originated. We consider ourselves instrumental in the lack of good bananas at our local grocery store.”

We each bring our unique and whimsical senses to every design decision.

bananas_4659

Enter our GIVEAWAY for the red hand-warmers pictured above. In the comments section below, share your favorite way to eat bananas, and we’ll pull one lucky winner’s name from my new A Few Good Bananas hat!

photo-of-the-day

photo-of-the-day_st-pauli-girl

photo-of-the-day

farm_romance-7534-2

Hear Ye!

Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)

Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)

My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Sherrilyn Askew!!!

Sherrilyn Askew (Sherri, #1350) has received a certificate of achievement in Make it Easy for earning a Beginner Level Make It! Merit Badge!

“I obtained a used toolbox on wheels, cleaned it up, and stored my tools inside, making sure I labeled the drawers with the types of tools within.

I also made a planter out of cedar.

Yet more badges and flowers 155

Having the tools on wheels is very handy, as projects are often done based on space available.

I also learned that cedar is a soft wood that will split if you put the screws in too deep, but the drill has speed settings. Once I slowed the drill down, things went much better. (Drilling holes first did not stop it from splitting.)

My daughter and I made the first one together, then I made the second one. I am going to line them both with plastic, then plant my garlic in them.”

photo-of-the-day

Farm_Romance-5661

Secret Garden Coloring Book

I just wandered upon the most intriguing book. Only this book is not intended for mere reading. Not at all. In fact, it’s enchantingly interactive, a meditative marvel for the gardener whose hands feel unproductive this time of year. I feel myself being drawn in just by looking at the cover, don’t you?

secret-garden-book

Of course, it doesn’t hurt that the book’s title is Secret Garden, but it is not Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic. This nouveau garden grew, page by page, in the hands of Scottish self-proclaimed “ink evangelist” Johanna Basford, who subtitled her lush botanical adventure, An Inky Treasure Hunt and Coloring Book.

“Go on a ramble through a world of secret gardens created in beautifully detailed pen-and-ink illustrations—all waiting to be brought to life through coloring, but each also sheltering all kinds of tiny creatures just waiting to be found,” reads the book’s back cover. “And there are also bits of the garden that still need to be completed by your hand.”

Lest you dismiss Secret Garden’s peek-a-boo puzzles and mind-twisting mazes and as a “kids-only” kind of undertaking, watch this:

Looks to me like more than enough twists, turns, tendrils, and tangles to keep even the most mature mind occupied throughout the cold months of the year.

Basford’s work reminds me of gorgeously garden-themed Zentangles, so I can see how the two could be intertwined—a doodling farmgirl’s dream! Here’s another little video of the artistic author at work that is bound to inspire your own inner creative garden to flourish:

If you find yourself loving Secret Garden so much that you wish you could share your work with friends far and wide, extend your talents to Basford’s Secret Garden: 20 Postcards, which can be decorated, detached, and mailed.

And, mark your calendars—I noticed that a new book by Johanna is due to be released in March of 2015, Enchanted Forest: An Inky Quest & Coloring Book. I can’t wait to get lost in its wooded wonderland …

563px-Spieglein_Maerchengarten_Ludwigsburg

Photo by Immanuel Giel via Wikimedia Commons

 

photo-of-the-day

Farm_Romance-5628

photo-of-the-day

photo-of-the-day_galette

Be a greatist!

Greatist.com is a health website for people who “like making healthier choices because it makes them feel good.” What is a greatest? “Our belief that is you don’t have to be the greatest all the time, but instead, just be a greatist: Someone who chooses to fit small healthier choices into their everyday life.”

They cover the gamut of health-related topics with categories like: move, eat, grow, play, discover, connect.

And, they keep up with new trends. Like food trucks. Healthy food trucks. Check out their list of “The 26 Healthiest Food Trucks in America” and see if you can find one in your area.

FoodFarm_ChrisTate

The Food Farm truck, San Diego

photo-of-the-day

photo-of-the-day_camel-boy