And the WINNER is:
Andrea who said October 16, 2013 at 6:11 am:
Watch for an email from the farm, Andrea.
Congratulations! You are the owner of a signature Magnolia Pearl Beautiful Wear.
And the original GIVEAWAY on October 14 was:
Used work truck that hubby (Mr. Butters) purchased recently. Do ya think we should replace the sign? Or … if the truck fits, just use it. Fit happens, right?
Today, I’m globetrotting from the BaseCamp hostel in Bonn to the Beehive Hotel in Toronto …
Sorry, no human vacancies here.
Created by PopTarts Works, this little “bee & bee” is a marvelously modern-arty gift to Toronto’s urban buzzers.
Photo courtesy of Inhabitat.com
The Beehive Hotel was a winning entry in the Design by Nature public art competition in Toronto, born as a result of the designers’ concern for North America’s recent rash of bee colony collapses.
“The goal of this installation is to encourage pollinators in the Toronto region to inhabit and reproduce as well as create an art project that would have a contemporary form and stand as a beautiful beehive sculpture,” explain sisters Aleksandra and Yvonne Popovska, the hotel’s designers.
Unlike many beehives, this one welcomes mason bees, solitary critters that nest in nature’s varied cracks and crevices. They don’t make honey, but they’re prolific pollinators, and they rarely (if ever) sting. Dave Hunter, a mason bee expert in Woodinville, Washington, calls mason bees “cuddly” and praises their pollination prowess. “A honeybee might pollinate 15 flowers per day,” he says, “while a mason bee can pollinate up to 2,000.”
Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Audrey Morris!!!
Audrey Morris (#5517) has received a certificate of achievement in Each Other for earning a Beginner Level Community Service Merit Badge!
Gift registries are generally associated with weddings and baby showers, but now that the holiday season is gleaming on the not-so-distant horizon, I starting thinking …
How would you feel about revamping the annual wish-list notion by incorporating a registry?
Before you balk, let me introduce you to a brilliant new twist on the traditional registry idea:
Catchy handle aside, SoKind really does get right to the heart of generosity. This online service encourages the giving of homemade gifts, charitable donations, secondhand goods, experiences, volunteer assistance, and other genuinely valuable offerings.
What’s not to love?
Parents, in particular, often search for ways to inspire family and friends to give their kids less stuff.
(You know how all of the plastic toys can pile up!)
Photo by Kannanshanmugam, Shanmugamstudio, Kollam via Wikimedia Commons
Sometimes, though, it can be tricky to request specific gifts—especially, ahem, from certain relatives—without seeming picky or ungrateful.
And, let’s face it—it can be stressful for loved ones to try and track down gifts with more meaning.
SoKind offers an eloquent means of requesting gifts and, in turn, expressive alternatives to the ho-hum default (read: gift cards).
“What gifts do you truly want?” asks SoKind. “Music lessons? Homemade dinners? A museum membership? Babysitting help? Donations to your favorite charity? Through SoKind, you can register for gifts of time, experience, and skill, as well as traditional material gifts and secondhand items. The registry is entirely customizable, so the possibilities are endless!”
This novel registry would also be a terrific tool for office celebrations, don’t you think?
Here’s the gist of how SoKind works:
Buy props used in MaryJane’s books and magazine!
5% of profits will benefit www.firstbook.org, a non-profit that provides new books to children from low-income families throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Here’s how:
MaryJane will post a photo and a description of a prop and its cost along with a few details as to its condition here: https://shop.maryjanesfarm.org/MaryJanesCurations. It’s a playful way to be the new owner of a little bit of farm herstory.
