On our recent trip to Lindsborg, Kansas, I stopped by to give a big ol’ farmgirl hug to my friend and National Geographic photographer, Jim Richardson. (Treat yourself to some of his photos in his list of published stories.) He and his wife, Kathy Richardson, have a studio on Main Street called Small World Gallery.
If you’re a regular reader of Nat Geo, you know that Jim is still capturing the world in photos. In 1994, Jim spent a few days photographing us for a feature that appeared in 1995.
Congratulations to Tammy Trayer, sister #4170, who has been added to Project F.A.R.M (First-class American Rural Made). Tammy, one of our GirlGab bloggers, has been a Sisterhood member since May of 2012.
Tammy and her husband create homemade goat milk soaps, 100% soy candles, hand-forged metal art, horseshoe art, and leather items from their home in Idaho. And today, you have the opportunity to win some of their wares.
How’s your junk drawer? The one with an assortment of loose change, Gorilla Glue, golf balls, keys that open who knows what, and that old cell phone that no longer works but you can’t bear to toss it in the trash.
Well, I have a purpose for at least one of those clutter bombs.
It’s called …
What’s that again? Dialers For Dollar$?
And yes, the “s” is a “$.” Clever, right?
Dialers For Dollar$, hosted by Reverse Recycling, is a company that collects old or unused cell phones (in ANY condition) and recycles them properly so they don’t end up circling back around to bury us. According to Dialers For Dollar$, “Did you know that cell phones, on average, are used for less than 18 months before being replaced? In America alone, more than 140 million cell phones will end up in a landfill this year. It is estimated that there are over 500 million unwanted cell phones in junk drawers in the United States alone, with an average of 4 in every household.”
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons; Tomasz G. Sienicki
Dialers For Dollar$ has found a way to make recycling these devices a barrel of fun. Here’s how: You request a donation barrel for, say, your local coffee shop (once you’ve asked them for permission). You create some signage for the barrel and people drop in their old cell phones. (The barrel is only a 14” wide x 24” tall and can hold up to 15 gallons.) When the barrel’s full, you e-mail Dialers For Dollar$ and they send you a free shipping label for the original shipping box.
Dialers For Dollar$ offers $1.50/lb to the host location for all donated cell phones and personal handheld devices collected, and $.20/lb for all accessories such as chargers, ear buds, and batteries. Then, Reverse Recycling matches that amount to the charity of your choice. Another nice thing about this fundraiser is you can also choose to donate the full amount to your local charity. Many find the program to be a fun and easy way to give back to their community on a local level.
Thank you Dandelion House aka Beach Farmgirl aka Deb Bosworth aka Girl Genius for my handy-dandy glamper hamper. Me LUBS it!!!!!
Hitch your wagon to a star?
Well, fortunately for homeless pets in the southeastern U.S., they’re hitching their wagon to TWO stars named Chamblee and Lindsay Abernethy.
These soft-hearted sisters, originally from Georgia, both moved to Boulder, Colorado, last year—but neither could forget the plight of countless unwanted pets back home. Chamblee and Lindsay soon realized that the demand for adoptable pets in Colorado exceeded the number of strays in shelters.
Their experience growing up in the Southeast had been drastically different.
The girls grew up on a farm, where they learned the heartbreak of rescuing stray dogs and cats that were often dumped along their rural road. Chamblee channeled her empathy for abandoned pets into volunteer work for a local rescue group, and over the years, an idea began to bloom.
“I always had a vision of transporting pets from the Southeast to [Colorado],” she told Mother Nature News. “There’s a great demand and no surplus. I knew that if we could tap into transporting from the Southeast, that would be a pretty amazing thing.”
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.
