There’s a craze sweeping the countryside that combines two of the things we love most:
food and friends …
and not necessarily in that order.
The brain-child of five food-lovin’ ladies, Food Swap Network is a growing work of gustatory genius.
So … what’s a food swap?
Would you rent a pair of jeans?
Bert van Son is betting that you would.
Bert van who?
He’s a Dutch fellow who owns a trendy clothing company in the Netherlands called Mud Jeans.
Since his website is written in his native tongue, I’ll do my best to translate.
(No, I don’t actually speak Dutch. Fortunately, the grapevine is an English-speaking establishment).
The Lease a Jeans program is designed to help eliminate wasteful clothing production (and wasteful spending).
The gist: instead of owning a pair of jeans indefinitely, you can just keep it for a year before you send it back and move on to something new …
or, at least, new to you.
Image by C. H. Trotter via Wikimedia Commons
Oh my, look what came in a box to us from two women seeking their Project F.A.R.M. (First-class American Rural Made) status. Get on over to their website and fetch yourself some certified rural-made goodies, all of them adorably farm themed. Chicken phone cover? Goat Chick mouse pad? Rooster soap? Crazy Chicken Lady key chain? Hen apron? (Actually, it’s called a “chicken saddle’ to be used when there’s some hen-pecking goin’ on, or worse, over-mating. Now admit it. That put a smile on your face.)
Travel diaper for your pet chicken or rabbit? They’ve got it all.
I’m thinking gifts. How about you? Here’s where you can can find Brenda and Mandie (mother and daughter business team) and their adorable rural-made creations, louisescountrycloset.com or LIKE them on Facebook.
And check out this cup and cell phone case.
Spring allergy season may seem like a distant glimmer on the horizon, especially if there’s still snow outside your window.
But, if you suffer from seasonal sniffles, you can actually start preparing now for a more peaceful encounter with pollen.
How?
Before the world bursts into bloom and sends you sniffling your way to the tissue box, be sweet to yourself and start indulging in a daily dose of honey.
Pesky (and sometimes paralyzing) pollen allergies arise because of continuous over-exposure to the same plants. When honey bees collect pollen from the flowers of these plants, trace amounts of the pollen ends up in the honey that the bees create.
So, when you eat honey that is produced in your local area, you consume tiny bits of the very pollen that causes problems. In this way, your body becomes accustomed to dealing with it gradually, which boosts immunity.
Let’s bee honest …
the prospect of beekeeping can bee a bit daunting.
The buzzing intimidates some would-bee keepers right from the get-go.
And the stinging?
Well, let’s not even go there.
The point is—how does an aspiring apiarist (fancy synonym for beekeeper) dive into owning her own hive?
Good news: it’s easier than ever.
If you’ve spent these long winter months dreaming of harvesting your own honey (how sweet would that bee?), then look no further than Williams Sonoma …
Imagine topsy-turvy terrain in whimsical worlds bursting with bright color …
Dr. Seuss?
Oh, the Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
You’re getting warm.
But, the terrain I’m talking about is not confined to the two-dimensional plane of a page.
Japanese fiber artist Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam has crocheted—
yes, crocheted—
a series of sublime Seuss-like landscapes into reality.
Takino Suzuran National Park, Hokkaido, Japan (Photo by Charles MacAdam)
And, as if that feat isn’t fabulous enough …
MacAdam’s sculptures are for touching,
scaling,
dangling …
That’s right,
these creations are for kids to climb on.
Check out this tote that Pippa, of Pippa’s Patch, made out of my glamping fabric.
Just fab, darlin’!
Happy Monday morning my dear friends!!!! Here’s what I’m hoping will be a fun exchange between us. Can you help me write the ending to my “story” (adventure, yarn, whopper, taradiddle, mare’s nest, fabrication, concoction)? It can be three words. Or many. A smiley face without any ending at all. A total dud, fall flat on its face idea. (Oh, the embarrassment.) Here goes my first attempt. But wait. My future alert is this: I hope to sometimes drift into Garrison Keillor territory with a yarn or two. Maybe the occasional fable of yore. Maybe a pretend game of “you’re about to cowgirl up your milk cow when up drives …”
_______________________________________________________
It’s happened before. But this time, she does it in an even larger group setting. She’s someone you care about a lot, enough so, you can’t bear the thought of correcting her privately, let alone publicly. What’s a girl to do?
Send her an anonymous note? You consider her reaction and embarrassment and that idea stops you dead in your tracks. You begin to weigh the consequences. When she finds out she’s had it wrong all along, she’ll spend time trying to replay all the many times she’s done it and who was there to witness it. It might affect her confidence. It might make her retreat. If she retreats only a tiny amount, that’s never a good thing. Worse yet, maybe she’ll retreat from you if she even suspects you’re the one …
“Silly. Just tell her the very next time it happens. You’re over-thinking it. On second thought, maybe I’m guilty of something similar and no one’s ever told me. Now, this is ruining MY confidence. This is starting to be too much …
Say nothing …
Oh, for heaven’s sake, just say it! Tell her point blank …
No, don’t. Who do I think I am anyway? Little Miss Blunder Director Corrector? She’s only a dear acquaintance, not a BFF …
I got it! Tell a close family member of hers so they can tell her … “
Never mind. That is WAY too manipulative and underhanded.
But. BUT. Every time she says …
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.
