Don’t be a cog in the machine, use the machinery of the man to adorn your bad self instead! Wear it close to your heart and live each day knowing someone cared enough to make this just for you. By Round Rabbit.
Good on Gyros & With Jam
I love a good lamb gyro perhaps as much as anyone can love any food. Ever. In the world. But I also have a soft spot for lambs. I cannot resist their particular brand of cute. So much so, in fact, they are the only livestock I have been reluctant to try my hand at raising for meat myself. I simply cannot say with any sort of confidence whatsoever that processing day would be even the least bit tolerable. And since tolerable is the best any processing day can ever be, I’ve yet to take the plunge.
Luckily, others do not harbor my biases and sheep farms are anything but scarce in most of the United States. And though the traditional holiday for lamb eating may have already passed, a good rack of lamb is a celebration in and of itself fit for any time of year.
In fact, there is an often unforeseen bonus in buying lambs after the Easter holiday has passed — especially if you’re buying a whole or half lamb — ethnic markets for lamb are strongest just before Easter and demand for a smaller carcass there drives down the size of lambs sold around that time of year. After Easter has passed lambs are often grown out longer, making for a larger end product; a bonus if you’re feeding a family of four or more as am I.
In an ideal world we’d all buy our lambs — whether we’re looking for wholes, halves, racks, legs, chops, roasts or a combination of all of the above — from the farm down the road, and we literally have a sheep farm down the road here, but not everyone is so lucky. To find fresh, local lamb you can search Local Harvest for sheep farms near you, but if that fails you can also buy lamb online. Upper Dry Creek Ranch, a family owned farm in Western Oregon, offers their lamb products on Foodzie. That’s a picture of their loin chops above.
And as long as you’re at it, don’t forget the toppings, rubs and marinades. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box, the Chipotle Pepper Jam by Uncle Berch’s Foods, also via Foodzie, is reportedly a great accompaniment.
Tea and Ceremony
Sandra is the designer-maker behind Tea and Ceremony, selling unique paper goods, pins and tote bags inspired by her love of stationery. “I have always had a penchant for paper and as a child I was very fond of the stationery sets that contained an exercise book, ruler, pencil and rubber,” says Sandra. “I had a Mr T set, Streethawk and my favourite, Knight Rider!”
Sandra continues, “I have been crafting ever since I can remember. I had always enjoyed drawing as a child and I distinctly remember my mum showing me how to draw a three-dimensional roof and house when I about six or seven. I taught this to my class mates in school and they were amazed by it.”
“I studied art and design throughout school, college and university. My technical background is quite varied and I have experienced everything from textiles and bookbinding to oil painting and screen printing. I do have days where I decide that I want to print tote bags or sew needle cases and then others where I just want to sit at my computer all day and design a set of greetings cards.”
Applying her training and expertise to crafting, Sandra stumbled across the ideal venue for selling her products in 2008. “I came across Etsy and had never seen anything like it. It was really exciting to see all the amazing things that people can make with their own two hands. Seeing that so many other people were trying their hand at selling gave me the confidence to try and sell my own designs.”
As Sandra has a day job away from crafting, selling online offers her a convenient and manageable way of maintaining her ‘shopfront’. “Once you sell your first item, you realise that there is a market for your ideas and you are actually okay at what you do. And when you start getting positive feedback, that spurs you on to create more. The only downside of Etsy is that is American based and I feel that US buyers are a little put off by shipping costs.”
“Google Analytics is a fantastic tool to help you understand your market. Looking at visitor statistics for my shop, UK residents spend the longest time browsing my store so you cannot rely on catering to countries such as the US for high volumes of sales. I have just started selling on notonthehighstreet.com, which I am quite excited about so I am hoping that I will be able to generate more online sales through that particular marketplace. I am also just beginning to receive requests for wholesale.”
Sandra gathers inspiration from a wide range of sources. “I am quite changeable and my inspiration changes daily although I generally like bold design, for example Scandinavian, Forties wartime and folk design are probably my favourites at the moment. I also currently like the work of Swedish graphic designer Olle Eksell as there are some lovely illustrations in his work.”
Like many handmade sellers, Sandra is spurred on by the global reach that selling online offers her, as well as the support given to the handmade community. “It’s a nice feeling to know that somebody is Japan, Sweden or anywhere else in the world has something you have created in their home or passed it onto someone they care about. I think that people who buy handmade items are genuinely appreciative of the time and effort that has gone into making an item.”
“I think that the handmade scene is definitely growing in the UK and it does provide a wonderful alternative for consumers who are tired of the same stale mass produced items. There is a lot of support within the crafting community and there are schemes and grants available for business start-ups although I find that these tend to be for those crafts deemed to be more ‘traditional’, such as ceramics and jewellery making. Turning your craft into a profession is a risky business so I think that there is still some reluctance to financially support a designer-maker.”
Sandra’s items are varied but she ensures that each reflects her personal tastes and styles. “I’m a bit of a scatter brain and jump from one thing to another and I dislike the idea of creating things in one style. This can be a problem if people struggle to recognise your work but I think that versatility is an asset. You need to adapt and evolve to keep you on your toes. I can’t imagine churning out the same things over and over again. It may work for some people, but not me.”
City of Love…
Image above is from Simply Hue
One thing I really appreciate about blogging is that it has brought me more in touch with my own dreams. What do I mean by that? I think it’s because with blogging I’m almost forced to write on a daily basis, even if it’s just a sentence or two. It gives me a chance to reflect in a different way than I ever have before. It gives me a gauge of how I’m feeling about life and in the long run allows me to work through certain emotions in a different way.
Image above is from Magalerie
Wait a minute. It almost sounds like I’m calling blogging therapy? Hah. Well I’m not certain that’s where I intended to go with this post – but I will say that there is something very cathartic about blogging, no matter how little or how much I write on a daily basis, or even if what I have written is particularly personal. And with so many people blogging these days there is absolutely no shortage of community and inspiration to be found and I’m very thankful for that.
Image above is from 23rd and 1st
But before I take myself so far beyond the intention of this post I’ll bring it back on track. Dreams. I’m finding that as I get older my dreams are constantly changing. And not just changing, but coming into a sharper focus, and with a more long range perspective. To be honest, for a few years – when I was working a corporate job (which I did enjoy for the most part – don’t get me wrong), I didn’t dream too much. I found the day to day water cooler time at the office fun and enjoyed nurturing a team of employees, but a lot of the work was repetitive and overall it left me drained. No energy left to dream.
Image above is from Funkyshique
Sometimes now – I have to rein myself in as I’m prone to daydreaming about all sorts of things, related to work and life and the far off future. Today the dream I’m sharing – my hope to one day visit Europe, including Paris of course! Both Europe, and more specifically Paris – have been influencing design and many of the makers in the handmade sphere lately it seems. As a lover of art, design, and good food I know that I must go at some point. It may be in the next year or two – or maybe longer – until then I’ll continue dreaming about it!
What’s In Season Now: November Edition
Here, last weekend marked the final Farmer’s Market of the year. While it’s a bittersweet passing of time for growers — the loss of convenient, weekly contact with customers is never a welcome thing, but the late fall and winter downtime that is a result of a lightened market schedule is imperative in the planning of the next year’s crop — it’s mostly just bitter for shoppers. Especially those new to eating local and those who are not accustomed to stocking up. Many will have few choices other than to turn back to their local chain supermarket to feed their families.
Last year in On Year-Round Appreciation, I briefly grazed the topic of keeping in touch with your local growers year round, and the advice there is still relevant and useful to this day, but if you’re committed to eating local even in the off-season you may need to dig deeper. The end of organized markets doesn’t necessarily mean the end of local food, but you may have to do a bit more homework to find it. And even if your local Farmer’s Markets are still open, doing your homework may yield you better sources of local food than you had before.
Most locales are still supporting some growth, though the variety will be less impressive than it has been. If your markets are still open be on the look out for those early spring vegetables that are making a comeback for a second season this year. Greens are huge — spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, collards — as are fast growing root crops. Think: radishes. Also keep your eyes peeled for long-season crops that are just now ripe, such as leeks, egg plant and winter squashes, as well as those crops that store well for winter like potatoes, onions and garlic. Those that store well can be stocked up on now, and eaten throughout the coming cold months. Just be sure to ask the grower to make sure the variety they’re selling is one that stores well; not all do.
While you’re out there also ask the vendors you frequent whether or not they’ll have limited crops available during the time when the market is no longer operational. You may be able to pick up local food on-farm all winter. If your market, like mine, has already closed for the winter search Local Harvest for growers near you and get on the phone to line up sources of your favorites for the whole winter season.
Of course the transition to the non-growing season also means a transition to those foods that have no season. Meats, soft dairy and hard cheeses can be produced and harvested year round and are excellent staples for hearty, warming winter meals. Canned products, if you didn’t can your own during the months of summer bounty, are also something you may want to be on the lookout for as December approaches. Think outside the box and even a simple jar of jam can go a long way. Raspberry, spread atop a pasture-raised pork loin is to die for.
However you choose to round out your winter pantry this November, happy local shopping!
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 21
- Next Page »