The Trash Bag Epiphany
The Trash Bag Epiphany
by Susan Joyner, Gainesville Florida
On Tuesday, I was standing in an aisle at the grocery store, looking at all the choices for trash bags. I don't like the smelly ones. I guess the correct term would be "scented," but to me they are just smelly. I looked up and noticed a box of trash bags made from 65% recycled plastic. What an excellent idea! I often wonder what happens to all of the items put in recycling bins. Then I checked out the price. There were considerably fewer bags in the box, and they cost 10 cents more per bag. Sadly, I proceeded to buy my usual bags. But on the drive home, I started thinking more about trash bags and the reasoning that led to my decision.
I am concerned about the environment. I sort my trash and recycle what I can. I carry reusable bags when I go shopping. I avoid using those flimsy plastic bags for fresh fruit or vegetables. On the broad continuum of environmentally-friendly behavior, I like to think that I am somewhere in the middle. Obviously I can't even come close to the Johnson family whose solid trash for a year fits inside of a 1-liter mason jar. Honestly, I am still quite stunned that a family of four could even accomplish that feat. But I do what I can to make an effort to help the environment on a daily basis.
And
yet, the other day at the grocery store, I bought the trash bags that
were less expensive. Does that mean that I am failing my environmental
responsibilities? While some of you are nodding yes, I am hoping that
others are realizing that I am on a journey and have not yet arrived at
my destination.
Since
this trash bag-purchasing episode, I have begun to realize that every
single thing I choose to buy with my money and my reasons for choosing
it speak volumes about my real priorities in life. I have also realized
that even though I don't see all of the trash that is generated by our
society, the environmental impact is a concern of mine. Great enough
for me to spend a little extra money next time and buy the bags that are
made from recycled plastic. And so I take another step forward.
My
epiphany regarding trash bags has made me look more closely at my
reasons for purchasing items, and I have, therefore, become more aware
of using my money as a vote of support. What do your purchases say
about you? There's no judgment here. Journey on.
The Trash Bag Epiphany
Wild Handmade Soap
Wild Handmade Soap
Wild Handmade Soap
by Eunice Lim, Singapore
When was the last time you considered the ingredients of the soap you use every day?
The
skin is the largest organ in our body and it’s permeable, so, the
substances we apply to our skin are absorbed into our bloodstreams. With
that in mind, being conscious of the quality and origin of your soap is
important.
WILD sells handmade soap made of all natural herbs, grains, honey, goat milk and essential oils. On top of health benefits and healing properties, WILD is against animal testing and minimizes packaging, using biodegradable and recyclable materials whenever possible. The minimization of packaging also allows WILD to continue selling their body products at affordable prices. Instead of mass production, WILD sells their soaps online and from place to place. The quantity WILD manufactures depends on demand, so no compromise on quality is ever made.
I interviewed Rohana from WILD to find out more about her work with WILD.
EL: Rohana, why is selling natural, healthy soap your passion? And what does your work with WILD entail?
R:
I've always been health conscious and interested in natural products. I
love natural soaps and have been using natural products myself - so in a
way, this is an extension of my passion and what I love. We sell online
and at various fairs, and my work involves research, preparation of
product information and the sales and marketing of our products.
EL: Where are your handmade soaps made, by whom and how? Where do the natural ingredients come from?
R:
Our handmade soaps are made by someone we know who started doing this because
she has sensitive skin and can only use gentle products. Some of the
base oils are from Malaysia, while the rest of the ingredients including
essential oils come from all over the world.
EL:
Does WILD do international shipping? I am sure our readers overseas are
interested in getting their own fantastic bar of handmade soap.
R:Yes
we do, customers can order online and we could organize the delivery
and shipping for them. Some of the favorites include Geranium with Goat
Milk, Lavender and Geranium with Red Rice. My personal favorite is the
Geranium with Goat Milk.
You can find out more about WILD at their
website and make purchases. WILD ships
internationally. Products are suitable for sensitive skin and have been
known to relieve eczema. The natural ingredients come from sustainable
sources, so you can use your soap with complete ease of mind.
WILD's Facebook Page
Wild Handmade Soap
modern chair in solid oak v1.0
Modern chair in solid oak v1.0 This very simple modern oak chair is made from only four oak pieces. Although we rarely quarter saw lumber, because of the inefficiencies, the back is made of a (naturally cut) quarter sawn slab.
Modern chair in solid oak v1.0 This very simple modern oak chair is made from only four oak pieces. Although we rarely quarter saw lumber, because of the inefficiencies, the back is made of a (naturally cut) quarter sawn slab.
Art Nouveau Architecture in Brussels
Architecture in Brussels
Art Nouveau Architecture in Brussels
Saving the Artist and Creating a Feast for the Senses
by Richard Harris, Brussels
What do wild curves, crazy shapes, eye-popping mosaics, colorful Sgraffiti, stupendous wrought ironwork, intricate brickwork, and gorgeous stained glass all have in common? They are the striking elements of the Art Nouveau style of architecture which capture people’s imagination in an unforgettable way. They are also the product of a brilliantly successful campaign to save ancient arts and crafts from the onslaught of industrial assembly line efficiency.
Despite
the fact that many of Brussels’ Art Nouveau buildings were destroyed
between the mid-fifties and the mid-seventies, the city is still a
treasure trove with entire blocks built in the style. Instead of being
torn down, they are being lovingly restored—reinvigorating the various
artists and craftsmen trades. In fact, some of them are Unesco World
Heritage Sites.
A
reaction to Academic Art of the nineteenth century—the recycling of old
styles—the Art Nouveau movement was inspired by the natural forms and
structures of flowers, plants, and curved lines. Art Nouveau architects
tried to harmonize their works with the environment. Art Nouveau
furniture was designed to be in concert with the design of the whole
building.
That industrialization was especially acute in Belgium is illustrated by the fact that in the second half of the nineteenth century, Belgium—the size of the state of Maryland—was the third industrial power in the world. The artists and architects of the Art
Nouveau movement feared industrialization would lead to the extinction
of the age-old crafts that had been the pride of the country. In
resistance to mass production, Art Nouveau designers insisted on using
artisan-produced wrought iron, tiles, mosaics, paintings, Sgraffiti—a
technique of wall decor, produced by applying layers of tinted plaster
to a moistened surface—and lavish stained glass in and outside a
building. Art Nouveau buildings,
furniture, and furnishings, including the silverware, were handmade.
The result is a feast of the senses, a voyage of discovery in which each
house façade holds a myriad of carefully executed details, from the
front door’s lowly boot scraper to the magnificent bay window filled
with stained glass.
Every two years the Art Nouveau Biennial—the next in 2013—attracts thousands of tourists with special tours and exhibits. However, one need not wait for that! Many visitors come year-round to wander the Art Nouveau neighborhoods and visit the various houses that are now museums or everyday businesses such as cafés, floral shops, restaurants, government buildings, and even swimming pools.
Art Nouveau Architecture in Brussels
firewood or beautiful table for local community?
firewood or beautiful table for local community?
firewood or beautiful table for local community?
My guess is a little of both. I have to admit that, on first glance this heap of deadwood looks perfect for keeping us warm this winter.
Yesterday we used our 6000lb fork lift to remove this big log from the trailer, then cut a couple of three foot sections off the top end of it. I have to admit, when I first saw the way it was falling apart as we cut into it, I was disappointed.
Typically, a storm damaged tree is never considered for lumber or furniture. The damage and stresses that it incurred send it straight to the landfill. But since we start with logs, make our lumber, only for our own furniture needs, many times we can find amazing beauty here. And I have confidence that this will be no exception.
Later this morning, videographer Andrew Reed is planning to stop by the studio to document the first steps of our process of making this table for Phil Campbell.
firewood or beautiful table for local community?
New Website is Live this morning!
After a few weeks of mostly concentrated effort, the new site is live as of around 9:00 am cst this morning. Hope you enjoy the experience as much as we are.
There's still plenty more work to do to do in this garden of silicon. Lots of pages to add. Lots of blog posts to add back in. But for now, should you run into any glitches, please let me know - either through email; robinwadefurniture@mac.com or through the CONTACT link (below right).
Singapore Farms: Bollywood Veggies & Poison Ivy
Singapore Farms: Bollywood Veggies & Poison Ivy
By Eunice Lim, Singapore
When was the last time you ate fresh food? I mean, REALLY fresh food, not just food you got from the produce section of the supermarket. Here in Singapore, “Bollywood Veggies” takes its fresh food seriously; instead of shopping shelves and aisles, Bollywood’s customers are offered freshly-picked produce. A semi-retirement project of Ivy Singh and her husband Lim Ho Seng, Bollywood Veggies and the Poison Ivy Bistro located in it offers a whole new food experience. Named the Best LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) Region by an American research company, Bollywood Veggies is not just any farm. This farm does not use any pesticides or fertilizers, maintaining its sustainability, eco-friendliness and organic produce.
The great variety of vegetables, fruits and flowers growing on the farm is truly amazing -- Starfruits, Hibiscus, Figs, Papayas, Laksa Leaves, Pandan Leaves, Sugarcane, Rice, Chilli and so much more. The bright colours of the fruits and flowers are striking amidst the greenery of the farm. None of the food here comes to you on a shelf or in a refrigerator. Instead, they retain their original form and grow on trees, vines and bushes. Farms like Bollywood Veggies reawaken our connection to the food we eat and its natural origins.
While you are not allowed to pluck the fruits or dig up the vegetables, you are welcome to visit the Poison Ivy Bistro which is situated within the farm. Here is where you can taste the goodness of the farm’s produce. Freshly collected from the farm itself, the food on your table comes directly from the farm around you. The curry leaves in your Warrior’s Chicken Curry comes from the curry leaf patch a mere few metres away. The chilli on your otah comes from the chilli plant, also a stone’s throw away. A cup of iced fig tea is guaranteed to be available: the evidence of this being the abundance of figs hanging on the trees around you. Food simply does not get fresher than this.
The most popular produce of Bollywood Veggies is banana cake, freshly baked using the bananas grown on the farm. A full loaf of the banana cake costs you $10. Forget banana flavoring, the Bollywood Veggies Banana Cake comes with chunks of banana slices in it, a delightful proof of its wholesome freshness.
It is heartening to know there is a place like this in Singapore, reminding us of what freshness really means, allowing us to stop and ponder the importance of knowing exactly where and what goes into the food we eat.
Singapore Farms: Bollywood Veggies & Poison Ivy
We're back in the Robb Report - well sort of
We were already getting all geared up to celebrate Independence Day, but now we have another big reason to party. We are back in the Robb Report - well sort of. After being featured last September, it never occurred to us that we might be back in the supercool, super luxurious Robb Report - particularly not within a year! But here we are.
We were already getting all geared up to celebrate Independence Day, but now we have another big reason to party. We are back in the Robb Report - well sort of. After being featured last September, it never occurred to us that we might be back in the supercool, super luxurious Robb Report - particularly not within a year! But here we are.
Linda was just looking through the July/August issue of the Robb Report's "Exceptional Properties" and did a triple take. A couple of pieces of our furniture that were showcased at the beautiful NAHB New American Home in Winter Park are sitting pretty front and center smack dab in the middle of three photos of this issue. Now, to be honest, this isn't a feature of Robin Wade Furniture. I couldn't even find a mention of us - that is - with the exception of these three photographs.
The feature was of another American Made icon, Timberlake Cabinetry of Winchester Virginia. Just a little more to celebrate this Independence Day
The feature was of another American Made icon, Timberlake Cabinetry of Winchester Virginia. Just a little more to celebrate this Independence Day
We're back in the Robb Report - well sort of
American Made - Tabasco
American Made - Tabasco
American Made - Tabasco
Red Hot! White Hot! Blue Cool!
by Richard Harris, Brussels Belgium
What American product combines tradition, a slow approach, sustainability, good taste, an iconic logo, and international recognition? The McIlhenny Co’s Tabasco Pepper Sauce does! Tabasco sauce has become such a natural part of life that you might very well use it without even thinking about it just as you recognize its label without thinking about the simple genius of the logo design which has lasted unchanged for generations. As have the production methods. All peppers are still handpicked. Each pepper picker carries a little red stick (le petit bâton rouge) and if the pepper isn’t as red as the stick it isn’t picked but left to ripen. Fresh from the fields the harvested peppers are mashed, mixed with salt, (much of which comes from McIlhenny’s own Avery Island salt mine) and placed in white oak barrels (barrels that were previously used to age Jack Daniel’s whiskey). Then the barrels, just as for a fine sherry, are warehoused at a constant temperature for a three-year aging process. After being strained the liquid is mixed with vinegar, aged for an additional month and then bottled. Here we have no shortcuts, no chemical additions, no sleight of hand, just a time-tested, traditional method.
And beyond the production methods we also have a company that has been recycling since its inception. The first Tabasco bottles were recycled perfume bottles. Since then they have continued to use glass which is 100% recyclable. The white oak barrels are reused for up to fifty years and then have a third life as fencing and tables or wood chips. The mash solids are used as compost and for other commercial uses which not only increases the organic material in the soil but also reduces landfill usage by over 300 tons annually.
On a personal note, I have to admit that I prefer one of Tabasco’s newer versions: Tabasco Habanero Sauce. I guess I’m just a sucker for those extra Scoville units; the regular Tabasco is 2,500 to 5,000 SHU whereas the Habanero version is 7,000 to 12,000 SHU. But however hot you like it, take a moment this Fourth of July to appreciate a classic American product that is not only available in 168 countries and territories packaged in 22 languages or dialects, but has also appeared in such movies as Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times and has flown with NASA to the International Space Station. Happy Fourth!
American Made - Tabasco
Music City Suds
Music City Suds
by Shana Watkins, Nashville
What do you get when you mix whimsical wit, a woman whose greatest source of inspiration is nature, an heirloom recipe for homemade soap, and country music?
Music City Suds.
Wearing her beloved apron made from a vintage flannel shirt (incidentally designed and created for her by her dear friend Sara of McLoud 9 Designs), Rachel Turner could stand in her soap kitchen for hours watching the process of fat and lye become soap. "It's almost like meditation for me," Turner says. "Once I get in my kitchen and put my apron on, the rest of the world just fades into the background."
Turner is especially proud that she has made no compromises in maintaining the original guidelines she set when she founded the brand Music City Suds: to use only vegetarian ingredients (indeed, with the exception of lye and some of the essential oils she uses for fragrance, everything that goes into the soap is edible and food grade quality!), to use local ingredients whenever possible, and what cannot be found locally be certified organic and sustainably harvested.
With titles such as "Stand by your Mandarin", "I Walk the Lime", and "Earl and Scrubs", Music City Suds encompasses the charm and whimsy of Nashville, where Turner was raised. The whole process of making her very special product that brims over with character sometimes begins at the Nashville Farmer's Market where Turner purchases locally grown luffa, and tomatoes and carrots to be used as colorants. "I try to use as many local ingredients as I can," Turner says, "but Tennessee doesn't have many olive and coconut farms." Therefore, Turner has to buy her oils from out-of-state suppliers. But she's careful about it. Though regular palm oil is cheap, she insisted on using certified organic palm oil once she discovered the environmental impact that palm deforestation was having on Southeast Asia.
In order to offset using exotic ingredients that cannot be found in Tennessee, Turner has made it her mission to seek out even more ingredients locally. And there has been a remarkable benefit to this endeavor. Turner explains, "I wanted to make a serious exfoliating bar. That can be done a number of ways: with pumice, with coffee, even with salt. Instead of ordering those [from] out-of-state, I decided to go with locally-grown luffa instead. It accomplishes the same purpose, and it allows me to actually get to know one of my suppliers, which is important to me." She is happy to have formed relationships with surrounding farms/suppliers she buys produce from such as Good Food for Good People, The Green Door Gourmet, and goat milk from Noble Springs that lends perfect, creamy consistency to her soap "Easy Come Easy Goat". Indeed, according to Turner, "Nashville is a very supportive place for creative endeavors [in part because of the] connection to agriculture and handmade products I feel here." The sense of community involved in the creation of Music City Suds as a product and a brand is part of the brand's accomplishment. Turner learned "soaping" by watching her great-grandmother create soap from potash and lye, so she is constantly in search of ways to make her passion pay tribute to Music City Suds's inspiration - family/community and an appreciation for handmade goods.
Being from the South has caused Turner to find inspiration in her roots, particularly within nature. She astutely observes, "Every scent, color, attribute, or texture I want for my line already exists. Working with all-natural ingredients makes me feel so connected to nature." One can observe the marriage of Southern nature and regional whimsy in some of Turner's soaps and candles like "If Tomato Never Comes", "Tea-nessee Waltz", "Where the Lemongrass Grows", and "Take Me Home Country Rose".
When asked about Music City Suds's soap's fantastically witty titles, Turner reveals that once she came up with "I Walk the Lime" it was hard to stop. Every classic country song title seemed to give rise to another soap she wanted to make. She continues to be astounded and amused by the creativity of her Facebook followers, to whom she confers for ideas when she's stumped. (A personal favorite of this writer is "He Stopped Buggin' Her Today", the name of a soy-based citronella Music City Suds candle, soap, or insect repellent spray.)
Turner will be using more premium ingredients (perhaps a different oil and/or butter) in her new side project, Iola Body. Iola will be a luxury line of bath products named for her great-grandmother. The line will feature high quality ingredients from the American South and other parts of the globe, thereby fusing what is Southern with what is exotic. The line may even be palm-free.
The entire line of Music City Suds, each lovingly enveloped in a page of reclaimed sheet music, can be purchased on-line at musiccitysuds.com, or in select Nashville stores such as The Green Wagon, a completely eco-friendly emporium with one location in East Nashville and another in Sylvan Park.
Music City Suds
Sawtooth Printhouse Pays Tribute to the Old and Slow
Sawtooth Printhouse Pays Tribute to the Old and Slow
by Shana Watkins, Nashville
Many moderns, especially very youthful ones, would give up typesetting after the first time they printed a mistake. To labor over the many tedious steps involved in effectively operating a printing press (selecting just the right type, taking an hour or more to arrange the letters and design, inking the printing press evenly, loading it with the appropriate paper, and cranking the press for each copy) only to find that one’s finished product is riddled with misspellings and/or punctuation errors would send most of us into an emotional tailspin because it would mean starting almost completely over.
But a good printer will, as printing press extraordinaire Nieves Uhl puts it, “use all of [her] skills and reasoning to check [her] settings, type, and the ink repeatedly during the printing process.” It is a slow process, but one that Uhl finds remarkably rewarding. In fact, the time one must devote to using a printing press is what makes the process fulfilling, Uhl testifies. Uhl recognizes that the time she must devote to the process makes her a more detail-oriented person and, therefore, a better artist. She is deft at observing things someone in a hurry will miss.
Nieves Uhl, along with her business partner, artist Chris Cheney, founded Sawtooth Printhouse last fall. They set out to not just create a “slow” business that celebrates creative, manual manufacturing as opposed to mass production, but also to create an inspired space in which no matter where one turns, one is reminded of a time antecedent of computers and the lightning fast lifestyle high technology gave way to in the 1980’s, a decade after computer technology began to make printing presses obsolete. Cheney, a talented handyman in his own right, set out to refurbish the somewhat dilapidated garage outbuilding of his home in art-friendly East Nashville, Tennessee, to use it as a space that would inspire his and Uhl’s printing ambitions.
How better to fuel the inspiration behind an antiquated art form than to use primarily reclaimed or repurposed materials for the space? The back wall of the space is a fascinating dark curtain of 150-year old poplar planks salvaged from a smokehouse. Cheney claimed the two side windows from one supplier’s accidental surplus order and the double-insulated glass of the front and rear windows were donated to Sawtooth by a prominent Nashville artist who was making some changes to his own studio. The two spacious tables central to the space were once one large table Cheney already owned. The partners rescue scraps of wood that become their design blocks. In the interest of being as off-the-grid as possible, Cheney even entertained the idea of installing a wood-burning stove in the space, but his insurance would have completely dropped his coverage if he had done so!
Even the paint on the floor of the shop was salvaged from some other improvement job. At this, Uhl chuckles, "Maybe we're just cheap!" but agrees that their thriftiness forces them to be resourceful and innovative.
Perhaps the most fascinating story Uhl shares about the shop is the tale of how she acquired one of the two enormous type cabinets. A woman from Fairview, Tennessee contacted Hatch Show Print, where Uhl was cutting her printing teeth at the time (Hatch Show Print is the famed print shop that could arguably be described as one of Nashville’s finest crown jewels), to inquire if anyone there might be interested in taking a type cabinet that had belonged to her father off her hands. The cabinet - probably a relic from the 1940s - had been damaged and its contents completely disorganized during a tornado and was sitting almost in ruins, typeface completely scattered in the woman's garage and yard. Uhl and her husband, Jeremy, immediately set out to investigate. What they found was a treasure they brought home to sit in their own garage for nearly four years before the space Cheney created made it possible for the majestic cabinet and its type to once again be used and loved.
The salvaged Fairview cabinet, with its now barely noticeable bent frame (thanks to Tennessee’s infamously extreme weather which tried with all its might to wrap the behemoth around a tree trunk), fresh coat of paint that cured its cancerous rust, and masking tape that thoughtfully marks each of its drawers of typeface (i.e. “18 pt Bernard Gothic Medium”) has never been happier than it is now in its new home.
And then there’s the drawer marked “Mystery Type”. Unfortunately, a typeset is only of value if it is alphabetically complete. “No one wants to spend up to two hours putting together a whole poster or wedding announcement only to find that you’re missing the letter J,” explains Uhl. But unwilling to part with any homeless letter they come across, Uhl and Cheney toss hapless letters into the “Mystery Type” drawer. Uhl laments, “Who knows how many letters are still buried in the dirt in Fairview?”
The two artists are also unwilling to part with the remnants left behind by the two known previous inhabitants of the outbuilding who are yet posthumously adding character to the space: the previous homeowner, and his predecessor, a seemingly colorful character named Gaylord. Gaylord, who had outfitted the building with gobs of fishing paraphernalia, left behind a collection of Polaroid snapshots of himself holding his aquatic trophies. The previous owner of Cheney's house and garage - a man who used the space to refurbish and reupholster Volkswagen automobiles - held onto those photographs just as Cheney does now. Cheney also can’t quite let go of the random items such as a package of Black Cat Firecrackers and a very old tin capsule of fuses. He keeps these mementos in a box below one of the shop’s worktables, though he can’t say why.
But it must be because of Cheney’s and Uhl’s appreciation for the slow pace of bygone days; those artifacts that probably belonged to old Gaylord remind their handlers of a time when a printing press was high technology, and each project carefully worked upon it a labor of love. Uhl speaks passionately about her love for the slow, thoughtful process that, she believes, encourages her to be a better artist. “It takes a better designer to design by hand that frantically at a computer. There is something therapeutic about turning each letter over in your hands and even thinking about the person who made that individual letter.”
“High schools used to offer typesetting classes,” explains Uhl, “Now they just do everything on a computer. Computers are great, but the very fast lifestyle they’ve [birthed] goes too quickly for the human brain to pause and process. So, we miss things - things that you're only going to discover within a process.” She picks up a chunky rectangular block of dark metal and says, "This is my tab key!"
Even the logo Uhl and Cheney chose is a send up to the beauty of manual synergy - a two-person crosssaw like the one that hangs above the door of the little shop.
Sawtooth Printhouse operates almost entirely off the grid. Sure, they have electricity for their lights, box fan, and space heater, but Uhl points out that when it comes to her art, “I have to be the machine! No electricity necessary. This press is nothing without me, and I cannot achieve what I want without it.” A press doesn’t think for its operator the way we think of a computer doing; indeed, to even be necessary, a press is completely dependent upon a person.
Sawtooth Printhouse in located in Nashville, Tennessee. They are equipped and ready to complete jobs such as designing and printing custom wedding invitations, birth announcements, event posters, etc. Find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/SawtoothPrinthouse, or view their website sawtoothprinthouse.com.
Sawtooth Printhouse Pays Tribute to the Old and Slow
Celebrating Made in America all week!
Celebrating Made in American all week!
True Love and Homegrown Tomatoes
True Love and Homegrown Tomatoes
by Melissa Hawthorne, Gainesville Florida
It is summer in the South. I know this because this morning my son woke up, grabbed his fishing pole, and headed out the door (allowing the screen door to slam) to do some fishing at the old sinkhole. In the afternoon, after a brief rain shower, we decided the air was sufficiently cool enough to go blackberry picking and we happily stained our fingers purple. After, we swam in Grandma’s pool until the sun had set—the last rays of golden light basking over the freshly cut lawn while I distributed towels and decided that having berry cobbler for dinner is perfectly acceptable. It never really feels like summer until we have our first long, lazy day like this one.
But the other indicator that it is truly summertime in the South is the abundance of homegrown tomatoes that have been erupting from my garden. For the past few weeks I have been picking firm, red, heirloom tomatoes several times a day. What to do with this proliferation? Pico de gallo, bruschetta, and simple fresh slices are three of my favorite ways to serve these delicious fruits.
Grocers are beginning to catch on that consumers are willing to sacrifice tomato size for taste. Stores now offer vine-ripened tomatoes among the giant, sterile-tasting bowling-ball sized tomatoes on the produce shelves. But even the vine-ripened varieties cannot compare to the taste, feel, smell, or pride of a homegrown tomato.
The experience of buying a grocery store tomato pales in comparison to the long wait I must endure between seed-sowing and daily harvests, savoring not only the taste of each precious tomato, but delighting in their little scars and imperfections.
From preparing the beds to planting the starts, and then waiting, anticipating, watching and tending to the garden, obsessively guarding for caterpillars, and carefully removing them from the stems, checking on progress, making up excuses to walk past so I can check once more, weeding, watering, and then finding myself meditating while my hands are in the dirt and realizing that my mind is at ease and completely caught up in the present moment, free of any other worries or concerns, even if only for those few brief minutes, I gladly agonize.
When I bring my tomatoes inside and display them on the windowsill, or when I eat one, I am eating all of the care I put into the life of that tomato over the past three months. I am eating my husband’s care and my son’s care, our family’s shared time watching and tending and waiting for the ripening. I am experiencing the bees and the soft sunlight landing on the vine.
I recall Guy Clark’s memorable song that reminds us “there‘s only two things in this world that money can’t buy… true love, and homegrown tomatoes.”
Some things, like tomatoes or true love, really are worth waiting for. It is good to be reminded of this sometimes, in this instant-gratification world that we have somehow unwittingly created.
My tomatoes are ripe and it is officially summertime. But summer lasts a while and down here in the Deep South it gets too hot and sticky for things to last. Already my tomato vines show signs withering and wilting. When they have all laid down their little heads and given up their last bumper crop, I will turn them back into the earth and begin waiting for the spring.
I know it will be worth the wait.
True Love and Homegrown Tomatoes
People, Not Profits: Slow Food in Minneapolis
People, Not Profits: Slow Food in Minneapolis
by Daniel DeWolf
In bucolic Minnesota, a farm-to-table restaurant using organically grown and produced food from self-sustaining farms might seem like an obvious concept. After all, over half of the state’s land acreage is used for farming. However, according to the United States Department of Agriculture, less than one percent of those farms are certified organic operations. Limited availability of these farms, coupled with the lower cost of using traditional food suppliers, might explain why fast food restaurants still outnumber their slow food counterparts here. But consumer conscientiousness about food and its origins appears to be changing—specifically in the Twin Cities, but on a national scale, too.
One example of this shift can be found in south Minneapolis, at Tangletown’s Wise Acre Eatery. Owners Scott Enres and Dean Engelmann opened the restaurant last summer to feed the growing trend. It also helps that they have a self-sustaining farm in Plato, MN, less than an hour away. The duo has owned the farm and Tangletown Gardens—which is located across the street from the restaurant—for over nine years.
“When we were originally looking for a perfect urban garden center location,” Endres says, “we realized we couldn’t have the acreage in the city to be able to produce our own materials, but we also realized that the kind of customer we wanted and connected with the most is in the city.”
That connection to their community is what makes this trio of businesses such a unique enterprise. The garden center sells items like plants and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares that are grown at the farm; the restaurant’s menu features meats and produce that are raised responsibly and grown organically at Tangletown farm; and compost from the restaurant and the garden center are sent back to the farm and reintroduced into the earth.
“By doing it full circle, not having to import all that stuff, we save on cost and our carbon footprint can be lower,” Endres explains. “We’re not bringing in plants from Michigan or Utah; we’re bring in plants from Plato, forty minutes away.”
The farm also hosts a picnic and tour at the end of June and a dinner in late August, providing local residents a firsthand look at the operation, in addition to a meal made from scratch, using ingredients on site. The garden center and restaurant hold an art and garden tour at the end of July to raise money for community-oriented projects.
“That’s something that also helps build the sense of community around our businesses. We’re not just out there just to wait for the cash register to ring and to fill up on its own; we’re giving back, too. To build one of the strongest senses of community is when everybody can get involved and everyone can feel like they’re contributing something.”
Not all of the ingredients for the restaurant’s menu come from the farm, though. They reach out to Castle Rock Organic Farms for dairy products, and they stock their bar with craft beers from Fulton and Harriet breweries—both located in the Twin Cities—in order to support the local community.
“Trends come and go, and back in our grandparents’ days, this wasn’t really a trend, it was just the way that everybody ate. We want to serve this quality in our restaurant because it’s made with love and care.”
Endres emphasizes that the food served at the restaurant is “made with really good ingredients—local ingredients—that we can be really proud of serving, so it’s kind of like food with integrity.”
People, Not Profits: Slow Food in Minneapolis
Southern History at Carnton Plantation
Southern History at Carnton Plantation
by Robin Fulcher, Spring Hill Tennessee
They say if you hold the railing all the way as you climb the petina concrete stairs leading into the graveyard you will see a ghost. How many times did I walk these steps, holding the railing all the way? The cold pipe would slide under my grip and as I walked into the green carpeted lawn with concrete growing and sprouting out of the ground. I would squeeze my eyes shut, hoping and praying that when I opened them I would see a figure from another time. I never did. I could smell the magnolias and fresh cut onions, see the dust in the rays of light, taste the sweat on my lips and feel the cold metal in my palm, but never once did I see the shadowy figures I longed for.
The caretakers of this plantation tell spine-tingling tales of sounds like heavy boots on the stairs, blood on the floor and porches and chilly, cold breezes on an otherwise humid, hot summer day in Franklin, TN. Carnton was a place of angels, not ghosts, to me. In the 70’s and 80’s, I grew up on these battlefields that became a part of Carnton Country Club. The trees in the lane leading up to the clubhouse have grown together to form a tunnel of lush greenery.
Oddly, this place would lighten my mood. It was as if all those boys and men that had died right on these grounds and were now buried in 1,493 unmarked graves, never to return to their families, seemed to become a part of mine. Perhaps this land, the field that hosted the bloodiest five-hours battle of the Civil War, has had enough perdition.
Carnton Plantation was built in 1826 and was home to the McGavock family. Its beautiful front yard became the venue for The Battle of Franklin at 4 P.M. on November 30, 1864. The home became the largest field hospital in the area and 6,500 souls left their bodies on the premises. You can visit and tour the home, gardens and gravesites today and even have your wedding there. It is a stately and elegant mansion that reminds me of a time when this country was trying to find its way. We aren’t there yet but take a tour and remember to close your eyes and hold the railing all the way.
Southern History at Carnton Plantation
Farms in Singapore: Jurong Frog Farm
Farms in Singapore: Jurong Frog Farm
By Eunice Lim, Singapore
Singapore is a young country that lacks its own natural resources. Our busy city slickers are fuelled by foreign imported foods from all over the world, which we purchase from air-conditioned, sanitized supermarkets. Yet, northwest of Singapore, in an area called Kranji, a little countryside retreat is populated by various clusters of local farms. Although these farms are unable to provide the city with all the food it needs, they provide locals with a domestic option for fresh food. I visited the Kranji countryside as part of a commemoration of Slow Food Week and my first stop was the Jurong Frog Farm, a family business started in 1981 by Wan Bock Thiaw.
On the 20th of August 2008, the local newspaper The Straits Times published an article by Grace Chua that called on readers to not “let these amphibian species croak their last” (Chua). In her article, Grace states that “frogs world-wide are threatened by habitat loss, climate change, pollution and pesticides, over-collection as pets and food.” Frogs are also susceptible to diseases such as chytrid fungus. With the numbers of amphibians dwindling, the Jurong Frog Farm ensures their subsistence with healthy breeding practices. On top of that, they provide educational tours and workshops for both adult and children, giving them an opportunity to learn and interact with the American bullfrogs at the farm.
Instead of conventional tourism, the Jurong Frog Farm provides a new form of eco-tourism – frog tourism! Frog tourism is completed here with souvenirs and frog merchandise for sale at the Royal Frog Shop. You can purchase adorable frog badges, headbands and many more at the shop in support of the Jurong Frog Farm.
In addition to souvenirs, the Jurong Frog Farm sells its own produce - fresh whole bullfrog, frozen bullfrog legs, and specially selected snow jelly, or Hasma. Locally managed and sustained, the farm ensures top quality, fresh frog produce for Singaporeans. Low in fats, cholesterol and calories and high in protein, Vitamins A, B1, B12 and C, frog meat is also known to cure eczema and skin problems, neutralize heatiness and improve vitality.
The family’s youngest daughter, Chelsea Wan, joined her father in running the business in 2006. Still in her 20s, her youthful approach to running the business can be seen in the murals painted all over the Frog Farm. Calling herself a frog-o-logist (an expert in all things frog-related), she is also a member of the Kranji Countryside Association, a group of visionary farmers who aim to promote local agriculture and food production, conservation, and eco-tourism.
Amidst the croaks of the bullfrogs, the Jurong Frog Farm is an eye-opener for the city slicker. An entirely different side of Singapore does exist, a side that continues its determined and progressive fight for subsistence farming despite the rapidity and modernity of the city’s imports.
Farms in Singapore: Jurong Frog Farm
Local Food Just Makes Sense at Söntes
Local Food Just Makes Sense at Söntes
by Nancy Yang, Rochester Minnesota
Us northerners have never much been known for our cooking, so saying that a restaurant in a small Minnesotan town boasts “local food” might not impress anyone. The customers won’t notice the extra effort the owners of Rochester, Minnesota’s tapas restaurant Söntes puts into their restaurant: coordinating up to 30 farmers, innovating dishes using constantly varying produce, and manipulating costs so that the prices are still competitive.
Tessa and Nelson started Söntes in 2006, and from the start the restaurant was fully committed to using local produce. Tessa says she had always intended to own such a restaurant. “I grew up here,” she says, and using farm produce was “normal as a kid.” When she moved to the Twin Cities, Minnesota’s metropolitan center, and saw all the local produce being shipped there, she asked, Why isn’t anyone in Rochester working with the farmers and using local products?
While many other Rochester eateries claim to incorporate local ingredients, none displays such an ardent commitment as Söntes. It emphasizes its seasonal menu based on locally grown produce and its support for not only the regional farmers but artisans as well. Söntes is decorated with works by local artists and houses live music on Saturday nights. Its blog is constantly updated with heart filled commentaries on food and wine, community news, and sustainable living. The Slow Food principle “just makes sense,” Tessa says, “We don’t know any different.” It’s obvious that Söntes goes above and beyond cooking local—they work with local. They honor the sense of community that Rochester urgently needs to remain vibrant and attractive for visitors.
Maybe it would have been easier to open Söntes in a large city, where transporting produce would be more efficient and the community would be more willing to recognize Söntes’s undertaking. “It’s not always a money maker—the products are more expensive and is a big deterrent for people, and it’s very hard to implement and execute.” But Tessa and Nelson chose Rochester, and their restaurant is thriving.
At the downtown festival, I have to wait out a long line running from Söntes’ stand, so that I can grab a bite of their paella. It’s being cooked in an open-air pan almost as wide as I am tall, and it smells heavenly. Clearly the numerous customers believe Söntes's slow food is worth the wait.
Local Food Just Makes Sense at Söntes
Careful Eating in a Food Paradise
Careful Eating in a Food Paradise
By Eunice Lim, Singapore
Table at 7, SFCSS’s dining venue on the 19th of November 2011“Eat more carefully and do not finish what you do not like.” – Mr. Jen Shek Voon, Founder Chairman of the Slow Food Convivium Society (Singapore)
Singapore has a diverse range of food and is often referred to as the “Food Paradise”. Numerous visitors all over the world come to Singapore, eager to have their taste buds tickled by the exotic delicacies available. Hawker centres, coffee shops, restaurants and fast food franchises will have you spoilt for choices. There is so much food waiting to be devoured. But Mr. Jen Shek Voon, founder chairman of the Slow Food Convivium Society of Singapore (SFCSS), advises that we are to “eat more carefully and not finish what we do not like.” Rather than promote wasteful eating, Mr. Jen is devoted to the slow food movement, which encourages careful consideration and knowledge of the food on the table, before actually putting it into your mouth. Good food is not only about food that is delicious, but also about responsible eating in the presence of good company. 
When I interviewed Mr. Jen on behalf of Robin Wade Furniture, he defined Slow Food as an enjoyment of the slowness of time and the gaining of insight into the food on the table, for example how it is prepared. He also defined it as an exploration of the realm of the senses, in which the cuisine appeals to him and the wine that is selected to be paired with it. His definition rejects mindless wolfing down of food in record time and encourages us to indulge in the art of food and allow ourselves the time to establish a relationship with the food we eat. After all, you are what you eat. If a food is disagreeable for one reason or another, eating it would mean one eats for the sake of eating, and that alone is not sufficient reason to let the food become part of your body. What makes the SFCSS so special to Mr. Jen is the camaraderie that binds their members and friends together, a camaraderie that is connected to their sense of taste and enjoyment of all good food and wines. The SFCSS hosts a lunch for its members every last Saturday of the month. Not only are the meals they share memorable, but are carried out in the company of like-minded people.
When asked to reveal what could be expected in the next lunch gathering, Mr. Jen replies that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. Members pay an annual subscription fee of $120 Singapore dollars, of which S$100 goes to the International Office in Bra, Italy, for the payment of dues and the subscription of 3 issues per year of the Slow Food International magazine. Additionally, at the standard price of $150 Singapore dollars for the monthly meal, being part of the slow food movement here in Singapore does come with a rather hefty price and may not be for those on a budget. Even though you could buy 30 Happy Meals with $150 in Singapore, this monthly meal guarantees happiness too, albeit of a different sort. Instead of speed and instant gratification, the SFCSS invites you to immerse and indulge in the slow satisfaction of a quality meal, accompanied by merry laughter and conversation.
There is peace in knowing that the food on the table comes from clean and ethical sources. There is solace in knowing that in this fast food era, there is the Slow Food Movement to remind us of what it means to slow down our footsteps and appreciate the food we eat. Finally, it is the comfort of knowing these things that make the monetary price worth the paying.
Photographs and Pictures taken from Slow Food Singapore’s Facebook Page with the permission of SFCSS.
Slow Movement in Fast Singapore
Photography Courtesy of Juliana LimSlow Movement in Fast Singapore
By Eunice Lim, Singapore
“Our senses can only take flight upon deceleration. Accelerating life simply numbs your senses. And to live without all those senses is hardly living.”
In the year 2007, Cable News Network (CNN) published an article online about a research by The British Council that identified Singaporeans as the fastest walkers of the world. The research was carried out in 32 cities including London and New York. For a small city of a mere 274 square miles, its citizens took an average time of 10.55 seconds to cover a distance of 60 feet. With astonishing statistics like these, the negative consequences of a fast city are gradually dawning upon Singaporeans. Attempts to relinquish the fast-paced rat-race lives we are used to have resulted in yoga classes mushrooming all over the city and increasingly exorbitant massage sessions, all of which are carried out, unsurprisingly, at top speed. Slow living in such a 
From 18th May to 2nd June, Umbrella for 2 by Espaces Sonores graced the Singapore Arts Festival 2012. An in-situ reality “soundwalk” by the sound scape director Stéphane Marin from France, an Umbrella For 2 consisted of two participants sharing a large black umbrella and an mp3 playing synchronized tracks of sounds and a meticulous mish mash of opinions on the city. The walk challenged the lightning pace of the fast city by taking the participants on a 60-minute long walk through the city.
The walk combined the aesthetic experiences of reality with audio enhancements, boldly challenging our ability to see our own city for what it really is amidst our usual hustle-bustle. At some point, the walk is purposefully planned in a way that causes the participating duo to advance towards a train station’s exit gantry, inevitably hindering exiting commuters. Visibly annoyed, commuters unaware of the Umbrella for 2 dodged and shoved the duo, who momentarily found themselves trapped awkwardly in the city’s unrelenting, unstoppable human traffic. Simultaneously and almost mockingly, the synchronized track played voices uttering frantic apologies. In that carefully engineered moment, the raw realities of our fast-walking city are exposed.
photo credit; “An Umbrella for 2” Facebook PageQuite unapologetically, the fast walkers of Singapore are ready to jostle their way into oblivion, not once stopping to question the curious sight of a duo holding a giant umbrella indoors. The fast food culture has accelerated our lives into a succession of flitting images, blurring the various experiences into an indistinguishable mess. An Umbrella for 2 acknowledges and seeks to make sense of the mess through a slow walk, highlighting the sights and sounds Singaporeans have otherwise, been blind and deaf too. Singapore’s lack of four seasons was also pointed out to explain the Singaporean’s inability to perceive our weather and environmental changes. Communal Kampongs replaced by the cold, columbarium-like high-rise flats are pointed out as a possible cause of loneliness. The repeated emphasis on consumerism and the social and environmental price paid for these economic developments serve as an awakening for the Singaporean to embrace slow living.
Although conducted publicly, the Umbrella for 2 was a private and unique experience for each individual. Refreshingly perceptive, the one hour of slow movement reshapes the Singaporean by giving him the chance to savor the sensory experience of slow living. After all, our senses can only take flight upon deceleration. Accelerating life simply numbs your senses. And to live without all those senses is hardly living.
natural edge oak desk
natural edge oak desk
This natural edge oak desk also arrived fresh out finishing room this morning. This one's a real beauty, flaunting nothing but natural throughout. The
beautiful natural edges of the local oak tree are clearly apparent from leg to leg. Another - somewhat natural element is the fairly common "blue streak" down one leg. So many of our larger oak trees spent their previous
lives shading a residence. And, as we human types seem to have to do, metal of all sorts seems to find its way into the back yard trees. This blue streak is a flag to our sawyers milling the logs to be careful - that there is metal close by (usually just above the metal stain).
Just another unique, one of a kind
somewhat natural table.
38" x 58" x 30" tall