Another Meatless Monday!

For Meatless Mondays I made a recipe I've been drooling over ever since I saw it on the Fat Free Vegan's Blog. It's called Eat The Rainbow Black Bean Soup. There are tons of veggies in it: red cabbage, mushrooms, black beans, canned diced tomatoes, and you chop up a full onion, dice carrots, and red or yellow peppers chopped and then saute them all like this:

That's it. That's the only photo I can show you.

The very last thing you do with this wonderful soup (which I made in my slow cooker) is to add in spinach (she says lettuce is okay, too, but I just can't see it).

And every drop of this soup got put up for lunches and dinners and stored (except for the soup I had today, and it's gone).

Photos? Nope. Sorry. Look at her blog - her photos are prettier anyway!
*wink*

Back to Meatless Mondays

After a ton of reading about the intermingled serious issues facing the world today - such basic issues! - I'm recommitting to Meatless Mondays (and Meatless, Most Days - heheh) and so here is a sample menu I've enjoyed:

Roasted Winter Squash: cut smallish squash in half, scoop out seeds and pulp, spray a glass casserole with olive oil spray and place face down, then fill with 1 inch or so of water, cover and bake at 400 for about 45-60 minutes (this is be dependent on how small your oven is, I used the 60 minutes without checking and my small toaster oven gets HOT, so I think I could have gone with less time, but it was delightful anyway and just peeled away from the skin easily)

Mustard greens with olive oil and red wine vinegar. I bought fresh, but will use frozen during the winter.

The last two items are from a couple of local spots: I went out to Jameson's Orchards (which is a lovely farm not far from me) and picked up a couple of rice mixes they had prepared. The Brown Rice and Lentil mix is shown above. It makes six 3/4 cup servings for a very Weight Watcher's friendly 4 Points Plus, and is just wonderful! Then I wanted a corn muffin but wasn't in the mood to make my own, so when I shopped for my mustard greens, I picked up a couple of these. A tad pricey, but just simply wonderful. I love my Fresh Market grocery. I also picked up 4 MacIntosh apples that I think might not be local, but if they're Vermont Macs? So much the better for my tastes!

Today is MM's Food Day which focuses on healthy, affordable, sustainable food choices so I'll be participating today and all year with the Meatless Mondays project (at least that's the intention...hopefully I can get posts up each week in time...)

With concerns about the use of water in agriculture, and diminishing farmland and grazing land (see below and the link to the Institute for the Environment in the sidebar), the less meat I can eat, the better.

I should make that, "the less meat WE can eat, the better!

This Is Where My Head Is These Days...

That video shows a highly complex issue in an extraordinarily succinct manner.

Food production. Water preservation. Population explosion. Environmental degradation.

Can we all (and I do mean ALL) get along long enough to solve this issue? When I look at the US political divide, I can't help but be pretty pessimistic about it.

And it's never been more important that we get along.

Local Fibershed...

I'm here, I'm reading a lot, when I can, and this popped up on my radar just in the past day or two. I couldn't help but bring it to your attention as well...
Fibershed: Grown & Sewn Close to Home.

She has a blog and a video, too. You can check them both out here.

I've decided that, while I can't grow most of my stuff (either to eat or to dye with, or even to bring from one season to another to shear for the fiber), I can strive more and more to use fibers made locally.

The first step is to source the fabric and the fiber. It might be easier than I think (or not)...

More Interesting Reading...

I've been busy as a bee working on stock for my two upcoming events in September and as a result am quite behind the times in getting back to you, but I did want to share a couple of things of interest:

These are the result of my Farmers' Market excursions (to two different markets!) on the weekend, and I'm enjoying those gourmet cherry tomatoes, especially!.

But I also found a couple of spot of good reading and wanted to share them. I've "liked" the New Dream folks over on Facebook, and the other day discovered an interesting piece about becoming Financially Independent using Vicki Robins and Joe Dominguez' plan found in YMOYL. I'm going to try to keep up with her posts on the New Dream blog, as I think they'll be interesting. Here's the first installment.

Then the same subject showed up over on Be More With Less but she had a different perspective so I thought I'd include this post.

Part of where I hope to go with this blog is toward a sensible reassignment of my own finances, alone with doing more with less (and getting rid of a LOT of the MORE in the process!).

I did manage to divest myself of a large garbage bag of too big clothing and a spare cat carrier (to a friend with a new kitten)...but I'll have to replace the carrier with a rolling hardshell case if I can find one, so maybe that doesn't count?

Either that, or they're gonna have to go on diets. I suspect they'll toss me out of the house first.
;)

So Maybe We'll Start Right Here: Why I Believe Designing & Making Handbags is My "Calling"

Seven years ago, I was faced with a rather difficult diagnosis after losing 1/3 of the sight in my right eye: Systemic Lupus Erythmatosus. I'd been in and out of doctor's appointments all over town, and even down to Duke University to their Eye Center and evaluated by an excellent Opthamologist and also a Rheumatologist there. The vision loss made it difficult to continue to work in counted cross stitch which had been my "drug of choice" in the craft world for many years. I still happen upon those uncompleted projects every so often and sigh wistfully. (Since then the diagnosis has changed a mite, to one not quite so serious - whew!)

At the time, tho', hand-sewn fabric bags were all the rage, and one afternoon, I dropped into a quilting shop on my way home from work to discover a delightful cat fabric which I promptly purchased, along with a pattern and a couple of coordinating prints. I'm afraid I fell apart (sort of) at the store, in discussing why I was suddenly venturing into a fabric shop after years of denying my sewing abilities, but as a result the owner and I have become well acquainted, and I trust her eye as well as my own when it comes to fabric selections! She's an excellent resource I would never have met without this sad time in my life...I'm terribly grateful that I'm so wealthy in friends.

But I digress...For years, my sister and I had been looking for the "perfect pocketbook" which would keep us organized and pulled together, but after numerous disappointments, I became convinced such a bag was nonexistent. The possibility of making one hadn't occurred to me before, but the pattern I picked up that day I ended up being totally disenchanted with, because, once again, it just wasn't what I wanted in a bag. Still, a seed was planted in my mind. Over the next couple of days, I worked away on designs and finally created the very first "Nana Sadie Rose" bag: what has become known as my Mera bag (named for my daughter). I carried the prototype to a friend's Fourth of July picnic and was begged to make more for the women present. I carried it to my vet, and she begged for one just like mine (and she has the only EXACT replica of any of Nana Sadie Rose's bags, as each one is original in some respect).

Since that time, I've had enough customers fall in love with the Mera to determine it is my best selling bag, but I didn't stop there, of course. As customers asked for various items, and as I expanded my crafting horizons (adding in knitting when I realized I could make those fun-fur scarves that were in fashion back then) the items available at Nana Sadie Rose have skyrocketed. (At least it feels that way)

Now fashion might seem an odd "calling" to have, but hear me out: the bags are practical. In every respect, I try very hard to design with practicality in mind. Pockets, fasteners, and accessories are all incorporated because they serve a purpose, a need.

And then I add fun.

You see I'm a firm believer that life should be fun. When the economy began to tank, I kept right on designing. I've continued to operate my quiet, small corner of the world of fashion, because it's in my home (no overhead) and because I know I provide a quality product. In fact, quality is my first requirement. If I can't make an item that will serve it's purpose and wear reliably (the fabric IS cotton, so it's not going to be immortal, after all) then I look elsewhere. It's why I try very hard not to use materials that I deem sub-standard. But once I find the good ones, then I add in whatever interest my customer has. It's why the cat show circuit loves my bags, as I'll go to great lengths to find interesting and novel cat fabrics to satisfy their interest.

And knitters know they can count on fabrics that reflect our mutual love of knitting, as well as accessory items that protect their serious investment in their supplies - I don't use velcro in my knitting related items, for example, because it snags yarn badly, and I cushion all the needle cases to protect bamboo, fine steel, and wooden needle tips. So many needles available today are exquisite and quite pricey!

So my commitment to quality, my recognition of my customers need to protect their investment in the tools of their craft, and my insistence in having fun with the fabrics all make Nana Sadie Rose a labor of love, and a true "calling," in my mind. I think most of my customers feel that they've spent money wisely when they've purchased any of my items.

I'm a very grateful Nana!

There'll Be Some Changes Made...

Things have been so dark and so stressful for so long now, in this country, as well as around the world, that I’ve been challenged sometimes just to get up in the morning, have you? But since women tend to keep everyone else’s boats floating, we can’t sink into despair, even if we want to. We must find ways to carry on. I love that phrase from WWII England, “Keep Calm and Carry On.” (I also love the corollary “Keep Calm and Carry Yarn” and I make sure I do!)

And so I’m up every day, heading in to work, then home to work again, and trying, in the process to hang on by my fingernails. Prices rising, earnings stagnant, debt ceilings cracking, interest rates going up on everything, joblessness and layoffs, and politicians who only think of the next election cycle: this scenario has plagued me, and I’m sure you, for months now.

But I will carry on, and this is where I want to focus – I will carry on, with style and beauty, and a grateful heart. Because for all that times are very tough, and politicians elected to do the right thing can’t seem to understand what that means, the saving grace, for me, is thrift (in the nicest sense of the word – that of “Oh! A bargain!” and “Oh! Look what I unearthed from the attic!” and “Oh! This room looks so much better with less clutter!” and “Oh! Thrift shopping is a terribly fun game!” and “I’ve been trying to eat healthier and testing out vegan recipes is au courant and also good for the planet while being less expensive, too!” and “Yes, my mind is so much calmer with quiet and focus and gratitude.”

Thrift and Gratitude.

Can you tell I’ve been reading Ban Breathnach again? I have. And she’s got something, you know. We each control our emotions and our thoughts, we can choose what we focus upon. And in this respect: the abundance and plenty of love and friends and not of the angst and "stuff" that has been cluttering our homes, our lives, our minds...

It’s a matter of working with your head, recognizing that hours alone by the computer or in front of the TV just closes you in on yourself, that getting out into the world, taking a walk, meeting friends for coffee or tea, joining a book club or a walking group, dropping by your favorite yarn shop for an hour of knitting with whomever drops by - these take you out of yourself, away from the incessant, stress-producing “name-calling and blame-game-one-upmanship” of cable TV news. How about a potluck supper party with your neighbors – find out who has what and resolve to share(lawn mowers, hedge clippers, slow cookers, pressure canners, sewing machines, novels?), and who is up for a morning walking group?

So this blog will be changing it’s focus from a haphazard "environmental, craft, shop local" blog to one that looks at these elements as a means to creating a beautiful, sustainable life. One steeped in gratitude, one that does, indeed, seek to keep more wealth (not just $$, either!) than slips through one’s fingers in what used to pass for “normal.” Buying less, saving more, but doing thrift with style. Care to come along with me? We can share “elegant economies” together as we do!

Farmer's Market Saturday...

Yesterday was hot, sticky, but I had to go to the Farmer's Market and pick up some fresh veggies:

I dragged around before I finally pushed myself out the door (Saturday's are hard to wake up early for) so by being late, I get one of two things, and sometimes both, as was the case yesterday: smaller selection, and deals and steals from folks trying to sell what's left over before the morning ends. Up there you'll see I picked up a bunch of the ruffly squash that I refer to as patty-pans. They're delightful steamed up with a little butter and seasonings. Then a basket of gourmet mini tomatoes (I plan a special salad tonight!), and 4 ears of corn. I saw his sign that read "6 for $3" and said, I'd like 3 if that's okay...well the four he had on the table were what he had left so I got them for the price of 3. The peaches, of course will be snacks and desserts.
Sis-in-law grew the tomatoes and peppers in her garden and I was gifted with those, as well as some of her first pickings of green beans. I've already done away with two of the tomatoes...in sandwiches!

Before I walked out my door around 11 a.m. yesterday, the kitties were riveted to the windows, tails twitching. I moved carefully to see what squirrel or cardinal it might be:

And this is what I saw. She's a matter of about 25 yards or so from the house! She'd been closer but had moved by the time I got the camera...the lawn has many violets in it, and I saw her picking thru the greenery, so expect that was what she was feasting on.

It's actually sad that she's so close. I'm only a block from a busy business district and I know the herd she's a part of live in the narrow stretch behind my house and between my back yard and the businesses below. Not exactly safe territory...

A Whole Month? Plus?

I'm sorry! I've been AWOL.

Really, I didn't intend for things to go this long. I've been reading, and sewing, and having a birthday, and having company, and more reading and sewing...

I've been reading Diet for a Hot Planet. And spending some time with these websites and reading articles along the same lines.

I'm formulating something, it's not ready yet, but I'm still here, and I promise I'll be back.
:)

Meatless Mondays & Still Cleaning Out The Freezer

So when I saw this recipe over at Stitch And Boots, well, I just had to try it.

(I did have to pick up a few things, but I had more than half of the ingredients and this used up some of the eggplant from the CSA - that really needs to be used up! Oh, and the cheap Trader Joe's red wine on my counter, too!)

The only thing I did differently, was to add a bit of Parmesan cheese to the top. I'm not a vegan, but if you are, leave it off!

I'm proud of myself. I used up, in addition to the wine and the frozen eggplant, two cans of diced tomatoes and then an onion, a bag of spinach, and garlic cloves in the fridge. I picked up kalamata olives at the deli bar (I love them, they're very satisfying as a snack, too and quite few in points (if any). I'm a bit sorry that I didn't have any mushrooms in the veggie drawer, and next time might have some to add in...

All in all, this is a lovely recipe. I completely enjoyed it and there's plenty left. I expect I'll end up freezing some of it as there's at least 5 more servings here.

And I love cooking once and enjoying it again and again!

Kroger Has More to Recommend It!

I've gotten quite savvy (and my DD thinks this is quite amusing) about online coupons and all sorts of ways to save money at the grocery store. I was so excited to learn that, once I got my change of address filed with Kroger and tied my info to my shopper card, that suddenly I was getting good coupons relating to the things I buy in the mail every couple of weeks or so. Then, I go online to their website, and add coupons they offer there to my card. I don't have to cut anything, I just have to remember to buy the item. And since what I get coupons for are things I buy anyway, eventually I luck out and use them.

So it was kind of fun tonight, to decide I wanted one of their roasted chickens for dinners this weekend. I had a 70 cents off coupon. That chicken makes 4 meals for me. And when I got it home, I immediately portioned it out into those four meals, and took the meat off the carcass. Once that was done? I tossed it into a pot of filtered water...

I've been saving the ends of celery, carrots, peelings from those carrots and any odd veggie leftover I could find in freezer boxes. I had three of them (and only used two for this), but I tossed them in with the carcass, added in some spices, and ended up with the chicken stock you see up there in the photo. I've frozen it.

I wonder how many people actually throw out the bones without stewing them to smitherines?
:)
OH! And one more thing that Kroger has going for it? I earn points with every dollar I buy and those points translate into cents off per gallon of gas at their pumps. Their prices are competitive with the lowest gas chain in town, Sheetz. So for 100 points ($100) I get 10 cents per gallon off on a fill-up...and so on...

(I also save on gasoline running to other stores...dontcha know?)

YAY! A Move in the Right Direction for Corporate Responsibility!

Kroger Bans BPA...

A decent-sized company, making an excellent choice...will other stores follow suit?
fingers crossed

Reducing Plan

I lost weight, a lot of weight, and now my home needs a reducing plan, too. I have a two-bedroom townhouse – with full basement – and it’s packed to the rafters (ok, not really, as I believe there is an attic, but I haven’t been up and don’t want to go – that’s all the clutterbug needs, is to find more space to fill). I refuse to grant myself permission to expand any further.

Oh, yes, I’m a devoted clutterbug. Over the years, following the voluntary simplicity philosophy I so admire, I’ve had short spells of trying to rid myself of much of my stuff. I’d make a bit of a dent, but that’s all – this decluttering is hard, and it goes against the grain of everything I’ve ever done, who I’ve ever been. Of course, I’m NOT my stuff – or am I? I’m a diehard collector. What have I collected? Hmm…?

1. Stuffed Teddy Bears (they are all boxed up)
2. Ceramic cat figurines (they are all boxed up)
3. Swanky Swigs (I use about 5 of these, but most of mine are boxed up)
4. Rose-strewn china/porcelain decorated pieces (hmm…most are boxed up)
5. Depression glass – no specific pattern and while most of it is unpacked in the pie safe that houses such things, I don’t use them…might as well be boxed up.
6. CDs, 33-rpm vinyl records, cassette tapes (at least there are no 8-tracks)
7. Magazines, books
8. Fabric, yarn (ok the fabric is for my business, but there is a lot that’s not)
9. My mother’s stuff (I didn’t collect it, she did, but when she died, I couldn’t face giving it all up – it was HERS and I’d lost her, so I could keep her stuff – I’m still working on that one)

This time, encouraged by having to open my closets and rid myself of all those FAT clothes (they’re gone, or rather, they’re waiting in a couple of places to be either sold or donated and at the rate I’m going I just had better donate them), I have begun to look at other things carefully. And I’ve discovered I have a long, long way to go.

There are methods to this, of course, and one of them is that you will never be "there," as in, there will always be purging to do. I love the "one-in, one-out" idea but I need to try to do the one-in, two-out, at least till things are under control).

One decision that I’ve reached is that I will not, under any circumstances, allow myself to think that this time of decluttering is in advance of redecorating. I will admit that I might well find things in my “stuff” that I could repurpose to "redo" my space, but at least that won’t be spendy…and I won’t let myself KEEP things just for that purpose (unless I truly love it). Minimalism for me will not necessarily be Spartan. I like "My Grandmother’s Parlor" look. However, since I admit that it’s a PITA to dust and clean in that environment, I’ll keep the style, just cut the clutter and reduce the amount of stuff...

I'm putting myself on a different sort of reducing plan...

OMG - Something to Aspire To?

I found this over on Laurie's blog today, and once I went to see the video? Well, I just knew I had to share it here...


Can you imagine? I'm actually totally in love with that little space - she's got everything she needs!
(hmm...did you see any way for her to wash her dishes? I didn't - I guess she uses the bathroom sink? Hopefully not paper plates, because of the waste.)

I love the Tiny House Blog and I have this romantic notion that I want to retire and live in a vintage camper (or maybe not such a vintage one, as I'd want a shower/bathroom...) so perhaps an efficiency apartment for most of the time and a vintage camper so I can meet up with the gals over on Sisters On The Fly (but I'm not into fly fishing, and frankly, if you put me on a horse, you'd end up taking me to the hospital in short order...I love horses, and used to love to ride, but my spine can't take the pounding anymore.)

Of course, the truth of the matter is? All of this is pretty obviously my subconscious mind telling me I have to get a handle on the STUFF in my home...weed out, give up and away, organize, pare down, and get serious about minimalism.

(But isn't it interesting how much of this is popping up all over the place these days?)

Simplicity Itself!

There are times, I wish I could write really small so I could emblazon things that have special meaning to me on a Post-It to carry in my pocket. This is one of those posts...

Why A Nook?

I've mentioned it a time or two here...now I'm going to discuss it a bit in detail. I bought a NOOK!

Frankly, I waffled a long time. I'm an insatiable reader...or I used to be. About 6 years ago, I started knitting again, very seriously. It's truly my passion and when combined with my handbag business and sewing, well, that takes up most of my free time. I did pick up audio books occasionally from the library, but I found that if the reader was good, I stayed focused on the story, but there were way too many readers whose voices simply enabled me to zone out. Well, I'm really not reading a book then, if I can't remember what it's all about, right?

So when the e-readers came out, I was intrigued...not because I could read and sew, that's pretty much impossible, but I can read and knit.

The other major issue with my failing to read was that physically I had problems - holding the books (they've gotten so heavy, even paperbacks are big) and reading (seeing the print...and let's face it, I'm only getting older, the vision is getting worse, and bifocals don't cut it, so I was reading without my glasses and the book had to be 3 inches in front of my face - not very appealing).

Still, I am a library gal. I believe in them, I even don't feel bad if I have to pay a late return fine, because I'm supporting the library! If I don't have to buy a book, that's a good thing.

E-reader creators mostly want you to buy their e-books (altho' there are some good free, or mostly free, options out there, which I'll be exploring soon).

I can knit with my Nook, I can read (there are 5 options of print size!) with my glasses on. The Nook, while a bit heavier than I'd hoped, is fairly easy to hold and read in bed.

My only complaint? I have spent a good deal on e-books. And I'm trying to console myself - with the exception of knitting books, I've not been buying books for the past few years. So...I suppose buying a few now isn't really the end of the world? I've had the Nook a bit over a week, and have finished 3 books.

I.LOVE.MY.NOOK!
Love.It.

Changing My Spots?

Well, I certainly hope so...at least a little bit. Tho' I'll always love leopard! *wink*

Sandra recommended the Miss Minimalist blog in my contest a week or so ago, and I've spent quite a bit of time poking around on her site. Then, after finally buying my Nook last weekend, I downloaded her book, The Joy of Less and have been reading and thinking (I'm not one who just plows thru these types of essays, I savor, and consider, and think about what's worked before and what hasn't.

And in thinking about her steps to take towards minimalism ... towards paring down, sweeping out the clutter and such, I had to factor in the hard commitment I have to two shows in September. My personal decluttering/mind reversal/spot-changing will have to take place around that deadline.

So this weekend, I made some progress:
That is a huge stack of knitting patterns that have been purchased or were offered free online. I had printed everything, some were in plastic sleeves, some were duplicates, and some were just ... well, just there. Now, everything has been gone thru, put into a logical sequence (I didn't have dividers, but that's on the shopping list), and slipped into page protectors...this was a job that confronted me every single time I walked into the knitting room/office, one I just couldn't face. It took about 35-40 minutes total. What was I waiting for?

Then I did this:

Saturday was our second Prescription Drug Take-Back event. I couldn't go last time, but a friend took the few odds and ends I had at the time...still I knew there were more - meds I'd been prescribed and ended up either being unable to take for my own sensitivities, or co-mix issues with other meds I take, or samples that didn't work, and sometimes just a regular drug I'd been taking and suddenly the doc thinks there's something better - you know how this goes, right? Well...the police, in conjunction with the DEA, have these opportunities to bring the drugs in, no questions asked, and you hand them off for proper disposal - not flushing them down the drain or tossing them into the landfill where they contaminate the environment...

I knew I had things in the back of that cabinet that I could drop off at this Take-Back, and I also knew there was a lot of stuff in that overstuffed cabinet that could be pitched. Friday night, I got down in the floor and tossed, left and right - you should have seen the personal care products, toiletries, cosmetics and such that aren't there anymore...(I'm notorious, if I spend money for something, I hang onto it until I either pitch it in sheer disgust (like now) or I use it up...sometimes that's not such a good thing!

And can you tell there's lots of SPACE behind the things at the very front of this cabinet.

Space. Room to breathe...
That's a nice feeling...

Another Meatless Monday!

This weekend was the Earth Day celebration in Grandin Village, where I take yoga classes and visit the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op for neat ready-made dishes at the Happy Belly Deli as well as pick up lovely organic fresh food. While at the Earth Day event, the Grandin Village Farmer's Market was also kicking off the season and I picked up a dozen free-range chicken eggs (he also had duck eggs). I knew that would mean I'd have to eat them fairly regularly till they were gone, so the Meatless Monday meal is an omelet (which frankly is a little crusty because the burner was higher than I usually use and I failed to note that when I was cooking it...still the crusties were also very very good:

The omelet has gruyere cheese in it. Then there's fresh asparagus and a wonderful salad called Alpha Omega from the Happy Belly Deli. It has cranberries in it. I also picked up a Nantucket Cranberry Crumble bar for dessert (ok, more than one dessert because it's pretty pricey calorie-wise!)

I also picked up the season's first fresh Swiss Chard. YUMMY!

I am so glad it's spring and the Farmer's Markets are back!

Earth Day! (Celebrated) & A Winner!

I spent today in Grandin Village - well, part of the day - got a parking ticket (and no, I didn't see a "No Parking" sign, if I had, I wouldn't have pushed my luck on such a day...) and then came back home and with a helpful assistant
drew a name for the contest winner!


Can you read that? (I know it's fuzzy, he was moving fast, trying to get the paper to play with, and knowing I was planning to get it away from him.)

The winner is Sandra! Both of you had great ideas, and by the way, this obviously tells me I don't have all that many folks reading this little blog...which is something I'd love to change...Any ideas???

Contest Continues Thru Friday at Midnight!

But oh, my, I'm so pleased to have learned of the Miss Minimalist blog! Thank you, friend Sandra! That link, btw, will take you to a specific entry, one that just felt so completely satisfying to read!

Don't forget to post a link to a blog to be included in my contest - it ends tonight!

Please note the link to the contest is no longer valid and has been removed.