May’s Challenge

Although I come up with a lot of adventures (”I’m going to rent an RV and drive to Alaska!”) during the course of a normal day, most are not enacted.  However, my recent idea about shopping locally for a month, well, that’s going to happen.  In May.  Austin stores only. Althought I’m sure that some things will prove to be a challenge, Austin has that whole buy-local-Keep-Austin-Weird thing going on. There’s also the Austin Independent Business Alliance.  In general, Austin’s pretty independent-business friendly, and the southern part of Austin I live in has that attitude in spades.

Hey look, it’s where I am right now (Austin Java)!  I’ll still be able to come here in May.

Not that there aren’t some spoilsports around here.  College Station (home of Texas A&M) has an anti-Austin program called “Keep College Station Normal” and there are plenty of unweird pro-corporate types right here.  Boo.

Overall, I think it will be an interesting experiment, and my brother (who, in addition to his other pursuits, is something of an economist!) has offered to explain to me some of why shopping locally makes a material difference, as opposed to just being a fruity hippie pointless exercise in anti-corporate bitching.  I think it might also be a very tasty experiment, regardless of the potential economic and ecological benefits.I can definitely shop at the Sunset Valley farmer’s market!

Wild onions and garlic from the farmer’s market waiting to be sauteed with mushrooms and chicken. I love wild onions.  I particularly love onion flowers.

So, we shall see what happens.  I shall also see what sorts of rules to apply as far as what’s local.  I wonder if I’m going to be able to buy shoes…

Meanwhiles, from yesterday some of my favorite Earth Day posts: (and other stuff I found as a result)

From Curbly, we have Bonnie’s Plants in biodegradable pots.  This is wonderful.  I tend to kill plants while transplanting them.  Perhaps this will help my black thumb.  Did I mention I came up with an idea for an indoor greenhouse for herbs & small veggies yesterday?

Scrap Organic Cotton Fabric from Natural America’s manufacturing.  Sometimes they have left over batting, too.

Revisiting the Worsted Witch’s post on cleaning supplies and the cute bottles you can put them in.

Soaps Gone Buy some great classic cleaning products. Not that I like cleaning, but c’mon, it’s Fels Naptha and about 20 different kinds of borax products!  Oh, what, you never made soap?  Well, I can’t help you.  This is exciting.

Re-Nest had a post on a Billion ideas for Using Lemons for Household Cleaning.  Got to try these.  Good excuse to have a lemon tree in my nonexistent backyard!

A billion alternatives to commercial cleaning products at the Ecology Center, clean your whole home with baking soda, and a lot of suggestions for using tea tree oil (I love this stuff, but it’s an acquired smell) from Treehugger.

Interested in the book Clean House, Clean Planet for alternatives to chemical cleaners from a pro.

Green Craft

Consumerism. It’s on my mind from last wekend. I promote handmade items a lot, I think it’s worthy of thinking about what it is I ostensibly promote, and why. For me, that’s sidestepping mass commercialism, supporting local or independent businesses. But am I really?

Exhibit One: I’ve pondered going a month only spending my money at local stores. Can I do it? Is it even possible to do so and still procure all the things I might need? Where does internet shopping fall in that equation?

Exhibit Two: Say you have an independent seller. What about the stuff that person sells? Is it just as mass-produced as it would have been in the Big Box store? Is there a difference between purchasing Item A in either place? How about independent design but mass production?

Exhibit Three: Say you have someone who makes handmade stuff. So how are the supplies produced that a person uses to make that handmade stuff? At what level do we have to go to find something that’s really not mass-produced? Is it actually possible to avoid that? What’s the value of avoiding it?

So where does Ecology come in? There are a million questions and not a lot of great answers, I think. In honor of Earth Day, I am going to link to a lovely story from Crafting A Green World that looks at some of these questions and then takes off on considering craft and the crafters’ supplies from an ecological standpoint. Some interesting thoughts, some interesting survey results. You’ll see more of this soon via Etsy and the Maker Faire.

And don’t forget to read down and check out the DIY Guide (of course) to Drawing Your Own Conclusions about the Craft Supply Industry.

And there you have it, my contribution to earth day.

Beautiful things

It’s been a while since I did an outfit created with indie things, so I think it’s time again. This time, I’ve figured out how to use Polyvore, which is a very dangerous sort of tool that will no doubt lead to additional shopping.

You might not know that I’m a shoe fiend. I don’t actually wear a lot of the shoes that I covet - in fact, I do believe I have 5 pair of very similar black or gray Mary Jane flats, and that’s pretty much my comfort zone. But for fun? I do love shoes. Pretty shoes. Shoes with color. And oh, I do love heels. That last might be because I’m on the short side and secretly (or not so much) have a complex about it. My brother is over 6 feet. I’m barely 5′2″. Where’s the justice, I ask?

So this whole set today is inspired by a post from U-Handblog about Hetty Rose handmade shoes. I have long thought that in the crafting world, there aren’t enough handmade shoes. Why? Shoes are not easy to make. Shoes are costly to make. Shoe-making (aka cordwaining) is not a terrifically popular craft, but it’s one of those that really epitomizes to me what the word “craft” means - it means skill, it means handmade, and it it means tools.

So enjoy … apart from the shoes, everything’s from Dawanda, which is a truly fabulous place to buy things you never knew you needed. I decided to go somewhat elegant, ’cause the shoes really kinda demand it.  Hope you like.

Dress: This orange silk dress is by Lyra Amber.

hoes: Hetty Rose Handmade Shoes clearly makes fabulous shoes. Seriously, you should go look at the other shoes she has in her shop. Really incredible. Most are more colorful than the ones I’m showing, but I really love that fabric and the toe cutout.

Pendant: Lotus Blossom pendant and earrings by Stone Soup Jewelry. Cut from 2 sheets of sterling silver with silver beads, on a black silk cord.

Bag: This evening bag is silver and brown silk from East Haven.