Weeks 24 & 25 Of the Grand Experiment!!

Well you're just gonna have to wait on the Starbucks thing. The research is a bit round-robin at the moment.
Instead, just in time for your holiday shopping needs, I bring you:

!!! ECO SELLERS OF ETSY !!!

Yes kiddos, it's closing in on the winter holidays and I thought, "Hey, how about I share some of my Etsy shopping knowledge with all my blog peeps!". It's taken me years to weed out some of the coolest eco and green sellers on Etsy, but now it can take YOU mere seconds! LOL!

Plus there is the added bonus of knowing that the money you spend on your holiday shopping is going DIRECTLY to the crafter / artist!!
Not to the CEO of some huge company who has absolutely nothing to do with the making of the item you're buying.
PLUS, you also know who made the item. Not a giant machine, or conveyor belt assemblage system, and NOT some starving 6 year old forced to work for pennies a month.

How cool am I?!?!? LOL!

So let's get started ya? Each of the pics I'm posting here will link directly to the shop of the maker so you can pop right in and look around. Happy shopping!!

Some of these things are organic and totally new, some are made from recycled materials...

....some are reusable, replacing the evil disposable items in your home.......

....some are vegan...............

........some have a message.................

...............but all these items will help to save the planet in some way AND improve your life!

See how much I love you guys!

Now...as for the eating / buying thing. Buying handmade or used, as you can see, is no biggie now. I even have a couple of trade sites up (one on facebook the other a ning site) to REALLY boost the 'out of the crap stream' idea! Again I say..."Barter and trade = awesome!"

But the eating thing...well local is getting harder as the weather changes. We've found a few sources for items that are local and have been 'put up' for the winter months. (Canned, jarred or dried.) So that'll help. But this is definately the more difficult part of this experiment. I'm baking my own bread now, and we have a TON of dried hot peppers from our own garden, and the City Market is stocking up on local items like eggs and cheeses. Turkey and chicken are easy to get from local farms....organic even! But MAN am I glad I gave up red meat! Farm raised beef is HUGELY expensive around here! Sausage is pretty cheap and easy though...pork AND turkey. The big thing is going to be the fresh veggies and fruits. We SHOULD be able to get apples, pears, potatoes, carrots and other root veg for a while yet. So that'll help. OH! We kind of cheated a bit too. When we were up north this fall, we picked up pure maple syrup and some Maine jams. Well they were local at the time!!! LOL!

Anyhow. That's the score this time.

Hopefully I'll make some headway on the Starbucks thing soon.

Keep tuning in folks!

(PS...here's the barter sites)

http://barterfreak.ning.com/

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=340041107860

Experiment Weeks 13, 14 and 15.

So I hope someone is actually reading this, besides the asian porn folks. LOL!

Today is harvest day!!!
And I think we've done pretty well considering the blazing heat and lack of rain this year. I have to say, you can water with a hose, sprinkler or sistern bucket all ya like...but apparently nothing beats good ol rain water!
There were a few casualties of course. The licorice bush looks like a tumbleweed and I think the bush basil may have caught fire at some point. (kidding, but still)
But all in all a pretty good first harvest.
PLENTY of tomatoes! From the little vine guys to the bigger patio guys, about 20 so far. The purple heirlooms are a bit slower to grow, but there's a few greenies on there as well. The poblanos, cayanne and Thai hots have gone crazy producing and we even have about half a dozen healthy looking cukes!
I think I figured out the problem with the squash and such from last year as well. Apparently, if a blossom reaches a certain age without being pollinated, it simply drops off.
I thought we had vicious ninja bugs.
The next project for me, while I wait for the next round to ripen, is to sprout some garlic and ginger.
The best time to plant both, from what I've been able to look up, is late summer.
Apparently they winter over really well and THAT'S when you'll get the best growth. Especially from the ginger which is a rhizome. (For this zone anyway.) Then watch the greens throughout the spring and early summer. For the garlic, as soon as the greens go brown, dig 'em up and voila! Garlic!......I hope.
The ginger is about the same, but I want to find out if the greens are edible, like lemon grass. They sure SMELL edible.....

Nothing really new on the local non-food thing. I'm kind of laying low and doing the garden / art / craft thing till it cools off some. I AM working on re painting a couple small cabinets in the steampunk vein. Perhaps to trade when I'm done....hmm....
I'll post some pics when the first one is finished.
My one purchase for me this month was a pack of 'Imp's Ears' from Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs. Those folks make the best scents EVER! And now I have a new fave. I've been wearing their Galvanic Goggles for over a year now and I JUST discovered Dee. I'm in love! LOL! A bit of a masculine scent, reminiscent of old leather chairs, dusty tomes and incense. Sharpish. I got a few others, so I'll let you all know as I work through them which ones are supurb. :)

As for the local food front....holy cow! It's been DREADFULLY hot and dry, but the local farms are producing some of the most flavourful fruits and veggies I've ever eaten! Local NJ corn, already famous for being the sweetest in the country, is AMAZING! And I've been getting blackberries as long as my thumb and about an inch and a half around! SUPER sweet too!
I have to say, if you all get the chance, go out and grab up some local produce this summer! You will NOT regret it!
I'll probably come back and post more later this week.
(I'll have to come clean out the porn links anyway! LOL!)