In Honor of Earth Day - Her Designs Handbags

Women's handbags are huge business and the majority are NOT animal friendly -- i.e., leather! The other downfall of most purses is where they are made and shipped from -- China. The affordability of a China-made bag simply can't be beat which is why they completely flood the market. And while tradition claims leather as the fabric of choice for a durable, long-lasting bag, it's obviously not a preferred fabric when choosing eco-friendly, animal-friendly handbags. Enter Her Design. I've been shopping for some time for a new handbag when my cheap china-made pleather starting falling apart in less than a year. I knew I didn't want leather, and I knew I didn't want China-made. A search on Vegan Women's Bags made in USA came up with many very cool designer handbags -- at a huge cost. Matt and Natt is very cool, but expensive and when asked where they were made, the answer was "Asia." Then I discovered Her Design by Helen Reigle. What attracted me first to these handbags were the designs -- inspired by nature. They use colors from nature and the styles come from varied eye-catching visions in the environment. "Poppy" is the perfect example. the purse is inspired by the seed head of a poppy flower. Check out their website for very cool designs. The second attraction is the materials used to make the purses. All eco-friendly and with concern for the environment. They use hemp, wool, linen, organic cotton and recycled fibers. The faux leather is a substance that originates from a rubber tree. And lastly, while not made in USA (American wages are simply too high and make the products unaffordable), they DO use coops that practice fair labor in countries such as Mexico and Costa Rica. I'm ok with that (it's not "Asia"). And the prices? Well... some are a little salty, but if you catch the sales, $40-$80 bucks ain't too shabby. I ordered 4 purses and when I received, I was so excited I wanted to use them all at once. Every one was more beautiful and made with TLC than described on the website. The colors are exquisite and the styles are roomy and well-thought out with many pockets, nooks and crannys. Poppy got the first honors for use. Thank you Her Design for incredibly beautiful, eco-friendly purses!

April Update in the Backyard

First, my apologies for those who have been checking in on any updates and found nothing for over a month. Last year was a true year-in-the-life of an organic garden and I shared many, many tips and tools of the trade. And since the methods of organic gardening change little from year to year, please re-read last year's posts if you are looking for specific info. I added a search box so you can search specific topics. This year, I'll likely do updates only monthly on backyard chilibloggin. I'm focusing on balancing my gardens with my active lifestyle, thus less posts here since last year was the year of many posts. You are welcome to check out my activities at http://www.chilibloggin.blogspot.com/ - there's some interesting stuff in there too if you like mountain biking, trail running, white water kayaking and sometimes racing adventure tris and other interesting races. And now the garden update for April.

Spring clean-up gets harder and harder each year mainly because I simply have too much garden to maintain while working and playing full-time. I'm about 75% finished and everything is getting mulched with horse manure/straw this year to prevent weeds from growing. It may not look attractive, but time will be saved by not having to weed as much with everything covered in straw-mulch. Here's the plantings and seed startings for April:

-- Planting 150 onions after we realized the prices to buy onions has skyrocketed (I was going to not plant onions to cut back a little on how much I plant).
-- Started 68 broccoli plants from seeds in March and they are all now nestled in their growing spot in the garden. They are coming along beautifully.
-- Planted snap pea seeds, carrots, red beets, spinach, kale and radicchio which are all coming up nicely. The leeks seeds will take some time (long season plant).
-- Started bunches of seeds indoors: two kinds of heirloom tomatoes, two peppers (we loved Nardello last year and couldn't wait to start them again), early girl tomatoes, purple stripe eggplant, heirloom melons, and purple basil. All sprouted and are coming along beautifully. The peppers took about 10 days to sprout, and the eggplant is just about ready to pop (takes about 3 weeks according to the seed pack). I have faith on my eggplant this year. Last year was a failure and I had to buy plants which were likely Monsanto seeds (argh!). I'm going to have an overabundance of tomato plants, but since I have space, I think I'm going to plant them all and try to sell them this year to make a little money for a change. Haven't decided that for sure yet.

And the perennial vegetables/fruits are coming along beautifully also -- the asparagus is coming in like crazy (it loved my feeding of pure horse manure a couple weeks ago), the strawberry plants are reviving after a long winter's sleep, the rhubarb is huge, and the herb garden got a massive haircut and is starting to grow again. Spring is a bunch of work, but its so rewarding when finished and you can sit back and truly reap the benefits of your labor. See you in May!

Broccoli Babies and Spring Chores

The only thing growing at the moment is broccoli seedlings. I was pleasantly surprised this week when the snow melted and I took a day off to do a little gardening and found red beets in the compost pile! I pulled small ones last fall that didn't materialize and threw them on the compost pile and low and behold, they grew over the winter. It was a delightful dinner surprise. The asparagus patch was cleaned up and the raspberry canes were trimmed back. I'm hoping to be off a day this week to start cleaning up dead stuff. Let the games begin!

Weed Killer Castrates Male Frogs

Could man be working on a population control device without realizing it??? Check out this article in CNN.com about about a popular weed killer in the Midwest castrating male frogs and turning one in 10 into females. All the more reason to give up the chemicals.

Just Released - Organic Manifesto

It was just ordered and I can't wait to read it. Maria Rodale, the 3rd generation of organic gurus in the Rodale family, just published her version of why organic is important - the Organic Manifesto. She brings organics into the modern world of today and pulls together all that we already know about pesticides, farming practices and GM foods and lays it out in a difference perspective. From the Rodale website:

Rodale was founded on the belief that organic gardening is the key to better health both for us and for the planet, and never has this message been more urgent. Now Maria Rodale, CEO and Chairman of Rodale Inc., sheds new light on the state of 21st-century farming. She examines the unholy alliances that have formed between the chemical companies that produce fertilizer and genetically altered seeds, the agricultural educational system that is virtually subsidized by those same companies, and the government agencies in thrall to powerful lobbyists, all of which perpetuate dangerous farming practices and deliberate misconceptions about organic farming and foods. Interviews with government officials, doctors, scientists, and farmers from coast to coast bolster her position that chemical-free farming may be the single most effective tool we have to protect our environment and, even more important, our health.

We should lean towards more organic and Maria tells us why. Chemicals are killing us and the environment. Thanks Maria! I can't wait to read it and re-enforce my beliefs.

Locally Made Spirits

Pennsylvania is blessed with local producers of all kinds - meat, dairy, fruits, vegetables, wine, and even potato vodka made with PA potatoes. A friend of mine introduced me to another unique and locally produced product -- ROOT. From the producers website, its the original root beer -- what root beer used to be before they took out the alcohol. I can't wait to try it 'cause as a kid, my aboslute favorite drink in the world was a root beer float. And yes, it's made completely from organic products. Be warned though --its $40 bucks a bottle. It's a fairly new product and not widely available, but spread the word and it will be!

Kale Sprouts! In February

About two weeks ago, we had a nice 50-degree day and I was messing around with my makeshift greenhouse and thought I'd throw a couple kale seeds in there to see what would happen. Today, I cleared off the snow and pulled up a window to see what was going on and low and behold, there were kale sprouts! I was shocked. They got a good drink and I'll just bet I'll be eating kale in about a month. Kale loves cold weather. The temp under the storm windows on a sunny day is about 50 -- perfect growing temps for kale. Fun stuff.

Sustainable Farming vs Agribusiness

Rodale recently issued an interesting article on the U.S. Farm Bureau Declaring War on Sustainable Farming calling advocates for sustainable farms "extremists." You gotta click on the link and read the article. Rodale makes excellent points and of course encourage you to continue shopping organic and local.

The Balancing Act for 2010

This year will be the year of balancing. Gardens, riding bike, kayaking with hubby, trail running, painting the front porch (its a Victorian gingerbread porch -- how stupid was that!), trail work on my local bike club trails, blogging (it's going to virtually disappear) and holding down that full-time job that takes two hours commute time out of the day. Last year was the year of the organic garden and it consumed the majority of my time, leaving the biking/paddling/running on the wayside and squeezed in when I wasn't planting/weeding/harvesting/cooking. This year, I want to try to balance them all. You've seen the reduction in blog posts - it may get even less. And the garden planning includes a reduction in what-to-grow to make more time for exercise. I have two guides for what to grow and what not to grow: what does hubby eat (or not eat); and what is least important to grow that I can get at a farmer's market that doesn't need to be organic. Onions are the first thing that is crossed off the list of things to grow. They typically are not sprayed and are the lowest in pesticides. And hubby never eats the tomatoes. So I'm drastically reducing the tomato crop. Maybe I'll only do a plant or two of heirlooms. Other things are getting crossed off the list too - green beans, potatoes, and maybe some of the greens. Balancing should be easy, right? I am a LIBRA aferall. I'll figure it out.

The Goods Getting Delivered

I feel like I'm the luckiest organic gardener in the entire world! To have fresh horse manure delivered to my door step is an incredibly happy time. My work recently had a motivational speaker talk about team building and a couple other things, one being getting stressed out and don't let it happen. He went around the room asking what de-stresses us. Of course I said exercise; but I really should have said is, "everyone here knows I ride bike, run, kayak and do a lot of things outdoors. What you guys DON'T know, is I love to play in horse shit and find IT to be very relaxing and enjoyable." Yup, horse shit is very high on my list of pleasures. What it does to the garden and the plants that grow in it is phenomenal. What it does to me physically when I start tossing it, turning it, and hauling it is also pretty darn cool. I couldn't live without horse manure. Even when dear-old dad ain't around any more, I plan to go get it myself at the local horse track where several horses are stalled. It's truly a gardeners gold.