MATERIAL CONCERNS

I was thinking it had been awhile since I wrote an entry, but its been THREE years. Sorry folks! I’m not sure how you’ve survived such a long stretch without my pithy insights.

Like many of you, I occasionally listen to the Huberman Lab Podcast, and find it thought-provoking. I read guest Dr. Casey Means’ book, Good Energy. In addition to the health advice, what struck me is how our food choices impact the health of our soils, and how impoverished soil reduces the nutritional value of our foods. I assume that I think about soil health a bit more than the average person, given my obsession with composting and love of gardening, but I had never directly tied money spent on organic foods as a contribution to the health of the planet. I’d selfishly only looked at it in terms of my own health. I’m buying more organic foods these days, and encourage you to! The veggie peels and chicken bones make great broth for fall soups, and anything else leftover makes compost that much more organic, our soil that much healthier, and contributes to the health of anything that walks over, grows, or eats from that soil in the future. It’s a great investment.

Ari Wallach, a more recent guest on the Huberman Lab Podcast, authored a book with the greatest tagline, Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs. That makes you stop to think for a minute, doesn’t it? Yep, I read this book, too, and watched his TED talk. Wallach is an accessible thinker, and inspires us to look at our actions through the lens of future generations. This isn’t a new concept. The Great Law of the Iroquois, (from the 12th century, I believe), included sustainability’s mantra, “In every deliberation, we must consider the impact on the seventh generation...”, but do you feel this consideration has diminished over the past fifty years? It’s a trait we need to reinvigorate in American culture.

And, (I didn’t know Andy Huberman was making such an impact on my thinking!), I am currently listening to the podcast on micro & nano plastics. It’s distressing. I can’t drink out of my BPA-free plastic reusable straw anymore. I find the ubiquity of plastic VERY depressing. It is an amazing material, but we need to severely curtail its manufacture and use to where it is needed. I’ve thought the fastest way to reduce single-use plastics is to use them again, but with their degradation, even that is scary. I try, and I need to try harder, to not buy new plastic. My concern borders on the overwhelming, so I’ve been trying to think of ways we can make an impact. I’ve resurrected my school lunch improvement bubble diagrams, and continue to be proud of spurring one cafeteria to stop putting whole fruit into plastic cups. The kids can handle a wee bit of roll in their fruit selection process. If anyone needs glasses for a party to avoid buying solo cups, contact me. I have a huge bin of pretty ones and am happy to take them back dirty, even! And plastic utensils? Let’s just stop!

Habitat ReStore is where I go when I need a little treat out of the house. (I know, but it works for me!) The amount of plastic gardening “stuff” is astonishing. I have tentative plans with the manager to hold a little workshop there in the spring to make a dent in the amount they get in. Please DO NOT BUY NEW PLASTIC anything for your gardens. There is enough of it in the world already. I put a big box in my garage to hold “seed starting supplies” for spring, to include all my egg cartons (pulpboard, and the plastic ones when I accidentally buy those), take-out containers with the black bottoms and clear plastic lids, cardboard tubes, and myriad other plastic tubs, yogurt pots, milk cartons and plastic bottles. Start collecting yours. too. Ideally we’d use non-plastic, and I’m a bit ashamed of the take out containers, but this is my first step!

So, I am contemplating starting a series of more environmental “plant parties,” to gather people who care and want to share ideas on better ways to do some of these things. Would you be interested? I’m thinking Seed Saving, Seed Starting, Plant Propagation, and we can see how it goes. Let me know what you think. These things are much more efficient with a group, unless you are a farmer.

Random other idea: If anyone has any suggestions on how to get manufacturers to standardize glass jars to— say three (or seven!) sizes of Ball jars, wouldn’t that be amazing? In addition to efficient grocery store stocking, there could be a company that would take back the jars, wash them, and resell them to the manufacturers for reuse, so they wouldn’t have to produce new. All the jar lids would be interchangeable. They could agree to use labels that come off easily in some process the take-back company uses. Ah, the future could be grand!

Come see the slightly odd things I’ve made from recycled items at the Conifer Newcomers & Neighbors Boutique at Conifer High School, Nov. 2, 9-4. Booth 79 in the cafeteria on the way to the bake sale!

"The Posy Book" by Teresa H. Sabankaya

It caught my eye while shopping with Mom in Williamsburg. I flipped through and put it on my library list. Having read it, I am buying a copy! The cover pretty much says it all. Glorious photos, forward by Amy Stewart (author of The Drunken Botanist, Wicked Plants, and Flower Confidential, about which I should do a separate post), and “a modern floral dictionary.” Teresa, who now feels like a good friend, or at least kindred spirit, knows that while passionate, not all of us have her depth of experience hunting down the meanings of flowers. She generously shares her research in ways we can easily use to add another layer of meaning to the flowers we give. She labels flowers in her photos and I had fun seeing if I knew the flower names before turning the page for her posy recipes. I have a running draft list of flower meanings that I intended to post, but she’s eclipsed that. We’ll just refer to her book. I love reference books!

Her idea is to resurrect the Victorian language of flowers in a modern context. At her Bonny Doon Garden Company, in Santa Cruz, California, she creates small bouquets, 6-8” wide, each adorned with a tag naming the flowers and their meanings, to create sentiments such as “Friends to the End,” “A Mother’s Love", “The Sweet Heart Posy,” and “The Queen for a Day Posy.”

I think we should try it! For Valentine’s? Mother’s Day? Would you like a copy of the book? Please let me know in comments and we’ll make a plan!

Blithe Tomato

Months ago, I raided the shelves at EChO for all the books on flowers, gardening, and farming that I didn’t already own. One book in the small stack sat untouched for months, primarily because I had not yet clarified that blithe means “showing a casual and cheerful indifference considered to be callous or improper,” according to a quick Google search. Had I known, I surely would have picked it up sooner. When I did, I found my favorite read of the year. 

In Blithe Tomato, author Mike Madison recounts observations as a truck farmer in the Sacramento Valley. Not hooked? I wouldn’t have been either, except he is an extraordinary writer, and the first page, his far too long list of things to do today, sucks you in. His sister, Deborah, wrote the introduction and her name was already on my shelf as author of Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Like most amazing authors, he draws from his particulars to illustrate larger truths, and as a bonus, made me laugh out loud, breaking that eerie remote learning silence that engulfed our house each day. I still chuckle remembering one vignette where he tells about his attempt to do a bit of Valentine’s baking for his wife and two daughters.

I loved his writing so much I looked up what else he has written. Our amazing Jeff Co Libraries purchased his most recent book, Fruitful Labor, at my request. They were also able to obtain two other works, Walking the Flatlands and Growing Flowers for Market for me through Interlibrary Loan. The level of coordination and communal commitment to learning represented by the Interlibrary Loan system is heartwarming and hopeful. The arrival of one of the requests, dressed in its blaze orange paper sleeve makes me feel just a wee bit scholarly. 

Madison wrote Walking the Flatlands as Artist in Residence for the Putah-Cache Bioregion! This might not be noteworthy to all, but having toured the Kohler factory with their artist in residence, and worked with several in my brief stint as a public art planner, I believe every forward thinking institution and company should have an artist in residence. I am still lobbying Waste Management to hire me to coordinate one for them. And Madison was one for a bio-region!!! Too cool. Madison ties land use issues back to geology and observes detail that’s rare in our digital age. 

Then, I finished Growing Flowers for Market. I think people have been keeping this book secret. As an aspiring flower farmer, I have taken Erin Benzakein’s Floret Online Workshop, which has given a turbo boost to the locally grown flower industry around the world. This book could have been the basis for her course, published twenty years earlier. I wish I had had Madison’s concise summary of tractors and their attachments when my dad was shopping for his John Deere. Dad made a great choice, but Madison’s analysis would have made it easier. In Madison's view, bigger is rarely better. He is a man who seems to live by his priorities, and I feel blessed that he has shared his insights in this collection of writings.

Virtual Pop-Up: November 24 - December 24th

Ellis just told me, “It’s Christmas Time!,” as we passed a recently and colorfully lighted tree. I staunchly defended Thanksgiving as next in line and one of our very best holidays. It is quintessentially American, more so to me than July 4th, and I feel it deserves our full attention! Plus, when the kids were little and the idea of selecting, printing, and mailing Christmas cards timed to arrive before the big day gave me panic attacks, I decided to fall back on my Presbyterian heritage. Now I encourage family and friends to fully relish Advent, the season leading up to Christmas Day, preparing and waiting, and the idea of the 12 Days of Christmas. Many wise traditions have seasons of celebration, and why should I cram it all onto one day? There is something leisurely and luxurious about a Christmas party on the 4th Day of Christmas … or the 9th! My husband is English, so Boxing Day, December 26th, also has a bit more significance in our household. In case you are wondering, it requires ham.

This year, we are facing plentiful family time, but with a Senior in the house, the refrain “these are the days to remember” is my mental sound track. I don’t decorate a ton. Instead I love a few special touches - a handmade wreath on the door, polishing the candlestick holder for the Christ Candle in our Advent Wreath, which the women in the family (men are welcome, too!) take outside on Christmas Eve when we look for the Star of Bethlehem, and usually one wonderfully fragrant evergreen arrangement. We do have reservations to cut our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, a uniquely local tradition for us! I put out more candles and play more music. And I happily arrange flowers for you! That is a huge treat for me this season.

In the midst of what seems like an historical period of chaos, no matter what your traditions, I hope you find a few special moments of quiet, celebration, and the Peace of Season, and that it is beautiful.

Brooks

Better Than "Back to Normal"

As I think toward Mother’s Day, my first (selfish) thought is that I will not be elbow deep in fragrant blooms, playing with my ever expanding collection of groovy vessels, making things for my well-loved friends who generously support my indulgent creative endeavors. I will miss play time!

Then my Mother’s Day contemplations turn to the abundance in my family life. I have a most awesome mom, smart, capable, with a great sense of humor and even better sense of style, who puts everyone else first, sets a great example, and loves me. Owen and I have a wedding anniversary just after, and though impossible, we’ll come up with a plan that attempts to acknowledge what it means to have a dependable partner whose smiles still make my tummy flip. And then there is the continued amazing privilege of watching our children grow. The list goes on and on.

Then I consider our world. Wow, we are all in this together as never before. We find it difficult to make plans, to imagine what the future can and should be. We hope to “get back to normal,” but isn’t this an amazing opportunity for better? All scenarios include some individual and collective pain. We might as well make it count, and try to share the burden. Why don’t we have goals loftier than “back to normal”? Isn’t it more American to race for a cure, marshal our resources for important manufacturing, commit to renewables, invest in forward looking infrastructure, and set high standards for education? Are we going to seize opportunities for vast efficiencies in commerce and communication, and are we going to creatively employ the collective gains for ways of life we value?

I just listened to The Little Book of Hygge by Meik Wiking, who works at the Happiness Institute in Copenhagen, which has mixed reviews, but I found some nuggets worthwhile, mainly comparing Danish and American ways of life. Family time, time with friends, modes of transit, availability of natural light, taxes, competition and concerns, vary between our countries. We have the luxury to choose (except the light), and let’s make sure after this churn that we set off in paths that lead to what we care about.

These are a few of my Favorite Things!

In the pre-alarm moments, I realized today is going to be a great day! I get to do so many of my favorite things starting with cross-country skiing with my friend without having to drive! Owen’s birthday is tomorrow, so I am baking Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies for his office, marinating short ribs, prepping dough for Cook’s Illustrated No Knead Bread (1/3 wheat flour), and adapting Ina Garten’s Carrot Cupcake recipe to a mini family sized birthday cake.

I’ll also condition the flowers I selected yesterday to prepare for our February Flower Workshop on Thursday. I’ll unearth the small French flower cans to make a set of flowers for each participant’s work station. The flowers came from Stevens & Son Wholesale in Golden, where I just opened an account. I like that they are closer than our main wholesaler and grow some of their own flowers. It was bedlam yesterday in the pre-VDay rush, but Andy gave me a tour anyway. Thanks, Andy!

As I plan out Thursday’s Workshop, I’m adding a resources page on the website. I’m thinking color wheel, seasonal flower charts, selected bibliographies, etc. I have tons of references and it will be great to compile them in one spot where others can use them, too.

Then, I’m picking up Ellis and a friend at the high school and heading to Mountain Backpacks to volunteer. I feel like I get to witness rightness in the world when I think about Shelley Harmon seeing a need in our community and doing something about it. Thanks, Shelley! Mountain Backpacks is a favorite philanthropy partner of our National Charity League’s local members, and this is going to be my first time volunteering with them. Can’t wait!

Hopefully I’ll get some dinner made, and roads will be good for the trek downhill to volleyball practice tonight.

I hope today brings you a few of your favorite things, too!

-Brooks

One really big box...

…of Christmas decorations is all I keep. I feel quite sanctimonious about my simple and paired-down holiday bin, until I realize that box contains only a fraction of what we use to decorate.

I just prefer fresh greens: ropes of cedar garland around the banister and the front door, a tree from the National Forest, (must remember to put permit application on the calendar for next year), and a fresh wreath for the door, with a bit of Virginia boxwood tucked in.

Growing up, the weekend after Thanksgiving, my mom, grandmother and I would wind twisted newspaper around a sturdy metal coat hanger bent into a circle. Sometimes we’d wind two coat hangers together if we wanted a big wreath. After we made it thick enough, we’d wrap strips of black plastic around, which I guess held in the moisture, because the next step after securing the plastic with a layer of twine, was soaking the whole thing. While it was soaking, we’d take clippings from the ever encroaching English boxwoods that my grandmother had planted to either side of the mossy brick walk, just after they built the house in 1947. She always had a vase with clippings rooting in her kitchen window sill. There were the rituals of how you distinguish English from American Box (rounded leaves versus the “A”-like point on American), dusting the dark interior of the shrubs, and cutting just the right lengths to encourage spring growth. It felt like they were passing the secrets of the universe to me.

After a rest, and draining our homemade wreath form, we’d begin inserting the boxwood clippings under the tight twine, starting by the hook, and working in one direction around the whole wreath form. We’d hang it up to inspect for spots that needed infill. Invariably, one place wasn’t quite as full as it should be, and Mom would say, “That’s where we put the bow!”

Those wreaths were gorgeous.

That’s what we try to put into every item from Sedum & Sage.

May your holidays be filled with that kind of beauty,

Brooks

Gratitude is the key...

…to happiness, and how smart were our forefathers to dedicate a day to pursuing it?

Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving around a table with the whole clan, or on a solitary hike, consider setting this time apart from the ordinary. Dress-up. Turn off phones. Cook elaborate food. Play football. Flowers, anyone?

November’s Feature is the 14” Barnwood Box, made here in Evergreen, (in our garage—I mean “woodshop”), full of white roses and seeded eucalyptus playing off the seasonal colors of chrysanthemums. It will set your table apart from the ordinary. If you have the whole clan, consider ordering a couple of 4” boxes to extend the scheme down a long table, or as bedside treats in the guest room, or bath.

Most of our holiday offerings are now up on the website, too. You’ll find everything from Terrarium Kits to keep kids of all ages busy on a snowy afternoon, to spectacular holiday arrangements, and the ideal gifts for clients and co-workers. Take a look and start checking things off your lists. Making your holidays beautiful is our joy!

Oh, and be sure to consider A Year of Flowers. It’s a decadent gift for a loved one, but also quite practical if you think of it as twelve very nice gifts you can give … or maybe you should place a double order…

Thankful for you,

Brooks

No Tricks, AlL Treats! Our “Skeleton” Website is Live!

Boo! Our “skeleton” website is live! We’ve wanted to simplify your ordering process, so we’ve streamlined our best sellers to roll out monthly as we develop this new format. Sedum & Sage will still “pop-up”, next at the Bergen Holiday Boutique on December 12. Orders will still be available for pick-up at your convenience at Hearthfire, and you can always call us at 303.630.9663 to let us know how we can create something beautiful for you.

Celebrate fall and Halloween with a specially crafted Succulent Pumpkin, seasonal decor that will last through Thanksgiving, and likely give you lots of rooted baby succulents to plant, if you like, over the holidays. We have large and mini Succulent Pumpkins, perfect for a centerpiece, integrated into a festive table scape, or to delight your hostess or house guest.