This is the official 101 blog post! Can you believe it?! Who knew, when I started with "Chainsaw Reaction" that I'd find subtle little things to write about in 100 different ways!!! My oh my...life is just one big learning experience, graduating means nothing in terms of what each day after brings you, and many of those lessons are painful though thankfully, not permanent in their delivery.
And what has life taught you in the last year? It seems many of us are awakening to a new beginning in terms of being more aware of our food, our environment...each other. I was always such an independent sort...the last few years have taught me that interdependence is the key. I don't know where I'd be without the friends who have walked with me, talked with me, carried me, stood up for me and sometimes sat silently with me...holding my hand. No man is an island, and if he thinks he is...how lonely his shore must be. I have encountered so many wonderful souls lately, I don't know...maybe the moon is working with me, or the tides have changed in such a way that all who should gather together find their way to one another. I'm just saying, it seems like harmony- small get togethers, simple dinners, sitting on the swing, listening to sweet music, conversing with the younger sect- dwells within all of us and sometimes swirls all around, bringing a common need to the activity at hand. Or...maybe that's what summer is for, not sweltering heat to be endured, but harmonious hearts reaching their thaw point...melting away the cold remembrances, opening up to new, warm beginnings. I don't know about you, but when I'm experiencing something marvelous, good beyond all reasons and seasons...it only gets better to share such things with another. Maybe that's what it means when it is said that love always creates...
Take care-
2 comments:
blessed one-oh-one, beautiful. you bring poetry with every single calling.........the story up above about the baby birds (or wait was that in the last one??? doesn't matter, tender beautiful wherever it was......). for the record: this is one of the most sacred places i turn to in the course of any day. it's the next best thing to swinging there on that porch, listening to the starlings, listening even more to your true calling....
Hello!
You left a comment on our blueschoolhousefarm blog site, and this is the only way I could figure out how to respond! I'm the farmer's wife, as it were. Bill grows all of the food. I work full-time in town as an urban planner. I help at the markets every week.
We bought our bags with Henry Brockman, who ordered a huge quantity. The company is at www.TrellisEarth.com. We really like the t-shirt bags insofar as they hold vegetables; however, we are still skeptical about the use of corn to make bags. It seems like the best of bad alternatives. Ultimately, we just hope people stop using anything but reusable bags altogether. We charge 10 cents per bag. (Henry charges 25 cents, but that wouldn't fly down here. It also seems excessive, although it's easier to make change with quarters. We just keep a ziploc of nickels and dimes in our change bag.) Since charging 10 cents per bag, we estimate that we're handing out 50-75 percent fewer bags, which is a MAJOR VICTORY. It's funny that people will waste their money on so many other things, but mention a 10-cent charge for a bag and they'll actually opt out of the bag. I can't figure it out.
We have sold t-shirts with our logos before, but not many and not a concerted effort. We just don't care to do it. The same would go for bags -- too much hassle. PLUS, people can get awesome reusable bags just about anywhere now and for almost nothing. Thus, anything we'd sell would be too expensive to compete with the Jewel/Kroger/Walmart bags already out there.
People don't complain about the prices too often. We typically just say, "That's what we have to charge to make it worth growing." People understand. Those that don't get it must shop somewhere else. Keep in mind as well that the stuff in the store is not cheap IF they can even find your unique varieties. And forget about finding things like chard in "organic" at the store -- there's just no comparison. You probably don't buy many veggies in the store, but it's worth a field trip a few times per season to refresh yourself on the "outside" world of prices!
Good luck with what you're doing. Feel free to link to our blog. We're barely able to keep up with it, as I'm sure you understand!
Mercy Davison
Blue Schoolhouse Farm
blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com
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