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Dec. 8th, 2009 @ 06:26 pm its been almost a week!
i cannot believe how long it has been !!
i did a handmade holiday market, as well as the sweetwater market this past weekend. it ended up being very nice, but i was and still am exhausted.
monday on the farm was a cane sugar squeezing - to make our cane syrup. some sweetwater folks, as well as some visitors, came out to help. we had a potluck lunch, including vermont popcorn. it was soo nice we ate and boiled cane juice all day and did not have a formal dinner :) too fun! i got to play with simara - who is 4 and a half and just sooo smart and amazing!
today was a busy day! i was wanting to take the day off and sew, but deb has a big delivery tomorrow including to a cafe!! so we had to work! i picked lima beans and put them in our solar dehydrator this morning. then picked collards, kale, dill, basil, arugala, bundled spinach, and picked lettuce. i also planted 6 trays of assorted lettuce, listening to the blues cruise on wmnf. i love that station! i managed to repot a dozen strawberry plants. i was sad to see that my plantain trees are not looking so good...hopefully it is just the stress of transport and repotting....and then i worked on sanding my birdhouse gourds. i sold six last weekend, and have people wanting them this weekend!
but i also have hula hoop orders, and some custom pants to make, as well as the holiday bizarre this weekend!
so tomorrow is shopping and sewing day!
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Dec. 2nd, 2009 @ 06:13 pm flea market
and possible rain coming any time now!
i woke up and shattered my french press this morning. luckily we have our old bottom, and the new top fit it, so we were able to have coffee :) i also sold a skirt on etsy over night so i was in a pretty good mood considering
we had a great brisk bike ride to the flea market - thru a private drive with peacocks :) all day it has been crazy windy! waiting for this storm to blow in!
so we had some fun shopping, spent only like 11 dollars :) and biked home. i had to re do the calamundin jam from yesterday - re boil it, because it wasnt setting. i like the idea of not using pectin - everything in the jar is on this farm and i can always have jam :) so i boiled and boiled while listening to alan watts. he was quite funny today, but i cannot say i remember much of what was said :) i spoke to my father for a bit as well, he was in a good mood, and talking all about our baby alex (my nephew) over thanksgiving and how big and happy he is...on all solid foods..he is 8 months :) and then i arranged for a women to come to the farm for loofah's...i picked green beans, purple beans, okra and tomatoes, and then the women arrived. she stayed for an hour and we chatted, and i sold her anything we had laying around :) she was very happy for the back scrubbing loofahs :) then i picked winged beans, and kumquats - i ate the kumquats :) i then sat and sanded some more gourds...i cut and painted another four - one shaker and four real bird houses this time. i have to get the sticks in them tonight so i will be on schedule for my event on friday..hmmmmm then i ordered some christmas presents online hehe i cannot help myself when it comes to good deals...and i ordered business cards for me and the farm, people will be happy :)
well it is still windy...and corey is bored so i must run....i have to weave more hemp and sew tonight, as well as weave the hemp on the shaker...sounds like a long night....
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Dec. 1st, 2009 @ 05:17 pm Tuesday already?
i cannot believe how time flies! i guess it is because i am so so busy...
i woke up and had coffee today whilst making little newspaper seedling pots for selling starts....and then i cut and sewed and cut and sewed for a while...had some left over tofu chili for lunch, and then replanted some of our starts in these cute flower pot thangs i made :) also replanted some tomatoe plants....and then i replanted another 2 dozen strawberry plants....and then i worked on making more bread and butter pickles, as well as 20 jars of calimondin and tangerine jam...i hope it tastes good!
see, i dont know that i accomplished much but i was busy all day! and i just am so stressed about sewing and making things for this christmas season that i am so behind on , and then i am booked every weekend between now and christmas so...corey says i just need to calm down and work on one thing at a time, but that is so hard for me...
also, now i have to either pay for flickr or delete pics from it...what to do?? i love my flickr
any advice ?
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Nov. 30th, 2009 @ 05:20 pm Holiday Season Has Begun....
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and i am completely stressed and exhausted already!!! with the whole black friday/cyber monday noise that i dropped the ball on this year. last year i was crazy about it, offered all kinds of deals and did mad promoting! of course i sold nothing, until literally the minute the sale ended...and then i had some sales. christmas was a great online season for me last year. and i am excited for it this year. i have opened another online store, with mostly swirly skirts featured...www.lovepeaceanddye.artfire.com
so of course thanksgiving was a great day of feasting and enjoying our beautiful surroundings. i took a morning walk down the elderberry path, and found beautiful ceaser weed flowers, and balsom pears...they are totally weird! i will be uploading pics to flickr so you should check out the ecofarm roses and such :) www.flickr.com/photos/lovepeaceanddye
friday was a cane syrup making day :) it was quite cold, but fun. i managed to steal away long enough to pick okra, green beans, tomatoes, and winged beans. we had to cover some of the garden, as the temp got down to the upper thirties, and i dont want to risk a hit on our tomatoes!
"and after another thanksgiving dinner that couldnt be beat... " friday night, i had to do the lakeland downtown curbside market saturday - which was nice :) i had some great fans come out, and made some new ones!
sunday we all got up and went to the sweetwater organic market. ecofarm and love peace and dye had a booth right be side the stage! from now til christmas people. it was fun, again, made some new fans...scheduled our next cane squeezing with the sweetwater folks...
today i was in quite the melancholy mood...i listened to ferron all morning while making kale and rape chips...mmmmmm....as well as prepping cucumbers for tomorrows round of bread and butter pickles! i also hope to jam some calimundins and tangelos...we have alot of them! and with the recent cold, all the citris is starting to ripen! my kumquats are coming in!
so...i glossed some more finished birdhouse gourds and am hoping to have a nice basket for sale this weekend. i replanted 24 strawberry cones, as we are about to start selling plants as well...our strawberries are all fruiting! i cannot wait! then i had to run into town - bill day! no fun at all!
so now i am listing and adding items to my online store, as well as getting some online work done...tomorrow i plan on jaming and pickling, and then lots and lots of sewing and maybe working on more gourds.....
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Nov. 25th, 2009 @ 09:01 pm happy thanksgiving!
i have been a bit delinquent about posting. we have been busy picking beans, and harvesting, and weeding spinach. i have made at least another batch of pickles, and i have been painting birdhouse gourds and hope to be selling them soon, as bird feeders, and shakers. pictures coming this weekend
we are having a huge thanksgiving fest tomorrow.
last night we went out for thai food. there was a little storm, and somehow it knocked our power out. so we didnt have power again until this morning...
but have a great thanksgiving my loves. we will be relaxing, and it is well deserved. i will get bback on the ball with this friday i swear :)
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Nov. 19th, 2009 @ 05:18 pm harvesting thursday
today was a pretty slow day - i was able to trace and cut swirly panels from like 8-10 this morning, and i have a pile of things to sew this evening. then i went out to help harvest for the friday tampa market. deb and diane go to that one, as i am busy with a conference this weekend!
http://thebarefootgardener.org/SLConference2009.htm
should be super fun! so we harvested some rape, and some collards, and arugula, which is awesome and huge! we have some beets finally !! so it was an easy day, i also grabbed a couple of cucumbers and okra while i was out there. our tomatoes are ripening!
i made lunch, and we got to try those dill refrigerator pickles - oh how good they are! corey says they should have more vinager, but i think this batch is good :) i mopped the floor in the kitchen, and ran to town for the post office and some other errands.
when i came home corey was planting kale and dill in the garden, so i helped him with that. then i have been tracing and cutting ever since. i have to get my talk together for this conference now, and then sew all night...well, i also have to watch more of the tommyknockers mini series hehe, corey and i like our movies :)
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Nov. 18th, 2009 @ 06:00 pm tuesday and wednesday on the farm
well...where to begin ?? i finished my pickling tuesday morning, with some hopefully sweet bread and butter pickles....they are all canned and yummy and we get to eat that as well as the dill/garlic refrigerator pickles ! and then it was a good old fashioned cane squeezing here on the farm. apparently we do it the cracker way with a mill that we press the sugar cane thru - this requires one of us to drive around in a circle on a tractor - it is pretty fun for a while, and then you get dizzy. it takes 60 gallons of cane juice to fill our big iron pot, and then it takes about 3-4 hours of stoking the fire to cook out all the impurities. the air smells amazing while you are doing this! this was the first cane squeezing of the season, and an early one, but we got alot of cane syrup bottled from it. we sell the syrup as a sugar substitute for everything! i want to get the ecofarm etsy store rocking and rolling so i can put the bottles on there. we bottle out at the sugar shack where the boiling goes down. then i cleaned basil forever! our basil has started to yellow, and flower, so i clipped alot of it back and deflowered it, hoping it will grow back green. it took me two full days to accomplish the trimming....i managed to sew a bunch of simple skirts and tank dresses yesterday mid day :) we had a great dinner of fried okra, black eyed peas, and rice cooked in the solar oven.
today was a flea market day! so we biked over there, a great ride, and then walked around a super packed market! there were lots of venders, and i got some honey, avocados, and peppers, as well as some vintage sheets and table cloths and a super friends / super villains pillow case! i dont know what to do with that one! but they are way cool :) we biked back, and i listened to alan watts talk about zen and its history in china and then japan and how it is now moving from both those regions to the us. and about how goofy zen masters and buddist monks are - that the ridiculous is part of the dharma and design, that they are all "old bastards" in the most jovial way...i love alan watts
so then i worked on the basil again, and we washed crates of sweet potatoes - we have to dig the rest up before they get too big, so we had to make more room. and then lunch was left over polenta :) mmmmmmm
and then an hour or so of thinning a spinach bed, gonna have spinach this weekend to sell we think! i picked 2 pounds of green and purple beans, a bit of wax beans, and a full bag of winged green beans - super adorable beans! corey picked alot of okra!!
thank goodness tho deb and jon took alot of okra and calabasa to the food bank
oh no the dinner bell - pesto made from all our basil i harvested! YAY!
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Nov. 16th, 2009 @ 05:19 pm Busy Weekend


busy busy weekend and i am a bit drained today!!

i vended at a christian music and arts event on a lake in lakeland on saturday - it was 11-5 and it was really nice with interpretive dance and all :) it was farmer jons birthday so i can home to a great meal of greens and amazing cake consisting of carrots, pinneapple, and our calabasa pumpkins! mmmmm with cream cheese frosting.
so sunday corey and i spent selling veggies at the sweetwater sunday market. i sold that amazing purple dress pictured and even tho it was a bit slow, it was a good sunday with great music.
today i worked on pickling our cukes all morning - at least a gallon of dill and garlic pickles, whole and speared, as well as some sweet bread and butter pickles, which i have to finish and seal in the morning. then i worked in the garden picking at our bean plants, which are still infested but growing and producing yummy beans. i picked more cukes, a basket full of okra - we are swimming in it! and i picked waxed beans as well as winged beans, both producing a pretty well, even tho the waxed beans look like crap. i would like to water the purple and green beans with worm tea casting tonight, so i have to get motivated!
now i am off to list on etsy and send some emails. i have lots of cutting and sewing to do this week, and i also want to sand and paint some bird house guourds....hmmmmmm
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Nov. 16th, 2009 @ 02:21 pm Reconstructed dress Riverhawk
this is the sexy dress that is now sold, check it out on flickr...
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Nov. 13th, 2009 @ 05:00 pm its a busy friday
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i woke up before the sun today to help debbie load the veggies for the tampa downtown market. her and diane had to leave at like 7 am. we ate a yummy potato stirfry breakfast made by jon, and i sewed for a few hours! finished some projects, fixed some broken items discovered last weekend at river hawk....then corey and i chopped down sugar cane with machete's! that is a fun job! we are going to do a cane squeezing (so we can make cane syrup) tomorrow maybe ?? we loaded that up on the wagon, and then i planted some more seedling trays, chard and dill, lettuce, and more daikon radishes..and two pinnapple plants.and i used the worm tea on them as well, so i am excited to see if there is any growth or bug difference
thanks jo for your comment regarding the soap and the beans!! deb said she always hurt the plants with soap hehe and i am working on the worm tea currently. jon sprays with something, and lately it seems they have gotten better...but at our next meeting, i would like to discuss a course of action.
so we ate some yummy sandwiches for lunch, and i then began to harvest again for the market delivery tomorrow, as well as sweetwater market on sunday. the kale looks great, and so do the radishes! dill by next week!
now i am in a frenzy, with a weeks worth or work to do today! as well as an event tomorrow and a market sunday...oh my...but i ordered 15 balls of hemp last night to make dog collars and leashes and belts! YAY!

check out my ever new listings on etsy.com
http://www.lovepeaceanddye.etsy.com
photos from riverhawk and anything really on flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovepeaceanddye

and then this is the event i am doing tomorrow in downtown lakeland!

http://www.kristinacollins.org/events.html

http://www.kristinacollins.org/IGNITE_vendorposter_op_560x865.jpg
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Nov. 11th, 2009 @ 06:55 pm tuesday and wednesday on the farm
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tuesday was spent drinking good coffee and sewing a great swirly dress - it is white and blue :) but it still needs ironed. then we made some amazing food for the tampa jam group that came out last night. i cooked a green bean cassarole with our long beans, frozen from last harvest, and fresh purple beans from our garden, as well as fresh green beans from sweetwater. corey fried the onions fresh and made sweet potato chips, as well as pasta salad with our fresh basil. a great night, tho i missed the jam. i had to relax
i have been having the most annoying back pain for most of the summer and it has gotten to the point where unless i lay on a completely flat surface, i cannot lay flat. maybe i need more pillows...
today we biked to the flea market, where i got some great material (rasta stars~!) a small sun tea pitcher made from glass and super amazing! as well as some great hats to tiedye - love the flea market. i drank some fresh apple/celery/carrot/ginger juice and listened to alan watts on the local radio - today was a talk on tao, and featuring mutual arising, waywoo - how to interfere without interfering and while being conscious of the character of the moment, and lee -"the grain within the wood " the essence or character of each moment... then we planted 500 white green onions, small ones - and two hundred purple green onion sets. as well as some kale seedlings....and then picked two huge baskets of okra, twenty cucumbers, some purple and green beans, and winged green beans, which are awesome! i need to figure out a way to beat the white flies on the green beans, or else we wont be able to keep them for harvest. we have worm casting tea that is supposed to work, but i have to look that up...and i drank a great kefir mango raspberry cane syrup banana smoothie = the kefir is amazing
so then i sewed a bon jovi tskirt! most of it any way...and i rode my bike to the store for beer..i love bike riding ...i should do alot more online like immediately. but i am tired and i have gained weight eating so good
food is wonderful
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Nov. 9th, 2009 @ 05:26 pm Monday Back From Riverhawk
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We left riverhawk last night, what a blast the weekend was!! the music was great, and we got to relax and just enjoy each other and the crowd which was great. of course we did it in our own way, which means vending our wears! We sold over 50 items and had a great time making personal and meaningful connections with every sale :) Yay! to everyone that came out and spent the weekend with us, we had a great time and thank you all for it :)
today on the farm, we slept in a little, and then had to run to town for coffee and dead meat for the cats....well corey ran to town, i read some barbara kingsolver, played my guitar, and showered. but then came the coffee and the morning. we picked okra first thing cuz it is crazy! and there is some storm named ida coming so we needed to get some weight off the plants. half of the row is like double tall, so i dont really expect them to make it. so with a loaded basket of crazy okra, we wondered the rest of the garden. the purple beans need another string to trellis on, and the green beans arent really even producing yet, which is weird. the cucumbers look great!
then we cleaned the porches and screened in areas of the house, lots of spiders and organizing, which was fun on different levels:) we are having the tampa jam group out tomorrow night, so cleaning had to happen. we scrubed the kitchen including a full scale on the fridge - which was well over due :)then sweeping and mopping and lots of cob web cleaning.
i planted 7 trays of seeds in the green house after lunch, including (but not limited to) chard, kale, lettuce, romaine, daikon radishes, broccoli, arugala......
then i was summoned to plant a row of snow pea seedlings and some nasturtium flowers - which are edible and gorgeous :)
oh and i picked a tangerine and ate it :) i also had to clean the kefir out, i had to refrigerate it for the weekend, and tomorrow i will have a kefir smoothie. pretty soon we will have our own bananas for said smoothie....
ok so now i am working on business online, while corey cooks something wonderful for dinner, and debbie plays with her grandson, who is flipping adorable
as always there are pics on flickr, and maybe i will be able to blog them soon....
peace
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Nov. 4th, 2009 @ 04:31 pm Florida Flea Market
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A great market located on sam allen rd in plant city florida. Corey and I, and the farmers, all biked to the market and back this morning. It was great! The farmers took the lead on their fancy electric bicycles, and we had a great sunny ride.
Since shopping, i have been frantically working for riverhawk this weekend. Corey and I are vending our amazing wares, and we are forced to make more hemp all weekend, by me, cus we have NONE!!
I have sewn some great skirts, and am now about to list one on etsy, it is pretty hot :)
http://www.lovepeaceanddye.etsy.com

and though we will be camping, i do not know if i can write in this journal. I will however be uploading pictures to flickr so check them out!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovepeaceanddye

PEACE
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Nov. 3rd, 2009 @ 01:45 pm Florida Farming
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I am completely trying to get myself on some kind of rotating schedule, and i would like to include in that a time every day where i type here what i do on this amazing farm every day.
I have been building up the entries..
day one...weeded around beets and mustards, chard and kale and collards...picked cukes and okra
day two...took etsy pics in the morning, picked calabasa all the rest of the morning, weeded the winged green beans and picked our very first purple beans! and then of course i ate one.
so all of that and it is barely two oclock....
would ya'll be interested in reading this said farm journal, complete with cute pictures?
i am so trying to get my shit together so that i can share all that i experience in a well thought out way...
maybe in a week i will be there ....
until then, i have to sew for riverhawk!!
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Sep. 8th, 2009 @ 11:46 am (no subject)
Swasthya is a Sanskrit word that translated means "established in oneself."  This is joyfulness, contentment, and perfect health.  in our hectic lives it seems that swasthya is elusive.  We look for joy outside of ourselves, in our work, or with our relationships, or even with money.  We think that more is better, and put our focus too much on the goals ahead of us, without noticing all the beauty that is among us right where we are.  Fortunately, we can change our mindsets.  Joy is within us!  One way we can tap into that joy is with meditation.  When we quiet our minds, we releases the stresses that have accumulated, and allow the mind and body to get the rest it needs.  We can further reap the benefits by supplementing our practice with aromatherapy, herbal teas, warm baths, and massage.  It's all a part of taking care of ourselves, of finding that balance that helps us to function optimally.  We also need to be mindful of what we put into our bodies.  Drink lots of water to cleanse and moisturize the entire system.  And eat fresh, nourishing foods.  Most importantly, don't postpone happiness.  Do what you love to do.  Be in a place of gratitude.  Spend time with loved ones.
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May. 11th, 2009 @ 08:16 pm i love the gulf
deb, jon, corey, and i went to the gulf today and swam and swam and even got a little sunburnt teehee
we went to fort desoto and it was pretty cool. there are lots of spanish forts in florida teehee
i collected a nice amount of sea shells to use on jewelery as well as for the vannie :) most of her sea shells are from miami and delaware :)
so that was amazing and i am so happy to have swam in the ocean one last time before leaving this wonderful place that is florida=it is paradise :)
then we went to billy;s burgers, which is a hoot within itself. but they had a rooftop bar that overlooked a small inlet bay thing, where we saw at least 4 MANATEES!! i have never seen that animal before and they were just beautiful!! i am so glad we took the day to have fun away from work :) but of course corey and i came back and tiedyed :) and of course i want to sew tonight after dinner :)
oh a wonderful day! i cannot wait to look at some of the pics...

on the business side, turns out that the one thing i cannot do with my new phone is List on Etsy....so joan, i think we need to design an arrangement :) i will email you this week, and i will be in spring grove next tuesday so :) if you wanna grab some coffee and chat let me know :)
i am freaking out about packing it in an working for taylor this summer
i dont think we will make it to milwaukee cus we have to go to maine!! i am sad!
but i loves you all, and hope that baby girl is doing great mama steph :)
jo, is it august yet ?? tho i have a feeling for me this summer is going to fly by :)
peace
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May. 5th, 2009 @ 02:45 pm cute photo work

Baby Alex
Originally uploaded by LovePeaceAndDye
just thought you should see how cute the babies my family breeds are :)
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May. 5th, 2009 @ 02:43 pm Emily and Tiffypop

Emily and Tiffypop
Originally uploaded by LovePeaceAndDye


baby alex!!




you can see more on my flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovepeaceanddye
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May. 4th, 2009 @ 11:40 pm and america the beautiful
Is just one big subdivision...why is ever ani song my favorit
e? So here I
am coming to u live from my bed! I have been quite sick with
Some 24 hour flu bug and how convenient(yet thoroughly annoying)
this new device is...aka a freakish phone...I have managed to
do a small amount of sewing today..but that is about it teehee actually I
have been reading obama and other political sites..I used to
really be in the know about things but there is a lot I have lost touch with over the years
I just feel better now that I am reading more
I am hoping to be in milwaukee in June..I miss it...but I think I love
Florida the most
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Apr. 28th, 2009 @ 09:04 pm still in amazement
about some things, like how freaking adorable baby alex morgan is - i still cannot believe he is real and that cute - a week old, strong as ever, and cute and a button :)
amazing
we are staying in pa an extra night so that we can get jewelery cases from the bonton...i am working really hard to organize my business to function thru different outlets while i am working for taylor this summer...and i think i have to buy a blackberry tomorrow...the blackberry, and i am scared...
but i do have to go thru the mail now, and then start attacking the mail i have to write...damn i loves you all :) teehee and i am glad you finally got your package steph :) you crack me up big mama :)
peace
tiffypop
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