This past week has been such a blessing. Hope you’ve enjoyed the holidays too. Thanks everyone who showed up with cardboard for the yard, yummy treats, and good company. Knocked a ton of time off the ongoing gardening project. Looks like we’re down to the shop which looks like the last load of mulch for hugelkultur, German style land regeneration. Nice. No more poison ivy or brambles! If you live in the Southeast, poison ivy is a PEST and it’s so nice to have a real solution for the problem that has plagued our place for a decade. Whoot. There’s plenty of tutorials online for anyone who's interested in learning about this ancient art and if you live in Raleigh...
This morning the birds got up at 5 am to say what a beautiful day it is. My new favorite morning tea is oat flowers which is an old European energy staple. Got the purple asparagus and herbs planted this weekend which is a nice start to April. #1 neighbor tool request is Clyde’s Garden Planner for $5-8. It’s a small slide ruler of basic planting dates, companion crops, and yield for spring and fall annual crops in the US. Practically, a kitchen garden means planting 1-2 crops every week in a 15’ x 30’ plot which saves the average family $4,000-8,000/year in grocery bills, but given all our different temperature zones compared to Europe, it can be a bit...
After an unusually cold winter, NC is tasting spring. The Viking Experience is gearing up for another weekend. Outdoor music concerts. College basketball games on Sunday afternoon tv. The fairgrounds are hosting tons of different shows and events back-to-back. It’s nice. Got a late 80s/early 90s clothing vibe walking around. Expect to see small print flower dresses making a comeback with edible flowers. Our local museum does Artists in Bloom with florists. I keep expecting them to expand to gourmet food for their gift shop. French flowers and gardens do well in the US and they have a long history of putting flowers in all their food, including 4-star salads. Violets which taste like fresh peas can be candied for...
This past week was both the Carolina Fiber Festival and Quilt Show. The major two cash crops being shown were: wool and cotton. Weirdly, dyed wool and garments both do well in NC though there doesn’t seem to be much goat cashmere which is odd given all our dairy goats. Goat cashmere is the undercoat which the animals lose in the spring and harvested by simply brushing so it’s surprising that someone hasn’t tried to contract for it since dairy goats already visit a milking stand twice a day and are dried off in early spring so you have a gap in revenue and animals that are accustomed to being handled in milking parlors. There is also a specific breed,...
Anyone whose worked in retail learns about the MANY many holidays celebrated for sales. At Belks, we did 254 DIFFERENT sales per year. This week, it’s St. Patty’s Day in the US with lots of green splashed everywhere. It’s a lot of fun with beer, celtic music, and time spent with family and friends. All good stuff, but not necessarily very profitable for retail fashion. Is there a potential to change that and make some money? March Women’s Day has always seemed to have the most potential and zero great marketing. Why? Guest lecturing at Animazement, you learn about White Day in Japan which also falls around now. It’s the reverse of Valentine’s Day in which instead of men giving...