Jenna Lou Loves You

Garden Visit - Earthworks Gardens St. Peter - Mankato

 
I love setting up a booth at the Mankato Farmers Market. There are so many great people who stop by and I get to visit with the very friendly and knowledgeable vendors too. The past couple weeks we've gotten to set up our booth next to Earthworks Gardens... what a treat. All morning I watched as beautiful,enormous bouquet after bouquet was sold... wishing privately that I could too have one too.

By the end of the morning I had wandered over to smell the plate sized peonies and I got to talking with Diane about them and found out I can get my very own... and they are locally grown right outside of St. Peter. My heart races.
 
So after the market we took a motorcycle ride out to the farm which is open to the public all summer. Totally worth it! It was so much fun to talk with Diane and look at all the fields. There were fields of flowers and fields of produce. Rows and rows of hard work and love for agriculture are just spread out before you. It was totally my thing.

I ended up ordering some peonies called 'lullaby'. They are white with blooms the size of my hand if I stretch it open as far as I can. The petals remind me of a dream. They are absolutely stunning. I can't wait to visit again later in the season when more is in bloom and the veggies are growing faster than they can be picked. If you are in the area I definitely suggest a trip out there. Or at the very least stop by the market and get yourself one of those amazing bouquets!

Winter Wear

Check out my new winter boots. I'm so very excited to have them as this has been by far the harshest Minnesota winter I can remember in a long long time. In December we had a snow fall almost every 48 hours and most days temperatures hovered around 0*F. Lucky January has seemed to be better, but I was still in desperate need for some tall, warm, fuzzy, boots to keep me warm and dry on my treks to the post office or on the very rare occasion that I'd actually leave the house for something non work related.

But anyways... you probably don't want to read a whole post about these darn boots, but it's more than just the boots. It's where I got the boots.
 
Originally I saw these boots in a local department store... but like always size 9 is impossible to find especially when it's already 2 months into winter weather. So I looked online. Planet Shoes was one of the first places I found and was instantly impressed. They have a great feature on the home page where you can search in categories like vegan and eco-logic. The price was better than my local shop and when checking out I was floored that they had the option of Carbon Free shipping where you pay around $2 to offset the carbon emissions of shipping. How cool is that!

So here is the lowdown. Planet Shoes was great. Shipping was fast. Checkout easy. AND I feel great about helping out in even the smallest way. PLUS.... I got cute new winter boots. Win-win.

My "Green" Curtains

After finding myself eye to eye with strangers a couple too many times I decided it was time to make some curtains for my kitchen. We live very close to a school and a church so many of the neighborhood kids like to cut through our yard on the way to their destination, and while I don't have a problem with them doing so, I just don't like getting caught in my pajamas making my morning oatmeal. It's just awkward.

On Sunday I sat down in front of my fabric stash to pick out the print I wanted for the curtains. I'm quite lucky in that our kitchen has no color theme or really any design elements at all right now so I could go wild with any color/print I wanted. (We are planning to demolish/redo in the future so we haven't put any effort into it since moving in). I came across these two pillowcases that I had thrifted for 25 cents each many months back. What a perfect "green" solution.

They were the perfect size, color, and print... PLUS with one finished edge already done they were a snap to sew up. I cut the seams to open it up, then folded over the finished edge and sewed to make a loop for the curtain rod. A simple folded hem on the other three sides was a breeze and they were done. I think the project took me MAYBE 40 minutes... and that includes measuring and nailing the curtain rods onto the window. I picked up the rods for $2.43 for the set, so for a total of $2.93 + my time I have new curtains that bring a bright, fresh, fun look to my kitchen. AND now I can make toast in my birthday-suit if I please without scaring off the neighbors. I'd say it was a success.

Next time your thinking of updating around you home, remember to recycle and keep it "green".... The earth and all our future generations will appreciate it!

xo,
Jennalou