end junk mail + usda letter by this wednesday

two actions for you

1. if you want to stop getting credit card offers (for 5 years or forever!), check this out from the FTC. there's also a lot of info about stopping other kinds of junk mail here, but i don't know who sponsors this info. seems good though.

2. the usda is accepting public comment about GM alfalfa until this wednesday. here is the USDA email page. here is some wording from credo:

I am writing in regard to Docket APHIS-2007-0044, and I demand that the USDA reject Monsanto's application to market genetically engineered alfalfa. The USDA may not believe it matters if GE alfalfa contaminates organic and other non-GE crops, but I certainly do.

Consumers must be able to avoid genetically engineered products. Farmers must be free of the threat of contamination and the USDA must not put organic farmers' livelihoods at risk. The USDA admits that approval of GE alfalfa will make transgenic contamination inevitable. This is unacceptable.

Therefore, I urge you to reject Monsanto's application to sell genetically engineered alfalfa.

here is more info from credo on the matter. (you can also send your email through the credo site, but then you get added to email lists.)

cross posted on sew green

rainy friday

having one of those especially clumsy days today. i've tripped twice—once catching myself on the kitchen sink with my elbow. have knocked several things over. gotten scratched by the cat (ok maybe that's not due to my clumsiness, but i did pet his tummy, so partial clumsiness, partial ornery kitty). and i made a bad soup from delicious ingredients. that is hard to do. hrmph.

flickr beauties
black & white (like a fairytale)
we welcome you, spring
pieces for building a world
Goat! (always good to end with a goat i think.)

spring napkins

in the few warm days we had last week, i started daydreaming about outdoor fika and picnics, complete with china and cloth napkins.

this weekend i made these pink napkins for myself. the floral side is cut from a thrifted pillowcase. the other side(s) from left-over quilting fabric. i like to mix floral and geometric patterns.




did you see stephanie of 3191's simple, yet classy indigo napkins?

longer and more DIY version of this post over on sew green.

ps. check out how seattle rocks with their big urban gardening plans!

look + listen links

got lost in these two photostreams recently.

maman xuxudidi
lots of old country/homesteading beauty. check out her marmalade making photo.

aino sal scandinavian goodness, plus sewn and knitted lovelies.

this past this american life episode was a good one! (prepare to cry though for both stories.) that janis carter is an amazing and wonderful woman.

gratitude

when i opened up the csa box last night and saw this cabbage (which looked better last night, pre-refrigeration), it reminded me of abby's beautiful photo of the amazing kmk cabbage.

i am not going to tell you where in the flat my cabbage photo was taken though. let's just say the turquoise walls (which are way more blue and bright in person) of a certain room seemed like they'd make a pretty background for the purple. (i hope my housemate and csa box sharer is not reading this.)

today i wrote a letter to one of my favorite authors to request permission to include some words of his in this book i'm compiling. the piece with his words in it is not by me, but the permission request "allowed" me to express my gratitude to him. (of course he is probably not the one reading the letter, but i wrote as though he would be reading it, and that felt quite nice.)

❀ ❉ ❀ ❉ ❀ ❉

another, bigger

happy v day

o glad alla hjärtans dag!

for valentine's day i'd like this breakfast. (or maybe this one.)
i'd like to go here or here.

♥

noah's ark of groceries

bigger.

i seem to have done my grocery shopping in twos this week.

the dill and porter beer is for a dill bread i'm going to make right now! i had it at a friend's house and it was delicious. it requires no yeast. you can see the recipe here if you scroll down.

a beautiful iceland post from anna emilia

the sock dryer

and PL

good stuff
jenni rope

i keep meaning to mention that we have some new contributors over at sew green. and we've had a couple of fun recent posts about green crafts (a DIY valentine robot and a sock monster draft blocker).

a friend sent me this relaxing sheep video. it's like the musical video equivalent of counting sheep.

lace and spots

i don't know who does the print design for the sf store painted bird, but i always dig it. a lot.



remember these from last week? still pretty i think.

feel so different

shari recommended the book driftless. i just finished it last night and really enjoyed it. lots of good characters and stories, so i'm passing along the recommendation.

happy weekend to you!

the next door neighbors

have a thing about potted plants. they multiply. huller om buller. (translation: pell-mell)

herriot grace

ida björs

a little over a week ago, i attended a talk about urban homesteading. if you're interested in urban homesteading, there are some good links in this review of the event.