June Blooms

BOOKMARKS
New age town in U.S. embraces dollar alternative {YahooNews}

“I just love the feel of using a local currency,” said Trice Atchison, 43, a teacher who used BerkShares to buy a snack at a cafe in Great Barrington, a town of about 7,400 people. “It keeps the profit within the community.”
read more

Plastic bag revolt spreads across Britain {CSM}

Spurred by a filmmaker’s documentary, the English town of Modbury became the first in Europe to ban them outright.
It was watching sea creatures choke on plastic bags in the Pacific Ocean that finally persuaded Rebecca Hosking that enough was enough.
read more

GotCloth? Want more? PTF’s line ofeco bags is going to be expanding soon to include mesh produce bags and eco shopping sets. Stay tuned.

Garden in June

Summer & the Eatin’s Good

Fruit Dept: Blueberries, strawberries, figs, apples, peaches, apricots
Veggie Dept: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, potatoes, beans, limas, cucumbers, broccoli, lettuces, assorted greens & herbs

Goings On

– cleaning out the cellar so can work on grey water system
– decluttering & organizing garage and house (never ending)
– trying to get back to our regular urban homesteading routine after many disruptions
– discussing the future and ongoing projects that need to be tackled
– picking, packing, delivering.   planting, harvesting & watering
– catching up on overdue (4 month old) emails and brochure requests (thanks G & K for your help!)
– cleaned, staked and tied up the “giant” tomatoes
– received free load of beautiful oak leaf mulch (you know when you are a true gardener/farmer at heart when you get excited over “good” mulch… and the smell – mmmm)
– brewing monthly batch of biodiesel
– handling Peddler’s Wagon inventory and shipping
– working on uploading more videos
– dabbling on improvements to the PTF journal
– preparing “100 foot diet” meals
– using the sun oven
– baking bread
– household chores
… and this is considered a “slow week” for us! 😉