Nest Joins Pinterest

A lot of thought goes in to what we choose to carry at Nest. While much of this thinking is directed at the products themselves, (What materials are used? How are the creators treated? Is it beautiful? Does it have integrity?) an equal amount of time and effort goes into thinking about you, our community of customers. When we fall in love with a product, we wonder if you will fall in love with it, too. We wonder what problems it will solve in your lives and how it will enrich your experiences.

We like how our new blog gives us a forum for exploring how the products we love touch our lives as well as discussing more general aspects of green and thoughtful living. At the same time, we wonder about new ways we could create a stronger sense of online community. That’s why Pinterest caught our eye.

 Pinterest is a “virtual pinboard” that allows you to take all the beautiful, inspiring and (pin)teresting things you find on the Web, organize them, and share them with your community. Something that you know is right up our alley, if you’ve ever visited our Facebook page.

Our first attempts at pinning led to the creation of boards that celebrated what we sell at Nest. Pinning this way gave us the opportunity to create a kind of pictorial love letter to our favorite products in Green Lunch, Clothing, Personal Accessories, Baby Toys, Baby Clothes and Jewelry.

 As we went along, however, we soon realized that Pinterest, like our blog, could be used to explore other aspects of our store. Because Nest is much more than just a catalog of products, it’s impossible to capture it without also collecting the stories and ideas that inspire and inform us as “a small store with a big mission.” We’ve now also created boards for “Green Living”, “Gardening Inspirations”, “An Inspired Life”, “What Makes Us Happy”, and, of course, “Inspired Eating.”

 Like Nest itself, our virtual pinboard is not complete without you. We invite you to explore and enjoy our boards on Pinterest. We’ve only just started getting our feet wet, and we’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions. How do you use Pinterest to explore what inspires you?

 

 

Mad Mats and Flowers

My first native wildflower bouquet of the early summer season was a little one, but quite full of tender loving care. My two shelties and I had ventured out into our hot & humid and sunny back yard to take a gander at what was looking pretty. My dogs love to help me garden! We chose two bee balm, three purple coneflowers, two false sunflowers and one (the first of the season) black eyed susan. I placed them all into one of my mom’s Irish coffee mugs, just because I love my mom and she loved flowers. 

I wanted to take a picture as I always do – I don’t know who’s really interested besides me, but I always take pictures to share. I took my cup of native wonderment and placed it on my back porch floor for the picture. Why on the floor? Because I wanted to take a picture of our Mad Mat, too!! Our Mad Mat is two years old and has been in this spot ever since we bought it two spring seasons ago. The only thing that I’ve actively done to it was flip it over just once – since it is a “reversible” indoor-outdoor mat. We love our Mad Mat – my husband, my shelties and me! The colors are so vibrant, the texture of it feels really good when barefoot, and the dogs love to nap on it. I knew its colors would be a great backdrop for my bouquet picture.

So I took the picture, and here it is. I’m sharing it with you! Enjoy your summer and remember to always, always, always take time to stop and smell the roses along the way.

 

Queen Bee Creations

A purse is defined as a “container of one’s items.” It sounds simple, but alas, it is not. I’ve been working at Nest for two years, and a constant, repeating lament that I hear are women’s woes about current, past and even future handbags: too big or small, too many or too few compartments, broken straps, out-of-season designs, torn insides, soiled outsides. 

Well, thank goodness, I found my Queen Bee Truckette bag. I’ve been using it now for over a year, and it looks brand new. As a Howard County Master Gardener, I surround myself with flowers and trees and bees and butterflies in my gardens at home, so I love my Queen Bee’s “Chirp” design. Its two little birds on their respective branches are engaged in a nice little avian conversation. It’s casual enough for my daily activities, but dresses up to whatever I’m wearing. It holds all my stuff, whether I’m carrying an organized chaos of necessities or a mishmashed  hodgepodge of unnecessary belongings. For my “little things,” I have a Chirp zippered coin purse. When I’m trying to travel light, I’ll use just my coin purse to hold my essentials. It’s really easy to carry with a large ring to loop around your finger.

Queen Bee Creations was founded by designer Rebecca Pearcy in 1996. Her products reflect simple designs from nature like stems, blossoms and leaves. All of Queen Bee’s bags are vegan, the bodies are made of waterproof PVC-free faux leather, and the insides lined with a protective water resistant nylon. They are handmade in Pearcy’s  Portland, Oregon studio, and I’ve heard that you can watch them sew their creations while window shopping. 

To all you purse seekers out there: find a Queen Bee and try her out.

 

 

 

 

Cool Teas for Warm Weather

One of the things I enjoy most about Nest is how naturally the store transforms to celebrate what‘s special about each changing season.  Only a few months ago we were all about looking festive and feeling cozy. Now, surrounded by breezy dresses and colorful glassware, I can’t help but feel swept up by the spirit of late spring.

Spring has always been my favorite season. I love how joyful all the little changes feel- being warm enough to eat dinner on the patio, falling asleep to the sound of spring peepers instead of the humidifier, stepping out of the house without a hat and coat on.

Shifting from huddling over a cup of hot tea to sipping ice tea is another spring transition I love.  The steeping process takes me right back to when I was a kid making ice tea for my mom while she worked in the garden.  Back then, I steeped ice tea by twisting four jumbo tea bags awkwardly around a wooden spoon hung over a tippy plastic pitcher. I can still remember how tangled everything would get and the subtly plastic taste of the tea.

I love the Mist because it makes steeping tea easy and is made of glass, so tea tastes like tea and nothing else.  While you can choose to use tea bags, the built in infuser makes the Mist the perfect tool for straining loose leaf teas or any other infusing elements (citrus, berries, etc). That means the Mist is great for experimenting with your own blends or creating fancy flavored waters.  

Lately, I’ve really enjoyed using flowering teas with my mist. Instead of loose tea or tea in bags, flowering tea is made by bundling dried tea leaves together into a little orb. When the bundle is steeped in hot water, the tea unfurls in a process that resembles a blossoming flower.  As you can imagine, the mist’s glass pitcher is the perfect canvas for this little ceremony. I especially like the distinctive “leafy sea dragon” shape the tea leaves acquire at the end of the process.

Want to try something more inventive? Right now we have two great books in the store that make perfect companions to the Mist.

Green Tea: 50 Hot Drinks, Cool Quenchers, and Sweet and Savory Treats by Mary Lou Heis offers dozens of creative, restaurant-quality drink recipes all made with healthy antioxidant-rich green tea.  I can’t wait to try the “Johnny Appleseed Iced Green Tea” which includes both root beer and apple (or pear) cider (two favorites of mine). I also really enjoy spicy tea drinks like chai so the “Invigorating and Spicy Green Tea “made with whole white peppercorns and cardamom pods is right up my alley.

 

 Have you ever wanted to re-create the feeling of being pampered at a fancy spa or salon at home? Cool Waters: 50 Refreshing, Healthy, Homemade Thirst Quenchers by Brian Preston-Campbell might just do that! Preston-Campbell elevates simple water to delicious new heights by adding ingredients like blackberries, ancho chiles, swiss chard, cloves and tamarind paste (all from separate recipes-don’t worry!) to chilled still water. The author also offers food pairing suggestions and serving tips. With this book and the Mist, water may become the new wine!

 

 

 

The Homemade Pantry: Veggie burgers, fruit roll-ups, and flour tortillas, oh my!

I’m a little excited about this new book… Okay, a lot excited.  The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying & Start Making, by Alana Chernila. Josie’s mother bought it for herself a few weeks ago, then let Josie bring it in to work to show the rest of us. Sent off to lunch with Josie’s half dozen reasons why I would like this book, I cuddled up with it at the tiny desk we use as a lunch room and promptly fell in love with Alana and her book (yes, we’re already on a first name basis). She had me at the homemade toaster pastries on the cover. 

As someone who makes her own kale chips, kombucha, and occasionally cheese, this book is my dream come true. Not long ago I suggested to my pizza-from-scratch-making husband that we try making our own ketchup sometime. This book order arrived at Nest this week and not only does The Homemade Pantry have recipes for ketchup, fig newtons and crackers, but right there on page 103, in her intro to the ketchup recipe, Alana references Clamps, the tiny burger shack hidden in the hills of northwest Connecticut  that has reached almost mythical status in our family lore.  

Will you think I’m weird if I confess that my heart rate is up just writing these few paragraphs, and I’m wondering about playing hooky so I can start trying her recipes? Sounds like a serious crush, right? And I just met the book two weeks ago. Have I mentioned her recipes for sauerkraut, hamburger rolls, and coffee liqueur? 

What is it about making these things ourselves that gets us so excited? What draws us to crafty homesteading books and blogs in our precious spare time? I know my fascination is fed in part by having read the Little House books more times than I will publicly acknowledge. If Laura and Pa could get their family through the winter by twisting straw into ‘logs’ for the fire, then surely I can become self-reliant in the realm of garlic production. If Ma could make pot pie from the fat blackbirds devastating their corn field, then I should be able to concoct a dinner from garden lettuce, half-grown radishes, canned garbanzos and last season’s frozen pesto. A little more self-reliance seems smart in so many ways. 

I’m also inspired by the financial side of it all. In early December, after some online research, I filled a small jar with cheap vodka and added three vanilla beans, each cut in half lengthwise. By Christmas I had a jar of honest to goodness vanilla extract. Tah-dah! For little more than the price of a bottle of vanilla extract, I have a jar-full that I will continue to top off with vodka, because those three beans will continue to share their vanilla goodness for years. Now think of the fortune I will save by making my own marshmallows, peanut butter and pickles with the recipes in this book! 

Before every recipe, Alana provides an introduction – the story of how this food item came into her life, why she started making it at home, or which picky eater it satisfies. Her essays are friendly and funny, encouraging and enticing. Based on her description of how easy it is to make yogurt, I can’t wait to try it myself. Her tone is spunky, realistic and kind. She won’t judge me if I indulge in a store-bought pie crust, and she’ll cheer for me when I make my own. 

It turns out that Alana writes a blog, EatingFromTheGroundUp. Perusing her blog is like reading her recipe essays, although it’s probably the blog that birthed the book, not the other way around. In addition to recipes and foodie thoughts, she writes about her husband and daughters, good times with friends, and life as part of a community. I’m smitten. The Homemade Pantry has a place at my table… because the bookshelf is too far away and doesn’t let me read it over breakfast.

~~

Josie’s Half Dozen Reasons to Read The Homemade Pantry:

  • Getting your hands on The Homemade Pantry feels like finding a bundle of letters from an old friend. Chernila immediately reads like a kindred spirit.
  • In case you missed Anastasia’s subtle enthusiasm, a big part of creating these goodies by hand is that it can actually be really thrilling to do so. There’s magic in saving money and in making the food you like even tastier and healthier…all with your own two hands.
  • Chernila believes that if we all play outside and eat good food, our bodies will find the shapes that suit them.  Shame and guilt have no place at the dinner table.
  • The Lentil Soup on page 132 is AMAZING, and I know lentil soup.
  • The Homemade Pantry is a great resource for both vegetarian households like mine and more conventional eaters. Chernila never asks you to pick a side. Her book is aimed at a community of eaters that includes everyone from vegans, vegetarians and meat-lovers to time-strapped moms and picky kids.
  • The photography in The Homemade Pantry is tasty and happy and fresh looking. If looking at pictures of pie and pickles makes you feel better when you’re a little blue, this is your book.

 

 

 

 

Spring Rosette

After my last tutorial, my co-workers suggested that I write about how to create the “super-cute rosette that’s perfect for springtime,” so here we go!
 
This scarf twist is called The Rosette.    
 
Wear this as a sweet accent to accompany your favorite dress, or as a feminine touch on top of a summer jacket or blazer. This style is on the dressier side and so works great for an evening out, a formal event, or a fancy soirée.
Added bonus: the rosette encourages and inspires good posture as it elongates the neck.
 
 
To fashion your own resplendent rosette, start by placing your scarf on the back of your neck and let the ends hang in front of you. They should be equal length on both sides. Start twisting them together. (Doesn’t matter which direction you twist)
                     
 
 Twist to the ends.
  
When the twist becomes taut, wrap it in a circular motion at your neck using your fingers to guide the scarf into a bun.
                       
 
Note: make sure you’re not twisting too tight – you don’t want to strangle yourself. The French saying “One must suffer to be beautiful”? …not quite what we’re aiming for here.

When you come to the ends, tuck them into the bigger loop at your neck. Adjust as needed, and/or position to one side.

 

Cornelia, our mannequin, has been wearing variations of the rosette and even multiple rosettes at once… she’s been getting a lot of attention these days. Cornelia, you head-turner you!  

For multiple rosettes, repeat steps above and overlay. You can even use scarves of slightly different sizes for a more dramatic, enhanced ornate effect. 

Tip: For your comfort, as well as aesthetic purposes, you may want to use scarves that are on the skinny side made from lightweight silks and cottons as opposed to a heavier scarf (knit, wool…) so the rose has a better chance of staying in place and sitting comfortably on your neck. Your scarf doesn’t even have to be that long. You may even use a headscarf/foulard. Keep in mind though, the longer the scarf, the bigger the rose.

 

All the scarves featured in the pictures above are available at Nest and are handmade from genuine vintage silk saris. Come on over and take a look!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Favorite Gardening Books

Spring has officially arrived, and it is now definitely gardening season. The very organized (and temperature optimistic) among us already have their tomatoes and peppers planted. Others of us look at the pretty seedlings for sale and dream of skipping work to get those baby veggies in the ground. I know there will be time enough, and when I get home too late to do any gardening, I curl up with a gardening book instead.

My absolute favorite gardening book is The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, by Edward C. Smith. Ed’s Book (as it’s referred to in my home) achieves a wonderful balance of presenting information that is unintimidating and helpful to a novice gardener, while also being a tremendous resource for more experienced veggie growers.  Starting with how to decide on a location for your garden, selecting seeds, and preparing the soil, he progresses to growing specific vegetables and dealing with pests. The book is full of photos – gorgeous images of Ed’s garden and remarkably helpful images of Ed in action. The nicest thing of all may be the book’s tone, as Ed conveys his information like a kind neighbor leaning over the fence.

 

If you’re tight on space, Sugar Snaps and Strawberries, by Andrea Bellamy might be the gardening book for you. Subtitled “Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden,” it’s not only a great guide to the basics of gardening, but also offers wonderfully creative ways to garden in whatever space you have. From containers to trellises to a tiny patch of soil two feet square, Bellamy walks you through the steps from preparing the soil to harvesting your crop. She also has an invaluable chapter on pests and organic insect control.

I’ve spent lots of time mulling over Herbal Tea Gardens, by Marietta Marshall Marcin, and daydreaming about expanding my tiny herb garden to incorporate more of her wisdom. She spends most of the first hundred pages describing various herbs, their care, and how to use them for tea. Then comes the fun part: plans for themed herb gardens like Headache Relief Garden, Sleepy Time Garden and Immunity Booster Garden. It’s an interesting way to become more familiar with herbs and their uses.

It’s hard to believe that an entire (large) book could be written about backyard composting, but here it is: The Complete Compost Gardening Guide, by Barbara Pleasant and Deborah L. Martin. I love composting, with a worm bin inside or outside with a larger bin; I’ll talk composting with anyone who’s interested. Increasingly, composting is being recognized as an integral component of home gardening as it improves the quality of your soil, acts as a mulch to retain moisture, and increases the nutritional value of the vegetables you grow. It can also significantly reduce the amount of yard waste and kitchen scraps that a household needs to send to the landfill. Many people are intimidated by the thought of composting; I appreciate that this book emphasizes how easy it can be to get started.  The Complete Compost Gardening Guide outlines numerous ways to compost and makes it fun to figure out the best system for your household.

By the way, if you’re interested in trying outdoor composting, Howard County gives away free compost bins to county residents. To get your free bin, contact the County directly or stop by a H.C. Master Gardener compost demonstration site.

Gardening, like composting, isn’t that difficult. Sure, you can do it super-scientifically and carefully to reap amazing harvests of abundance… but I’m pretty sure that you can also do it haphazardly, with whatever little pockets of time, energy and soil you can find, and still the results will delight you.

 

Spring Scarf Tutorial

I have always been a scarf person. I love the colors, the fabrics, the textures, and the warmth! In my world one can never have too many scarves. Often underestimated, the scarf serves as a stylish accent adding that extra touch of color to tie an outfit together. The right scarf can turn a casual outfit into an elegant one. Not only are they practical and pretty, they can also be quite fun. 

Did you know there are hundreds of different ways to tie scarves? The possibilities are endless! Here’s one idea I came across while experimenting with my -at the time- new scarf from Nest. Since then I’ve received many compliments on it by customers who want to know where it is in the store and how to tie it. “Show me how to make it look like yours!” After a few casual in-store mini tutorials, I thought it would be fun to feature here.

 

So here goes: Introducing the “Wrap Around” also known as “The Half Cape!”

We still have time to get some good use out of this one, as the weather seems to be settling into a more-spring appropriate temperature range, where mornings and evenings are still cool. This style is great for scarves that have beaded, fringed or sequined edges. 

 

Step 1: Place around the back of your neck and hold one end in each hand. Pull on one end to get some length.

 

Step 2:  Wrap the long end around your neck once.

 

Step 3: Take the ends and crisscross them in front of you.

 

Step 4: Then bring ends behind your neck.

 

Step 5: Tie loosely.

 

Adjust the scarf so that one side drapes over the shoulder.

 And Voilà!   Be sure and check back for more scarf tips and tutorials. More to come!

 

 

Old Made New Again

It was definitely love at first sight when we first crossed paths with designer Beth Delehaunty and her clothing line,  Elisabethan, in 2006.  Beth makes clothes out of old clothes (or “experienced textiles,” as she puts it), and her creations are charming, fanciful, and fun. When I wear one of her skirts or tops I feel playful and light-hearted.

Beth herself is smart, funny, compassionate, kind, and a little mischievous. She and the clothes she creates inspire me to not miss this life as it zips by! If she lived closer I’d meet her for coffee every Tuesday.

 

Beth also has an extraordinary eye for design and color. She finds color and pattern pairings that no one else can see. This stripe goes with that stripe which also kind of matches that print with the little stars… a hodge-podge that doesn’t seem to match at first glance, but her wiser eye knows they’re perfect for one another.

 

Many times over the years I commented to Beth that it sometimes seems a little odd for Nest in Maryland to sell items made out of event t-shirts from Colorado (her home base). Without fail, she always replied, “Well, you could collect Mid-Atlantic shirts for me!” This fall we finally had a t-shirt collection for Elisabethan.  We shipped off a big box full of T’s, including shirts promoting the Redskins, Howard County Bike to Work Day, Save the Bay, and to our delight, Roots Market and Great Sage.  We couldn’t wait to see what Beth and her crew of sewers would do with them!

 A couple of days ago our spring order arrived and it felt like Christmas. There they were, the shirts we’d sent off, re-envisioned with fabulous new personalities. Roots became a star, Great Sage a flower, Bike to Work Day the body of a ruffled top. One of a kind creations reflecting our Nest community!

 We’re definitely going to hold a spring t-shirt collection for Beth – we’ll keep you posted on the details!

 

 

This Funny Spring Thing

 

What’s an eco-gal to do when mid-March offers up the most delightful May-like weather? I mean really, earlier this week was the most perfect kind of weather – perfect temperature to shed your sleeves, perfect sun kissing you but not burning, perfect hint of breeze… what’s not to like? Even today’s grey morning is creeping into the low 70’s.

 

But here we are. Several people have said to me, “This is the good side of global warming!” and I don’t know what to do with that statement. While I tend to see the glass-half-full and strive to always find a silver lining, it’s disconcerting to glibly enjoy climate change. Climate change is already causing increasing problems for human communities around the world, to say nothing of its impact on animals and plants. Whether this week’s weather was just a little heat wave or part of a larger climate trend, it’s distinctly uncomfortable to respond to it with pure delight.

 

I keep wrestling with the sense that this is not right. It’s March! Shouldn’t we be a little bit wishing and wondering if we’ll get one more snowstorm? In our part of the world our instinctual selves have come to expect a certain amount of cold and darkness. Although modern society tries to keep marching on, the winter months offer the opportunity to go inward, stay home, and rest deeply. Nature offers a thousand metaphors for the cycle of rest followed by action: the hibernating bear, the buried daffodil bulb, every plant that sheds its leaves and grows them again. It serves us well to allow winter to slow us down. 

 

But again, here we are, May in March. I could get on a soapbox and condemn this weather as a sign of the end times; I could become fearful and find doom in every ray of sunshine. Or I can accept it as beautiful and a gift, like every day and every breath. I can stretch my winterish inner quiet for a few more weeks and begin to lighten my diet with the cleansing greens of early spring. I can continue with all the things I do to care for Earth, trusting that they make some small difference. And I will soak in every bit of this warm but not hot, check every evening for early asparagus shoots, and wonder gratefully at the adaptability of our Earth.

Copyright © Nest Natural Home