Pre-Crap Swap To-Do List:

Ladies (and gentlemen?):

Here's a list of things I need help with in preparing for said swap/sale. Please use the comment button to "sign up" (or the edit function if you have editor permissions).

• Yard Sale email to Shaw-talk and NW-Shaw (Katie P.)
• Other online sources that we advertised in previously (Erin H.)
  
• Stencils and markers (Erin H.)
• Cash box (or something comparable) (Erin H.)
  
• Color-coded stickers to price (Katie P.)
• Hangers and garment rack for selling clothes (Katie P.)
  
• Poster board to make signs (___________)
• Anything else I am clearly forgetting (__________)

For the Crap Swap itself, please feel free to bring any food or drink to share. (Alcoholic, non, dessert, veggie, etc. etc.) Also, spouses, significant others, well-behaved children, and random friends are welcome to both the Swap and the Sale.

By no means is this "final." I'm open to any all suggestions that might make this process more enjoyable and fun. :-)

Crap Swap - September 19

Click below on the 'comment' button to list what you want and have to swap.

Personally I have a twin bed full of stuff so I'll list it later.

Bring your crap -
Bring crap you swapped from last time to swap again - we won't be offended
let people know what you might need
You do not have to bring lots of stuff to get lots of stuff - there is no 'buy in' :)

Please bring a snack to share

and for your amusement - a Mexican restaurant in Kentucky

The Ironic Catholic: Conservative and Liberal Catholic Etiquette Tips Provided

I recently found this blog - The Ironic Catholic

This is my favorite post...

It makes me wanna say "Can't we all just get along?"


The Ironic Catholic: Conservative and Liberal Catholic Etiquette Tips Provided

My favorite is the one about music... :)

Making a Compost Bin

Hi all! Sorry for delays. If you would like to make a compost bin on Friday at the Crap Swap, be sure to bring the following.







1 plastic/rubber storage bin (you choose the size based on what you think your composting needs are. Mine is probably a 10-gallon)

One old newspaper (I have some if you don't)

Sand and/or dirt like you'd use for gardening/potting (let me know if you have some you can share. Otherwise I will make a trip to the store.)

Don't worry about the worms; I'll make Ryan buy us some...I don't go into bait shops. Ever.

That's all we need! See you Friday!

What's your greendex?

I subscribe to the National Geographic Magazines Green Guide, it offers fabulous information about Green living. There are a few quizzes that you can take in this months issue:

http://event.nationalgeographic.com/greendex/index.html

At the bottom of the page you will see a box - you can calculate your greendex and test your environmental savvy...

Good Luck!
erin h

A fresh-food opporunity from Schlafly and Fair Shares' CSA:

From Schlafly Bottleworks (they do great things, support them if you can):

We'd like to take a moment to tell you about Fair Shares, a combined CSA*!

Would you like to support local, but don't have the means to do so easily? Do you have difficulty getting to farmers' markets? Are you interested in learning how to cook seasonally, thereby eating the best-tasting, most nutritious food available? Fair Shares is a non-profit organization dedicated to getting fresh, local, seasonal food into the hands of more St. Louisans--regardless of their income.

Fair Shares is working with local farmers and producers to form a Combined CSA* (CCSA). Each week, they'll collect, organize and distribute a well-rounded example of the freshest, seasonal, sustainably-produced foods available in St. Louis all year long. Members of Fair Shares will receive bios on all the farmers and producers we feature, plus menu ideas, recipes, and storage and preparation tips each week. There are still spaces left for this season!

Fair Shares was created in 2007 by sisters Sara Hale and Jamie Choler. (Sara has been a tremendous employee at Schlafly Beer for more than 15 years). Because Sara and Jamie believe eating healthy food should be a universal right, not an elite privilege, Fair Shares was organized as a nonprofit in the hopes of finding grants and holding fundraisers to help them reach their goal of making local, seasonal foods more accessible to all.

*Community Supported Agriculture is a partnership between consumers interested in safe, fresh, local foods and farmers interested in a stable market for their products. Consumers pledge to support the farms as co-producers, sharing in the bounty and the risks of farming, including poor harvests due to pests or weather conditions.

Please visit the Fair Shares website at www.fairshares.org and get all the details about this wonderful organization!

Slow Food

Hi friends,

Just wanted to let you know about Slow Food St Louis. This is the local chapter for the international movement. Their link is on the sidebar to the right and I highly encourage you to check them out. Why? Because you eat food! And hopefully you like it healthy and fresh, responsibly grown. AND hopefully you care about the people who grow it, because they're good folks who deserve our spending dollars (instead of McDonald's). I joined their yahoo! groups mailing list, and I attended the monthly meeting last night. Slow Food has creative, dynamic people from the area contributing a lot of knowledge, passion and energy. Be sure to take a look at their events (Convivial Pursuit Trivia Night! The Art of Food!! Feast in the Fields!!!).

Since our meeting was at Schlafly Bottlewords, I'm also reminded that there is a backyard gardening workshop being offered at Schlafly on Mar. 29. I'm going and I think Donna's going to go, so be sure to sign up if you're interested. We're thinking of making a summer vegetable swap an additional component of the Crap Swap. If each of us grows one, two or three veggie plants, we can share the work AND the harvest. Let me know if you're interested in that, too.

Ciao bellas.

Does anyone have?

...sunglasses they don't wear? I (almost) don't even care what they look like, just need some cornea-saving shades. Lemmeknowthanks!

First Crap Swap a Success!

Hopefully everyone who made it to the Crap Swap had a good time and is happy with their stuff. I know I am! I think everything I got was worthwhile...an item I'd thought about buying, and a couple things that I know I would impulse-buy elsewhere (like candle paraphernalia). [PS-By the time I got home, I only had one candle holder left intact. Oh well.]

I'd be happy to host the next one. Pre-planning to have people over might motivate me to actually go through my as yet packed boxes, and I promise to get materials ready for a composting party! Till then, each person should save at least two newspapers, and buy (or find) herself a rubber storage box (of a size that seems appropriate for her compost needs; mine is probably 14Wx20Lx16H").

Maybe we can try and get together again in a month, and if we don't have enough stuff to warrant a swap, maybe we can just incorporate mini-swaps with poker nights/bingo. Feel free to share what you think in the "comments" section!

Better Valentine choices

I always wondered if there were any 'good' flowers...
I'll also note Kakao chocolates
They are owned by a friend of ours and she uses locally grown/organic ingredients whenever possible. It's also delicious!
erin h (ps I haven't been erin h since kindergarten)

The Good Valentine

by Aysha Hussain

about AYSHA HUSSAIN

Aysha Hussain is a freelance writer based in New York.

This Valentine's Day show that special someone how fortunate you feel with the help of cupid's arrow. Rather than buy your loved one conventional chocolates from plantations that still use child labor or a pesticide-laden bouquet of flowers, aim for gifts that favor the earth. There's no better way to say "I love you."

Flowers

The sweet aroma of fresh cut flowers might be masking darker circumstances. Flower growers often endure poor working conditions, suffering from serious pesticide-related health problems such as impaired vision, asthma and even miscarriage, and many times, their children suffer too. In countries like Columbia and Ecuador, from where the U.S. imports 70 percent of its flowers, the children of female workers have suffered from prenatal pesticide exposures that led to low birth weights and smaller head circumferences.

As with any agricultural product, try buying locally grown flowers before heading to the store; see www.localharvest.org for growers in your area. Where local options don't exist, choose organically grown flowers, those certified by Scientific Certification System's (SCS) VeriFlora label or Transfair Fair-Trade certified bouquets.

Along with requiring organic farming practices, VeriFlora stresses ecosystem protection, energy and packaging minimization, and fair labor and community development practices. Small farmer organizations certified by Transfair's Fair Trade follow environvironmentally friendly practices and sell directly to international buyers, helping to sustain their local economies.

If conventional cut flowers are a last resort, be aware than chlorpyrifos, an organophosphate pesticide associated with long-term neurological damage, headaches, blurred vision and loss of consciousness, is commonly used on flowers. Therefore, always wash your hands after handling them.

Fair-Trade flowers: 1-800-flowers.com sweetheart roses ($39.99/36 stems; 1800flowers.com)

Veriflora-certified Flowers: Organic Bouquet classic red roses ($49.95/dozen; www.organicbouquet.com, 877-899-2468); The Sun Valley Group (www.thesunvalleygroup.com, 800-747-0396) and Nevado Ecuador (www.nevadoecuador.com).

Organically Grown Flowers: California Organic Flowers California-grown, organic Safari Sunset Protea ($49.95/15 stems; www.californiaorganicflowers.com, 530-891-6265); Diamond Organics' organic tulips ($13/5 stems; www.diamondorganics.com, 888-674-2642); Manic Organics' organic roses($79.95/two dozen; www.manicorganicsflowers.com, 678-377-8258).

Erin B's list

Incomplete so far, but here's the start.

OFFERED:

• 6' Xmas tree, not pre-lit, good condition
• 2 ceramic table lamps, white w/ floral design, need better shades
• silk men's button-up shirt (I call it tropical-casual), peach, Size XXL. BRAND NEW.
• bathroom storage cabinet (kinda like this, with drawers, too) would love to swap for one that fits in our bathroom
• "Wedding Crashers" on DVD (we already have it)
• Lots of books available for borrow/swap/gift
  picture frames, swap?
  

More Contributions- Edited with more details

Date preference: I like Sunday, February 10 around 1pm or later.

This is the on-going edited list of gifts/requests from the de Chantal House.

Up for swaps/haves:

• 5 piece plastic-lined toiletries case:
• 4 pieces of vary sizes fit into largest container (one is a clear pouch with small bottles)
  
• Blue floral pattern, cloth handles and zippers close each pouch
  
• Each pouch could easily be used individually
• Would be perfect to re-gift as it's never been opened.
• Rosewillow photo album:
• http://www.storephotos.com/images/DA100M_rosewillow_250.jpg
• Looks very similar to the above link--less "rose" and more "willow" on my album.
• Could easily be re-gifted.
  
• Spiral-bound journal:
• Monet's "Water lilies" are on the hard-bound cover.
• Looks similar to this: http://deseretbook.com/store/product?sku=4970878
  
• Each page is lined.
• Could easily be re-gifted.
  

Wanted:

• pots for houseplants (ceramic, plastic, of any/all sizes)
• also, if you have plants you no longer wish to care for, I'll take those too. :)
  

Also, I have about 6 cell phones and chargers I was going to bring to Women's House for women in domestic violence environments. I'm happy to add to my collection with your old cell phones.

Also, I REALLY WANT TO COMPOST!!! WOOO HOOO!!!

Pam's and Erin's list

Pam has to donate/swap/etc...

One 2 ft animatronic Christmas angel
Various tupperware containers
Paperback books - Stephen King, Anne Rice, and others
Sweaters
candles and other home decor

Erin has -
a gossip bench (unless Erin B wants it) - tho I might want to sell/swap this
A 6 ft X 2ft crocheted American flag (trivia night prize, anyone!)
duckie bathroom trashcan
2 dog kennels (used and abused, but still work) (Bring your used pet stuff and we'll donate them to stray rescue)
lighting fixture - black and chrome/kinda retro (probably trade or sell)
some trashy/chick lit novels

Erin WANTS:
a nightstand
some trash cans for inside
some other trashy novels
pet stuff
a big coffee mug
pillows (bed)


Let me know and I can post pictures... you can post pictures, too especially before you haul a nightstand to my house :)

Let's do this thing!

Let's start swapping!

How about February 9th or 10th? Saturday or Sunday afternoon?
It would give you plenty of time to hunt and gather and still have the energy to schlep it all somewhere else.

Let's say 1 PM - I'll provide drinks of various proofs and my own 'treasures' for you to peruse...

Also - to make this easier...
Bring your clothes, old cell phones, batteries and eye glasses - we will divide up the work and take them to the proper agency. (Clothes and household goods to St Vincent de Paul, eyeglasses to Lions Club, etc) If you don't know what to do with it you can bring it and see what we can find.

I will also be scavenging for trivia night prizes... maybe you have something I can raffle off or add to a basket to raffle off!

Finally - let's compost. Erin B can post a list of supplies needed...

I'm really excited! Invite whomever you think would like to join us!
erin

Welcome!

Swap your stuff for other stuff. Share your skills in return for stuff, or other services. And share your ideas.

This is the idea I've been tossing around for a few months, in collaboration with Erin H and others. In addition to our (semi) monthly Ladies' Poker Night/movie night/ any old excuse night, we can pool our stuff and ideas for re-using, cutting back on new purchases, cutting back on waste-production...basically living more sustainably. And community is the best way to do that!

Here's how it works. I'll invite anyone interested in participating to be an "author" for this blog. Then you can each post: your list of stuff you want to get rid of; list of stuff you want/need; and share ideas. The "labels" function can help you sort...by name, by item categories...For the stuff-swapping portion, dig out the still functional junk in your house and add your list. Others can browse the list and, if interested, request a photo to be posted. Monthly gatherings can be the real-life forum for swapping, and browsing the lists will keep us all from having to schlep armfuls of unwanted stuff from house to house. It's up to you whether you want to barter or just give away, and determining an item's worth is between you and the other party. Of course, the rest of us are here to offer suggestions if you're stuck.

Monthly gatherings (or this blog) also give all a chance to share ideas on greening up our homes (yards, workplaces, neighborhoods, communities!), supporting local, green businesses, etc. Sharing our skills, hobbies and ideas are not only fun, but educational and a great way to build community sustainability. So while you're listing the stuff you can offer, think about adding the ideas or skills you can offer, too! I know some people are interested in learning how to make an "urban compost" (thanks for your patience, Katie) so maybe that's a feature for our first gathering. Maybe you need paper-proofing, want to learn how to grow tomatoes, are looking for a ride-share, want to learn to make shampoo... Another idea (from Donna) is that, come spring/summer, we set up a garden-veggie swap, so that's something we can develop if anyone's interested.

Diversity will make this little group a big success, so if you think of any...tree-hugging-inclined?...friends, invite them to check it out, and I can add them as "authors" so they can post too.

So, let's jump in! (And if anyone has suggestions on how to organize these lists, do let me know. Thanks!)