City Roots

Growing up in Columbia, South Carolina was great- I had great friends, family, things I was involved in were lots of fun: Young Life, theatre.. etc. But as soon as I graduated my mentality was to get out! Not that I don't have incredible things here waiting for me when I come home... I think I just wanted to live differently. So here I am.. awaiting my last year of school, and hanging at home for a couple of weeks before I move back to Savannah. I find myself realizing that Columbia has changed a lot in 3+ years, or else Im just interested in different things and so I'm more aware. So its been my goal in these few short weeks to re-discover what Columbia has to offer.

Obviously I was introduced to the exciting world of farming this summer- so I decided to research different farms that I could go visit and possibly volunteer at. Today I worked at City Roots, Columbia's first urban sustainable/organic farm. Its within city limits- right next to the YMCA fields, and sits on not an enormous amount of land- but a pretty substantial bit for being in town. They grow vegetables.. in season now are: summer squash, cucumbers, okra, eggplant.. etc. But what is most interesting is their variety and amount of sprouts (or "micro-greens") that are available. They grow and harvest them in their large green house and produce types such as: sunflower, arugula, mustard, radish, water crests and snow pea. Basically they broadcast them, let them sprout- and within 7ish days they are ready to harvest. They are great for salads, greens for sandwiches.. etc. and are very rich in proteins and nutrients. They provide restaurants in columbia such as Shag Bistro, Rosso Trattoria Italia, Gervais and Vine, and Saluda's with fresh sprouts. They are also at a number of markets including the All Local Market at 701 Whaley (I got to check it out last weekend, its great!).

I love love love community supported business that in return support the community. I have learned that farms are just such community builders because everyone can relate in one thing: we all eat food.

Books Books Books

So here I am, back at home in good ol' columbia, SC after an amazing summer in Nashville, and also an amazing week at Young Life camp. I'm here until I go back to school in Sept (except for a little adventure in Colorado). The Lord slowed me down with a sinus infection, so I've just been resting and reading for about a week- and I'm ready to get moving! I've started to become so overwhelmed with the prospect of having a wide open door at this time next year- with so many possibilities, but not much direction as of yet. Whew! Here's to graduating and trusting the Lord that I will become a real person and a working member of society!

Here are a few things I have been working on as of late- some books made out of recycled boxes. Its been fun!:
I also had a bookmaking workshop in Nashville a couple of weeks ago, and it went so well! All the girls that were there really great and made really cute books! I'm hoping to have more workshops in the future!

Green Wagon

Yesterday I got an all-natural makeover at The Green Wagon. A store that sells all-natural, organic and locally produced household cleaning products, cosmetics, and apparel. Its just so much fun. The owner Jen comes to the potluck and we've gotten to talk about her purpose in owning a store like this and that is really to educate people in Nashville about the products and the importance of using natural products such as these. Just something that Is really neat.

Time Flys

Hello friends! I know I haven't posted in a bit, but a lot has been going on in the past 2 weeks- kind of a crazy transition time, but its been great! I've gotten to do some traveling and visiting friends, hanging around and preparing to end my internship in two weeks (crazy! I feel like I just got here!) I'm feeling tired- and not very wordy so here are some pictures from my past two weeks!This is what I've been working on recently- a color swatch booklet that is an example of all of the colors that the company can dye.

Gatlinburg, TN July 4th. 12:00 AM
Edgar Evins State Park- cliff jumping with my lovely roommie!

Indigo dying and starting a new vat. Here is my shout out to Nat, the other intern with me... she got in an awful biking accident 2 weeks ago and has been out of commission with a broken collar bone, rib, and stitches in the head. :(. She is recovering well though, and will hopefully be back to work soon, but its been a bummer to be without her!

Go Bees!

Yesterday we went to the community farm with Sarah, one of my boss's, who is also a bee keeper. We got to see her tend to her bees, and she also brought back some of the combs for us to harvest honey! It was so much fun.. we ate tons of raw honey right off the comb as we were scraping it into jars. I was trying to tell my roommates last night, as we were eating raw honey, green apples and cheese and drinking wine (how classy! haha!), that I'm just so excited about all that I'm doing this summer mostly because I feel so connected to the things that I'm eating, and the things that I'm doing. Like, I actually saw the bees that produced the honey that we ate.. or I actually am growing the flowers and plants that we will harvest and then dye with. A guy that is asociated with the farm that I work at brought a baked chicken to the potluck last week that he raised, slaughtered, and then baked himself... its so much more connected and invested than buying an already baked chicken from Kroger (not that thats a bad thing). I'm just loving this!!

Artisan Natural Dyeworks

Here is the link to the Artisan Natural Dye works website. The company that I'm interning at: previously known as Ask Apparel is shifting into this new company who dyes fabric for other companies like Prophetik and Alabama Chanin. Here are some more photos of what we have been doing!

p.s I made this

check out this: and other great projects at p.s. I made this!

More from Nashville!

Hey friends! Here are some pictures from the shop. I have examples of our dying with natural dyes: shown here is cochineal and madder and indigo. Our hands/fingernails turn blue every time we dye with the indigo.. so thats funny. We've learned to screen print and paint on fabric using natural dyes.

Recycled shopping bags repurposed!

Here is a easy project that I've been working on! I wanted to share:

Envelopes made from recycled paper grocery bags!



Here are the materials you need:
-A grocery bag
-An envelope
-Scissors
-Some type of glue/tape
-ruler/straight edge
-pencil

First you take apart the existing envelope for a model for what you will cut out of the paper bag. Unfold the envelope, unfold the paper bag, and outline the shape and then cut out the envelope. Fold in the same places that the existing envelope is folded. Its really easy! I usually use glue dots to attach the flaps to make the pocket, but you can use anything you want, double sided tape would work well.

To make a place for the address I used a piece of the paper bag and used the other side that didn't have printing on it. I used a flower stamp that I have to outline the label and then pasted it onto the front of the envelope.This is a really easy project, and a good way to use old cool looking paper grocery bags!

Finally Pictures!

So I finally got a memory card reader so I can post pictures from my adventure in Nashville so far! The first couple of pictures are from the farm. We are working at a community farm called Bells Bend. It is so much fun! The last picture is of me and my new roomie, Katie, love her! Planting has been so much fun! I will def. post more later!

Indigo Summer

On the schedule for today was:
1) To plant the dye plants in the plot at the farm
2) To finish our dye work for Alabama Chanin.

So early this morning I set out for the farm... and then about 45 min later I got there (after much ado and not knowing which direction I was going...figures). It was a beautiful morning and we got a lot done: dug out places for the seeds to be scattered, and planted marigold, hopi-dye sunflowers, and indigo. It was an incredible thing to be a part of the very beginnings of planting. The whole time I was thinking about the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13, and also the idea of a harvest and how the process of planting, growing, and harvesting the seed is exactly that: a process. Its a beautiful analogy of how we grow spiritually with the Lord... Jesus uses so many stories and comparisons with agriculture that its incredible to be able to see it first hand.

The second part of the day was devoted to dying yardage for Alabama Chanin with Indigo. She has a beautiful line of clothing for the summer that is inspired by the color of Indigo. I thought I would give a brief overview of Indigo for those of you who don't know... Its actually been incredible seeing the process and getting a better understanding of how it works.

Historically Indigo is a very powerful and often times considered a "magical" substance. It is different from normal natural dyes in that it Indigo is a dye different than any other. It does not require any mordant. Rather it is dyed through a living fermentation process. The process "reduces" the Indigo, changing it from blue to a greenish color. In this state, it dissolves in an alkaline solution. The fiber is put directly into the dye.. usually kept in what is called a vat. It is sensitive to air so when you lower the fabric in it must be very gentle, introducing as little air as possible. When brought out to the air, it is a bright green and slowly the air changes it to the beautiful deep and rich blue of Indigo (this is the magical part).

I have become very attached to our vats of indigo.. especially our very large one that sits outside. There are probably a lot of reasons for it: One being that every day I come home with Indigo completely covering my hands, arms, and feet. Also because the vats survive by a fermentation process you can keep in going for however long you are willing to "feed" it and help it along with adding various materials like Barley Wheat (that kind of feeds the bacteria that live in the vat and keep up the fermentation, Soda Ash, or more Indigo Powder (to strengthen or weaken the color). The vats periodically need to rest, or need to be fed, or are exhausted from the amount of Indigo it has been releasing to dye fabric... It's just like a person! (we are in the process of naming ours, because they are personified so much). I wish I had pictures now.. but they will have to come later.. I need to buy a camera chord.

I've gotta run! I'm going to a benefit concert with my roomie for Logos Bookstore that got a lot of damage during the flood.

Today I worked on a farm...

I haven't posted in a while, but I'm blogging from Nashville, Tennessee! I have been here for a couple of days and everything is finally settling down for me to be able to be in contact with the world! I'm here interning for the summer with the company Ask Apparel which is a small apparel company that creates beautifully hand dyed and crafted products. They are in a transitional stage right now to become more of a dye house that dyes yardage for use of other designers. I have learned so much already about natural dying, the importance of sustainability, and especially recipes and materials for all of the above. So many things are interesting to me about all of these processes. Right now I'm excited about tomorrow morning, we will be meeting at the community farm called Bell's Bend to be planting dye stuffs that will be harvested in August. We are planting Indigo, Marigold... and much more that I'm not sure of, actually (oops). It really is neat being immersed in this culture of organic and all natural farming/living/eating. I've always wanted to learn more about everything.. for example: composting, gardening, diy yogurt, soy milk, etc. I'm learning tons and I cant wait to report back with more!

Another really cool thing is that I'm in Nashville! What a cool place, I really didn't prepare myself during the last couple of days of school for moving to a new place... I kind of didn't think about it at all actually until the drive up. But everything is so much fun.. everyone is "doing the music thing", or is a farmer, or is a hippie, or is a Vanderbilt student and is majoring in biochemical engineering (what the heck!?) I love this city!

Whew!

Well, I have more to say than I ever could have the patience to type out I'm sure, but I will say that I learned an absolutely ridiculous amount of information about the world of print and pattern/licensing/trade shows. It was the best experience I could have ever asked for to be able to attend Surtex, see what I saw, and meet who I met. Here is a picture of Katie's and my booth, and also of the other girls that were finalists from San Fransisco Academy of Art:






I have a stack of business cards and leave behinds that I am planning on going through another day... so then I can tell you who were stand outs to me in the show. And I can talk more about it.. haha I'm just so exhausted!

Today I got to walk around NYC one last time before my flight leaves.. I took the subway to Chealsea and walked on The High Line, which is an old rail line that has been converted into an above ground walkway... it was really neat. I also got my last street vendor hotdog for a while, haha! love hotdogs. I'm just in love with NYC, its overwhelming to think about going back to Savannah! I'm gonna be dropped back into the real world with finals and exams! Then In a week from Monday I'm moving to Nashville, what the heck! But here's the thing, I know Jesus has got me, and things are going to be great. Ty and Beck are going to come to Sav on Monday and I'm pumped!!

more from the big apple...

So, the second day was just as great as the first. Today we went to the Javits center to see the trade show floor. We met the Surtex Show Management staff, and they were so friendly even in the midst of all the vendors coming in and setting up and the confusion that comes with that. It was so incredible to see everyone setting up for the print and especially the stationary show! Everyone was decorating and re-working their booths to become their own enviornment. I wish I could have taken pictures (no pics allowed in the show room), it was just an incredible process to see happen. I also got to connect with a sweet sweet woman that I have been in contact with prior to the show. Her name is Caroline (owner/creator of company Multiple Blessings. This is her blog. She is great and so talented!) I saw that she was featured on the Surtex website and from her prints and blog found out that we shared the same faith in Jesus. It was so encouraging to meet her and to encourage each other that we can cast all of our anxieties about the show onto the Lord.

Not only did we see both the National Stationery Show and Surtex show room floors, we also got to see the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) that was happening in the downstairs of the convention center. It was absolutely breath taking. There were companies from all over the world displaying their innovative and beautiful textile products including these: Amy Helfand, Bennett Bean, malene b, Rug Art, Rough and Perfect,and Jonathan Adler. There are so many more, and I'll keep posting more. Needless to say, I could have spent a lot more time down there than I did. Katie and I just kept pointing to booth's and saying "Oh! Lets go there!". I am so inspired by everything I have seen today and I know it will just get better.

As for Katie and I, we set up our booth and then had the rest of the day to ourselves. We decided that we wanted to check out Soho, so we traveled there via Subway (how exciting!) and then walked around and shopped for a bit. We went into Anthropologie, and as always the display was beautiful: It is a dress made from dyed coffee filters.

We then walked through Little Italy, which was, as everything is to me, so surreal. I feel so small town :) Everything is like the movies to me here, its just so fun. But we ate at a funny restaurant and had some funny waiters... and the food was wonderful.


We then got back on the subway- saw some interesting characters and are calling it a night at the hotel. I just can't explain how incredible this all is. I just know that the Lord is showing me that He is absolutely in control. I love this! More to come...

New York!!

I'm here in NYC getting ready for the show! Today was a blast, I've just been exploring the city by myself. I just love it! I wen to Whole Foods (my new favorite place) and found this company: Green Baby that makes the sweetest 100% organic baby products.



My friend Katie who is presenting with me got here later during the day and we walked to Time Square and had Chipotle, so delicious. Tomorrow we are having orientation at the Javis center and then setting up our booths. Its going to be so incredible to be able to meet so many designers. I'm so excited!

More to come...