Local Lumpkin Look See

(click the picture to zoom in-I'm really proud of these cards
even though they took me soooo long to make )

Think Local First Week starts in 9 days.
As a way to try and encourage people to Shop Local this holiday season, the Susquehanna Sustainable Business network and twelve businesses in downtown Lancaster are hosting a Lumpkin Hunt! For $2.00 you can buy a Button and Official Punchcard for the hunt. The button gets you tons of discounts to even more local shops. When you find the Lumpkin in the shop, you can get your card punched! After you fill your card with punches, you're entered in to a raffle for a great Local gift pack! The buttons are on sale at these twelve businesses;

Building Character, 342 N. Queen Street
Isaacs Downtown, 25 N. Queen Street
j.a. sharp, 322 N. Queen Street
Dosie Dough, 323 W. Lemon Street
Mommalicious & Smilin’ Gal, 310 Queen Street
Wish You Were Here, 108 W. Orange Street
The Starvin’ Artist Café, 106 W. Orange Street
Eastern Market, 308 E. King Street
Patio at Penn Stone, 190 W. Ross Street
Peachy Green, 25 W. Grant Street:
Radiance, 9 W. Grant Street
Chestnut Hill Café, 532 W. Chestnut

so go out and get one for yourself and join in the fun of buying local for the holidays. I can't wait to take the kids out Lumpkin hunting! I hope you will too.

Goings On

It's been a crazy couple of months (I was going to say days, then weeks, but no... months) really. As for today's craziness, I've been trying my darnedest to find a source to print some business cards on recycled paper that won't cost me an arm and a leg. I'm all out of cards and it's time for a change. So, I'll take a break from that annoying research to post a little bloggity blog. It's been a pretty darn exciting couple of days so I'll do my best to squeeze it all in.
First of all...
Here's the poster I made for the Think Local First campaign
[Ooh what's a Local Lumpkin Look See? Hmm, more on that to come]


Secondly,
I got my hair all chopped off...
My bro's girlfriend Sandie cuts my hair and she always does such a great job. She actually sculpted it with all of her cutting instruments so that I don't have to dry my hair or style it (because I never do) but it still looks like it's been styled. She's like Edward freakin' Scissorhands.

And last but not least,
I decided to start C3 on some solid food. I know, I know, she's only just turning 5 months this week so why the rush? I always held out to the 6 month rule for the other two, but then I realized. What the heck, I don't follow any other rules? Why such a stickler on this? Basically the kid was hungry. She has been up all night fussing lately and my goodness she does have a tooth already- might as well put it to work. Here's my baby rice cereal recipe that I've always used (taken loosely from this book) :

4 parts short grain brown rice
3 parts sweet rice
piece of kombu seaweed

wash the rice and cook the ingredients on low heat with plenty of water for a couple hours. (I keep checking on it and adding lots of water so it's really soft and sloppy.) Process the rice through a food mill (this gets rid of the chunky parts)

I usually make a big bowl and keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat small amounts at each meal. As she gets older, I'll add flax oil to the mix and some nutritional yeast. Later I'll add in lentils and I'll begin adding in some of the chunks that get processed out in the milling.
This rice is really sweet and yummy. My 9 year old just had some for breakfast too, so you know it's good.
C3 of course did a bunch of gagging spitting, but she was very interested in putting the cereal in her mouth and she was very curious about it. So this week I'll be working with a layer of crusted rice on everything!
That's all for now, I'll see you Thursday...

Inventory

I saw this lady doing it a couple weeks ago and it inspired me to take inventory of my own wares now that this weekend is my second show since the baby was born. It's an event at the YWCA called Women 2 Women. It seems like a nice event to attend even if you're not a vendor. There will be tons of wellness activities in addition to the food and marketplace. From their website:

The YWCA Woman to Woman event showcases women-owned businesses in Lancaster County that promote wellness and empowerment. More than 300 women from all walks of life attend Woman to Woman to sample offerings through workshops and personal services. A marketplace featuring local women artisans and food from local restaurants provides a place for participants to connect with other women throughout the day.

It should be a pretty fun event and I'm excited to get a chance to practice my new set up for the following weekend in Pittsburgh at the Handmade Arcade.

So here goes with the inventory so far:
12 hand spun pod sweaters
2 NEW Pod Skirts
7 organic cotton newborn caps
10 merino balaclavas in various forms
10 merino child-sized sea monster collars
8 organic cotton/bamboo batiked plush Lumpkins
6 cotton/wool Scrappy Lumpkin playsets
and a bunch of older things.
There are about 600 things that I'd like to get finished by next weekend, but I'm trying to remain realistic about what I can still make at this point in the game, so I'm not too crazy and disappointed.

I still have to do some tagging and pricing and a couple display/lighting issues to finalize at least in time for the Arcade. I'm really excited about it! Next week at this time I'll be packing for the 'burgh and I'll probably be freaking out. But for now I'm still working my chilly little fingers to the bone. Little Lumpkins everywhere (meanwhile the house has gone to pot)

Everyone come out to W2W this Sunday at the YWCA!