Handmade Holiday Sale at Little City Farm

Thanks to all who came out to our 10th annual Handmade Holiday Sale last weekend.  What a great crowd, sunny snowy weather, amazing vendors with lovely handmade wares.  So much goodness, from herbal soaps, to beeswax candles, organic gingerbread and cupcakes, hand-dyed yarns, beautiful pottery, intricate macrame decor, healing teas, hand-tooled wooden wallets, wood-turned spoons & honey dippers, local authored children's books, luscious vegan fudge, cozy woolen clothing...plus kids area with pinecone birdseed feeders and tiny twig gnomes...

Happy solstice & holiday season to you all!  See you in 2019.

Annual Eco Handmade Holiday Sale December 8 from 10-2

Coming THIS WEEK! Annual Handmade Holiday Sale Nov 29

Here's one last reminder - about the upcoming annual Handmade Holiday Sale at Little City Farm. 

We look forward to hosting this fun holiday sale held annually in our house.   Our house is not big, but we pack in the vendors and everyone squeezes together to make for a cozy sale filled with unique handmade eco-conscious items!

When: Sat, Nov 29 from 10 am-2 pm
More info: www.littlecityfarm.ca

Local homegrown herbals! New! Our soaps & salves now available through Bailey's Local Foods!

We are happy to announce that some of our homegrown herbal products are now available for purchase through Bailey's Local Foods.  This will make the purchasing and pick-up more convenient for local folks who already place regular food orders through the Bailey's online system, and pick orders up at a convenient uptown Waterloo location!

Through the Bailey's site you'll now find our handmade natural soaps, including baby soaps, shampoo bars, assorted body bars, and shaving bars, and even laundry stain stick bars.  You'll find our salves including mama belly balm, calendula healing salve, back ache balm, and all purpose healing salve.  You'll also find our lipbalms - peppermint with red clover, or lavender & local honey.  One of the things that makes our soaps & salves unique is that each uses locally grown herbs such as calendula, lavender, sage, red clover, arnica, and comfrey (grown naturally or sourced from a local organic farm), as well as only pure oils and essential oils for gentle, natural healing.  We work with our herbs from start to finish, including harvesting at their peak, by us, in small batches so we know exactly how they were grown, dried and prepared.

We are very excited about our Herbal First Aid Kits and can't say enough good things about them!  They come in a convenient travel tin that fits into backpacks or bags so it can easily be taken on hikes and kept on hand for when it's needed.   The first aid remedies included are useful for headaches, sunburn, bug bites, minor cuts & scrapes, splinters, heat rash, digestive upset and motion sickness, and much more.  A complete description of the remedies included in the Herbal First Aid Kits is listed here, and also comes with each kit.

A complete line-up of our herbals is also now available through our online Homestead Herbals Etsy store, and we can arrange local pick-up here at our location to save shipping costs.

Handmade Holiday sale

Today was our annual "A little bird told me" handmade holiday sale.  What a full house!  A beautiful, cozy, festive day, filled with so many great conversations with neighbours, friends, and new acquaintances.  We had 8 vendors with beautiful handmade goods, all with an eco and/or recycled focus to their work - including cutting boards (from reclaimed fallen trees), woolen clothing (from upcycled wool sweaters), slippers, wool dolls, felted ornaments (with local hand-dyed sheep's wool), organic breads pies & cookies (with locally grown flour), organic chocolates & truffles, jewelry and belts and bottle openers (from recycled bicycle parts), chickadee bird seed feeders, beeswax candles (from pure local beeswax), and more!  Our thanks to the vendors, and everyone who came out to support local and handmade artisans at our sale!

In case you want to find this year's vendors again:
Sew Oiseau (on etsy and website)
Once Upon a Tree (at KristKindel this weekend, and through his website)
Your Time Candles (at KristKindel this weekend, and through her website)
Green Garb (on facebook)
ReCycled Crafts (find him locally at Recycle Cycles)
Theresa - organic chocolates & bars (find her bars at Queen Street Commons)
Lisa - we can put you in touch directly if you want more of her lovely dolls
Homestead Herbals/Little City Farm (at our home location, our website, etsy)

Mark Your Calendar! Annual Handmade Holiday Sale coming to Little City Farm Dec 7 from 9 am-2 pm

Featuring 8 local vendors including:
Sew Oiseau - original handmade clothing and accessories from recycled fibres
Your Time Candles - handmade pure beeswax candles
Once Upon A Tree - fine wood turnings (bowls, cutting boards) from fallen trees
Homestead Herbals - natural herbal soaps, salves & botanicals
Recycled bicycle art & jewelry
Eco journals, children's eco toys & handmade dolls
Wool slippers & felted wool ornaments
Organic baked goods & more surprises!

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Little City Farm

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors.  Here are a few comments from us (Greg and Karin) at Little City Farm.

Why we hold the A Little Bird Told Me handmade craft sale:

Little City Farm aims to promote sustainable city living through our workshops, events, and our "living example" of an urban homestead.  We also try to create unique opportunities for people in the community to meet, share their skills, and support each other's ventures.  Two examples of this are our annual Organic Seedling Sale (the Saturday of the May long weekend), and the "A Little Bird Told Me" handmade holiday sale (the second Saturday in December).

We have been holding the "A Little Bird Told Me" handmade holiday sale since 2007 in order to showcase unique eco-friendly well-crafted goods created by local artisans and crafters.  Each year the event grows, and we anticipate it with great enthusiasm.  We enjoy the way our little house is transformed, bursting at the seams with the crowd of folks who pass through the sale, and the busy bustle of the festive mood.  We love having many of our vendors return and welcome some new ones as well each year.  Yes, the sale is open to the general public (so please help spread the word!) 

What will Little City Farm be offering at the sale: 

Herbals & Baking!  

Herbals - We will be offering our usual selection of handmade natural soaps and herbal products (teas, salves, mama & baby items) all made in small batches using pure ingredients and herbs sustainably grown in our garden.  

Baking - One of Karin's dreams is to run a small eco-conscious bakery some day -- but for now she is satisfying this desire by providing artisan breads and wholesome baked treats on a small scale for the neighbourhood.  At the holiday sale we will have a good selection of these organic baked goods and will be offering them in a tiny cafe-like setting set up just for the day.  We use organic locally milled flour from Oak Manor, as well as organic local eggs, dairy, (or vegan alternatives) in our baked goods.  We will have fresh wholegrain breads, vegan shortbread, organic fair trade brownies, raw nanaimo bars, organic holiday cookies...also jams and jellies made with local organic berries...to name a few...

Make sure you stop by our cafe room to enjoy a baked treat while you are at our sale! 

Read more about Little City Farm at: 
www.littlecityfarm.ca
www.homesteadherbal.etsy.com

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Your Time Candles

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors.  Here is a short interview with Carol Kubassek from Your Time Candles:

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale?

Your Time Candles: Artisan Beeswax Candles in a variety of styles and sizes, and natural stone candle holders. 
 
Little City Farm:  How did you learn this craft?

Your Time Candles: I had the fortunate opportunity to learn from a master chandler who, for 15 years, made it his mission to develop new beeswax candle making techniques and put to rest old myths of beeswax chandlery - gone were the days of half burned, inferior quality beeswax candles made with coarse natural fibre wicking that gave off a putrid scent.  As a former chef I’ve always been passionate about what I put on your plate - I want your approval so this demands my best offering.

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft?

Your Time Candles: I am inspired by quality - I wanted to offer beeswax candles that would burn properly.

Little City Farm: Describe how your craft is eco-friendly?

Your Time Candles: Pure beeswax is nature's renewable wax - no chemicals are used in the process. It all begins at the hive. I procure Canadian cappings wax from beekeepers who haven’t scorched or overheated the wax when separating out the honey. Then, in order to maintain the integrity of the wax, with patience, and through a gentle cleaning process, I purify the wax by filtering it down to one micron. When making the candles, in order to keep alive the full bodied aroma, rich yellow colour and texture, the beeswax is heated carefully in small batches until melted then poured into the candle moulds. Next, each candle is fitted with the perfect sized 100% cotton wicking. I'm also very passionate about recycling and all our packaging is very biodegradable made from recycled paper and hemp twine.

Little City Farm:  Do you have favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Your Time Candles: Bradfield and Anael.

Little City Farm: Do you have a website/blog/online store?

www.yourtimeboutique.ca
www.yourtimecandles.ca 


Find Carol and her pure beeswax candles at the A Little Bird Told Me Handmade Craft Sale, Sat December 10th at Little City Farm (508 Duke St W, Kitchener).

100-Mile Desserts: Custard & Berry Pie

Last week a local 100-Mile Diet Challenge was started in our community. Two of our community naturopaths (from the Healing Path Centre for Natural Medicine in uptown Waterloo) are heading up the challenge, inviting 100 people to eat 100-mile diet for 100 days. So far more than 160 people have already signed up! There are various slight exceptions, but for the most part participants are attempting to support only local farmers and producers for this duration. The hope is to learn more about the great food varieties in season for us locally, to build a sense of momentum around local eating which will hopefully encourage new food sources and suppliers to become available, and to become a little less reliant on the long-distance transported food system.

More info about this local 100-Mile Diet Challenge at: http://www.healingpathcentre.com/blog/index.php

We already pretty much eat a local seasonal diet, and love seeking out local farmers and producers, and supporting restaurants that feature local foods on their menu. However, my husband cringed at the thought of not having his daily morning coffee, and although he doesn't mind the odd cup of herbal tea, or even dandelion-chickory root brew I suggested, he decided that coffee would be his "exception" as long as it was fair trade and organic. Fortunately, there is a good selection of 100-Mile wine available, not to mention apple cider and other locally made fruit juices, and we are growing hops in the hopes of trying to make our own beer from scratch this fall.

I am not a coffee drinker, but do like my desserts. The thought of no sugar or chocolate for 100 days seemed a bit daunting, but then again it would probably do me good to reduce my dependence on these two items! I decided I will go without both, and will make it my goal to compile 100-mile dessert recipes during this time. We are a region rich in dairy, and there are several excellent locally made sources for organic yogurt, cream, icecream, butter, milk and of course eggs available. I am also excited about all the seasonal berries, local fruit, wild herbs & edibles (like rosehips & wild grapes), wild-harvested abandoned fruit, edible flowers, locally grown nuts, maple syrup and honey available to us, and will be posting weekly 100-mile dessert recipes on this blog along with photos of the desserts we create & sample here at home! To find a quick complete list of all the recipes just do a search in this blog under "100-mile desserts". I will only list general sources for ingredients, and more specific names of farms can be found on our region's Buy Local map, through Bailey's Local Foods, or at the local farmer's markets.

Here is the first recipe, which we savoured on our picnic blanket outside in the garden:

Custard & Berry Pie

Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups organic spelt or wheat flour (e.g. Oak Manor)
1/2 tsp salt (e.g. Sifto salt which comes from near Goderich)
1/2 cup chilled butter
3-4 Tbsp ice water

1) Mix all ingredients in food processor. This makes a soft ball of dough.
2) Chill for 30 minutes.
3) Roll out and spread into a large pie dish.
4) Pre-bake for 5 minutes at 350F.

Custard Filling:
4 organic eggs (various good local sources, or your from your own backyard hens)
1/2 cup maple syrup (e.g. sources at Kitchener Farmer's Market)
4 Tbsp organic flour (e.g. Oak Manor)
1 3/4 cups organic milk
2 Tbsp organic butter

Plus 2 pints fresh seasonal berries or fruit (we are using strawberries right now).

1) Preheat oven to 350F.
2) Whisk eggs, syrup and flour together. Add other ingredients and blend well.
3) Pour into pre-baked pie crust. Bake for 40 minutes.
4) Cool pie completely. Then cover with fruit or berries in concentric circles.
5) This pie is not very sweet - the sweetness comes from the fruit ontop. It can be garnished with local whipped cream (sweetened with honey) or fresh mint sprigs.

Serves 10.

Bill McKibben on Deep Economy, and our Year of Buying Less

I’m currently about half way through Bill McKibben’s new book Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. I initially started reading this because the non-profit organization where my partner works is running a book club for staff members with this book as the first pick. I thought the book sounded exactly along the lines of other articles I had been reading lately (more posts on this to come), and I could read along at home and foster discussion with my partner on how to build a stronger local economy.

Books on economics are not usually my first choice (often seeming dry or overly academic for my liking), but although this book assumes a general working knowledge of basic economics, it is highly readable, packed with useful statistics, and looks deeply into economic philosophy. McKibben’s style of writing is incredibly engaging, thoughtful and powerful. His basic premise is this: that the long-held economic ideal of constant “growth” is not viable; for one we are running out of resources to make the products to sustain our rate of growth (especially if developing countries, like China and India would want to consume at the rate of North Americans); secondly we are running out of oil, there will simply not be a way to create, trade and transport the products in mass quantities around the globe as we know it; thirdly we are running out of earth (long discussion on the impacts of climate change); fourthly this kind of growth economy does not trickle down to everyone – it only makes a slim margin wealthy at the top, and continues to increases global inequality; and fifthly even if we did have enough of all the above to go around, it has been proven that consumption does not make us happier. In fact, countries with higher rates of consumption and wealth tend to rate higher levels of depression, anxiety, stress, fear, health issues, etc. Consumption breeds dissatisfaction.

After outlining his thesis clearly, McKibben’s book continues with chapters on topics like food, energy, and transportation, showing how ordinary people are doing incredibly creative things to improve their local economies and quality of local life.

And McKibben is right. Haven’t we all thought “if I would only get this or that, life will be so much better”, and then found that after a short while that item (book, clothing, houseware, toy) is left gathering dust on the shelf while a new interest has filled its place. In a world where we are constantly bombarded with mass media telling us we need things to be more beautiful, gain status, increase our intelligence, find romance, etc. It’s estimated the average TV watching Canadian sees between 300-800 media ads per day. How can we not feel constantly tempted to buy more! The Age of Persuasion on CBC Radio shows us just how much the advertising world insinuates itself into every aspect of our lives. Even environmentalists who “buy green” easily fall into this trap. The book The Rebel Sell shows how strongly marketed eco-purchasing has become, where we can believe we are buying all the "right" things but we are still consuming vast quantities of commodities needlessly. Eco-conscious and organic purchasing is a whole new niche that corporations have happily tapped into, including Nike, Nestle, Monsanto, Cargill and all the rest!

So how much do we really need? I remember being on a short weekend hiking trip a few years ago, thinking I had packed relatively lightly (a tent, minimal cooking gear, a few clothes) and feeling incredibly freed by carrying all the necessities on my back. My friend and I met an older fellow hiking along, and struck up a conversation with him. Turns out he had already been hiking for a month, and all he had with him was a tarp, some raingear, a little food, a knife and matches. He wild-harvested his meals, wore the same clothes, and slept under the stars (with the tarp as back up in case of rain). He didn’t even carry a backpack. He was certainly living freely. When we consider the majority of the world’s population lives – simple homes, simple food, simple clothing – and not to mention the sweatshop or slave-like conditions many workers face to make the cheap products we demand, we have no right to the dissatisfaction we sometimes feel about not having quite enough!

In any case, I proposed a Year of Buying Less to my partner. What I hope with this experiment is to reduce: our spending, our clutter, our plastic & garbage waste; and to increase: our free time, our family time, our creativity, our connection to the local community/economy, and our happiness. What will the Year of Buying Less look like? I proposed we try to live one year without buying a single NEW item of clothing, housewares, or toys. Instead, our options would be:

a) consider doing without

b) borrow or barter for this item

c) buy it used or made of recycled materials

d) make it ourselves

e) buy handmade

f) buy locally made

g) buy fair trade

There would be exceptions of course – toilet paper, groceries which we couldn’t buy locally or grow ourselves, essential building materials needed to complete our strawbale house addition (lumber, straw, plaster), one trip to Winnipeg to visit my family in the fall, and essential items for our Little City Farm business (B&B items, workshop materials, and soap making ingredients). Books and magazine subscriptions (my weakness) were still in question – but we could probably get most of the reading we needed from the local library. Any gifts for family or friends (birthday or other holidays) would also be handmade, recycled, or locally made. Since we don’t own a car, our transportation costs would be for using the local bus or our local car co-op vehicles. Entertainment costs – we could support our local independent movie theatre, get DVDs from the library, support local music shows, and allow ourselves the occasional meal in a locally-owned restaurant.

It would have been fitting to launch our Year of Buying Less on "Buy Nothing Day" in November. (Buy Nothing Day is the first Friday after American Thanksgiving, which generally has been the largest shopping day in the US. Buy Nothing Day is an annual attempt to draw attention to consumer frenzy and reduce needless shopping.) However, since this would mean waiting another 6 months, we decided it would be good to start immediately. There will surely be bumps along the way, things we have forgotten that we can’t get around not buying, and exceptions we realize we really believe we can’t go without. But hopefully this exercise will allow us to re-evaluate the constant pressures to consume more and live more freely because of it.