somewhere over the rainbow…

today was fun!… out and about in sussex sharing flower stories over the bank holiday weekend an occurring theme arose quite by accident… that being… how do you remember the colours of the rainbow! we thought that there was only one rhyme, the old favourite that we were taught at school Richard (red) Of (orange) York (yellow) Gave (green) Battle (blue) In (indigo) Vain (violet) but we were stopped in our tracks because apparently remembering the colours can also be done by using a mans name… a mister ROY G BIV so for some time we argued over the merits of each one until at the eleventh hour a lovely teacher told us we were all wrong because the rhyme was actually Richard Of York Got Bathed In Vinegar which led us to wonder which was actually the most historically correct as surely that should be the deciding factor in the best way to remember the colours of the rainbow… how do you remember the colours of the rainbow?… do comment and let us know!

because we can…. follow us over the rainbow and see how our flowers are made!

don’t forget these wise words when travelling….
rainbow in the morning: travellers take warning.
rainbow at night: travellers’ delight.

and remember the words of lord byron “be thou the rainbow in the storms of life. the evening beam that smiles the clouds away, and tints tomorrow with prophetic ray.”

adventure at the flower makers museum

if i had known it had existed and planned a visit i think it would have been just about as much fun but it didn’t happen like that at all…. it went something like this…. yesterday was a damp sunday afternoon and by the time i reached hastings, sussex it was dark as well i think it was about half past four… i hadn’t had any lunch so i thought as i was passing i’d stop at judges to get something to eat… which is exactly what i did! i love a good road trip but one littered with mini adventures is my particular favourite and well what an adventure… as ever attracted by flowers i had spotted what looked exactly like a florists so i thought to stretch my legs i would wonder down and have a look and on closer inspection it was a florists a proper real artificial florists so i had to go in… it may have been because it was dark outside but inside everything sparkled like an aladdin’s cave…. vintage velvets stacked high on shelves, row upon row of flowers… a kew gardens of artificial flowers i couldn’t resist i saw anemone’s… i looked around and there was no one there so very quickly i whipped a fuzzy flower out of my handbag and planted my shot!…
i thought that heaven must be quite similar as i turned to leave… which is when i tripped over this sign carefully place on the floor

this is how charlie must of felt when he opened his chocolate bar and found the golden ticket because if you ask me what i like most in the world i’d probably say flowers, making flowers or museums… as if piles of sparkling vintage velvet and hundreds of types of artificial flowers wasn’t enough … i picked up the sign and shouted ‘shop’
which is exactly when the queen of artificial flowers entered from the very back of the shop… all of a sudden i knew nothing about making artificial flowers… as i handed across my furry flowers and tried to explain how exciting the sign was.

after the inspection…. she said ‘fine quality stitching’ … (i was really proud coming from a lady who has been in the business many years it was a huge compliment) which she shortly followed with i’ll put the lights on downstairs if you’d like, yes please i said… then brenda, the queen of artificial flowers led me downstairs and told me how she had found and kept together the most incredible collection of the history of flower making over the last 150 years… i had thought it was just a sign!

breakfast, birds and blogs

after spotting our lovely flowers in newly opened Abundant Shop & Gallery ludlow’s premier destination for beautiful fresh and felt flowers, gifts, vintage glass and kitchenalia. karen from hopton house bed and breakfast decided to use our flowers to adorn the breakfast tables in her beautiful bed and breakfast… we liked this so much we stayed with karen when we went to visit phil and ott at abundant to deliver their christmas puddings and our visit went something like this… wow… wow… wow!
my room was absolutely huge… it was more of an entire suite really and it was immaculate and i think that karen has thought of everything in fact i think she has thought of things that i didn’t even know i needed… i think it must be hers years of experience in the tourism industry crossed with the fact she is just a really lovely person who loves sharing her home with passing friends!… i thought about making a list of all the great stuff i found but that would be like telling you the ending to a film so i opted for telling you about my top 3…. and this i hastened to add is in no particular order as i couldn’t decide!
1. in the fridge you will find not just still and sparkling water but also a hand labeled bottle of tap water… perfik!
2. a cake tin with delicious handmade cake in… check out karen’s blog for some of her amazing recipes
and finally
3. a decanter of sherry… just because….

in fact there is so much good stuff to say i’m not sure how i am going to fit it all in but.. the bed was so big i got lost and thats saying something, i ran out of fingers to count the pillows and the bathroom was also a wet room and had the most delicious handmade organic toiletries in that i had to take with me my bar of honey ginger and orange soap… i hope that’s not stealing!!! ;0)

i slept like a baby once i had managed to get over the excitement of meeting martyn and his crew at the jolly frog the food there alone was worth the drive… the menu looked so delicious i couldn’t choose so i left it in martyns capable hands and i was delighted… a perfect meal, great wine, good company….

then as if i hadn’t been spoilt enough already… i didn’t think it could get any better it was time for breakfast…
i started to wonder if there was anything karen couldn’t do in the kitchen as i browsed the menu… all homemade to order… poached fruit, smoothies, muffins, pancakes, fish, eggs in a million different ways or a full shropshire… as i sipped a hand pressed apple juice i wondered whether i could start at the top and work my way down… i did think about asking karen if she had any vacancies for that night… it would have been quite easy not to leave! well when i finally did make my mind up i can assure ou that i didn’t leave any waste on my plate!… which may me proud to think that our flowers that don’t create any waste in their manufacture were decorating the breakfast tables in Hopton House Bed and Breakfast….
wait i forgot to tell you the best bit… the view… the hundreds of birds in the garden… all the great stuff to do…
and you can even take your dog!

empty shops don’t have to be empty

we love shops… for lots of reasons. for decades theorists have likened shopping to religion and if we were to agree with them then i at least would throw my hands in the air fall to my knees and put on a habit… but its not that simple! our favourite kind of shops are the ones that are a little different, offer a service a specialist independent kind of shop.. the ones that give the high street character and a town its identity… the sort of shop in some places we are losing all too quickly. it doesn’t have to be all gloom and doom though because lots of great new stuff is happening but lack of communication and red tape is slowing the development of exciting new projects that could put some life and colour back into the neglected high streets.
we got so frustrated by it all we took carte blanche out and about…

dan thompson got so frustrated he started the emptyshops network and in partnership with worthing council staged the first empty shops conference… lots of people getting together to get things done… fabulous!

vanishing of the bees

we don’t want bee bumble just to be a drawing on our website so we take particular interest in how we can make sure this doesn’t happen and one of our favourite ways to this is to make sure we keep up with the latest from help save bees, they have a great website and they can also bee (opps!) followed on twitter which is where we found a competition last week to win tickets to go and see the new docufilm vanishing of the bees. we had to answer the question what do bees collect from flowers, we answered correctly nectar and pollen and were then very excited to receive an email a few days later to say that we had won tickets for our local cinema to see vanishing of the bees. the filmakers have tackled the unanswered problem of where are all the bees vanishing to…. because right now even the really clever bee people aren’t sure.
will vanishing of the bees go down in history of film for being great?… in all honesty probably not… but the occasional camera wobble, dodgy in places editing and in
we used a kenny g soundtrack so are in no position to comment on the soundtrack!! endeared us to the film and made us question the vanishing of the bees…
we are always fascinated about where stuff comes from because it is the reason we do what we do … but we do what we do because we do believe it is possible with a lot of hard work to do things in a good way. we were really shocked by some of the facts we picked up from the film for example… seeing a queen bee being artifically inseminated… shocked me and ive thought about this quite a bit and i think it was something to do with how tiny the bee was and how silly it looked it reminded me about just how stupid we are interfereing with nature in such a way… we should be living in harmony… should we not?
we also saw fantastic archive footage of scientists in the first world war developing ammunition to be used to spray towns to harm the people… it did not become operational until the second world war when they learnt that it was so successful at killing things they packaged it up in bags and called it pesticide… on of the major ingredients being nicotine… the stuff in cigarettes???…. the government in france have banned the use of this particular pesticide because it has been proven as harmful… would it not be so difficult for the rest of the world to follow their lead?…
and finally because we wouldn’t want to spoil it for you!… we didn’t realise quite how well travelled some of the american bees are… they travel hundreds and thousands of mile each year by road… these little guys with our help have found themselves some awfully big shoes and we know what big shoes leave… big footprints.
vanishing of the bees leaves us with lots of fabulous ideas about what we can do to start managing the situation here are just a few…

1. check out help save bees to find out all the latest information
2. plant bee friendly plants in your garden if you haven’t got a garden follow the lovely richard’s lead
3. when buying honey read the label always buy local honey
4. join the bumblebee conversation trust
5. learn to keep bees and have a hive in your garden

my funny friend

i first came to india about 8 years ago i think but i can’t quite remember. two lovely friends persuaded me to come with them and have a break. after a few crazy days in days during which i can only describe as being in a state of culture shock we proceeded south of delhi to jaipur… the pink city. pink is one of my most favourite colours! a car arrived for our first day of sightseeing driven by a sparkly cheeky little man going by the name of nagar. part of me wants to cut a long story short but that not what this blogging lark is all about so i shall go on… nagar had forgotten to fill his car with petrol because he had been late for work so on the way to wherever we were going we had to make a stop at the petrol station… we had passed two petrol stations before we stopped to fill up. back in the car i asked nagar why we had done so and he stopped quickly in the middle of the road (very full of cars, vans cycles, cows and pigs), held my arm, reached into his pocket pulled out a piece of paper on which was a very childlike drawing of a house and a car with sunshine and animals and said in very proud broken english “mam… my dream… for my childrens” …”and” i said to him, “mam this petrol sation give coostomers lottery ticket… it is my dream” sitting in the car in the middle of the road we both laughed so hard tears streamed down our faces it was the beginning of my funny friendship!

KISS and help change the world?…

we often think about how amazing our flowers are, while we are making our felt no animal, person or landscape is harmed in any way we know of… that makes us happy!
our felt is made by hand… totally by hand we don’t use machines because we don’t need to… we don’t use electricity either…. its not necessary and we don’t make any waste… nothing goes in the bin… we like to KISS… thats Keep It Simple for Sustainability in case you were wondering… any questions just ask!

As makers we are thinking and sharing information about what we do to help our customers decide about buying from us and we were really chuffed to find consumers taking to the streets and raising the profile of the power of the consumer.

How Organized Consumer Purchasing Can Change Business from carrotmob on Vimeo.

If we are going to change the world then we all need to think even more carefully and ask even more questions about where things come from when we buy them… in san francisco carrotmob is taking to the streets and using consumer power to assist the socially – responsible business practices also become the most profitable choices. Businesses compete with one another to see who can do the most good, and then a big mob of consumers buys products in order to reward whichever business made the strongest commitment to improve the world. It’s the opposite of a boycott. take a tour of the website to find out more and get involved!

“Sustainability takes forever. And that’s the point.” ~ William McDonough

UPDATE: coming soon to London sign up here

a fine idea for a quick lunch

nasturtium salad

you need
cupped handful of nasturtium blossoms
big pinch of violet leaves
a clove of garlic
large handful curly lettuce

for the dressing
big glug of olive oil
dash of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

trim the stems and wash the nasturtium blossoms and violet leaves. give a wooden salad bowl a rub with a clove of garlic and toss in the blossoms, leaves and curly lettuce and serve with a dash of oil with lemon juice and salt and pepper! job done

not only are the blossoms delicious, you can also eat the leaves and the seeds which are great in flavoured oils, vinegars, salads and pickles!

enjoy!

a sell out!

Because we do bright and colourful the National Portrait Gallery asked us to help out with some merchandise for their fabulous new exhibition… its so great that five days in we have had an SOS for more!

Gay Icons at the National Portrait Gallery explores gay social and cultural history through the unique personal insights of ten high profile gay figures, who have selected their historical and modern icons.

The chosen icons, who may or may not be gay themselves, have all been important to each selector, having influenced their gay sensibilities or contributed to making them who they are today. They include artists Francis Bacon and David Hockney; writers Daphne du Maurier and Quentin Crisp; composers Pyotr Tchaikovsky and Benjamin Britten; musicians k.d. lang, the Village People and Will Young; entertainers Ellen DeGeneres, Lily Savage and Kenneth Williams; sports stars Martina Navratilova and Ian Roberts and political activists Harvey Milk and Angela Mason.

Their fascinating and inspirational stories will be illustrated by over sixty photographic portraits including works by Andy Warhol, Snowdon and Cecil Beaton together with specially commissioned portraits of the selectors by Mary McCartney. McCartney. All are set in a striking exhibition design conceived by renowned theatre designer, Robert Jones.

prizewinning tips for greening your life

Remember the Swishing event in association with Global Cool. Retrochick couldn’t make it, but were kindly given some goodie bags from the event to giveaway to some of the fabulous Retro Chick readers.

The bags consist of a Yelp! branded reusable shoppping bag filled with goodies donated by sponsors eHive and Red Cube, plus CHOCOLATE and a gorgeous felt flower from Henry & Jayne.
plus a few extra Retro Chick goodies as well!

To enter you just had to leave a comment telling your best tip for greening your life or reducing your Carbon Footprint. Whether it’s was about your wardrobe, travel arrangements or your home.. retrochick was after handy tips!!

5 lucky winners received a goody bag… and these are the prizewinning tips for greening your life!

SHARON
Use natural cleaning products like vinegar and lemon juice. And plenty of elbow grease.
This is a great tip for saving money, preventing chemicals entering the water supply and also preventing the unnecessary use of resources in the production of bottles and cleaning products
CERISE UK
I keep a watering can in the bathroom so that I can reuse the grey water on my window boxes and flower pots. It also helps me to remember to water the plants!!
I though this tip was imaginative and one of those tiny changes that we can make to help save water, and if you grow your own veg this is a great tip for watering them too.
LYN
There are so many ways to be green in the workplace. Talk to your procurement department about not purchasing throw away cups for the water machine. Staff can easily bring glasses/mugs from home as most of us have too many anyway.
A great tip that might require a little more action on your part, but so many of us forget about the things we can do at work to reduce our Carbon footprint.
RED
Eat seasonally and locally. For those in the UK, fresh, in season strawberries in June, for example, taste infinitely nicer than imported Spanish berries in September. And less air miles and support of local farmers mean that guilt-free bowl of strawberries and (locally produced) cream taste even better! Try it the next time you shop- it’s surprisingly easy.
Another lovely tip that will improve your life as well as reducing your Carbon footprint.
THE STYLE PA
Re-use, re-use, re-use. Old tops can be used as dusters, Ribbon and wrapping from parcels can be used again, old Xmas cards can be cut up to make next year’s gift tags, torn jeans can be cut to make shorts etc. Look at how you can use things in different ways before you throw them away.
I’m a terrible hoarder, but I so often find new ways of using old things that I’ve had for years. Check out my post on Oxfam DIY for more ideas on this.

so many great ideas a few special mentions to the following comments that didn’t quite make it but I thought were fantastic ideas!

RUTH
At work, if you have one of those wall-mounted instant hot water boilers, make sure it’s switched off overnight and at weekends. Saves power and it also means that you don’t make that Monday morning coffee with water that’s been on the boil for 48+ hours.
JESS
Holiday in the UK. There are hundreds of fabulous places to visit that you don’t need to get on a plane for.
Even if it rains, there is nothing better than an empty wind-swept beach on a rainy day.
LORA
Grow your own garlic. All you need to do is select a little patch in your garden, or if you don’t have a garden buy a cheap trough from the pound store and fill it with compost, take an ordinary garlic bulb bought from the supermarket, break it into cloves and plant them the right way up (google for pics) just below the surface of the soil. Mine are currently growing away very happily even in a pretty shady position. Just so long as I remember to water them.

Have you got any more?

leave your best tips on how you do the green thing and henry will send his favorites a keyring (uk only)