Silk Sarongs!

These sarongs are made of a heavy weight silk crepe de chine that’s strong enough for sand, sun, indoor & outdoor elements, and to be worn as long as temps allow. Yet they are lighter in weight than cotton and float on the slightest breeze. They have a rolled hem and are approximately 42 x 72 inches in size - ready to be wrapped around your body! They wash easily by hand, they dry in minutes, and a little light ironing restores their silky life.





"All I need is a classic ketch and silk sails to sail her by!"

Silk Neck Ties!

Hand-painted silk Habotai...yum! These ties are for any age or gender.



Silk Curtains!

Custom-made, hand-painted, silk crepe de chine curtains! Beautiful, drape-y, flow-y, colors and fabric quality that lasts forever. They're worth every penny, and so are you!

Silk Panels!

Silk pulls dye thru its fibers unlike cotton and allows for dye colors to overlap in areas like watercolors. This silk captures the light in all its intensities and creates a stained-glass effect when two panels of painted or piece-worked silk hang against one another. The high-quality dyes I use are worth every penny – the colors last and don’t sit on top of the fabric. Natural daylight - sun or clouds – it’s the best way to show off the varying depths of color that weave thru the silk when hit with the right kind of backlighting.

One of the tricky things about photographing silk crepe de chine is the difficulty in capturing the shimmery essence of the fabric and the watercolor effect of the dyes. There are so many delicate layers of color and nuances that change with the light – I can only snap one point-in-time with a camera – it’s an art form meant to be seen in person.

Silk Scarves!

Hydro Future...is now!

Recently, I saw the embodiment of something I’d been imagining…there it was, and in Martha Stewart’s kitchen: an indoor wall of hydroponically growing herbs, peppers, and tomatoes – rows and rows of them, hanging vertically. There was a woman explaining it as a “Windowfarm”. I’ve had so many reasons in my head for why I believe that people will at some point be predominantly growing their veggies, fruits, and herbs indoors but this was the first time I’d seen it actualized.

Indulge my little rampage for a minute (I call it that in order to reduce the number of voicemail messages asking if I’m depressed) because if offers something to think about even if I do wholeheartedly believe it to be true as well: Human greed makes it about growing (altering) a fruit or veggie so that it can be packed in crates, travel great distances in a truck, resist all insects, and grow bigger or faster. Decreased flavor, decreased nutritional value, or even possibly harm to the human body, have never been priority for concern over making a profit. I’ll slip in a quick reference to the genetically altered salmon “they” just succeeded in creating – fish that can be grown bigger and faster (bred for sale) but we’re not sure what else about them will be changed. Some fun thought-provoking questions might be: Does any supermarket tomato taste like one at a farm stand? Does any supermarket vegetable taste like the ones your grandfather used to grow? Does any fruit taste like it did many years ago? Why do we need to take so many supplements these days in order to get the vitamins we need and used to get from our food? Does a “Hot Pockets” culture have anything to do with the rise in all cancers and in younger age groups? Do people realize how processed and handled everything is at a supermarket, even the produce section, even the stuff marked “organic”, even at those pricier markets? When you buy something that has all the processed ingredients, you have to ask yourself, are you eating it?, or is it eating you? Because if you’re stressing out your liver to digest it and it has no real nutrients to begin with then it may be that it is eating you. Every time another step is added (processing) in between “taking something from the ground and putting it on the table” more harm is done.

I’ve envisioned my own little Hydro Farm (w/ farm stand in summertime)…the bubbling sounds of water feeding Italian parsley, basil, oregano, garlic, onions, chili’s, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini, cucumbers, and horseradish. And there would be room to can my Worcestershire sauce, zucchini pickles, tomato sauce, bbq sauces, salsas, and marinades. And everything filled with nutrients like they’re supposed to be.

Hydroponics offers a more controllable option especially for someone with a small kitchen – a way to deliver nutrients and oxygen to a root system to create homegrown veggies, fruits, and herbs that contain flavor and nutritional value. And when it comes to faster growing there’s no competition with soil. Healthy and convenient, it’s a great way to supplement. And seeing the “Windowfarm” makes it something real and doable.

It won’t replace farmer’s markets because that experience is irreplaceable and people love to visit farmer’s markets – they would want to continue to support doing that. But the feel and flavor of homegrown in your own home all year ‘round? Yes! I feel as though I can now talk about hydroponics without people thinking of lava lamps and tie-dyes, or some system in an alternative community.

I’m sitting here looking at the label of my favorite lettuce - Boston Premium lettuce – noticing what once was “organic” is now hydroponically grown in Montreal. But I want hydroponically grown in Plymouth, MA – I’d like to see (and work at) a Hydro Farm here in the south shore!

Can It, part 2

As previously mentioned (see “Can It”, from Wednesday, June 16, 2010) I'm canning zucchini pickles this fall, with onions, garlic, vinegar, sugar, turmeric, mustard seed, and celery seed – they’re fast becoming the popular choice over the pickled cucumbers. And this is a good thing due to the unfortunate lack of quality pickling cukes. Bring on the pickled zuke!

Fried plantains: this was just a whim but they worked out nicely. Fried with quality olive oil, a little butter, minced onion and garlic, and a little salt ‘n’ pepper.