Friday FREEBIE through First Friday in October!

This Freebie is now closed. My father, Bagette Dad will be contacting you for snail mail addresses. Please stay tuned for the next Freebie!

IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A BAG, SEND YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY TO GET ONE!

How about a FREEBIE? We haven't had one in a while. If you don't already have a Green Bag Lady bag, do the following to get one:

•LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS POST

•IN THE COMMENT TELL US SOMETHING GREEN THAT YOU DO

•IN THE COMMENT LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IN THIS FORMAT: name(at)something(dot)com it is important to spell out dot and at so you don't get spam, if you DO NOT leave an email address, we will not hunt you down to send you a bag, thanks.

•DEADLINE FOR THE FREEBIE IS MIDNIGHT CST FRIDAY OCTOBER, 2, 2009.

Happy posting, I look forward to reading them! Green Bag Lady Teresa

P.S. Why the baby robin? Just thinking of spring. . .this little one hatched right outside our front door 6 months ago.

Hurray Fairbanks, Alaska!

Read THIS!

Teresa

Fairy Ring Update

The fairy ring is now gone due to hubby mowing today. Good thing I got out yesterday with a better camera and a fisheye lens!

Teresa

Some nature for you. . .

The female garden spider is now gone. She got awfully big. We think she had her babies. We had a new friend yesterday in almost the same spot!

It's in the red circle, I promise. . .

Then, today, we had this surprise in our yard, can you guess what it is???



Have you guessed yet???

Yes, it's a fairy ring, complete with 2 little fairies!

Have a wonderful week! Teresa

Stitch Simple

Here is an email I got a couple of weeks ago. . .

Hi Teresa

I’m Jen and I own a small fabric boutique called Stitch Simple. I started working with Harmony this summer and I read about the Green Bag Lady project on her blog. To make a long story short, I’d like you to know that you’ve inspired me as a retailer to never start using plastic bags.

I make most of my sales online, but we do a couple local markets here and there. I had a growing pile of not quite fat quarters, flawed pieces, end of bolts and scraps that I decided to sew up into bags to put customers purchases in instead of plastic. I took a lot more sweat than plastic bags, but I put a dent in my pile and I feel good about it. Part of the beauty of being an entrepreneur is to make decisions consistent with your own values and when I read about your project I thought hey, maybe it’s a two way street. Customers should bring fabric bags, but retailers (especially those of us who sell fabric) can help out too.

I won’t be charging anything for them- I just want it to be sort of an “of course we’d put it in a fabric bag” kind of experience. And as my inspiration, I would really like to give you credit by putting a little tag on the bags that has your website address so they can read about the project and learn how to make more bags of their own. I of course would like your blessing before I do that since you’ve worked so hard on your project and I by no means want to interfere with how you like to project your message. So, that’s why I wanted to get in touch with you.

Let me know, I promise I won’t be offended if you’d rather not have me use the tags… and I’ll still think your project is amazing!


Jen Madsen
Founder & Owner
Stitch Simple

Here is the follow up today. . .

Hi Teresa! The bags were a hit at yesterday's market. Attached is a shot of them hanging up in our booth. I went for both a close up and a far away... but none of the distance photos turned out well. Thanks so much again for the blogpost and for your amazing project!

Have a great week,

Jen Madsen
Stitch Simple

Things to love. . .

I love this sign in the local Whole Foods parking garage. It smacks you in the face when you get out of your car and reminds you to get those bags lurking in your trunk. . .

I love this bag I got in the mail today from Bagette Aunt Frances. . .

She made it from fabric samples, which we have done too. They make great, colorful, funky bags. They take more work, but the results are wonderful. Usually you can get old fabric samples for free from fabric stores or home decorators. When they are old/out of season, they get thrown away. What better use, than to make cool bags from them? Of course, I have lots of bags. But, I treasure the ones that 88 year old Aunt Frances makes me. You can see why!

I also have to share this story that happened while Aunt Frances was visiting last spring. . .

This is how is went while giving Little Girl her bath:

Little Girl: "Mom, what is a vice president?"

Mom: "Well, it is a person that is second in command that can take over the presidency in case something happens to the president. They also help the president a good deal."

Little Girl: "Oh." Pauses while thinking then says, "Don't you think it would be cool for you to have a vice mom?"

Mom: "YES! I would love to have a vice mom, that is a great idea!"

Little Girl: "Maybe Aunt Frances could be your vice mom."

Mom: "Well, I'm not sure if that would work out, but she would be a fabulous Vice Mom!"

Have a good weekend. Teresa

Sunday Afternoon. . .

This was our Green Bag Lady session yesterday. . .

Me with bags that April brought in after sewing handles on them. She wouldn't let me take a photo of her. . .

Lovely Bagette Brooke sewing away. . .

Brooke's friend Kaitlyn, she can iron with the best of them. . .

And, look who stopped by, Bagette Kathleen, her daughter Emily and cute little grandbaby. . .

Have a great week everyone! Teresa

Nashville Bag!

Hi T,

Here's a pic with my wonderful Teresa bag. It's #250. Thank you for all you do.

Tiffany
Wilmot, Inc.

Event today!

We gave bags at a great event today. We were included in the vendor fair for the Tennessee Chapter of ASID, an interior design association. Bagette Connie and I gave away over 100 bags and talked to many great people who have fabric they would like to donate! We are looking forward to getting it! Teresa

Indiana Bag!

Teresa & David,

Thank you so much for the shopping bag! It is great!! Sorry it has taken me a while to get a picture to you. I have attached a recent picture of me using the bag (#5974).

Keep up the good work and thank you for helping save our environment...one bag at a time :)

Sincerely,
Andrew

Andrew Parker
Resident Director, Fair Commons Apartments & Summer Housing
Director of Housing
Anderson University

Amazing Aunt Frances. . .Part II

Teresa,

Aunt Frances was asked to provide bags for the pre-K Head Start program. These will be used to send food stuffs home to some of the families.

Here she is, slaving away, and some of the results. There are 40 bags altogether.

Bagette Dad

My aunt Frances really is amazing with all she does at age 88! You can read more about her here, here and here.

Sunday. . .

Even though it is a holiday weekend, the Bagettes and I still got together to work on bags.

Bongo Java donated some of the large sacks that coffee comes in for the project. I was a bit skeptical about trying to make bags from it. But, it worked fine and they turned out nice! I was inspired by Marina from this post. However, I will tell you that it is messy to cut and sew the burlap. I also washed and dried them first because the sacks were quite dusty.


Finished bags that Bagette April brought back for numbering this week. . .

Bagette Kathleen working hard. . .

Have a wonderful, shorter week! Teresa

Here's the water. . .Rain Barrels 101

Santa brought me a rain barrel** for Christmas last year. It's great. I really love it. Every time I have needed to water this summer, it has been full enough for me to do so. The kids love it too. The spigot is low, on their level and they can fill up a container as much as they want. It has reduced our water bill too! Yay! Going green and saving green at the same time is so nice.

So, back to Santa. I was thinking. . .he is so green with that fuel efficient vehicle of his, wow!

Hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday weekend. Teresa

**For more on rain barrels, click here and to build your own, click here. They are really EASY to install and use, I promise. Also, notice our high tech watering cans. The two on the left are lemonade jugs left over from a Girl Scout outing. I love the handles on them.

Karma Tube

Look where Green Bag Lady ended up. Thanks Karma Tube! Also, thank to Vinod from Less Plastic More Life for helping to spread the word! Teresa

Healthy Home Tips 4: Pick plastics carefully | Environmental Working Group

Some great information! Check it out!

Healthy Home Tips 4: Pick plastics carefully

Posted using ShareThis

Happy Friday! Teresa

Here's the dirt. . . Composting 101

How else can you be green? Now that you have recycling and fabric bags down pat. How about composting? It is really easy and quite painless, I promise. AND, contrary to what you might think, no, it does not stink!

Step 1: Buy a composter. . .

Check with your city, they might sell them for a great price. The City of Nashville sells The Earth Machine for a mere $40. You can buy this same composter on line for about $150-200. Those of you that live in Nashville, take advantage of the great deal the city offers!

We have the above Earth Machine, but we also have the Tumbleweed Compost Tumbler shown below. . .

Step 2: After you have installed the compost unit of your choice (set up is really simple), start saving food/yard waste. . .

What you CAN compost:

Kitchen Greens:
Fruit/Veg scraps
Houseplant cuttings
Coffee grounds
Rice/pasta
Egg shells
Tea bags

Yard Greens:
Flowers
Vegetables
Plant trimmings
Hedge clippings
Grass (small amounts)

Kitchen Browns:
Coffee filters
Stale bread
Paper napkins
Paper towels
Dryer lint
Hair

Yard Browns:
Leaves
Straw or hay
Small twigs/chips
Dried grass/weeds

DO NOT COMPOST:
Meat/fish/bones
Dairy products
Oils/fats
Sauces
Ashes
Pet waste
Diseased plants
Mature weeds with seeds

Step 3: How to Compost

CHOP--it is a good idea to chop up anything that is big, like watermelon rids, etc.

EMPTY--if your kitchen bucket gets full (ours is an old Tupperware bowl with a tight lid) take it out to the compost

STIR--mix the new material in with the old by using a pitchfork or similar implement

COVER--cover the food waste with a handful or two of leaves, this reduces the chance of fruit flies and odor

Step 4: Get dirt!

Step 5: Empty your compost in the spring and use for your garden!


Happy Composting! Let me know if you have questions. Teresa

The ball that almost got away. . .

We were at the beach on our summer vacation one windy day and had this happen. . .

Before we even realized it had escaped, one of our blow up beach balls was floating in the water of a Minnesota late. The kids and hubby rushed to the rescue. . .

It was getting deeper and Little Man gave up the chase. . .

The ball kept blowing and was too deep for hubby so everyone returned to shore dejected. . .

Little Girl cried. . .

Then, a wonderful woman on a jet ski came to the rescue. . .

Yay. . .

It is one beach ball, but the entire time, I kept thinking where it would go and what would become of it. Best case scenario was that another child/family would find it and give it a wonderful, playful home. Worst case scenario is that it would join the swirling goo of plastic known at the North Pacific Gyre. This animation from Greenpeace shows how the currents work to make the Gyre.

I have been doing a good deal of researching and reading about the North Pacific Gyre as of late. I have had a link to this article on my site for some time now. I was really shocked when I first read it. Still am. It is very scary. I am happy to report, the beach ball is safely tucked in the lake tote for next year.

Reduce your use of plastic. Please. Fabric bags are a start. Look at packaging, what you buy, etc. If we stop buying it, they will stop making it. You vote with your wallet! Teresa