The busy bee family

Our days are busy.

Busy outdoors :: growing food + taking care of our seven chicken. We got our first eggs yesterday ! My hubby and the girls are transforming an old cute building into a cool proper chicken house. (I will show you pictures of the before and after)

Busy indoors :: turning a not so special place into a very special one for our guests and family coming to visit over the summer. (More on this soon!)

Happily busy !

What is your summer filled up with ? 

Love this :: "The Yard" website

Found this great photo site :: The yard

I spend a great amount of time enjoying all the amazing photos shown there.

Happy Week End to you !

I will share more photos of our own "Eldorado" over the weeke end !

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Seeding

Verte Escapade

our view from our tent on Le Mont Saint Michel

It is becoming a tradition to go on a "green escape" once a year. We fell in Love with the "Un lit au pre" concept and try to go once a year. It is within the country [aka France for us ; ) ], totally "earth friendly" and totally relaxing. 
150 % happy.
So this one was our 4th experience. That is to say how much we enjoy it !


And this time we headed to go see le MONT SAINT MICHEL, one of the monuments  added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1979.

Sweeping turned to be a fun chore 

Simple life makes simple meals

homework with view

Our simple life inside our tent

Going to see MONT SAINT MICHEL

Mont Saint Michel Abbey :: simply stunning

loved the arched ceiling

Photo taken by Alana

a view from the Abbey

I love the simplicity of this picture :: I may use it in my work soon ...

Give them a old wooden chariot...

...and they will a fantastic hour of fun !

This little "girl" inspired me for my new screen ...
Soon to be on a new line of cushions and ...
( hush !) a new line of home accessories  too!

Stay tuned !

PS :
They just opened some a US version nearby Chicago. You can probably find it on www.featherdown.com
I know they had an article in Country Living March 2011.

Beyond Flower and chocolate :: HANDMADE LOVE

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY !

Jan & Earl  did it again! 
PoppyTalk Affordable Art & Home show is now open!
Beautiful selection of artists, Art & Crafts pieces.


Come and check it out !


And I am proud to be part of this market for the 3rd time around !

"Today is the first day of our newest market at Poppytalk Handmade, a curated affordable art and home show online exhibition that will run through to March 4th, 2011. 
Twenty-six days of affordable art and handmade or vintage housewares from ceramics, pillows, mirrors, art, plants, furniture, storage solutions, sheepskin rugs, and more. Click here to see the 70+ artists, designers and/or shops we have handpicked just for our readers."

 Jan & Earl

No impact week Day 6 & 7 :: WATER - GIVING BACK & ECO - SABBATH

Challenge for day 6 :: WATER

(from So British)

Soak up the personal benefits of using less water!

You’re now six days into the No Impact Experiment.

Having looked at your trash, transportation, food, consumption, and energy habits, there’s one major

daily lifestyle change left to tackle — water. A whopping 71% of Americans are trying to reduce their

footprint. Of those 71%, 60% are reducing their water consumption, and saving a lot of money on their

water and electric bill. In this economy, every flush counts! Turn off the tap. Believe us, you'll feel better

about yourself.

Our family apparently use 367 liters/day direct use...

And 5136 liters/day as virtual water... ( due to tea/coffee being drink in the morning) according to Kermira ultra zenish calculator.

I don't know how truly accurate this water footprint calculator truly is but it is simply fascinating and scary to put a number on water. But there are also this site and this one.

This is not the challenge where we are best at... It is so easy to take water for granted by simply turn on the faucet. We talk about the water shortage other countries are currently facing as a strong reality check. It works for one day and then old habits keep coming back. That's said, we did few changes over time.

We change our regular bathroom faucets and shower heads for those ones that reduce the water flow by 60% by mixing water with air. It is as efficient and when we do linger a little longer in the shower it does not make us feel as bad ( only 50% bad...).

The kitchen part is the trickiest one. We spend most of our day in this room since food prep is important in our family way of life. I think i will try for a week [as an experiment] to keep a deep bucket somewhere below our sink and try to re-capture some extra water (glass of water half drunken,water from veggie washing, etc.) . If it is duable without being too "painful" I will try to keep it going.

When we go out I order tap water for the girls and I. We only switch to bottled water when really the water has a strong chlorine taste. But most of the time -where we live- the water is fine.

Challenge for day 7 :: GIVING BACK

Pay it forward. Feel the benefits of service.

Welcome to day seven and the weekend, baby!

By now, you’ve probably slaughtered some of your carbon footprint — trading in some gas guzzling for

sweat equity, phasing out prepackaged processed food for delicious local dishes, shopping less and

saving more, turning down the lights, and quenching your thirst with tap water while lightening your

planetary load. Pat yourself on the back for coming this far and do a little dance: it’s time to share some

of your exuberance with others!

 We were asked to make a list with three columns: 

1) all the charities you’d love to help out, 

2) why you feel you can’t 

3) how you can address and remove those barriers. 

Do your barriers — as legitimate as they may seem to you — outweigh the importance of

participating ? Remember: you needn’t become an “activist” or even a leader to be active in your community! 
Simply participating in an ongoing project is giving back and living your values.

All right, so here my list ::

Charities I would like to help and actually CAN and WILL.

 # 1 Colibris

This a French organisation Created by Pierre Rabhi that I follow very closely. I read many of his books and I enjoy every little bits he shares. His website for his association allows people to learn and sign up for volunteering. I would love to do it with my husband and my children. Tessa is still a little young to fully grab the concept and the importance of it.

His wife and he also create a one of a kind school called les Amanins. To understand waht les Amanins are follow this link and then use your Translate Google to translate it in english...

For  # 2  I have 2 organizations that I admire also and need to choose which one I could give a percentage of my sale to. Those two organizations are ::

•  1%for the planet

•  Kiva

This is the choice I am currently facing. They are both highly important to me but can not direct my attention to both in my current situation. So I will think about it, have a talk with my husband and commit to one of them soon.



# 3 Pay it forward 


I have seen the "Pay it forward" movie and really enjoyed it. 
Applying it in real life and make a "family affair" is a really nice idea.
The girls school do every year a "Love in The Box" project where family are asked to put in a  box all the bare necessities for low income family (from toothpaste to warm hat, cookies, chocolate , crayons, books, etc. ) gift wrapped it and simply write boy or girl and age appropriate gifts that are inside. This is done between Thanksgiving and Christmas and I like the link it create between the two celebrations.


Now, we can always do more and I plan to be able to get some projects done with the girls  after reading those inspirational stories from the Pay it Forward website. The one I like is the Birthday Box with handmade items and homemade goodies.




Community  ideas I like here in France ( existing in the US and elsewhere also) ::


:: sharing food  (with little money)
:: second hand store with  heart &  soul (Paris)
:: community gardens

Challenge for day 7 :: ECO SABBATH

Challenge :: TAKE A BREAK FROM EVERYTHING.


Today, Sunday, is about awareness and taking some time back for yourself. This is a chance to lay off the lights, televisions, computers, appliances, cell phones, flashing gadgets, and other stuff that seems to make the world go round. It’s a special time to hang out (or in) by yourself or with friends and family. It is a time to reflect on the well-being of yourself and the planet. This first Eco-Sabbath you may wish to reflect on your No Impact week. Consider what worked well for you, what was particularly difficult, and what you’d like to permanently adopt. Consider how you can go even further. Think about how your week affected others in your life and what adjustments, if any, are in order. This is a time to discover and appreciate the bare necessities.

Sorry could not resist to embeed this video (one of my favorite).


Last Sunday was NOT an eco Sabbath at all in our family.
Plans were already made ( birthday party to attend for our youngest, since it was some way away I went to a wifi place and work online while waiting...) and my husband and I  had all our electrical gadgets on and we probably use them all throughout the day. 


But next Sunday :: I am hoping to be a different one. It will require some planning since we are not use to not respond to the call of those gimmicks when they flash, beep or ring. 
Maybe we should have friends over or if weather permitted (they announce huge rain fall...but the weather report is not always THAT accurate...) we should go for a bike ride or a simple walk nearby.


The word will be U.N.P.L.U.G. and it is not as easy for us as it reads...


SO as a synthesis of all what happened over the NO IMPACT MAN week ::

• The easiest for us was the food :: local, in season, vegetarian, homemade
• For water and power use :: we are honestly the best we can in our current situation.
• The toughest was reducing our trash :: we DO recycle everything possible BUT we do make a lot of recyclable trash nonetheless... Some how even in organic store (besides maybe BIOCOOP) there is very little things that comes in bulk and simply require a paper bag to compost in the end. We buy Tofu (plastic wrapped many times), non diary milk (out of a bottle made of a combo of cardboard and plastic which I am not sure recycle well at all) and bubbly water ( if anyone heard about a device that can make our own bubbly water :: I am all ear!).
• Finally, the one we all need to learn and commit more than once a month is Eco-Sabbath.

It was a really great way to start the New Year and remind us to not take everything for granted because they are simply not.
It will give me the extra push I need to actually take action in 2011 to align our values to our actions and apply it to my little business UN LIEU SUR TERRE.

No impact week :Day 3 :: Burn calories, not fossils fuels.

( basquiat :: photo taken at the Moma in Paris)

VERSUS

( my husband going back and forth in our little paved street :: hence NO helmet. 

And Tessa sitting  atop  the bike since no child seat on it!! 

But she really wanted to go for a short ride...)

We are lucky to live in the heart of a small town nearby Paris. Everything is within minutes of a brief walk. Local stores ( boulangerie, cremerie/fromager, poissonnier, you name it). So we usually walk everywhere or when needed we use our awesome TRIKE to go groceries shopping to our local organic store. We even used it in 2008 for a huge Trike rally in Paris. We had lots of fun!

 In Paris by Notre Dame. I was VERY nervous in this traffic. 

Where we live it is much more peaceful...

(In our neighbourhood)

(on the way back from school along La Seine, 3 years ago)

(doing errands with the trike :: sometimes there is groceries, 

load of books from the library and the 2 girls in there . 

a friend of mine trying it out with all the girls!

My husband commutes to work by public transportation. Everything will be wonderful if i did not have to DRIVE a total of 2 hours a day to get to our girls school.... 

No school around closer ??
Oh yes 5 of them..! But all of them are French schools. Our girls are bilingual and it is important that they attend a international shcool where english is the primary language.  So the closest one from home to be an international shool is about 20 to 30 minutes drive ( one way and back) in the morning and again for pick up time...  Here you go 2 hours of MY time spend in THE car...
Luckily, I work from home... my studio is across our courtyard...

This school being quite a driving distance away  is our {I should say : my) daily big challenge.
There aren't any buses going there, no subway, no bike lane and no carpool possible since we are mostly the only one in this town going to that school.
When we fist move to France, our oldest used to go a darling French school where I was going by trike at least once if not twice a day. They had snacks, blankets and books for the 30 minutes ride to school . The  usually my youngest was going for a little catnap on the way back...
But this time is over and commute is by car... I do try to associate as many errands as possible while being in the school areas. It works.

So my today challenge was not met.
Plus Tuesday is our CSA day...
A little more driving to do compared to the rest of the week to go get our veggies from our super nice farmers.  At least it is a short and really nice drive in the woods.

But my ideal world :: it would be to go to school like this ::

Silence and chaos

So much going on right now...


First of all, sorry for not posting my K*itchen K*orner last friday.
But I went to the bi-annual Maison et Objets Trade show.
I was a bit disapointed this time. Nothing new under the sun (more precisely in Hall 6 -  :: there was my focus). 
Same kind of products over and over. Everyone doing pretty much what everyone else is. 
But I did enjoy the same ones from the last Maison et Objets edition :  Pied de poule Teresa Green and Margarete Hausler.
This coming week looks like it will be a very busy one too. 
I really need to make studio time my # 2 or possibly # 1 priority each week and every week (when everything else is just flowing).


Also, following the magazine published article ...will be a home decor TV show where our house will be featured and I will have to t.a.l.k. about my biz a little (I was not the most articulate speaker girl at school and I doubt that i improved over the last 15 years )...
Anyway, more later...


So among all of this "positive chaos", I am longing for silence. Exactly what a almost 8 and 4 years old little girls provide, right...!
I try to find my balance  with bits and pieces of close to silence time in my studio. Making, making and making ( well as much as possible with my hubby gone ::days are always and only 24 hours!). Pictures soon (shop update next week hopefully).


Or listening to the silence while taking care of our little veggies beds. Hoping for the sun to help our tomatoes ripen and eggplant to grow before the freezing months ahead of us.


Anyway, here is a video that inspire me  for our daily life and in my artwork also. It is not per say our K*itchen K*orner but something we find truly inspirational.

One day we will ...
... have a garden close to this (smaller though...).


We are so blessed and very much happy in our current house. We simply wish that one day we had a "real" garden (we have 2 little courtyards , therefore we grow everything in all kinds of containers). You know the "one day, we might have" kind of sentence that we all happen to say !

Our little  girls keep asking when we will get chickens. Well, not here  :: they might not enjoy very much the hard surface and total lack of grass... (even with this fun looking chicken coop?!).
And one day :: possibly goats? ( actually :: my dream!). A bunny maybe?

We would love to also have this fururistic looking bee house. 
Don't know if our close neighbours will enjoy the idea as much as we may???
It looks like it is easy-peasy... hum??


So one day,  we would love to have a bigger yard with some farm animals.


As for now they will feature in our dreams and therefore on my designs ONLY!

For now, we are enjoying what we grow on our front and back patio : lettuce, tomatoes, zucchinis, eggplants and strawberries.

Gotta start somewhere, right?


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Tellement de choses se passent en ce moment.
La semaine derniere et celle a venir s'annonce tres occupee. Beaucoup de projets en cours ( chut!) et de travail a l'atelier en perspective.
Je mettrai a jour mes deux e-shop sans dout fin de semaine prochaine.
Apres l'article parue dans "Le magazine de la maison" numero de septembre 2010. Pas mal de contacts tres encourageants dont un reportage televise pour une belle emission de decoration. Plus de precision quand le projet aboutira. ;)


Avec tout ceci, je suis desolee, de ne pas avoir publie le rituel K*itchen K*orner la semaine derniere.
Ce fut le jour ou je suis allee ce jour la au Salon Maison et Objets. Je suis revenue un peu decue. A l'exception de deux designers (a savoir, Teresa Green  et Margarete Hausler, deux creatrices qui semblent encore realiser leurs pieces a la main, en petite serie et semble sur notre territoire), je n'ai rien vu de nouveau sous le soleil. Mais j'ai fait un passage eclair. Ceci explique sans doute cela.




A defaut d'un article "K*itchen K*orner", voici une petite video qui nous inspire a tendre de plus en plus vers cet art de vivre. En attendant un jour de la mettre en pratique,  son inspiration se retrouve dans mon travail de creatrice textile et de peintre. (voir video plus haut).


Un jour... nous aurons un plus grand jardin ...
Nous sommes  très heureux dans notre maison actuelle. Simplement un jour, nous aimerions avoir un "vrai" jardin (nous avons 2 petites cours, et cultivons nos legumes dans toutes sortes de pots). Nos deux filles nous demandent regulierement quand nous aurons des poules et des lapins ( moi, j'aimerai avoir une chevre!). Pas dans l'immediat... le manque d'herbe et d'espace leur ferait cruellement default! Meme si ce poulailler "design" est fort tentant! . Nous aimerions également avoir cette ruche au look complement futuristique .
Mais je crains que nos voisins ne voit pas le charme bucolique de notre vision de la meme facon...

Alors oui, un jour, nous aimerions avoir un plus grand espace avec un beau potager et quelques animaux de ferme. Pour le moment, ces moments de reveries sont de precieuses source d'inspiration pour mon travail de creatrice textile et d'artiste peintre.

I have a Mary Poppins in my kitchen!

When you try to waste less, you then end up buy in bulk and preferably at the organic market. So you end up with lots of veggies and fruits and quite a cooking to be done! 

I love cooking but I really do not enjoy all the pots and pans it requires... Simply because this always involve doing the dishes...

So a year ago, a friend of mine showed me her "cadillac" ( called Thermomix MADE IN FRANCE)... 

She said it changed her family life as far as cooking with fresh items. 

The whole point.

After a year of thinking about it (it is an investment and i am Capricorn...) we got one!

Now for one meal we can make homemade bread, butter, jam. Or veggie soup, shredded veggies, steam potatoes,  rice or any other cereal and at the same time steam fish ... 

In only ONE pot.

A luxury ? 

Yes, and why not?

Because we are worth it.

Des que l'on souhaite reduire son impact environemental, le plus facile est decommencer par reduire ces emballages . En ce qui nous concerne, ceci s'est traduit par l'achat en vrac de produits de saison et de preference local au marche bio de preference. On se retrouve donc sous une quantite de fruits et legumes de saison qu'il faut desormais cuisiner. J'adore cuisiner. Ce que j'aime moins c'est le monticule de vaisselle a faire apres.  Il y a un peu moins d'un an, une de mes amies me parle de son "Thermomix", un appareil magique qui permet de cuisiner des produits frais avec UN seul appareil. Excellent.

Desormais, il nous arrive de faire dans la foulee, notre pain, parfois notre beurre (tres amusant avec les enfants!), de petites confitures. Ici, c'est maintenant soupe fraiche a gogo, smoothies et meme glace  (avec la participation complice de notre amie et voisine a qui l'on confie nos bien dans son congelo : car nous n'en avons toujours pas...).

Un investissement, oui, tres certainement. 

Parce que nous le valons bien...