HolisticallyHeather

Vegan Sample Bags

2010-11-30T08:42:00.000-08:00

The Vegan Craft Samples holiday bag is here! The bags have just been unveiled, and they're going fast, so you probably want to order yours today! What's in the bag? Any number of vegan samples from crafters and artisans all over the world. Of course many Vegan Etsy team members contribute to the bags, as well as a large number of other vendors. The only way to really know what it's all about is to get one of your very own and discover it for yourself!

Bags are available in small ($15), regular ($25), and large ($25) sizes. You can also purchase a "subscription" for 2011 and receive every bag that comes out throughout year.

Importantly - and as always - 100% of profits from the sale of the bags will go directly to support animals in need. Funds from this round of holiday bags are going to Joey's Feline Friends!

To find out more, stop by the Vegan Craft Samples website or facebook page!

What are friends for?

2010-02-27T07:50:00.000-08:00

When everything seems awful and it takes all of your strength just to get out of bed in the morning, a friend suprises you and makes life a little more bareable!

My friend Amanda and I have decided to become penpals, so I sent out the cutest dinosaur postcard that I could find...and look what she sent me! A really nice card and some cookies and granola bars, at a time where that is the best thing anyone can do. The card telling me she knows how close I was to my gramma, and telling me a little bit about life in the mountains this time of year. Also a little side note saying that these were the first vegan chocolate chip cookies shes ever made....well they are the best chocolate chip cookies I have EVER had the pleasure to consume. They were so good, that they were eaten before dinner, every last morsel.

So, what I am trying to say is, when everything seems awful, and it seems as though noone understands....there is always the chance that a good friend will suprise you with some cookies and a nice letter.

WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR?

Vegan Derby Girl

2010-02-18T07:34:00.001-08:00

I recently decided to go for it and join the local roller derby league, and I had no idea what I was in for when I did!
If you know me, you know that I try to incorporate my crafty nature into everything I do, so lets just say...keep your eyes open for some awesome derby related crafts in the near future!
So what do you do if you are vegan AND you want to be a kick butt derby dame? Well, you buy vegan roller skates, of course!

If you are just looking to go to an open skate here and there, or dont want to be left out when your friends go and rent those nasty leather skates...these skates would be a great option! They are also VERY affordable.

If you are looking to do roller derby and represent animals and vegans by rejececting the typical leather shoes, Riedell now makes a vegan roller derby skate! I researched online and these skates are pretty new to the market, but all of the reviews I have read have been excellent. They arent much more than most Riedell non-vegan skates, and a local skate shop gives a 10% discount to all roller derby people! It has been about 3 weeks now since I special ordered my vegan skates, a first for the shop I went to, and I am so excited that they will be in early next week! I got the exact ones in the photo, but I opted to upgrade to a metal plate instead of the nylon as I am a bigger woman.

Whether you plan to just go skate with friends, or you want to kick some butt on the track playing roller derby...you dont have to compromise your beliefs or sit it out becuase these days we have options! I have also started a blog and facebook fan page where I will chronicle my journey from uncoordinated bike riding vegan to vegan derby girl! Not interested in roller derby? That's cool, I will also be posting workout tips, pre workout recipes and general healthy living blog posts as well!

Go Vegan, Thrash The Derby Track With Your Veggie Powered Skates!

Posted by: Heather from

Holistically Heather

Aunt Flos Pads

Vegan Craft Samples

The world lost one of the most amazing, inspiring, compassionate women...my grandmother

2010-02-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

Here is a little video my cousin Adriane and I put together to remember my grandmother...a true inspiration and my soul mate.

Valentines Day the Cruelty Free Way! Vegan Craft Sample Bags

2010-02-03T08:08:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day doesnt have to mean tons of processed sugars and dairy, it can mean compassion and love! This Valentine's Day you can order a Vegan Craft Sample bag for your love, and know that it is all vegan and all compassion!
Vegan Craft Samples receive samples of handmade items from Etsy shops around the world, puts them into reusable hand stenciled tote bags and sells them. Everything in these bags is vegan and cruelty free and 100% profits from each bag goes to a different sanctuary each time. Valentine's Day 2010 sample bag profits go to Pigs Peace Sanctuary
The bags come in 3 different sizes now, they used to only offer the regular sized bags, but now they offer small and large bags as well!

Small bags come with 8-10 samples and are $15

Regular bags come with 17-20 samples and are $25

Large bags come with 23-25 samples and are $35

The next round of bags after our Valentine's Day bags are our Earth Day bags, we are always looking for new handmade shops to contribute samples. When you contribute samples you promote a compassionate lifestyle, raise money for animals, and promote your craft! Please sign up under "get in the bag" on our website!

What to do when your 6 pounds of bananas go from green to rotting in less than 3 hours?

2010-01-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

Well you make dog treats from It's A Vegan Dog's Life new book!

This book is chock full of delicious recipes and tips for your furry friends. Whether the pups are vegan or not this book is a great resource, and full of recipes your dogs will love. Our dogs dont even let us finish making the recipes, they lay right under out feet in front of the oven waiting! You can also grab a copy on the Vegan Essentials website!
What else to do with a gaggle of rapidly turning bananas? Why break out the trusty ole dehydrator of course! Check out all of these delicious banana chips we just made!

Wintertime Pick Me Up

2010-01-29T13:11:00.000-08:00

Even though it is not summer, I love berries and today it is freezing outside and all I want to do is pretend its nice out...and I am drinking a fruit smoothie after a long bike ride!

Berry Smoothie

Blend all of these:

1 quart of blackberries

1 quart raspberries

2 mangoes

2 bananas

1 pear

Top it all off with some organic raw cacao nibs....delicious!

Donations Needed For Animal Sanctuary Raffle FOR THE ANIMALS

2010-01-15T07:32:00.000-08:00

For The Animals is an animal sanctuary located in Montclair, New Jersey. For The Animals gives sanctuary to victims of the food farming trade.

This morning when I woke up I saw a post on Vegan Etsy that For The Animals is looking for handmade items for a raffle they plan to do to raise money for the animals!

Well, this is right up my alley, I thought, so I started brainstorming about what to give.....

An organic cotton hand knit cowl from my Holistically Heather shop

Issues 1 and 2 of my EASY Vegan Cooking Zine "Vegans Are Easy"

Organic Sunburn Soothing Spritz

Soothing Organic Lavender Bath Salts

Organic Lavender and Flax seed calming pillow

I really hope that the raffle goes well and whomever wins enjoys all of the items from handmade folks who love animals and creating!

If you are interested in donating items for the raffle please contact Deb:
info@fortheanimalssanctuary.org
or simply mail your items to

for the Animals sanctuary
8 Cherokee Trail
Blairstown NJ
07825

Whacky Wordless Wednesday

2010-01-13T06:45:00.000-08:00

This is Amy, one of the new additions at For The Animals Sanctuary, a wondeful sanctuary for survivors of the food trading industry. (Ok so today isnt very worldess, but minimalist hah)

The Holidays are for the dogs!

2010-01-08T11:39:00.001-08:00

Less than a year ago Carmel came into our home, from a not so nice place. We dont know the full extent of what he went through and we never will, but he has a lot going on.

When we had our house warming party last spring we noticed Carmel's love for ripping paper, as when we were opening gifts he walked right up and started helping us. So this year we decided it was high time someone give that pup a holiday of tearing and ripping to his hearts content. We wrapped a bunch of dog toys, with recycled paper we brought home from last years family holiday events, and filled a stocking for the dogs.

Yes, I said a holiday stocking for the dogs, its super cute and we won it from It's A Vegan Dogs Life!

The other dog that lets us live here, Penney, could care less about ripping paper...so carmel "opened" all the presents for the both of them.

Whacky Worldless Wednesday

2010-01-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Win A Craft Sample Bag 2 ways to enter this giveaway!

2009-12-08T11:10:00.001-08:00

Just posted a new giveaway on our facebook page this morning, all you have to do is tell us what your favorite vegan food is!
Yep its that simple, favorite vegan food and you are entered to win a vegan craft sample bag!

Only a couple of days left to enter our other giveaway for a free vegan craft sample bag, we need a design for our bags, yep thats right...check out our blog for details!

Heck, if you dont feel like trying your chances with a giveaway, swing on over to our etsy shop lickety split to grab one of the few sample bags left!

Lavender Lullaby Pillow Etsy Holiday Sale

2009-12-03T05:55:00.001-08:00

Lavender is one of those plants found in nature that is so useful to everyone! I love the smell and the way that it peacefully lulls me to sleep (no harsh crash like with sleeping pills).

I make an array of lavender items, pillows, bath salts, and my sunburn spray is made using lavender as well. I use all organic lavender in my items and use the freshest lavender available.

This years etsy holiday sale I have put all of my organic lavender sleepy pillows on sale, they are now 2/$20 which is a great deal.

They make a great stocking stuffer, or keep one for yourself and give one as a gift! Available in my etsy shop, Holistically Heather

The outside pillow case of each one is removable and washable, just take it off, toss it in the wash dry on low heat and viola, its clean and ready to be used again. You can also order refills of the lavender pillow inside from me.

Tis the season, and here's my reason!

2009-12-02T05:48:00.000-08:00

I recently started a job at Macys, a cleaning job, I work for an outside company that cleans. Why am I telling my readers this? Because it has really given me perspective on the holiday season.

I have never been one for consumption, over consumption, or holiday consumption...it just flat out isnt my style. But since starting my job at Macys and seeing people fight over possesions, spend $150 on a childs dress and not even look me in the eye because I am a lowly cleaner...I have made a choice. A choice that isnt far off from how things usually go, usually I get something small for Jessi and something small for my grandmother....well, no more!

This year instead of adding to the consumeristic hysteria of mass produced sweat shop items, I will be sponsoring rescued animals at Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary for my family and Jessi.

Instead of getting someone something that might just end up in their junk drawer anyway, why not give the gift of life. When you sponsor an animal you insure that animal has food and shelter and necessities for a year of its life, you will also receive a picture and bio of the animal you are sponsoring.

Hopefully someday we can make it out to Colorado to meet all of the animals they have saved, and show love to them all!
Happy Holidays! I hope some of you will choose to make your holiday season cruelty free.

Things I am Thankful For

2009-11-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

I am thankful for my doggies and best friends Penney and Carmel as well as the coolest human friend there is out there (who
just so happens to dress up like a bunny rabbit regularly!)

I dont celebrate thanksgiving, as it symbolizes something much different than giving thanks to me...but I am thankful for the folks in my life and what a better way to protest Thanksgiving than to tell my best friends how much I love them!

Giveaway Win a Vegan Craft Sample Bag Design Our Logo

2009-11-21T05:38:00.000-08:00

We are looking for the perfect logo for our bags, yes thats right we will be switching to premade bags, but to keep handmade alive we will be hand printing or stenciling a logo on each bag!

What does that mean for you?

Come up with a design for our logo, email it to us, and when we receive all of the entries we will have a vote on this very blog!

Here is some useful information when coming up with your design
Vegan Craft Samples
Its All In the Bag

both are titles of our bags,used together and interchangeably

100% profits go to animals ( would like to have that mentioned on the design if possible)

our web address
vegancraftsamples.com

Those are the basics, go wild, run with it and have fun!

Please remember to email your design to
ecosampler@yahoo.com

Good luck, the due date for the designs is December 20th

Please remember that if I do a stencil of the design it will be hand done, and if i screen print it it will also be hand done.....nothing too crazy hhah

Good luck!

It's A Wonderful Life- Daiya Vegan Cheese, Strong Hearts Cafe, and Co-Op Grocery Finds!

2009-11-18T06:40:00.000-08:00

The other day, last Friday to be exact, Jessi and I took a little adventure out to Syracuse, NY where we had planned to see a band play. Low and behold they were playing at a farm, and when I couldnt get an answer at the farm to find out what their definition of "farm" was we decided the chances of animals being there were high...so what did we do instead?

We headed on over to the Syracuse Co-Op Grocery store, grabbed some organic portabellas and ran into a pal of mine who works there, she told us that they now have Daiya Vegan Cheese, in bulk! We walked right by it and would have never even noticed, I dont make a practive of looking in the cheese cooler hah! For the last couple of months we have heard nothing but rave reviews of Diaya Cheese, and were waiting and waiting to have enough money to try it. Thank you co-op for making it easily accessible.

We left the co-op arms full and wallets on E and headed over to Strong Hearts Cafe, it an all vegan cafe in Syracuse, NY and Friday night is pizza night! We saved up for this night for a long time and were very very eager to munch on some Vegan Chicun Wang Pizza, which consists of dough, hot sauce, seitan strips, sheese blue cheese (which is to die for and tastes a lot like bleu cheese), and smothered in the Daiya mozzarella cheeze.

By the time we sloshed down our vegan milkshakes, we each could only eat one slice of the AMAZING pizza!

So we boxed it up and brought it home, after a long hour drive it was time for a bit of a snack again...so we each had one more slice and saved the rest for morning.

What did those crazy folks do with their bulk Daiya cheeze anyway? Well, glad you asked, we decided to make some of our famous spicy tofu subs and melt the daiya cheese on top! They turned out amazing and are super simple to make. Which makes for a cheap easy meal when you cant afford to eat organic raw veggies the entire winter in upstate NY (which sucks by the way, we are still trying tho!)

These were so simple to make, so heres the recipe!

You will need:
1 or 2 pounds of tofu, depending on how many meals you want to get out of them (we each got 2 meals out of our half of the big sub)
Your favorite hot sauce, we like red hot, it doesnt have corn syrup or sugar in it
Vegenaise
Black Olives (if you dig them)
A roll or many rolls depending on what you prefer (we went big ahha real big) Make sure to check ingredients strange dairy crap loves to creep its way into breads
Daiya Cheese shreds (however much you want)
1 c. nutritional yeast

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
Drain the tofu, leave it a bit damp so it can be dipped! Dip each strip of tofu into the nutritional yeast (you can also mix in some garlic powder, if you love garlic)and place on a cookie sheet. Bake the tofu until it gets a bit crispy...the thinner you slice it the better it gets nice and crispy that way.
While the tofu is baking mix up your sauce, take a glob of vegenaise and add hot sauce until its the spiceyness that you prefer, set aside. Pull it out of the oven, dunk it in the hot sauce (or soak it, which I do sometimes) then spread the tofu slices on your roll. Cover with more sauce if you fancy, sprinkle with black olives, then smother with the daiya cheese. Put back in oven, just to melt the cheese....Yes thats right, daiya melts and stretches! Pull it out and munch! I wouldnt suggest eating this all the time, or atleat I wouldnt eat it all the time....but you could eat 3 and still be eating healthier than a meat/dairy eater...so have fun!

Posted by and recipe by Heather of Holistically Heather

Keeping old traditions alive! Gramma passes down knitting/crocheting

2009-11-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the crafts that we pass down from generation to generation, and wondering what my generation will pass down. You cant exactly call playing video games a craft now can you?

Organic Cotton Hat Handknit by me available in my ETSY

When I was a little girl my gramma taught me how to knit, and from that day on I would carry my little plastic bag with her leftover yarn and needles in it....creating whatever ugly monstrosity I could. Every mess I made she appreciated and even still has a few "scarves" from those days. She supported me and helped me learn something that I think is slipping away, something beautiful, something unique. The idea that you can pass down trades/skills to your children and grandchildren and keep these ideas flowing and alive.

I have been thinking about all of this a lot lately, now that my gramma is sick. Thinking about how beautiful it is, that even when she is gone I will have my bag(which now is cloth instead of plastic) and my needles and yarn, to teach my children and grandchildren the same way that she taught me.

My knitting has come a long way over the years, will I ever be as good as gramma? DOUBTFUL! That woman could knit with her eyes closed, and come up with the most elaborate beautiful designs.

What skills/trades have you learned from your parents or grandparents that you want to remember and cherish forever? Everything I know, am learning now, or will ever learn has something to do with my grandmother, she inspires my every action.

Thanks gramma!

Promotional Videos For Etsy Handmade Shops!

2009-11-04T06:19:00.000-08:00

This is a video I made yesterday to help promote It's All In The Bag-Vegan Craft Samples

What does everyone think of this video? Is it something anyone else would want made for their shops? Should I offer to make these in my etsy shop? What would be a good price? I am looking for opinions here folks, people are full of opinions, so lets hear them!!!

If you havn't ordered your sample bag yet, now is the time, they are selling like fake Gucci in NYC!

Here are the websites associated with the sample bag project:

If you are interested in promoting your shop in the next round of sample bags, now is the time to sign up! You can go right to our website and click "get in the bag" to sign up! All questions can be emailed to ecosampler@yahoo.com

Thanks for your input on the video and anything really!

ON SALE NOW! Vegan Craft Sample Holiday Bags

2009-11-02T04:52:00.000-08:00

100% profits to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary!

Due to a large response we are having 2 different sized bags this time, a regular and a large. The large contains 25+ samples and the regular contains the usual 17-20.

You can get your bag in the following places

There is an easy checkout cart in the left margin, through artfire (for the regular size bags only)
Go to the order section of our website! You can choose the size bag you would like
Or finally, go to our Etsy where you can also buy all 3 sizes! (while they last)

Raw Vegan Berry Pie- Use Any Berries You Love

2009-10-27T14:58:00.001-07:00

This raw vegan berry pie is a piece of cake! (Or is that a piece of pie?)

What you will need:

12 pitted organic dates

1 c. raw organic pecans

4 c. organic berries of your choosing, I used blackberry this time!

2 avocados, nice and ripe (if you dont have avocados 2 bananas are fine, or any combination of the 2)

Ok, let's get started, grind up your pecans, to a fine crumbly powder substance, add 8 dates, and blend til its a desirable crust texture. Press your crust into the bottom and sides of your pie dish, I prefer glass pie dishes, but hey who cares what I prefer, right?

For the filling, blend 1/2- 1 c. berries, 4 dates, and avocados, mix with remaining berries (save a few if you want pretty decoration on top), fill the crust with pie mixture, and sprinkle some remaining berries on top.

Viola, a pie that noone at dinner will know isnt full of flour, sugar, and doesnt have all the nutrients baked out!

BBQ Seitan Sandwich Devilishly Delicious

2009-10-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

Easy Easy Recipe Preaheat your oven to 325 degrees
You will need:

1 1/2 c. vital wheat gluten

2 tsp. garlic powder

3/4 c. water

6 Tblsp. BBQ sauce of your choice, make sure to check for non vegan things like anchovies!

2 Tblsp. Saracha Hot Sauce, its our favorite, if you dont have it just use more BBQ sauce

First mix your dry ingredients (garlic powder, vital wheat gluten), then add in the wet. Knead your "loaf" for a bit, making it into a log shape. Wrap in tinfoil and twist at the ends like a piece of candy. Bake for 90 Minutes. Let it cool, unwrap it and slice into whatever size chunks you desire. We used super small chunks because all we had were little dinky buns (unlike my other buns these ones are small!) Drizzle a little extra BBQ sauce on your buns, and you are set. Delicious, easy little snack. Make it a meal with some french fries!

Quotes from inspiring women and a giveaway!

2009-10-16T06:55:00.000-07:00

In honor of this months blog giveaway, for an inspiring writing from a female author, here are some quotes that I love!!

"A cultural fixation on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience."

"Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women's history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one."

both by Namoi Wolf "The Beauty Myth"

"How frail the human heart must be - a mirrored pool of thought."

"Dying is an art, like everything else. I do it exceptionally well. I do it so it feels like hell. I do it so it feels real. I guess you could say I've a call. "

both by Sylvia Plath

"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. "

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal. "

"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure. "

"No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution... revolution is but thought carried into action."

"The most unpardonable sin in society is independence of thought. "

All quotes by Emma Goldman

And the quote of the week is......

"Women need not always keep their mouths shut and their wombs open." Emma Goldman

Please remember to enter this months blog giveaway!

Cheeze N' Bacun Wheat Free Dog Treats

2009-10-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Our dogs love these, as you can see!

Ingredients:

1/2 container vegan bacun bits

2 Tbsp. canola oil

2 1/2 c. water

1/2 c. nutritional yeast

2 c. garbanzo bean flour

2 c. flax seed flakes

1/2 c. cornmeal

1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Roll into 1" balls, and bake for about 20 minutes, keep checking as every oven is different. They should become hard balls, great for their teeth and they love them!

Artfire, surpassing etsy?

2009-10-06T08:16:00.001-07:00

So, I set up my artfire account months and months ago, but with recent changes on etsy, and a total drop off of sales, I am starting to actually promote my artfire.

With this promotion I am offering 10% off any order with the coupon code Blogspot, artfire is very easy to use and you dont even have to sign up for an account to make a purchase!

holisticallyheather

Buy Handmade

That said I want to share some very positive aspects that I have found with artfire.

Artfire offers coupon codes, which is great, on artfire you can promote your shop and offer a discount to blog readers, facebook fans, followers on twitter, etc.

They also allow you to set up codes for gift certificates, which I havnt done yet, but I am so excited to do. Now when I send in gift certificates for It's All In The Bag ( a handmade artisan promo site)I can use a different coupon code for each certificate. Making it easier to keep track, and again, a great way to promote your shop!

For the holidays all listings are free, even for basic non-paying accounts!!! You can list, sell, relist, whatever you want to do all for free, for the holidays! Check it out, see if you like it, and in the end if you love artfire, sign up for the verified account!

Right now the verified account is only $12 a month, no additional listing fees, no fees on the final sale price, just the $12 a month. It is a great deal!

Artfire is now offering the ability to upload your entire etsy shop (up to 5 shops) in just a few clicks of your mouse. I uploaded all of my shops and it was super easy, and I am awful with computers.

The folks over at artfire answer questions, help you out, and do what they can in a very timely fashion. No waiting around for a month waiting for a response to a frantic email you send them!

You can make something just like the etsy minis, but folks who are interested in your items dont have to sign up to buy what they see! They can just click and buy!

holisticallyheather

Buy Handmade

Also artfire offers a kiosk specifically set up for your facebook, so people who are fans on facebook can buy right there, without even signing up! You can see my kiosk here!

Are you on artfire? Can you think of more things they are doing better than etsy? Please feel free to comment and let me us all know!

Handmade for the Holidays

2009-10-02T12:02:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been scrambling around trying to get ready for the holiday season, listing new items in my Etsy and Artfire shops, and trying to find some time to do a bit of pre-season shopping of my own! I dont like to just post a bunch of my items in my blog and leave it at that, so I will show a few of my items and a few items that are recent favorites of mine!

This is one of my Ouchie Pillows, you can heat it up in the microwave (or the oven if you dont have a microwave) or you can freeze it. It is great for cramps, bumps, bruises, etc. Every little kid loves an ouchie pillow, theres something comforting about the cute designs and the fact that its theirs.

Skull and leopard print cotton reusable menstrual pad. Very comfy, and much better for the earth and your body. Check out Aunt Flos Pads for more designs and organics!

Organic Lavender and Flax Lullaby Pillow, smells great, and lavender is a soothing calming herb great for those restless nights. Can also be heated or frozen, but I prefer to keep mine right in my big pillow, so I can use it every night without a second thought!

Handmade Items That Catch My Eye

Handmade Peanut Butter Fudge from Sweet Fritsy

Asylum earrings from Starrlight Jewelry

Vegan Chicken Pendant by Christy Robinson Designs

Remsen Barn Festival Rain Or Shine The Weekend Was Mine

2009-09-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Remsen, NY barn festival was this past weekend, and it was a lot of fun! Saturday the weather was gorgeous, and there was a ton of foot traffic. I had already checked the weather channel and found out that Sunday we wouldnt be so lucky, rain rain rain! We got there late Sunday morning, trying to wait out the serious downpour, which didnt happen. It rained while we set up, it rained while we were there, and it POURED while we took down. Thankfully a new found friend went and got us some hay to lay down in our tent to keep the stream at bay, kind of. Overall it was a great weekend and I learned a few more things about doing craft fairs outdoors.

The major lesson that I learned, if it is gorgeous outside and you dont want the sides on your tent, find a way to block out whatever funky background is behind your tent. It's just too bad I didnt learn this lesson until just now and I was looking at the photographs of our tent, I think the cars behind us really took away from our display!

Be prepared for ANYTHING, when I say bring extra shoes and clothes, I mean it. I am so happy that I decided to set up my entire tent barefoot and put my dry clean shoes on afterwards. I usually remember extra shoes and socks, and its gorgeous outside, this weekend it rained and I forgot. Go figure!

Always remember to bring healthy delicious water and snacks because trust me finding anything edible at these events, even if you arent vegan, is near impossible. I am just thankful that there was a farmer there selling organic raspberries, peaches and plums. That was a life saver, but also very rare. Dont forget to pack a breakfast, lunch and dinner if it is a long day, small light snacks all day are my preference. I am just so happy that even though we forgot those things this weekend, that we found something edible in a flurry of friend dough, hot dogs, and unidentifiable meat gyros!

Numi Flowering Teas, The Perfect Birthday Gift For An Avid Tea Drinker

2009-09-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

Jessis mom got me the exact same tea set that we bought her for her birthday. It is made by numi and comes in an awesome bamboo box, that I am definately going to use for something awesome.

The box has a cute little glass teapot in it, for budding the beautiful tea flowers. The first one I decided to try looks like little pebbles, and is called Jasmine Pearls (a fitting name), a green tea mated with fresh jasmine leaves and blossoms.

It has a very floral taste and fragrance, delicious. These teas are so cool, each bud you can use 3-4 times according to the box, but honestly I stretch mine to 6-7 times.

I love that Jessis mom put thought into my birthday gift, she saw me drooling over hers as she opened it, put 2 and 2 together, and bought me the same thing. When people think about a gift it means so much more, so much more than a gift card to a shop you havn't even heard of.

Speechless Wednesday

2009-09-23T05:16:00.000-07:00

Westcott Cultural Fair Syracuse NY was a blast!

2009-09-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Sunday we did the Westcott Street Cultural Fair and it was an absolute blast!

We chatted with a ton of people, sold an amazing amount of our stuff, and best of all answered a lot of questions about reusable menstrual pads! I love when people ask questions, and are curious, even if they have no intention of buying any, I just love to talk about them!

It was so busy that I didnt really get any chance to walk around and check out other booths, but from what I saw on the way to the bathrooms, there were some truly talented folks involved in this!

With 5 or 6 different stages there was something for everyone! On my way to the bathroom I ran directly in to a huge group of people salsa dancing to the live music, it was awesome. I heard the belly dance troupe that we saw at the Clinton Arts and Music Festival was somewhere, but I didnt really get a chance to wander. We were right in front of the main stage and the music varied all day long, it was really nice. This year was the 18th year for this fair, and I cant wait for year 19, we will be there with bells on!

A birthday to remember, seriously, one of the best of my entire life!

2009-09-08T05:54:00.000-07:00

As you may have read, my birthday was Sunday September 6th. It started off waking up early to make vegan breakfast sandwhiches for ourselves. We had gone to a local vegan restraunt the night before and were horribly disappointed with their breakfast sandwhich. (which stinks because we were really looking forward to going there!)

So I thought it would be a good idea to make our own for cheaper, and not have "egg" and "breakfast sausage" the size of half dollars on a big ole english muffin. (why do restraunts always do that, they start out with good portions for a decent price, then they cut corners...and apparently cut out customers too!)

We made the most delicious birthday breakfast ever, and topped it off with a half an avocado each, yum! We sat out in the backyard enjoying our breakfast, while the dogs ran around the yard chasing the beautiful chirping birds.

Dont worry, our dogs are less than graceful and couldnt catch a dead fly! After our delicious, peaceful breakfast, we headed inside to feed the mutts and get them ready for a long day without us. Made sure their toys were in plain sight and all plants in windows were secured!! Then it was time to head over to Jessi's parents house, with much anticpation! We arrived and of course Jessi's mom had the house cleaned spotlessly, and was already getting ready to cook our dinner. She opened the refrigerator to show me what she had made, the first thing she pulled out were little cakes, topped with fruit, and vegan fruit rollups, made to look like sushi!

All because she knows how much I love sushi, now these cakes were pretty awesome, and tasted delicious too!

She is such a creative woman and really worked hard to make my birthday special, because she knows that I have a really hard time with my birthday. Oh, you thought she was done, that was it, HAH! The next thing she pulled out of the refrigerator were little terracotta pots full of vegan ranch dressing and baby carrots, but she made them look like they were growing by poking a hole in the end of each carrot and inserting a sprig of parsley!

Who comes up with this stuff? Jessi's mom does! So so cute and creative, and not to mention the dip was delicious and I ate half of everybody else's along with mine!

What was next? What else could this woman have possibly made/done for me? She pulled out my favorite dinner, vegan chickun parmasean! Yummy yum yum, too bad my camera batteries died and I couldnt for the life of me find batteries around the house! She also made me the most delicious cake I have ever had in my life, a vegan mint chocolate ice cream cake! I hate to admit it, because I bake too, but I think its the best cake I have ever had.

I guess in big Italian families like Jessi's it is tradition to have a large fancy setup on the table for holidays and special occassions, so they went all out with a pretty pink table cloth, fancy wine glasses (full of shirley temples, the only way I will drink soda...and dont forget im straightedge and dont drink! So it's nice to have a fancy drink on my birthday), dripless candles burning with a low light setting.

It was a beautiful setup and meant more to me than they could ever possibly know or understand, not to mention absolutely delicious and creative. I love having some aspect of creativity in everything that I do, and that was really cool and I really felt loved on my birthday. Really an overall amazing feeling!

Oh wait Heather, there must have been gifts involved?!?!?!?

Of course there were, and I felt really uncomfortable opening gifts in front of a room full of people, but I knew I couldnt get out of it, so I did!

Pretty much every single person got me an animal related card, Jessi's card had two dogs on it that look exactly like our dogs, one of which was in the dishwasher while the other was on lookout. That sounds about right, for our house! Jessi also got me a wafflemaker, because I had told her I have never had homemade waffles, which is true...but I also think she got it for me as a hint to make her some waffles, shes been on a kick with them lately! Jessi's mom got me some really nice table cloths for when I do craft fairs, along with a blooming flower tea set exactly like the one we bought her for Mother's Day. She knew I wanted one so bad but couldn't afford it, she rocks! Jessi's little cousin drew me 2 pictures, one was full of little colored hearts and read "far hadr", and the other had little foam animals glued to it. So sweet! Jessi's sister, Jen, brought me some more Shea Butter, and in the card wrote that it was for my big booty! HAHA, we always joke about my butt, because one time in a craft store I knocked over an entire display!

Overall this was probably the best birthday I have ever had, thank you for reading about my big day and sharing it with me!

It's my birthday!! Ill have a sale if I want to, sale if I want to

2009-09-06T06:40:00.001-07:00

You would too..... hahaha

today is my birthday
get 10% off in either of my shops and all you have to do is type happy birthday in the notes to seller...then wait for a revised invoice!
also my 250th sale in my holisticallyheather shop will get a special gift with their order!!!

http://www.holisticallyheather.etsy.com
http://www.auntflospads.etsy.com

So what is the plan for today? How will I be spending my birthday? Instead of the usual depressing, waiting by the phone for someone in my family to remember, I will be spending the day with Jessi's family. Who by the way are pretty much the best handful of people I have ever been in contact with. I don't exactly know what we are doing, its all hush hush and many secrets and whisperings on the phone...I hate secrets hahaha, I just want to know!

Though really knowing Jessi's mom, she will bake me some random cake that is my favorite, and make a feast of all my favorite foods she has learned to cook for us over the past couple years. Yes that's right, we broke her, the woman who refused to even acknowledge veganism not only makes vegan food every sunday for us, but now loves our vegan cheese sauce that we make from nutritional yeast! She who wouldnt even try anything because it was "cacky" is now not only trying things but making them when we aren't around!

***OK, I wont lie, I did hear Jessi's mom on the phone (she basically SCREAMS into the phone) and I heard a little something about vegan chickun parmasean, which is pretty much the most delicious thing she makes, EVER!!

THIS is what my craft room should look like!

2009-09-03T12:26:00.000-07:00

After frantically preparing for the Clinton Arts and Music festival, my craft room was in quite a state of disarray, along with the rest of the house. I had totes of fabric from one end of the house to the other, fabric cutting supplies all over the dining room, and big boxes of samples for the It's All In The Bag indie handmade project I work on. What a mess!

I am glad that part of the festival is over, now that the craft room is contained and calm, I feel I need to document with photos.

So when I am done preparing for holiday festivals, I will be able to look back and prove to myself that yes, the craft room WAS once clean!

Looking at these photos you would think I am an organized person, HAH! Maybe someday I will be brave enough to post photos of what it looks like mid-sew.

Clinton Arts and Music Festival in Clinton NY rainy rainy day

2009-08-30T07:12:00.000-07:00

After a couple months of working my butt off (LITERALLY...I think I even lost weight sewing haha...its all the rage, the new exercise to lose pounds!) it was time for the Clinton Arts and Music Festival yesterday. I had slept a combined total of 5 hours the two nights before and rolled out of bed at 6am, to head over to the site.

We dragged our tired bodies behind us to unload the truck and begin fighting with the tent (which was new and during our practice round, I believe the tent won!). This was our first outdoor show, so when I saw that we were on a hill wedged between a house and a big shrub, I was a bit nervous, and mildly annoyed. But we got the tent set up, after having help from a handful of folks nearby (who saved the day because there was a certain button that we just didn't find, I felt a little stupid when they showed us hahah...chalked it up to lack of rest and nervousness haha) The tents are really pretty cool, you can adjust the height on each separate leg, which made being on a hill a lot easier!

Now that we finally had the tent set up, it was time to pull out my chicken scratch diagram I had drawn the day before. This diagram was to remind us exactly how we setup the tables and items during our practice round, too lazy to grab the camera I suppose. I am part of the CNY Etsy Team and we had a booth with information about our team, I just so happened to be across from it, able to check it out easily and chat with the folks watching over the booth.

Jessis mom of course showed up to help with setup and shes more of a perfectionist than we are!

No sooner than we got our tent up and everything in it about set, it started to rain, raining for a good chunk of time. It eventually cleared up and the foot traffic was much better.

One of our jewelry making friends from a couple of indoor shows we have done made her way to our tent to say hello and invite us to her wedding in October! Which was really sweet, and I am super excited as I have never been to a wedding before, and some of our mutual friends will be there! We also ran into a couple that I have known for about 10 years, and it was really nice to see them and their 2 little additions to the family. They are always so welcoming, smiley and warm!

A couple hours later we receive word that a big storm is coming, Jessi and I being the troopers that we are decided, eh we can wait it out! We walked around and asked some other CNY Etsy Team members what they plan to do, they are leaving, except for Dan (ddb7), he's gonna wait it out with us. So we pull the items as far from the front opening as possible and prepare for the downpour, and boy oh boy did we get it.

We were of course going to stand our ground and wait it out, until Jessis aunt showed up and offered to buy is Indian food! We were hungry, broke and didn't have squat left at home to eat (our CSA box isn't until Monday), so we decided it would be ok to eat some deliciously un-raw cuisine for the day!

So we packed up, wet and defeated by our hunger and better judgement and took off to get some delicious Indian food. We had never been to this particular Indian Restaurant but we have been to the other one in New Hartford that has the same owner. It is pretty much the best Indian food I have found in this part of NY, tho Schenectady might be the best Ive found in the country!

Overall had a decent day and learned a lot, as this was our first outdoor show. Jessi agreed, we LOVE outdoor shows. I cant wait until next weekend, when we set up at Veg Fest in Syracuse, NY!

Have any ideas of critiques of our setup? Any advice? Please feel free to leave a comment, I would really appreciate some criticism, critiques or just plain ole advice! I am thinking that for Veg Fest I want to try a setup where one table is at the front of my tent, and one comes off of that like an L shape, so people can see some of my items as they walk by...good idea?

Sunflowers on a rainy day!

2009-08-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Every time I am at my in-laws I look out their front window and admire the big field of sunflowers, just standing there waiting to be smelled and enjoyed. I have been fawning over them for about a month now, after every Sunday dinner.

I woke up this morning to this beautiful vase with a few of those very flowers, handpicked just for me! I must say, it really brightened this gloomy Friday!

Today is the greatest, day I've ever know! Well maybe the second or third greatest. I got a huge package of Vegan snacks from Sweet Fritsy!

2009-08-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

So, we all know by now how much I adore Sweet Fritsy so when they contacted me and asked to do another trade, I was enamored! What did I choose? I chose the vegan donuts and the vegan peanut butter carmel cups! Soon after I placed my order and started to count down the days until delivery I saw these and I was inspired to ramble about them on my facebook page, in a post I made about my birthday wishlist.

Today was the big day, I checked the tracking number bright and early this morning and awaited the arrival of our yummies!

When I opened the box, everything was so nicely packaged and I noticed one of the boxes said "Vegan Smores Brownies" on it along with a sticker that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY".

Oh joy, you have no idea how excited I was and how quickly I tore into that box. I didnt even think about the donuts and carmels until after I sank my teeth into a vegan smores brownie. Was the brownie all it was chocked up to be? Did it make my 27 birthday totally awesome? All that and more, the brownies are like camping with friends, minus the bugs....they are like seeing an old friend you havnt seen in forever. They are amazing! So much so that I was talking to a good friend this morning and he had to go buy his own, hah.

Along with my birthday wish coming true and getting those delicious brownies, sweet fritsy sent a nice birthday card and some yummy carmel corn (that came in a super cute box!). Totally sweet and made an otherwise crummy birthday, crumby! Sometimes my cheesiness even makes me wanna gag, so dont be shy about making fun of it.

Now you know I got right into the donuts after the smores brownies settled. So what do I think? Im not a huge donut fan, (Jessi insisted on getting them because they are her favorite sweet in the universe) but these donuts were great. They werent all greasey and the chocolate frosting was perfect, in fact Im counting down the minutes until Jessi gets out of work so I can eat my last donut! Never thought I would think that about a donut, but hey I've been known to change my mind about different foods (example: onions..used to hate them) I havnt tried my chocolate carmel peanut butter cups yet, I am saving them for a chocolate emergency. Which, lets face it, wont be far off.

Thanks so much Sweet Fritsy for such a great trade and making my birthday wish come true! Now lets just see if any of these goodies make it until my actual birthday!

Vegan tasted, vegan approved! HAH

Spanish Potato Gratin with Roasted Vegetables with couscous Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures

2009-08-25T14:11:00.000-07:00

I recently won one of Silent Lotus' giveaways on their blog and I am super excited about my prize! What did I win? I won Fresh and Fast Vegan Pleasures, an awesome eclectic vegan cookbook! I had never heard of it until I entered to win, and boy oh boy am I glad I did!

Last night I popped open my new cookbook and decided it was time to try something from it. Even though we generally eat only raw foods during the growing season. What did I find to make?

Roasted Veggies w/CousCous and Lemon Pepper Oil with a side of Spanish Potato Gratin

I will post the ingredient list and recipes seperate in case you want one but not the other!

Spanish Potato Gratin

Ingredients:

2 1/4 c. chunked potatoes (we used local organic blue potatoes, just because they are darnright awesome!)

3 Tblsp. olive oil

1 arge onion food processed (personal preference, I hate chunks of onion, do what ya want!)

1 garlic clove finely chopped

about 6 fresh tomatoes (calls for canned but its tomato season eat fresh!) chopped

4Tblsp. green olives pitted

4 Tblsp. black olives pitted

2 Tblsp. fresh parsley chopped

1 Tblsp. fresh thyme chopped

1/4 c. bread crumbs

salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Add the potatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes, drain and return to saucepan. Dry the potatoes on very low heat ( I used my cast iron skillet), shaking the pan gently. Mash the potatoes.

Heat half the oil in a large saucepan(used my huge cast iron skillet, we dont use anything but cast iron). Add the onion and garlic, and saute over moderate heat for 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft and golden. Mix in the tomatoes, olives, half the parsley and thyme, and season with salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into an ovenproof dish. Tio with the mashed potatoes, and scatter bread crumbs and remaining parsley and thyme on top. Drizzle remaining oil over the top and bake for 15 minutes!

Roasted Veggies with Couscous and Lemon Pepper Oil

Ingredients:

1 fennel bulb

12 medium sized tomatoes

2 red peppers (i used a purple pepper and a regular ole green one, its all we had!) seeded and cut into bite-sized chunks

2 zucchini, cut into bite-size chunks

1 red onion, cute into chunks

4 cloves of garlic ( I used about 12, but its up to you, I love the way the garlic melts in your mouth in a full clove) dont chop, just peel and leave whole!

4 Tblsp. olive oil

freshly ground black pepper

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 lb couscous

Preheat over to 400 (we just left ours at the same temp as the other recipe!) Trim the tough stalks off the fennel bulb. Shave off the base, and remove any damaged outer layers. Slice the buulb in half lengthwise, cute out the core, and slice each half into bite-size chunks. Skin the tomatoes by dropping them each in boiling water for about 20 seconds then immediately placing them in ice cold water...the skin will slide right off. Cut the tomatoes into chunks.
Put the tomatoes, fennel, peppers, zucchini, onion and garlic in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle 2-3 Tblsp. of the oil over them. Scatter pepper and half the lemon zest over the top. Bake for 30 minutes, until slightly golden around the edges. Put the couscous in another ovenproof dish, and pour warm water over the top, just enough to cover the grains, but not flood them. Cover, and let sit for at least 10 minutes in a warm place (on top of the stove while the other dish cooks in the oven) Fluff up the couscous grains with a fork. Add the remaining oil and lemon zest, and mix together. Cover the couscous with foil, and bake alongside the veggies for 20 minutes. Toss it all together, and its yummy time!

Aunt Flos Pads my brand spankin new etsy handmade shop!

2009-08-22T07:36:00.001-07:00

My reusable menstrual items were taking over Holistically Heather, and we are in the process of selling my pads at a few co-op groceries in the area. So we figured, no better time than now to start a seperate website for our reusables!

Never tried reusables? Here are a few things people have said about my pads:

So soft and comfortable

I forgot I had a the hemp fleece pad on, it is like sitting on a pillow

Thank you so much for the exceptional service! The pads are perfect & very well made. I couldn't be happier! Shipping was fast, I got all of the information I needed for using & cleaning them and all of my questions were quickly answered. Thank you so much!!!

Just a few responses to give you an idea!

What do I offer in my new shop? Where can you find it?
In my new shop you will find a variety of reusable menstrual items: pantyliners, all in one pads, envelope style pads (where you can adjust the thickness based upon flow, and pull apart all sections to wash individually), cramp pillows you can heat up or keep in the freezer, and coming next week organic cramp massage oil!!

Aunt Flos Pads

Mention my blog in notes to seller, wait for a revised invoice and receive 10% off your entire order!!!!

Canoeing Swimming and Playin Some Frisbee

2009-08-20T21:24:00.000-07:00

What a great day it was, we woke up bright and early (for us anyway) and headed out with our canoe and frisbee! We dragged the dogs into the canoe and paddled our way on over to "our spot" where we can jump off a sand bar into the water. Penney has recently become a huge fan of swimming, which is odd because she used to HATE it! She must have retrieved the frisbee 50 times out of the lake, while Carmel layed down and was his lazy self. Carmel is so lazy, when we threw him in the water, he just sank.....he refused to swim...so lazy!!! It was a great day, minus the fact that I got my very first sunburn! OUCH!

Penney hunts, well she hunts for lilly pads! Its so cute, she brings them back to me all proud!

Think Penney is cute? Please vote for her!

Vegan Etsy Teams August Challenge- Veganize It Vegan Radical Reuben Sandwhich

2009-08-19T17:15:00.000-07:00

As vegans, we like to eat. And we like to eat everything! When people say, "oh, I guess you can't have that because you're vegan", we know it's total nonsense. Why? Because we know how to veganize it!
Teammates, your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is this:
Submit your best vegan and/or veganized recipe for what is commonly considered to be a very non-vegan dish - one that traditionally features animal products. Examples: quiche, creme brulee, chocolate mousse, or good ol' mac and cheese! Anybody make their own mock meats from scratch and then whip up a fab chik'n cordon bleu? Show us what ya got!

So that is the deal, and here is my entry!

Radical Reuben:

This recipe is super duper easy and delicious! You can find this recipe and others in my vegan cooking zines!

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. wheat gluten

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

2 tsp. paprika

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

3/4 c. COLD water

4 Tblsp. tomato paste

1 1/2 Tblsp. braggs

2 Tblsp. olive oil

3 minced garlic cloves

dash of salt

Can of saurkraut

Knead it all together, add up to 3 Tblsp. more COLD water, if necessary. Roll in fresh ground black pepper, until lightly coated. Make into a loaf, place in tin foil, and wrap like you would a piece of candy, by twisting the ends. Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Remove from oven, let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Making Your Reuben

I like to pan fry my slices of loaf, no oil, just really low heat, so it gets a little crunchy on the outside.

While you are doing this you can make your sauce and warm up your saurkraut.

To make the sauce mix 2:1 ratio of vegenaise and ketchup, then mix in some sweet relish, to taste. Makes the perfect vegan thousand island dressing for your sandwhich. Now you can either toast your rye bread or not, up to you.

Scoop some kraut on there, drizzle with 1000 island, top it with the loaf slices and viola!

Delicious, and cruelty free!

What did we have with ours tonight? None other than my Famous Potato Salad!

It's All In The Bag- on sale now!!

2009-08-16T10:07:00.003-07:00

The day has finally come, August 16th, and our latest indie handmade sample bags go on sale! So exciting, these bags are awesome!

makeup, lotion, scrubs, lip balms, papercrafts, jewelry, keychains, face creams, cat toys, recipe cards

Each order comes in a handmade reusable bag and includes 17-20 crafty samples!

Get yours while you can, the last bag sold out in a matter of a few days!
100% profits from each bag go to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary

Want to promote your handmade goodies in our HOLIDAY bag? Check out our website and sign up!

Interested in buying a bag? You can go to our website, or purchase a bag in our blog blog!

Support indie handmade and help animals!

It's All In The Bag- on sale now!!

2009-08-16T10:07:00.001-07:00

The day has finally come, August 16th, and our latest indie handmade sample bags go on sale! So exciting, these bags are awesome!

makeup, lotion, scrubs, lip balms, papercrafts, jewelry, keychains, face creams, cat toys, recipe cards

Each order comes in a handmade reusable bag and includes 17-20 crafty samples!

Get yours while you can, the last bag sold out in a matter of a few days!
100% profits from each bag go to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary

Want to promote your handmade goodies in our HOLIDAY bag? Check out our website and sign up!

Interested in buying a bag? You can go to our website, or purchase a bag here in the blog, in the right margin!

Support indie handmade and help animals!

Raw Vegan Tabbouleh pretty much the best hot summers night snack

2009-08-14T15:06:00.001-07:00

Super easy, super delicious

Hot Fun In The Summertime Tabouleh

Ingredients:

1 c. chopped parsley

couple handfuls of cherry tomatoes, whole or sliced in half

1 bunch fresh mint

12 Tblsp. raw hemp seeds

4 small green onions, chopped

4 Tbslp. Raw olive oil (to start, you will add more to the consistancy you prefer)

4 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice

Few Pinches of salt

Here comes the hard part, mix it all together and serve! Super fast, super yummy, dinner time!

It's All In The Bag- Handmade bags chock FULL of craft samples go on sale!

2009-08-11T05:46:00.000-07:00

Things around my neck of the woods have been CRAZY! From hiking, biking, swimming, and playing with the dogs to sewing to preparing for the release of our August It's All In The Bag!

What is
"It's All In The Bag"?

We take vegan handmade samples from people around the world, put them into handmade market totes and sell them on our website. This is a great way to promote your shop and help animals!

Wait, how does this help animals?

100% of profits from each bag are donated to Peaceful Prairie Animal Sanctuary, which is awesome because not only are you promoting your shop and exposing people around the world to your items, you are helping animals!

Our upcoming bag goes on sale August 16th, and its proving to be AMAZING! I was in awe with every package that I opened this round, every sample I pulled out of the packages I wanted one for myself!

How can I see who is in this round of bags?

Swing on over to our Current Contributors section of our website, and you can get a sneak preview of all the fabulous shops involved!

We have already started looking for people to be in our Holiday 2009 sample bag, which is going to be the biggest ever! We are aiming for 200 bags and have an anonymous donor willing to match whatever we raise for the animals! Pretty awesome, if you ask me!

How do I sign up to be in the Holiday bag?

Easy peasey, just go on over to our sign up page, right on our website!

When you sign up to be in the bags you will have your ad on our blog and website, along with a nice photo of your samples on our site to entice folks to check out your shop!

Not sure what to send? Not sure if you have any items small enough to use as samples?

Some people who have bigger items in their shops, that cant really scale them down send in business cards, with magnets or pins, and a coupon code. Everyone gets super creative with their packaging and draws attention without having to send a full sized quilt or something!

Get in the bag! Help your shop and help animals!

Monthly Free Blog Giveaway!

2009-08-11T05:13:00.001-07:00

Yep, that's right, my giveaways are BACK!!! Swing on over to my giveaway blog and enter to win this months prize!

5 days no rain, finally! Adventures all weekend long!

2009-08-09T08:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a great day! Not too hot, not raining and the humidity didnt choke us as we walked the dogs to the park.

The park is only about a mile walk, and when we got there we took out the frisbees and let the dogs off their leashes (dont tattle on us hah) The dogs LOVE frisbee, even old man jones (we call carmel that cause hes old). They played frisbee until they were both panting and ready to lay down, then we headed down the park trail to the spot where we let them grab a drink from a moving stream. We were all really excited to head over to the swimming hole we had found the day before, but alas it was full of eager kids of all ages splashing around and having a blast! Penney isnt so fond of kids, so we decided to wait on the whole swimming idea until there arent as many folks around.

We headed over to the fountain pond that the dogs like to jump in, and there was a couple of kids awkwardly groping each other near the fountain. I guess the panting dogs splashing around in the water ruined the mood, as they moved on shortly after we showed up. Penney is great, we tell her to get the critter, she jumps in the water and brings us back trash that people left behind.

Penney doesnt like smooches :(

We turn around hearing kids saying "doggies doggies". Because a lot of parents let their kids just run full force up to dogs they dont know I am always on the lookout (or have my ears peeled!) When we turn around we see not only kids running toward the dogs, but an entire drunken wedding party, clearly coming to get their photo taken in front of the murky watered fountain. We drag the dogs out of their play time and sit on a nearby hill waiting for them to finish up their photo-op. We share some yummy water with the dogs as they rest on the hillside waiting for their turn with the pond.

The wedding party finally leaves, leaving behind various plastic cups and about 20 different beer cans, scattered all over the lawn next to the fountain. This is mildly irritating to me, as it always annoys me to see how selfish people are when they are stuck in their own little world. There are tons of kids in the park that dont really need any more incentive or encouragement to start drinking, "cause it's cool". But thats a different rambling-vent for a different day!

We toss the frisbee in the water for the dogs a handfull of times before Carmel just lays down and starts eating grass, I guess "old man jones" is tired. Now comes the fun part, dragging his old butt home! Ive heard of dogs pulling, to get ahead, but never having to literally drag a dog down the street because they are so lazy. He is definately the Garfield of dogs!

How does he prove he is the Garfield of dogs? As soon as we get home he goes right to his food dish and waits for his servants (the humans) to fill his dish with yummy organic veggie dog food! After they are fed and watered we head out back for some more frisbe, I swear Penney could play for hours and hours without ever getting tired! Carmel on the other hand lays under the lawn chairs and snores the entire time we are out back.

We take a look at our garden and realize we have some weeding to do, so we pull weed after weed. Some of the weeds were choking our snap peas that for some reason wouldnt grow up the poles we provided them. After like an hour of weeding, we finally decide its time to harvest some yummies!!! The carrots are looking great, especially since we have never attempted carrots before. Even tho we know the carrots arent ready or big and juicy we decide to pull a couple out and taste them. I dont know if its the soil, or what but they are THE sweetest tastiest carrots I have ever had! I cant wait for them to grow a bit more so I can juice them and start out my morning with some yummy carrot celery juice!

What else did we harvest, besides the carrots that I cant stop thinking about? Some snap peas, HUGE green beans (I MEAN HUGE), some cherry tomatoes (sweet as could be) and some lettuce that has been waiting to be eaten for a few weeks now. (we arent huge lettuce fans, especially since we get like 3 huge heads in our CSA every week!)

What a wild and crazy day for a family reunion!

2009-08-02T17:15:00.000-07:00

Today was Jessis family reunion that I was SUCKERED into attending! After waking up to the neighbor children screaming at the top of their lungs at 8 am for about 20 minutes, we showered and got ready to head to the family shin dig. It was a little over an hour away and I am feeling a bit under the weather so we hopped in my grammas truck and headed out there. Half way there we found out that it is $8 to park at the state park the party was at, so we decided to park about 4 miles away at my grandmothers camp and bike to the party.

It was raining but it was a nice quick ride. When we got there Jessi pointed out that my tire was flat, darn! I hate flat tires, especially since I LIVE to ride my bike! So we decided we would walk to the close by gas station and patch it up real quick and fill it with air....that was until we realized that it was so flat that the tire wouldnt stay on..so we asked one of jessis cousins for a ride.

THIS IS WHEN THINGS GOT CRAZY.......

We arrived at the gas station and soon after we found the air pump. Parked and started filling my tube back up, we heard a loud LOUD loud boom bang crash. It sounded like a car crash does in the movies, it was LOUD! What was this loud noise? It was 2 guys that had apparently been arguing, one got into his truck and backed into the other vehicle, then continued to floor it, pull forward and smash it again. It startled me so much that I overfilled my bike tire and popped it!

We decided that we were obviously destined to pay to park at the party and Benji drove us back to gramams camp to get the truck, we ate some yummy vegan salad that jessis mom made us...enjoyed our day...and we will just have to fix my bike tomorrow! Wonder what happened to the fighting, car crashing maniacs....just glad they didnt hurt anyone in the process while they were acting a fool!

Local Organic Dill

2009-07-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

I dont know what it is, but I LOVE the smell of dill. Well, I love the taste as well, but it just doesnt compare to the smell. I swear if someone would make some dill perfume I would wear it everyday! This is a short little post just appreciating dill and its many uses and wonders!

Love dill too? Tell us about it! What do you like to do with dill? Have any recipes that are to die for?

Bluegrass Band Full Of Talented Musicians The Maybelles

2009-07-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Utica Monday Night is a really great program in my city that promotes art and music, all while bringing the community together to enjoy free events every Monday!

This year has been the first year that I have actually been in town long enough to enjoy these awesome events. We were at a local coffee shop, The Tramontane, about a month ago and stumbled upon the little Utica Monday Night brochure. We quickly snagged it and perused it when we got home, hoping for something that we might like. We immediately fixated on a 3 piece bluegrass band, making a mental note and trying so hard not to forget to make it down to Hannah Park.

So the day came, we pittered around the city, picking up some veggies from a local organic farm, taking gramma to chemo therapy and eventually making our way down to Hannah Park. We plopped our tired butts down in the grass and joked around and waited for the music to start.

The Maybelles came out, Jan on guitar, Melissa on upright bass, and Katy Rose on violin. They immediately blew us away, playing some old time tunes and even doing a couple covers of Hank Williams, Wanda Jackson and others.

Each member of The Maybelles can both play their instrument and sing at the same time, which has always been amazing to me.

When they were done we ran over and bought their cd out of an old suitcase adorned with pretty scarves and a boa draped on the back. Melissa handed us a little card with all of their tour dates on it, and we noticed that next they were playing about 2 hours from Utica in Ithaca, NY. Jessi said, "lets go, we havnt been to Ithaca in ages and havnt done that much this summer" So that was that, we were heading to Ithaca to see them again!

We headed to Ithaca, and after a long 2 hour drive we were good n' hungry. We drove around for 2 hours looking for this vegan joint that I found online that we thought might be good, finally gave up on that one. Then we asked some locals, and they directed us to this famous vegetarian place that had been around for 30+ years. They seated us and we took a peek at the menu, not only did they serve fish, but they had 2 things that were vegan 1 was a burrito for $15, the other was a stew for $15. That's pretty pricey and I dont even like burritos, so we ended up going to the local food co-op and getting some premade package garbage to eat. It was decent but not the healthy whole foods we are used to!

We headed over to the bar where they were playing and had the bartender make us a couple shirley temples, and sat around waiting for the bands to start. The Maybelles showed up and immediately recognized us, we chatted and played some pool waiting for the show to start.

The opening bad Zipwire, a local Ithaca band, played a great set, then the Maybelles played for a little over an hour, well worth the drive! We gave them hugs and wished them well on their tour before speeding off into the night for our long long long 2 hour drive back home to Utica! If you are into bluegrass or old country or anything in between, you might really like The Maybelles, I cant wait for them to come back again!

Sweet Fristy, Oh How I Love Thee...vegan baked goods and chocolates oh my!

2009-07-19T06:46:00.000-07:00

A while back I featured Sweet Fritsy on my other blog, It's All In The Blog, as I sat back drooling and waiting for the day that I had some extra green to make a purchase. Well, that dream has come true, and oh what a great dream it was! If you know me, you know that I tend to go a little wild with chocolate, once I start there is no stopping me.

Right now it is very difficult looking at her shop and not placing another order, so that might just have to happen while I write this review. So what did this chocolate snob order from Sweet Fritsy? Tall order for a semi tall lady haha, here are my heavenly choices:

Oreo Truffles

10 piece assorted truffles

Smores Truffles

I dont even know where to start with how delicious these all are, I think the oreo ones are my favorite, or wait maybe the smores. They also offer Peanut Butter and Jelly Truffles which sound super tastey, so I think I will HAVE to try them!

I liked everything from Sweet Fritsy so much that when it was time to but a big gift basket together for my sick grandmother, I knew right where to get some "Cheer Her Up" Chocolates! I have never seen my grandmother eat chocolate so slow, and try to conserve them. She always has one of Sweet Fritsy's bright orange chocolate boxes out on her coffee table for late night snacking! Can you tell what I want for every birthday and holiday?

Took A Trip To The Farmers Market

2009-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

yummmm...Of course since today is Thursday, also know as Farmers Market Day, it rained and poured all morning. Atleast this week it let up enough that we could go to the market and there were still people braving the weather to sell their wares! I even took the time to walk around and check out all of the handmade items this week, which I never usually remember to do. I get so excited about all my new yummy organic veggies, that I totally forget about the lonely crafters on the other side of the big open park! The 2 organic stands are next to each other, and I usually buy from both! One of them is where I get my csa, and I pop in there to get more of certain things and veggies that didnt come in my box this week....So, what exactly did I get this week? ALL ORGANIC ALL DELICIOUS!!!

raspberries

broccoli

a lot of basil, its pesto season, and we only have a few basil plants in our garden!

more snap peas, maybe this time jessi will get some since i cant eat lately (something is horribly wrong with my jaw!)

beets for the dogs

Still no tomatoes and no zucchini ready, I guess this cooky weather is really having an effect on the farms and blight is destroying our tomatoes! I am hoping things turn around soon, or we might not be canning for this winter..BUM BUM BUM

Born To Be Wild and Friends New Handmade Vegan Indie Crafts!

2009-07-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

I havnt posted anything new in my artfire in a while, and today I started posting some of my new designs! I am working on a lot of animal themed bags, clutches, pencil cases, 10% of all the sales go to Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary

BORN TO BE WILD

Penelope The Puppy

I have been making items for my etsy and artfire shops for quite a while now, and I love animals, so it only makes sense that I start creating animal themed goodies! Made from eco felt, which is made from post-consumer recycled plastic bottles, and then it is lined with upcycled cotton fabric.

What's in my box? Weekly CSA update, veggies galore

2009-07-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

This weeks box couldnt have come at a better time! After an amazing 40+ mile bike ride yesterday, I am ready to fill my tummy with some raw organic veggies! So what is in my box this week?

Rainbow Carrots

Sweet Peas

Squash

Rainbow Chard

Sweet Turnips

Lettuce

Yum Yum Yum, though a bit more variety is better! This years csa has been the same items over and over again due to our strange weather here in upstate NY. Today is July 13th and I am in sweatpants and a hooded sweater! Something just isnt right about this situation! Either way, I am glad to have food to eat, especially raw organic local veggies! Check back next week, to see whats in my box!

As you can see, the sweet peas didnt make it home in one piece, I just cant help it! They are the tastiest little snack, and give me the little boost of energy I need before a bike ride! I have to keep my hands off them for the rest of the day, I already ate my half....I dont want Jessi to kill me!!

Raw Vegan "Spaghetti" with amazing marinara recipe

2009-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Raw Vegan Marinara Pasta Extravaganza! Serves 2 hungry bike riders, might serve 3 or 4 if you arent hungry hungry hippos!

Ingredients for pasta:

2 cups. zucchini or squash, spiralized or sliced into really long thing strips

1/2 red pepper, sliced into long strips

1 large onion cut into rings, 1 chopped portabella mushroom, both marinated in 1 1/3 c. nama shoyu (you can use braggs, but use about 1 c. instead) and 1/2 c. raw olive oil

1 Large tomato, diced

1/4 c. chopped fresh basil

2 Tblsp. fresh chopped oregano

1 Tblsp. fresh chopped rosemary (de-stemmed)

1/4 c. chopped sundried tomatoes

1 tsp. chopped garlic

1 tsp. chopped jalapeno

1 tsp. minced ginger

1 Tblsp. lemon juice

1/4 c. chopped shallots, if you have em

After you get all your veggies chopped, mix together in a wooden bowl (I just prefer wood, dont mind me hah). When you are slicing your zucchini or squash, once it gets seedy in the middle, just chop that up to add to your meal in chunks!

Ingredients for your marinara:

1 ring dried pineapple

1/2 c. strawberries, destemmed

2 c. chopped tomatoes

1 tsp. chopped fresh ginger

3 cloves chopped garlic

1 tsp. jalapeno, minced

1/2 red pepper, chopped

1/3 c. fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/4 c. fresh oregano,destemmed and chopped

1/4 c. nama shoyu ( about 1/5 c. braggs or 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt)

1 c. raw olive oil, add a half cup, then add slowly to see how much you need

1/2 c. sun dried tomatoes, chopped

2 pitted green olives

1/4 c. red wine ( we leave this out because we dont consume alcohol, but might be a great addition)

1/4 c. chopped shallots

Preparing your marinara:

Throw all of your marinara ingredients in your food process and process into a sauce, make it the consistancy that you prefer. ***PROCESS YOUR MARINARA RIGHT BEFORE YOU SERVE!***

Vegan Etsy Team Blog Giveaway, great for vegans, non vegans, curious eaters, crafters, and even aliens too!

2009-07-04T13:04:00.000-07:00

Vegan Etsy Team is a pretty awesome team of vegan etsy sellers, many of us even donate a portion of our profits to animal sanctuaries. If you go to etsy and search veganetsy team, you can find all of the shops on our team and so many handmade goodies! All vegan, all the time! Vegan Etsy Team is also in the VegNews Survey for this year, please be sure to swing on by Veg News and vote for us!!! Now down to the original reason for this post, the latest Vegan Etsy Team Blog Giveaway!!! Click here to enter!! You can win a prize pack of vegan samples from some of the vegan etsy team members! Good luck, and dont forget to find us on etsy!

CSA Community Supported Agriculture Organic Farm Share Weekly Box , whats in the box?

2009-07-04T07:44:00.001-07:00

A CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and before the growing season starts you purchase a share of the farm, then when veggies start popping up, you get a box every week. The box we get from our csa is more than enough for the 2 of us and our 2 dogs, and I bet would be fine for even a family of 4! My csa is with Old Path Farm, an organic farm in my area. Our boxes started the first Monday in June, but of course I didnt have the brilliant idea to document them until last week! The first box also came with 2 organic tomato plants, which are growing like weeds! So now that you are familiar with what a csa is, lets get down to the goodies! What is in my box this week?

Thyme Plant, smells great

Lovage, which I had never heard of before, but I guess it makes a great salt substitute...so we shall see. It has a very interesting flavor, and I really like it, I cant wait to use it in a raw recipe of yummmy ness!

Radishes, beats (Penney's second favorite to get in her food, she also likes sweet peas!), scapes (kind of like an onion and garlic had a baby, it would be called a scape), zucchini, snap peas (which barely made it in the photo, I love them so they were mostly demolished by this time, lots of parsley (we are making tabouleh today!), arugala, red leaf lettuce (my fav. lettuce)

Interested in getting a CSA in your area, go to google and google your town with CSA next to it and see what comes up. It might be too late for this year, but you can get on next years waiting list early. Our first year with Old Path Farm, we were late signing up so they let us get a half share for $200 and we started halfway through the season! Good luck, and eat your veggies!

Creamy Dreamy Raw Vegan Sweet Corn Chowder

2009-07-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is a really nice dinner for a hot summer night, very filling and minimal effort! Plus, when corn is in season, it is to die for!

Raw Vegan Creamy Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

3 ears of sweet corn

3/4 c. walnuts

3/4 c. raw extra virgin olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp. sea salt

2 c. water

2 avocados, diced

cracked pepper for the top

This recipe is so easy! Set aside 1 c. of corn kernals after you cut the corn from the cob, that is for the topping. Blend the corn, walnuts, oil, garlic, salt, and water.

To serve it up, pour the chowder base, the top with chunked avocado, the cup of sweet corn you set aside and crack some pepper right on top of your chowder! Eat up!

The chunked avocado really makes this dish pop!

Indie Garage Sale Was Slow But Fun Fun Fun, Craft Fair Tips

2009-06-28T08:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I participated in the Indie Garage Sale, here in Utica, it was my second time participating in this particular fair. It is held in downtown Utica in an old art gallery, a long space about half as wide as it is long. It is perfect for a crafter on each side of the corridor all the way down, and supprisingly wasnt TOO hot, it could have been worse. Some of my baked yummies, like my vegan rice krispie treats, melted a bit and became a rice krispie granola instead haha. The one down side to this space is that there is no bathroom, so that means after 8 hours of being there, it's almost an emergency type situation! Overall the day was decent, not a whole lot of people came, I think because it is so close to graduation and there were 2 other events going on in Utica the same day. On the bright side, I did meet some new people and had a lot of fun talking with people that somewhat similar interests as I do. I also found out from some friends that are also on the CNY ETSY team that there are some awesome fairs coming up around here! Which means excitement, and time to get busy and make some amazing stuff to sell!

Here's what I am hoping to be a part of this summer:

Clinton Arts and Music Festival

Utica Music and Arts Fest

Westcott Cultural Fair

Syracuse VegFEST

So with all of these fairs coming up, I need to get my little fingers ready to sew sew sew create create create!!! Are you doing a fair soon and want some tips? I have only done 3 so far, but here are some must have for a fair:

1. Scissors, pen, paper, marker, tape, string, thread, needle (anything you might need for a quick touch up!)
2. Lotion or body balm, for dry tired hands
3. sunscreen if you are going to be outside a lot
4. tissues, napkins, roll of toilet paper (you never know what might happen)
5. a rain poncho if its an outside show
6. appropriate clothing, bring a light jacket if it goes into the evening
7.******MOST IMPORTANT******* Bring water water water water water, and some snacks, healthy snacks like carrots, celery, cashew butter, apples, oranges, along those lines, to keep you moving all day! Stay hydrated, you cant share your craft with people if your head is spinning and you are laying on the ground!
8. Bring a camera, document your day, and if you take nice photos and make a blog post, please be sure to come let me know! I always try to remember my camera, sometimes i fail hah
9. I recommend NOT using a cash box, too many people have sticky fingers, I recommend a cute little vendors apron. I got mine from Red Paper Record
10. Calculator if you need one to add up your prices!
11. Credit card imprinter and necessities (which I dont yet have!)
12. Business Cards
13. Offer a raffle for an item, then people can enter and be signed up for a mailing list, so you can send them future offers!
14. bags for purchases ( i like to reuse plastic bags from the grocery store recycling bins)
15. Reciepts (carbon copy ones)
16. Tent if its an outdoors event, 7+ hours in the hot and sun would be killer!
17. price each item, i hate asking what everything costs and im sure most other do too!
18. your display items, mannequins, dress forms etc.
19. Mirrors for customers to use
20. Tables chairs, nice table cloths
21. **small trash can***
22. Practice setting up your table, make it look nice, and get second and third opinions!
23. get everything ready and by the door the night before, get a good nights sleep and dont forget breakfast!!!
24. Almost forgot have PLENTY of change, I say about 10 10's. 20 5's and 50 1's atleast! depending on the show size!!!
25. Added on by Originals By Lauren, have a nice visible sign. What if a friend sends another friend there to see your amazing work, and cant find you!! Lauren had someone make her a wood sign, pretty awesome. My wheels are turning for cool ideas for a sign to put in my booth!
most importantly HAVE FUN!!!

Whats raw, vegan, organic and tastes oh so good?

2009-06-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

RAW VEGAN "MEATLOAF"

Seriously the best frigging recipe I have made in a long long time, it is delicious!

You will need:

A blender/food processor

Food Dehydrator

1 1/3 c. raw walnuts

1 1/3 c. raw sunflower seeds

1 1/3 c. raw almonds

1 Tblsp. garlic

1/2 Tblsp. sea salt

1/2 c. fresh parsley ( we gnabbed ours right out of the garden!!)

1/2 c. celery

2 c. portabella mushrooms

1 Tblsp. onion

1/2 Tblsp. fresh ginger

2 Tblsp. fresh rosemary (destemmed)

1 Tblsp. fresh tarragon

1 red pepper

1 Tblsp. jalapeno (i just cut the tip off, up until about where the seeds start)

1 tsp. cumin (1 1/2 tsp. if you have the seeds!)

1/2 c. raw olive oil

1 c. Nama Shoyu (you can use braggs just use about 3/4 c. instead)

1/4 c. olive oil

1 c. fresh tomatoes

1/4 c. chopped onion

1/2 c. sundried tomatoes (chopped)

1/2 tsp. garlic

1 tsp. jalapeno

4 fresh basil leaves

1/2 c. pitted dates

1/4 c. nama shoyu or 1 tsp. sea salt

1 Tblsp. olive oil

Start out by marinating your portabellas in the 1 c. nama shoyu and 1/4 c. raw olive oil, set aside.Place your sunflower seeds and almonds in a bowl of purified water, just covering them, let soak for about 3 hours to soften them. Add the raw walnuts and let soak another half hour. Strain completely.

Put your nuts in the food processor (or blender) with the garlic, process until the mixture becomes almost dough-like. Add a dash of raw olive oil if you need to get the mixture moving! Stir in the parsley, 1/2 Tblsp. sea salt, celery, marinated portabella (strained, I save the marinade for future recipes!), onion, ginger, rosemary, tarragon, jalapeno, red bell pepper, cumin, splash of olive oil....process in the food processor. Mix it up well, give a little taste, if you are as impatient as I am! Form into a loaf about 1 1/2 inches high, put in your food dehydrator for 1 hour, while that is going on, we will get the BBQ sauce ready for the top!

To make the BBQ sauce take your tomatoes, 1/4 c. onion, sun dried tomatoes, garlic, jalapeno, basil leaves, dates, nama shoyu (or sea salt or braggs), and Tblsp. of olive oil and process all of these yummy ingredients together!

After your meatloaf is in the dehydrator for 1 hour, cover it with the batch of BBQ sauce and put back in the dehydrator for 3-4 hours, it will make it more loaf life, and absolutely delicious! Enjoy!!!

We served ours with a slice of tomato, topped with organic raw sugar, just like gramma always did!

Hiking Up A Storm, Pixley Falls In Upstate NY is gorgeous!

2009-06-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous outside, and we spontaneously decided to go hiking near Pixley Falls. I love when we make last minute decisions that result in a whole lot of fun!! We got there and of course headed right for the biggest waterfall

You could feel a nice cool mist from the falls as soon as you finished scaling down the hill, it was refreshing and beautiful. Jessi was off adventuring and splashing around, while I was taking my shoes off to go in, she found a really really big snake. The second biggest snake we have found this year, Hissop the snake was kind enough to pose for a photo shoot!

Jessi and sister Jen decided I just had to see the one waterfall that has a flat rock water slide, so we hiked on. (another main factor in hiking on past the big waterfall was some creepy dude showing up and starting to fish, so we threw some rocks in the water to scare the fish away and moved on). The natural water slide looked awesome, and i cant wait to get up there after it rains some more and try it out, tho my butt might be too big to fit between the rocks haha!!

After we got there I was regretting not bringing the dogs, they would have loved it. I was just concerned that there would be a ton of people and I would have to keep the dogs on leashes, but there wasnt, so we are going to have to make a day of it really soon!

You've heard about swamp thing....what about swamp juice? Raw Vegan Organic Homemade Juice

2009-06-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

This juice may look swampy and far too healthy to be tastey, but you are mistaken! This juice is chock full of vitamins and still a tastey little breakfast.
What brand of juicer do I recommend? Omege 8003 is the model that I have, and your pulp will come out bone dry! I also use only organic items when I juice, but that is really up to you. So here goes, welcome to my swamp thing juice!!!

You will need:

4 carrots

4 celery stalks (leafs can be juiced as well)

1 bunch of red kale (other kales are fine too!)

2 heaping hands full of fresh spinach

2" piece of ginger root

6 apples of your choice

any lettuce in your fridge you fear might not get used

1 lemon

Please, if you have a dog, when you feed your apples thru your juicer, remove the seeds, the apple seeds are not good for dogs. Other than that, juice all of the items, swirl the juice around in a big container, then serve. Store extra in the fridge for a little pick me up throughout the day. I drink only juice until noon, then I have a lunch. Juice is a great way to start your day, especially if it is "hand"squeezed!

Now why did I mention your dog? I take all of my pulp from juicing and mix it up with my dogs food, extra fiber and a nice little treat for them. If you feed regular ole dog food to your dogs (the dry stuff) mix the fiber in with some water or oil, to make it yummier and more appealing to your dog. If you dont have a doggie to give your pulp to, you can freeze it for soup stock, or throw it in your compost with some leaves and other ruffage. I hope you enjoy your swamp juice!

those crazy vege dogs!

2009-06-13T10:21:00.000-07:00

Here are some recent photos of our crazy muts acting like...well, crazy muts!

Carmel doesn't have the patience for us to close the refrigerator door and scoop his food into his dish, so he goes for it, head first into the big pot of doggie food!

Penney looking longingly at her little stuffed friend, the perfect photo of penneys personality!

MUST LOVE DOGS!

Easy Peasey Raw Vegan Strawberry Shortcake

2009-06-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, you read right, raw vegan strawberry shortcake. One bite and you will be in love, and without all of the flour and sugar and ick that normal shortcake brings!

You will need:

20-30 washed strawberries with their stems removed, sliced or chunked

3 handsfull of your favorite raw nuts (we use cashews)

1 handfull of organic dates

2 T. of ground dates (if you dont want to use more dates, you can replace with 2 Tblsp. of agave but then the recipe wont be totally raw)

2 dashes of sea salt

dash of olive oil

Process the nuts and salt into a fine powder, set aside in a bowl. Process your handful of dates, then add the nuts back into the processor, until light and fluffy, add oil as needed. Set aside in a bowl, this is your "shortcake". Process half of your chopped strawberries with the 2 Tblsp. of date "sauce", sprinkle the remaining strawberry chunks on top of your "shortcake". Drizzle with the strawberry date sauce. Put your feet up and enjoy the best strawberry shortcake of your life!

Raw Vegan Rabbit Salad

2009-06-09T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:

Half Head of organic cabbage (green or red, i love red but we only have green)
3 or 4 portabella mushrooms
2 tsp. mustard seeds (brown and yellow if possible)
organic raw olive oil
organic balsamic vinegar
organic fresh garlic
bunch of green onion
fresh spinach
dash basil
dash oregano
salt and pepper, if you need it, we dont usually use them

This recipe is super easy, and delicious. Marinate the portabellas in enough oil and balsamic vinegar to coat them fully, along with the basil, oregano, pepper, mustard seeds, and some salt and pepper if needed. I like to let mine sit overnight, but if you are in a crunch, just let them marinate a couple of hours. Then cut up your spinach, green onion, and cabbage, toss them with the portabellas, adding more oil and vinegar when necessary! Perfect lunch for a picnic or a nice summer day.

Raw Vegan Tuna Rollups Recipe....YUM

2009-06-08T08:09:00.000-07:00

This is a super easy, delicious recipe!!! Sorry I dont have any good photos, these were too good to sit around looking at while we took pretty pictures....or I totally forgot, you choose!

Ingredients:

2 cloves of garlic
1 Tblsp. dulse flakes
2 cups raw sunflower seeds
Juice of 2 lemons or about 4 Tblsp.
1/2 c. water as needed
2 grated carrots
1/2 bunch of fresh organic parsley
1/4 c. chopped onion
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 stalks of celery, chopped

Process garlic and dulse in food processor, then add sunflower seeds and process into a powder. If you have a cheap processor like us, add a touch of the water with each item, to help the grinding move along. Add the lemon juice. Now you can either chop the rest of the ingredients and add them to your current mixture, or you can grind them up too..I grind them up too, seeing as I am not a huge fan of onions. (onions, celery, black pepper, parsley, carrots)
Now its time to make your tuna into delicious nori rolls!

Ingredients:

1 Tblsp. wasabi powder
4 romaine lettuce leaves (or kale or any green you fancy really)
1 sliced tomato (if you dont have tomato sometimes I use strips of red peppers)
Braggs soy sauce (optional)
nori sheets
wasabi paste and braggs for dipping (if you fancy)

Mix wasabi powder with just enough water to make it a paste.
Place a lettuce chunk on your nori sheet, plop a couple decent sized portions of "tuna" then top that with tomato (or red pepper)
roll it up and to seal it use the wasabi paste, roll tightly... then you can serve it with some of the leftover wasabi paste and some braggs. Delicious. This will keep in the fridge for a few days, but I doubt it will last that long!!!

Penney the dog meets squink the crow

2009-06-03T05:45:00.000-07:00

Penney frantically ran into my bedroom the other day, and woke me up. She was barking and whining and whimpering, basically all the things she does when A. I get home from being away for a little while B. there is a critter nearby that she would like to hunt **So, I ignored her, figuring it was a critter in the backyard that she thinks she can catch and eat. She came back in the room doing the same about 3 minutes later, so I dragged myself out to the front window (which you can see most of the porch from) and there sat a little crow.

Squawking and squawking its little booty off. I slowly crept out my apartment door and opened the front door to the porch. The little birdie just stood there squawking, didnt fly away or anything...so I hear intense squawking from the tree in front of our house...it was about 20 big crows squawking at me.

Must have been their way of getting me away from their little lost crow-baby. I backed off, went in the house and got ready to go to my grammas house, when I went to leave the crow was gone. I was talking to some friends and they are pretty sure this little guy was learning to fly!

So cute.

Holistically Heather's Monthly Blog Giveaways!!!

2009-05-30T06:24:00.000-07:00

There are only 2 days left to enter this months blog giveaway, in my giveaway blog!!! Enter now to win a gift certificate to an awesome etsy jewelry seller!!!!!!!

A truckload of craft supplies....literally!

2009-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

I recently found a listing on freecycle for a bunch of random boxes of craft supplies, and you bet your butt I answered! We made the drive out to the middle of nowhere, and loaded up the entire back of our pickup truck! There was about 20 boxes total, all filled with totally random things, some useful and some junk. It took about a week to go through everything we found, dividing what we wanted from the trash.

We took all of the fabric over to grammas and did about 8 loads of laundry worth. All of the fabric is vintage and some of it is super cute. I cant even fathom photographing all of the fabric, so there are just a few examples.

A big huge box of tatting crochet yarn and supplies.

Thread and about 25 unopened packages of rick rack and different trims and ribbons.

Rusty knitting needles and crochet hooks, brand new ones, and useable ones...we found hundreds in total of knitting needles and hooks. We even found 6 or 7 already started knitting projects, mostly sweaters.

Tons and tons of sewing patterns, atleast 100 different patterns and some repeats. All of them seem to be in good condition and have all of the parts of the pattern.

A big pile of perfectly good, unused yarn that I think I will use when I make scarves for the local homeless shelter this year.

There was even a really cute letter written to the woman from her granddaughter, who is about the same age as me, and I am 27 now! So many nifty little treasures in those boxes.

I am almost completely done going through everything, and I would guess that there is about 200 yards of fabric, easily. Along with a box full of little premade vintage kits for kids to put together for the holidays. I wish I would have thought to take a photo of them, but they are already all packed away!

Raw Vegan Fettuccini Alfredo, perfect for a nice romantic weekend dinner!

2009-05-23T03:47:00.000-07:00

You will need:

4 zucchini or yellow squash

Juice of 1 lemon (approximately 2 Tblsp.)

2 cups raw cashews

3 celery stalks (coarsely chopped)

2 Tblsp. fresh chopped onion

2 Tblsp. thyme leaves

2 cloves of garlic (we use more, but its up to you)

1/2 cup water, as needed

Blend lemon juice, celery, cashews, onion, thyme, and garlic until smooth and creamy, adding water when needed. Use your spiralizer to make the zucchini/squash into a spaghetti like shape, or if you dont have a spiralizer, cut your zucchini into long thing strips. Cover the "spaghetti" in the blended mixture, sprinkle a bit of pepper on it, to taste, and viola!!! Enjoy! This is going on my favorite foods list, it is delicious!

Vegan Mocha Brownies with raw chocolate ice cream smoothered in vegan whipped cream and drizzled with vegan chocolate!

2009-05-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Ingredients:
1.5 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup agave nectar
1.5 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hemp milk ( you can use almond, rice, soy, whatever you want!)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
3 T. instant coffee (to make them mocha, this is also optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a large bowl sift flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add oil, soy milk, nuts. Stir gently until just mixed. Pour into 8X8 inch pan and cook for 30-35 minutes. (Check by inserting a toothpick).

Then all you have to do is put a couple spoons full of Raw Vegan Chocolate Ice Creamon top, then the vegan whipped cream (we cheated and bought some, to save time) and drizzle with some store bought vegan chocolate syrup. YUMM

Sorry about the cheating in this recipe, we were strapped for time, we were hungry for sweets and Jessi was getting cranky! hah
Enjoy!

Penney the cool cat...I mean dog

2009-05-19T15:39:00.000-07:00

Just had to share this adorable picture we took of Penney today!

What's Raw, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan, and DARN GOOD??

2009-05-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Raw Chocolate Ice Cream

First thing is first, put on your apron! If you love my dinosaur apron, check out Bashley's Uncommon Threads, she rocked it out on her sewing machine for me!

Ingredients:

3 organic peeled bananas

3 Tblsp. pure cocoa powder (organic and fair trade is best!)

2 Tblsp. organic raw almond butter (other raw butters are fine too, its all about your taste!)

2 Tblsp. agave nectar or some people use Stevia (I dont know anything about stevia so I dont put it in my body)

6 organic dates, pitted

3-4 cups ice cubes (about 14)

Place the bananas, cocoa powder, nut butter, agave, dates and 1/4 of the ice in a blender (high powered is better). Blend Blend, slowly keep adding more and more ice cubes, it should thicken up nicely. You dont need to use all of the ice, use it until its a consistency that you like. You can also ad up to a cup of water to help the blending process if you have your grandmas old blender like we do! Pour into a cute little Vegan Dish and you are all set!

********WARNING YOU MAY MAKE RIDICULOUS FACES, LIKE ME, WHEN TASTING YOUR ICE CREAM!********

2 vegans a canoe some snacks and a sunny day!

2009-05-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the perfect day for my first trip in our new canoe! I have never been in a canoe before, and was HORRIFIED! I am pretty scared of water, so it was to be a test... It was a clear day, not too windy and about 75 degrees. We packed the canoe on top of our truck (yes we lifted a 200+ pound canoe by ourselves!) and strapped it down really tight for our hour drive to the lake! We packed some bananas, hummus, and pita bread for snacking, along with 4 bottles of water. (the pita bread was disgusting and we should have gone with carrots to dip in the hummus...you live you learn!) When we got there we drove the truck right up to the water, unloaded the canoe and got ready to "set sail". This was the scary part, getting into the vessel. But Jessi held it steady while I plopped my big ole booty in the canoe, it went much smoother than I had expected!

We started paddling all over, headed toward the lake first, but quickly remembered why we dont like crowded public areas, (that even happens on the open water) and headed toward the canal to find a more secluded calm spot for our canoeing adventures! We found a dream come true, channels running all over near the lake, the water was calm and there was wildlife.

The wildlife wasnt scared and running away from all of the engine boats, and it was truly beautiful. We canoed around behind a family of ducks, and it was so simple and amazing to watch the mother protect her little cuties. One adult would swim in front, then the 8 ducklings, then another adult. Keeping lookout and making sure their babies were safe. Those simple things seem to fly by us when we are in the hustle and bustle of everyday civilized life. These are the things I want to stop and appreciate more, the beauty and the splendor of mother nature and her crazy little creatures.

We paddled our way by a man in a lawn chair, who bid us a good day, and I informed him it was my first time in a canoe. The man said "well you are already doing much better than I did on my first trip, I was under the canoe doggy paddling with the canoe flipped over my head!" We had a chuckle and paddled on. We accidentally beached ourselves a couple of times, but it was fine with us because now we found a secluded spot for swimming!

After about 4 intense hours in the canoe we decided to call it a day, we had dogs to snuggle and we were hungry hungry hippos. No sooner than we decided to call it a day, it started to get really windy and hard to paddle. I guess we made good choices when deciding to leave hah. We packed up our little ship and headed to Jessis parents for vegan kielbasa, saurkraut and spicy brown!

NEXT TIME WE WILL REMEMBER TO BRING OUR CAMERA!!!

Monthly giveaway!

2009-05-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

Please be sure to check out our monthly giveaway blog and enter to win a $15 gift certificate to Starrlight Jewelry

Big Blog Giveaway

2009-05-08T06:40:00.000-07:00

Swing on by Vegan Samples and enter to win a reusable tote bag full of craft samples from around the world! It's easy, and awesome!!!

Vegan Sushi

2009-05-07T05:06:00.000-07:00

Vegan sushi, thats right, you heard me right, vegans can eat sushi too! Enough to make about 16 sushi rolls, which is for about 4 people, if you need less, just cut the recipe in half!

What you will need:

Sushi rolling mat (if you dont have one a cloth napkin will work too, just not as well)

4 cups of sushi rice

rice vinegar

3 carrots, cut into matchsticks

2 celery stalks cut into matchsticks

6 big button mushrooms cut into small strips

3 avocados cut into small strips

16 pieces of asparagus with the bottom (non flowery) ends cut off

16 sheets of nori

sesame oil

garlic powder

1 c. vegenaise

hot sauce(we prefer hot cock)

Braggs (soy sauce)

First thing is first, get those mushrooms cut up first, and cut the bottoms off of the asparagus (set bottoms aside, steam them the next day for a nice little snack). Then I put the mushrooms and asparagus in a marinade, you can really make any marinade you like, I use some sesame oil, rice vinegar and garlic powder. It is up to you.

While that is marinating I get the sushi rice started, which can be tricky, so make sure you follow the directions! Take 5 cups of water, 5 T. of rice vinegar, and 1 T. sugar and get it boiling, really boiling, once it starts boiling add the sushi rice, keep it boiling on high for 2-3 minutes, stiring often. Next, turn the head down to the lowest setting (if your stove is electric take it off of the heat until it cools down) put a lid on your rice and let it simmer on low for 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When most of the water is evaporated pull from head, and let the rice sit for 15-20 minutes with the lid on. While the rice is cooking is usually when I chop up all of the veggies. When the rice is done, spread it out in a non metal pan for it to cool, its easier to work with when it cools down!

Now that your rice is cooled, your veggies are chopped....you are ready to roll, literally! Place your first nori sheet down on your rolling mat, or cloth napkin, cover your nori with rice, a very thin layer of rice, evenly, leaving one quarter along the side rice free (this is where you wet the nori to seal the roll)

In the middle of the roll place a thin line of each veggies, you will see what I mean in the photos!

Then start from the end with rice on it, roll over the veggies,

roll again, wet the naked nori and roll it closed. Use your mat, wrapped around the nori, to tighten the roll, just roll it up in the mat or napkin really tight.

Cutting your sushi kind of have a science to it, unless you have a fancy sushi knife, I would honestly use a serrated knife. Get the knife wet with warm water, and slice your sushi about 8 pieces from each roll.

Hot Sauce

You will need about 1 cup of vegenaise, and squirt in hot sauce, stir, and taste until its a flavor you like...everyone is different with how much spicy they like!

Now it is time to enjoy your sushi, gather a small bowl of soy sauce, a small bowl of wasabi, and a small bowl of hot sauce and mayo mixture, and your chopsticks....Enjoy!

Blue Mountain Adirondacks Ny

2009-05-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

3 young folks (myself included, and yes I STILL consider myself young along with Jessi and her friend Tasha) 1 old dog(affectionately known as Carmel or Old Man Jones) and one young hyper pup named Penney all hopped into Tasha's car for the 2 hour drive to Blue Mountain early Saturday morning.

After a 2 hour ride in the car, we piled out and got ready for our hike. Carmel (old man Jones) has never been on a hike before, in fact when we got him he had never even been on a walk!!

We started up the mountain, full of excitement and wonder, as none of us had hiked this particular mountain before.

The hike started out dry and a decent challenge as we all scaled up rocks with various amounts of stability, then soon we hit the snow and ice. Let's just say, we all fell a couple of times here and there, but we will never forget our snowy icy day on the side of Blue Mountain!

I fell through the snow one time, and it went all the way up to my knee, with my foot in the running stream below it. After about 5 hours of good challenging hiking we decided we couldnt go any further ( we literally ran into a vertical sheet of ice) Deciding to turn around at that point was a good choice, as by the time we were about 20 minutes from the bottom of the mountain Carmel started laying down and stopping every 50 feet or so! I cant wait to get back up there and make it to the top....we are waiting for the snow and ice to melt first!

Vegan Craft Samples August 2009

2009-05-05T05:28:00.001-07:00

We have sold all but 5 of our vegan craft sample bags, raising over $100 for For The Animals Sanctuary! If you havnt ordered your bag, now is the time, we only have a few left.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
VeganSamples.etsy.com

Now it is time to start getting crafters/artists together who would like to be in the second bag! The second round of vegan craft samples will go on sale August 16th, and all samples are due to me by July 30th. If you are interested in being in the next bag, please email me at ecosampler@yahoo.com. Many people who dont have small items, or items they can make into sample sizes send in business cards and coupons or gift certificates as well. If you need help coming up with ideas for samples, I am sure we can brainstorm!

Voting has begun for the next sanctuary to receive our donation, please check out our blog and vote!

We recently added a project wonderful ad section to our blog, if you are interested in advertising on the vegan samples blog, it is cheap and easy! We are always willing to trade ad space with people as well, as long as your blog or website is vegan oriented!

Check us out online:

Myspace

Blog

Vegan Samples Website

Twitter

Forums

Facebook

A big huge vegan thank you to all of the vegan etsy members who sent in items, blogged about us, spread the word, and helped us raise money for animals!

Enter to win this facial exfoliant

2009-05-01T09:30:00.001-07:00

Green Giveaway!

enter to win, I sure am!

Hey summer, bring it on!!!!

2009-04-28T17:40:00.000-07:00

Vegan Burgers and Potato Salad

This is one of our favorite meals to throw together for a BBQ, to show everyone that being vegan doesnt mean you cant have a grill out!!!

Vegan Burgers

Ingredients:

1/2 c. bulgar wheat

1 1/2 c. water

2 T. vegan bouillon

1 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. red pepper

1 1/2 tsp. sage

1 tsp. paprika

1 tsp. thyme

1 tsp. garlic

1 tsp. onion

1/2 tsp. salt

1 T. Braggs (soy sauce)

1 T. olive oil

1 T. favorite BBQ sauce

Bring all of these ingredients to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring often. Take off the heat and set aside.

Blend

1 c. lima beans

2 T. favorite BBQ sauce

1 T. hot sauce (we LOVE hot cock)

2 T. pus free milk

Blend these ingredients until smooth, then stir in with your first concoction!

Mix in:

2 T. cornmeal

1/4 c. rolled oats

1/2 c. breadcrumbs

2 T. wheat gluten

Now you are ready to ball these up and flatten into patties, if you like them to fit a bun you should get about 4 patties out of this batch! Either pan fry with a bit of oil, or throw them on the grill!!

My FAMOUS Vegan Potato Salad (you wont be disappointed!)

Ingredients:

8-12 medium sized potatoes (if you have a small family, but if you need more this recipe is easily doubled!)

2 small onions (finely chopped or put thru a food processor)

4 or 5 cloves of garlic (depending on your taste, we use more!)

1 container of veganaise

1 container of vegan bacon bits

The following spices are approximate, and just use them to your own taste!

2 T. dried dill

1 tsp. dried garlic

1 tsp. dried onion powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

2 tsp. celery seed

1 T. yellow or spicy brown mustard

Dice up your potatoes, boil them until they are done but not overdone, I personally dont care of mashed potato salad, I like potato chunks! I usually dice up my veggies and get everything all set while the potatoes are boiling. Drain your potatoes and put them under cold water. Once they have cooled you can ad them to your spices, veganaise, and veggies. Mix it up, then add the vegan bacon bits and VOILA! Vegans and non vegans love this recipe, ask my gramma! Enjoy!

SMILE!

Vegan Craft Samples

2009-04-14T06:49:00.001-07:00

The bags are finally on sale!!!! It is so exciting, I posted them up late last night and we have already sold over half of the bags!!
there are 2 places to buy them
Etsy
Vegan Samples Website

if you are interested in the next batch, please let me know!!!

3 petite purple peeps free giveaway, my friend is having!!

2009-04-08T10:55:00.001-07:00

enter to win!! Winner will be announced Sunday, and the winner can choose any item from her shop!
follow this link for more info!

http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=6104505

Crazy Life Of Holistically Heather

2009-03-31T06:38:00.000-07:00

Things around here have been INSANE!!! So not only do I have my second craft fair this Saturday (which I am not nearly ready for!), but on Sunday we are moving! Last week I spent most of my time caring for my grandmother who isnt doing so great, which is really taking a toll on me, as she is my only family. So things are crazy crazy, and I feel like I have kind of fallen off of the face of blogspot haha. I am working on some new projects, and I cant wait to have my new apartment all set up and create some new Holistically Heather items! My new project is pretty cool, if I do say so myself hah. Vegan Craft Samples is a new way to advertise for indie crafters!! Crafters send in samples or their craft, and I put them in handmade and handpainted reusable bags, then they are sold on Etsy and Our Website, then 10% of the money will go to an animal sanctuary which is voted for on our blog! Everything is coming together really well so far, and I have all of the bags made and painted!

The next round of bags will start right after these ones go on sale, April 14th. We will be looking for all different crafty sample submissions, and folks who want to spread the word about their shop, and help animals! The second bag is due to go on sale in the beginning of August, and the 3rd and final one of the year will be coming out just in time for holiday season promotion!!! Please email me if you are interested in promoting your craftiness! ecosampler@yahoo.com

Vegan Sample Bags!!!!

2009-03-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

Vegan Samples website is now up and functioning!!!
Here is a little blurb from their blog:

After a lot of hard work and possibly losing half of my head of hair....the vegan samples website is up and functional!!! Any critiques and tips are appreciated, please email them to ecosampler@yahoo.com
It is getting very hectic and exciting on this end, getting all of the samples in the mail and getting them ready for the bags. The bags are almost all stitched now, and came out really nice. Please remember to vote for the animal sanctuary you would like to see the money go to! And under current contributors we have folks whose items we have already received up and ready to peek at!
Interested in signing up to send samples? Please email us at ecosampler@yahoo.com
Vegan Samples Blog

Liz Lovely For The Win!!!

2009-02-25T07:30:00.000-08:00

If you are ever looking to buy delicious vegan cookies, or a gorgeous gift box full of yumminess Liz Lovely is the way to go! I ordered a gift box for my partner for Valentines Day, which I dont usually celebrate but I knew I would get some yummy snacks out of the deal, and the box was chock full of chocolately goodness! First of all it came all packaged in pink with a nice cute bow, and sticker on the top

We were more than excited to tear into our 12 different packages of cookies and 3 different types of lovely oh's. What is a lovely oh, you ask? It is like an oreo or newmans o dipped in chocolate. Heavenly, yes! We got a package of each, mint, peanut butter and original...my favorite is always mint and jessis is always peanut butter. Then we started trying the different kinds of cookies, which are huge and come 2 to a package by the way. My favorite was the ginger snapdragons- so much yummy gingerness. Jessis favorite is definately the Macaroonies- sock it to me, which are macaroons rolled in organic coconut. Need I say more? Their customer service is also tip top and if you sign up for their mailing list they will send you sales and coupons and ahhh I just cant say enough good things! Try them out, you wont be disappointed.
Here are some photos of what we received!

OH Dogs!

2009-02-22T06:28:00.001-08:00

Since Carmel has joined our family, Penney has been acting out. Taking toys away from him, growling at him so he wont go into certain rooms. I guess you could equate it to having a new baby in a family. Penney thought he was here to replace her, when in fact he is here to become her best friend. Well, to my suprise, I woke up this morning to this image

I guess things are slowly getting better, I didnt expect to see something so cute and peaceful so soon!

Vegan Samples and Promotion

2009-02-17T06:29:00.000-08:00

I recently started a new blog to promote other crafters/artists while raising money for an animal sanctuary. How does this work? I am making handmade reusable grocery totes, which will be filled with peoples sample sized/promotional items, and sold on my blog. 10% of the money will be going to an animal sanctuary, which can be voted on, right on the blog. Please check out the blog, and myspace, and even if you arent interested in sending in sample items, please help spread the word!

Vegan Samples Myspace
Vegan Samples Blog

Even if you just want to drop by the blog and vote on which sanctuary you would like to see the money go to, or would like to follow the blog to see how things go!

Please feel free to email me for more info :)
ecosampler@yahoo.com

there is also an ad in the right margin of my blog here for vegan samples, please feel free to use that anywhere and link to the vegansamples blog!

Breaking News!!

2009-02-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

After a long grueling battle with a large yellow lab, we could not save poor Betty Boop, her legs were ripped from her torso and her stuffing immediately removed. Lets take a moment of silence for Ms. Boop. An investigation is pending, Carmel might be facing charges for unnecessary leg removal!

I assure you Carmel does feel bad, so please no hate mail!!!

On a totally non ridiculous note, I think Carmel is warming up slowly to his new life, and he seems to get happier everyday!

Welcome Carmel

2009-02-11T15:11:00.000-08:00

Welcome Carmel!!

We got ourselves a new dog yesterday! My aunt passed away a couple of months ago, and he has been miserable since. I guess my aunts boyfriend just doesnt have the time to spend with him, so hes come to live with us, and be Penneys best friend! This poor dog is so depressed, lost and lonely but that will all soon change! He also has horrible skin allergies, that we are hoping we can help with a diet change and more running and long walks!

To welcome Carmel into our home we took them for a long long walk, and came home to make some yummy yummy Vegan Bacun n Cheeze dog biscuits!

We got the recipe from Emmas K9 Kitchen, she has all different dog treat recipes on her etsy, along with a super rad dog treat cookbook. We have the cookbook, and its awesome it shows you the recipe then a way to make it as a biscuit, muffin, bagel, or cookie.

How cool is that? Todays yummy bacun n cheeze we decided to make as biscuits and use heart and bone cookie cutters.

These treats are carmel tested

Penney Approved!!!

woof woof

2009-02-09T16:01:00.000-08:00

So we just got the news that we are getting a new pooch! My aunt passed a couple of months ago and left behind, Carmel, and now he needs a new home. I guess they just dont feel he is getting enough attention now that my aunt is gone, so they called me! I am really really excited because I think it will make Penney super happy. So keep your eyes peeled because cute dog photos will be coming any day now!!!

A CLEAN craft room

2009-02-03T17:35:00.001-08:00

Yeah I know I have never heard of such a thing either hahah! Now we will just ignore whats behind the door in the cubby...thats where I store all of my EXTRA supplies, haha my craft room is chock full to begin with and I need room for extras! No wonder its always a disaster area ha.

This is where I sit and chat in the etsy chatrooms for hours and hours!

My best friends, also known as sewing machines...one for me and one for Jessi.

my cutting table and the cool cubby hole rack that I found, perfect for paints and patterns! Oh, and my creepy mannequin, somethings she scares me when I come in here at night!

This is Jessis little desk for painting her awesome plaster castes! Her art rules and I cant wait until she opens her own etsy shop! Well, I am glad I documented that my craft room was at one time organized and somewhat uncluttered hahah, I need another room!!!! Tomorrows project: cleaning my extra supplies space hahah.. well I hope you enjoyed entering my little crafty world!

Heavenly Bathing At It's Finest

2009-01-30T08:13:00.000-08:00

I just took the most relaxing amazing bath, probably ever. I am quite the bath taker, we have a gorgeous claw foot tub and I take full advantage. I have tried many many bath bombs from all over etsy and beyond and I must say, today I found the best! As soon as this Orangey delight bath bomb hit the water, it began to sizzle and fill my nostrils with a wonderful aroma. The oils of this bomb left my skin feeling so silky smooth that I didnt even need to later myself with lotion after my bath like I always do. Where is it that I got this awesome bath bomb? From OSayinHolistics Osayin is very friendly and great to work with. I will be back for another bath bomb, or 10, thats for sure!

Favorite New food!!!!!

2009-01-29T10:20:00.001-08:00

Cast Iron Skillet Pizza!!!!
Preheat your oven to 450

what you will need:
cast iron skillet
olive oil
1 package yeast
1tsp. agave nectar (or sugar if you want)
1 c. warm water
2 1/2 c. flour
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
and whatever sauce and toppings you dig!

Combine the yeast, agave (sugar) and warm water in a bowl, stir and let sit for 10 minutes
During that 10 minute period I mix the other ingredients to get them ready for the yeasties
After 10 minutes add your dry ingredients to your yeast water, cover with towel and let sit for 5 minutes
grease your skillet, fill the bottom with half of your dough (this recipe makes 2 skillet pizzas) poke fork holes in the dough then lightly brush with olive oil
put it in the preheated oven for about 5-10 minutes- until the top starts to brown a bit
pull it out and slather it with sauce and veggies

Here is what we like on our pizza!
black and green olives
fresh garlic
fresh chopped onion
broccoli
spinach
zucchini
tomato slices
mushrooms

We even mixed all of our veggies in with our sauce, and then put it on the pizza
sprinkle a layer of nutritional yeast on the top for a cheesey flavor- it honestly even looks like melted cheese when you put a decent amount!
bake for about 15-20 minutes, you can check the bottom with a spatula, when it starts to brown and get crispy...depends on how you like your pizza!

Sorry there are no photos for this recipe, my batteries died at a bad time! hah

Enjoy, if you do make it please share with us what toppings and how it came out!!!

Green Like her eyes Organic Bamboo Scarf

2009-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

I finally finished this gorgeous scarf I have been working on for a while now. It is truly a work of art. Made from organic bamboo yarn, and handknit into a beautiful fishtail design.

Look into her eyes and you will see the prettiest green there ever was. Look into this scarf and see a beauty that surpasses those that have tried to compare. This beautiful organic bamboo scarf was handknit by me, measuring approximately 60" by 5" I absolutely love working with bamboo, as I think it is soft and earth friendly. This bamboo is also fair trade, made without sweatshop labor, where the workers are paid a fair wage.

Why bamboo?
* Bamboo is a renewable resource. Bamboo can be harvested without killing the plant, and it only takes a few months before the plant is ready to be harvested again. That makes it an environmentally friendly choice.
* Bamboo yarn, when not mixed with unnatural fibers, is biodegradable.
* This Bamboo yarn is dyed with more natural dyes that are safer for the environment, low impact dyes.
* Bamboo fabric is naturally antibacterial.
* Bamboo also has ultra-violet protective properties.
* Fabric knitted with bamboo is quite breathable and cool and has great drape, therefore great for any season
* Bamboo has a good luster, similar to mercerized cotton.
* Bamboo is strong, flexible, and can be softer than silk when spun into yarn.

my very first treasury!!

2009-01-13T19:51:00.001-08:00

So I snagged my very first etsy treasury! Please check it out and show some love and supprt!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=32727

Whats for dinner?

2009-01-07T15:10:00.000-08:00

Tonight we are making a home favorite, that is super simple!

PORTABELLA PASTA!!!!

What you will need:
2 portabella mushrooms, diced

2 small or 1 medium onion diced
4-8 cloves of garlic diced (depends on your personal taste, my taste is for garlic)
seasame oil
sesame seeds (optional yet delicious)
basil and oregano (its winter so dried will have to do)
braggs liquid aminos or soy sauce
1 Lb of pasta, we like gluten free pasta, but do whatcha want
1/8 to 1/4 c. nutritional yeast (gives it a cheesey nutty type flavor that we love)

Super simple, here we go....
Start a pot of water to boil for the pasta, boil pasta til its done, you know the deal!
Saute the mushrooms, garlic and onion and braggs in a couple Tablespoons of sesame oil, until the onions and garlic are translucent and the mushrooms are a nice chewy texture. Strain the pasta, and put into a big bowl, we like wooden bowls.....I dont know why but Ive always loved wooden bowls, spoons etc... mix the pasta, mushrooms garlic onion combo, some more sesame oil, sesame seeds, basil and oregano, nutritional yeast and salt and pepper to taste.

Now, wasnt that easy? Its such a quick delicious meal!!!!

Enjoy...

And here is a random shot of penney coming to check out whats for dinner!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-06T18:38:00.001-08:00

Wow its been a long long time since I have had time to update. Well the holidays were fun and busy busy busy! We spent 5 hours baking treats for all of the dogs in our lives, they came out great and the pups cant get enough of them. Where did we get the recipes? From a fellow vegan etsy team member and friend Molly at Emmas K9 Kitchen We had a blast baking all those yummy snacks for our pups, and made a big mess of grammas kitchen at the same time haha, dont worry we cleaned it up! It is hard thinking of what I have been up to because I have felt lately like my days are far too short! Like theres not enough time in each day to get things done and enjoy life and take in the cool winter air.
I did post a ton of ribbon on my etsy site, that I am destashing for the New Year!

Etsy
Buy Handmade
HolisticallyHeather

Check back soon for a new giveaway, its been a while!!

vegan etsy

2008-12-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Doesnt it make sense that I should talk about an etsy group that I am so involved in? Well, it finally clicked in my head how important that could be!
Vegan etsy is a group that is full of people who love animals and create beautiful items in a cruelty free way.
Check out vegan etsy here VEGAN ETSY
If you do a search on etsy for veganetsy team
you will find many many beautifully handcrafted items.

craft fairs and derrieres

2008-12-05T07:19:00.000-08:00

Well not really on the derrieres, but I always loved that word and thought it was hilarious when I was a kid! So I have officially had my first craft fair, and it was a blast and a load of stress haha. I was sewing and sewing and sewing and sewing for weeks to get ready for a craft fair, then due to an emergency I couldnt do that one, and had to do a different one. But thats neither here nor there. It was a blast, I met some really sweet people, and got some interesting responses to my reusable menstrual pads! Imagine this cute little pad causing all the trouble...haha..hard to imagine but she did. So the first lady that came up thought it was to scrub your oven, which thinking back I should have just gone along as she was ready to buy haha...when I told the first lady what they were she just gufawwed and walked away. Then we had many more kitchen related guesses, reusable hand towel for dishes (insert older woman placing a pad on her hand as thought she is going to wash dishes with it haha) So that was entertaining, what was even better were the people who knew what they were and they were totally stoked! There was even a man who walked up and said to his wife "hey dont you need a couple more of these" and got her a little gift. I learned a lot from my first craft fair, met a lot of people, and had a lot of fun. I also learned that food is wayyy more expensive at a craft fair than at the actual dine in place. I looked around at the other vendors and was very impressed and took away some tips and ideas that I will carry with me to future fairs. The woman across from me was remarkable, she made quilts that fold into pillows and unfold back to blankies with a spot to keep your feet warm. I wish I could find her business card! So much creativity and talent at craft fairs, I cant wait to go again! So here are a couple of photos of my table and us being awesome haha

Jessi dorkily presenting my items haha

Some photos of our table setup, and then a dorky photo of myself. hah
Overall the craft fair was a good experience, and people said that for a first craft fair I did pretty well with sales, especially considering my items are mostly specialty items! In honor of an awesome craft fair, this month all orders over $10 in my online shops will get a free organic lipgloss!

its time for saturday night dinner!

2008-11-22T14:52:00.000-08:00

Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner, I used to love those nights when I was a kid. Cereal for dinner was the best as a little kid, you feel like you are breaking some sort of rules, but in reality its mandated by your parents...its the best!
We are having tofu scramble and rye toast!

Tofu scramble is sooo easy
chop half a medium onion and about 4 cloves of garlic ( i use more, use what you want!)
put a little bit of oil or margarine in your cast iron, and heat it up a bit
Throw the onions and garlic in there to saute
while that is happening chop up a bunch of kale leaves, about 8 button mushrooms
and squeeze the water out of your tofu
After the onions and garlic are sauted add the tofu and mash and scramble it, add some tumeric to give it a nice orange glow and a little flava....this is when I add some Braggs and nutritional yeast for the cheesey flavor. Let it simmer a while then add the kale and shrooms, add some pepper, garlic powder, onion powder...more tumeric, more nutritional yeast...you name it you can add it
just make it how you like

Then munch! I love to eat mine with some homemade hot sauce on the side and some rye toast! YUM