a new work philosophy

NOTE: if you have read part of this before I am sorry, I didn't meant to hit publish, but I guess I did and walked away (I thought i just saved to finish later)!

My friend Chef Anahita Naderi recently posted this story on Facebook:

A boat docked in a tiny Mexican fishing village...
A tourist complimented the local fishermen on the quality of their fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

“Not very long." they answered in unison.

"Why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?"

The fishermen explained that their small catches were sufficient to meet their needs and those of their families.

"But what do you do with the rest of your time?"

"We sleep late, fish a little, play with our children,
and take siestas with our wives. In the evenings, we go into the village to see our friends, play the guitar, and sing a few songs. We have a full life."

The tourist interrupted, "I have an MBA from Harvard (a consultant?) and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat."

"And after that?"

"With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers.
Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant.

You can then leave this little village and move to
Mexico City, Los Angeles , or even New York City !

From there you can direct your huge new enterprise."

"How long would that take?"

"Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years." replied the tourist.

"And after that?"

"Afterwards? Well my friend, that's when it gets really interesting," answered the tourist, laughing. "When your business gets really big, you can start buying and selling stocks and make millions!"

"Millions? Really? And after that?" asked the fishermen.
"After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings enjoying your friends."

"With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what we are doing now. So what's the point wasting twenty-five years?" asked the Mexicans.

And the moral of this story is: Know where you're going in life....you may already be there.

So what does this mean about little ole me??

As many who are close to me know, I work like a dog-never stopping. Maybe it's in the genes, maybe it was because I am an only child, maybe I am simply a task person. Point is: I love to work and have projects/goals/things to work on all the time...I am not going to fight it, in fact I embrace it-A LOT.
Things are always happening, but in the few years, the projects have taken up so much that I find myself working 14-20 hour days/7 days/months at a time-very little time for "siestas" and such.
I have 3 main things that i love to do right now: run my shop, do Patchwork with Nicole and work on my preserving adventures/classes/product and by shear luck-all of them work really well together (in fact make each other stronger)!!
...but something has to give or I am going to start missing out on some of the things I also like to do (like have people over, garden, spend time with Marge, this blog, ceramics, travel...).
In trying to pay attention to those needs and one of my resolutions but also having everything I love I decided last month to do something about it: I pulled a Honey I Shrunk the Store and moved back into the original space where I started my business.
Over the past weeks, we have been getting a boat-load of calls and emails, mostly along the lines of, "WHAT happened ?!?!" or, "Did you close???!!!"...well no we didn't, still here and still doing everything the same (albeit no clothing or baby items-leave that to the fabulous Belly Sprout). If you had to boil it down to a few things...
1. I am doing WAY too many things: I teach classes and lecture (at my shop and beyond almost every week), I co-run an arts/crafts fair that is doing more every year (that I sell at), volunteer my time, have a life in addition to...
2. my love of food found an outlet: I found something that incorporates a little of what I have always wanted to be (educator/foodie/cooking/small-indie biz/out-doors/MAKING STUFF/people/celebrating local) in my new biz Backyard In A Jar-my preserving biz that I really want to make a go of this year. I have to try.
3. 5 year itch and stretch: I have had my shop for 5 years (yeah I know!!) after this time, I better KNOW what works and what doesn't. What works is knowing EXACTLY what sells and what doesn't. Guess what? I need less space to sell it and I can use every square inch to yield more use than a larger space...seems obvious to me (and less energy, cleaning, upkeep...)

(a more open counter with classes and store info right in front!)

4. focus woman! If I want to stick to my resolutions and do all the things I want to do, there needs to be simplicity...when I look at myself, my home, food, belongings, BLOG, the environment I have to think:: SMALL and EFFICIENT...if there is too much waste then eliminate it-right??
When this- #4 (and 1-3) finally dawned upon me in November, I had that feeling of the whole slap your head deal-except I wanted to do it for real, like really f-ing hard. Why wait and really make a resolution to be better no matter what a reality!  Personally, I have never felt better!

(back to basics: it just FEELS cozier!)

a quick adventure in San Diego

You would think January would be a little bit more relaxing because it is after the holiday season. Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way over here.
January and February is filled with a great deal of work prepping for the next crazy-busy season for me with is April-May when sales are usually back from the slum of after holiday, people are out more and most of all PATCHWORK SEASON!
Nicole and I have a few meetings over the holiday break and talked about 2011 Patch ideas and growth for our little Indie Arts and Crafts Festival that seems to be growing and gaining a good following.
So what did we discuss??  Two new possible locations for the coming year and this past weekend we headed over to sunny San Diego for a crazy tour of of the area to brainstorm ideas. Below are some goodies I found on my mini-work-break.

(a nice Gastropub with slow service)

Friday night we tried out recently reviewed gastropub Jayne's in Hillcrest. British-themed and UBER cute inside. I had a nice cocktail, a concoction of lemon juice and bitters and really tasty fish n' ships.  Only problem: the service was super slow, with only a few tables full, it shouldn't have taken over 10 minutes for out drinks.

The next day we started out early. During our drive, we stopped at the Little Italy FM (Mercato)-a busy market and for sure worth the visit if you are in the area on Saturdays. While we were there I bought little Marge a new hemp leash and collar from local artist Julia of Handmade Green-I also got a hat and coffee (first picture).

(Handmade Green also did Patchwork last Fall in Long Beach)

(i bought something like this from her at the LB show)

We also went to Ocean Beach were we stopped by the Ocean Beach Organic Food Co-op. There we bought a pint of local honey, cocktail citrus (??) matcha power (for a new salt possibly!)  and these really cool responsibly-sourced FSC gloves (BTW I am going to be doing a post of new things I have found at the grocery soon). It would be great to have a co-op in Orange County, funny b/c that is what I initially wanted my store to be way back when!

(goodies from the co-op)

STRANGE part of the trip: at one point we ended up in South Park and walked into this cute craft shop called The Grove. First thing when you walk in are a bunch of cook books-YES, so we start looking at them. I notice on the shelf our friend Jaime Wood's Wicca Cookbook, which was recently revised for its 20 year anni. It was just then that i remembered that I had given Jaime my Wild Sage Jelly recipe for that book. Opened the book and BOOM-there i am!

(hells-to-the-yeah! my recipe, thank you Jaime-now go buy it and read page 55!)

So after a yummy champs and elderberry flower cocktail (YUM and must make), we rested up for a quick trip back home and then to Hollywood FM-never a dull moment.

2011 resolutions: late is better than never!

Another year, another chapter in the book that is life.
The holidays are now over and in the past few weeks, i have been working on what i like to call, "the foundation" for the coming year (more to come on that in a blog post soon). A few weeks ago it hit me that in 2011 i will turn 35, which to me seems like a REAL NUMBER-ain't no child anymore... i seriously feel 29/30...35 seems like a few years away still. I guess i have to get a grip on reality because the music that i have grown up with is now hitting the Classic Rock radio stations...

(not my era, but i wish!)

so i have been thinking about what i want out of 2011...

What immediately comes to mind is Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing Tenderly..if you haven't heard it, i BEG you to listen (hopefully with earphones). This song brings tears to my eyes every time-not only because you have two jazz masters that have the most amazing chemistry but Tenderly is all about moments, like a DH Lawrence scene where time stands still and you can notice everything.



So sitting here and listening to Ella and Louis and thinking about 2011...

1. make a go at a second biz: my jammy-jam side project Backyard In A Jar has been growing. people seem to like what i am can do and heck, let's see what can happen! I am going to spend more time in the kitchen and build a website for it. We recently restored a VW bus to do sales (a future post) and i have a few ideas of what to do...you only live once so why not!

(what do you think of the new label-courtesy of Nicole!!?)

2. Patchwork:  my niece and i have been growing our little Indie Arts & Craft fair and we have something special...i really want to dedicate more time to this great event and to her-she is so talented and this event has become such a wonderful thing for us and our friends...i love you niecey!

3. a well-organized machine: unfortunately, in order to do all of these things and run a store, i really have to make it a dedicated and serious objective to be organized and run a fine-tuned life...not so Ella/Louis/DH Lawrence-ish, but i dearly love all of these things and they work so well together! this month i am making a goal to organize all 3 of my computers and piles and paperwork so that i can spend the rest of 2011 doing the things that really matter and not stress that i can't find something or am so behind that i can't enjoy what i have.  i also need to create a weekly and monthly schedule that i can actually stick to to make sure i have everything working.
4. time out for the things/people i love: i started the year off hosting my family for what will hopefully be an annual Family Jam (more to come on that!!), and i want to spend more time loving the people and things that brought me to today. i also want to spend more time in my ceramics class and screen printing!

(more time for you too Marge!)

5. blog you mo-fo'!  finally, i want to dedicate myself more to my blog...i had an interview yesterday and when i heard the reporter say, "yes i read your blog" and realized that i hadn't updated in almost a month...i started apologizing and promising to do more.  what's funny is that everyday i am thinking of things to write, but never post...i have lists of things to post and never do-what's wrong with me!?!

well here's to a wonderful and adventure-filled 2011 and to more posting and sharing-cheers!

ceramics with a side of screen printing

when i was in high school, i used to be in ceramics class and LOVED every minute of it-i was pretty good on the wheel and made a number of cups, bowls and art work depicting the funny inside jokes i had with my friends...such good memories.
over the years, i have been wanting to go back into the studio, but either had zero time, scheduling conflict or no money for classes.

(kombucha on tap with Mark-a quick drink before class)

my friends at Avanti Cafe have been trying to get me into their ceramics class in Huntington Beach which is very affordable and if i just rearrange my schedule, i could do it.  after a year of asking me,  i finally got my act together and started taking classes every tuesday for the past few months.
Our instructor Matt is a super nice fellow who teaches computer art stuffs, ceramics and painting/drawing...really funny and one day had scissors screened onto his pants, when i asked where he got them he replied, "i screen printed them in the next room".
AWESOME...

Matt recently made me a screen of a mason jar, and last week showed Mark and I what to do with it....

(attaching the screen)

(Mark spreading fabric ink over the mason jar screen)

(the original drawing-turned into screen-into cuteness on a dress!)

(Matt explaining to Mark about photoshop for his screen)

i brought in a few items that had stains on them o i could cover them up with cute mason jars!

(already wore this to work!) 

(going to wear this to work!)

next up: Backyard In A Jar aprons, tea towels and Road Less Traveled staff tees and other merch! Coming in 2011

and i do do ceramics in this class :)

i think it is time for a new display

it's March and i have just about run out of excuses for the x-mas lights in the store....at least in the same theme that i had back in December.
when i was in my first few years of business, i was super excited and motivated to do displays and rearrange stuff. in the beginning, Rachel Hulan of Path Design was my mentor in merch, and i would simply sit and watch her figure stuff out and work her magic (PS if you ever get the chance to watch a professional do displays, i very highly RECOMMEND doing so, very fascinating!). After that, i took lessons that i learned from her and researched other ideas, both in person and on-line and used what i liked from each and tried to put something together (of course it took me 10xs longer).
Now that i am in my 4th year of business, displays although fun, are not part of the monthly routine anymore...i just can't spend all that time doing it-as a result i try to do my displays every 2-3 months, more mimicking the seasons.

(yeah can you feel it is time to mix it up a bit?..yes i am tired!)

Back to it's March, not December. i little bit ago i posted about DIY garlands, i really wanted to do something like that in the store as either a display of some kind. i looked at a few ideas on Etsy and then one day on Facebook, i saw crafter Cathy of California posted a gorgeous display that she did using the same technique...i think i am finding out my new display theme...

This past weekend, Corissa cut out numerous circles and sewed them together in long strands from leftover paper from flyers in bright colors attached with string.

(Corissa says that it reminds her of 1st grade)

Every dilemma with the store and displays: making 2 window cohesive and an interior piece or display that relates to what is happening to the windows (or what is happening in the season)...basically 3 displays that are all a little different but somewhat the same...easy right??

(second window-same idea, different take)

The paper garlands worked out great. the first window, which i have crappy images of (not seen here), is a springtime scene with a bike and some awesome Nikki McClure posters depicting "ditch the bike" images and of course garlands. the other window...more garlands with huge scissors made from an old cardboard box from the new couches we have in the store. the center piece?? a HUGE chandelier-type creation made from extra long garlands and leftovers.... super springy and totally cheap and easy to make...we have already had a number of people using the idea to decorate...go for it!

i have got some really great customers

i have been saying this for a while- i love my customers. i have probably had 1 bad experience in the 4 years i have been in business, the rest have been incredible people who have been loyal to this little store and have helped to spread the word. many of them have come to be my friends and simply stop by to say hello or to let me know about things that would interest me...they just care!
one customer Jane, has been coming in for a while and is not only a big fan of Backyard Bees Honey, but is also a prolific preserver-every time she comes in we swap stories of what we made/what we want to make/trading...
a while ago she loaned me a book on eating snails, as you know i am planning to do this (VERY soon actually) and while having my adventures in long beach, found myself a copy of it at {open}...
just today at the store, while having coffee with a friend, in comes Jane with a bottle in one hand and kumquats in the other...Jane's been busy...

(the gift next to my new book from {open} on wine making!)

first: she came in with a gorgeous bag of kumquats, thank goodness! i had already ran out with the vodka recipe and marmalade that i already canned...looks like more booze is on the way!

she also came in with a somethin'-somethin' special...a homemade orange liquor made from citrus, juice, honey and everclear! homes knows how to start a party!
i was totally intrigued and when a few hours later, another fave customer Bonnie (you will see a post about her soon)...came in i told her about Jane's nectar. first thing she said was, "well, let's taste it!" so we sat there, in the shop sampling Jane's nectar...AND WOW!
again, i love my customers and the fact that they know how to appreciate a fine drink.
thank you Jane!

adventures with foraged foods

this past weekend, friend and naturalist Joel Robinson and I collaborated on our first Wild Edibles class at the store. Joel was responsible for the foraging and identification portion of the class and i discussed the preparation and made more of the time consuming items.
Hosting a class like this takes a lot of prep time before the students even come in-Joel spends hours foraging for certain plants, not only for identification, but in a quantity that can allow me to make a meal. on my end, i have to research recipes, prepare goods (aka the acorns!) and sample items before we actually make them.

(just a few of the items Joel harvested)

(Deb stopped by to visit and we put her to work smashing acorns!)

i have always wanted to know about foraged and wild foods personally-which is why i had contacted Joel for the class...but i really didn't know how other people would respond to eating acorns, chickweed, wild mustard and artichoke stalks-would people be interested in something like this?
the answer was an overwhelming YES...we had a terrific group of people who not only samples every item Joel brought but had a great time making their lunch (which by the way was terrific!). i even experimented in making a white sage jelly which turned out incredible (you will be seeing this available very soon). below are a few photos of the class.

(preparing salad greens: these ladies were having a blast!)

(another prep station-toasting red peppercorns to flavor some of our dishes)

(just a few of the items that we feasted on-everything was great!)

the event went so well that we have already scheduled another workshop for April 25th and are looking for a few more locations to teach-let me know if you want us to do one with you!

butterfly garden: 18 months later

almost a year and a half ago, we did a workshop at the store with Back to Natives Restoration, a non-profit that is, " is dedicated to the restoration and conservation of Orange County and California wildlands, through education and restoration".
the workshop, in the heat of summer, was the gutting of the horrible vine mess we had in the parking lot and replacing it with native, insect attracting plants that would use little water.

(what we started with-straight up nasty!)

when the blog first started, i posted about the growth of the little garden. This weekend, i went out to look at it again since we are having a workshop about native gardening & upkeep on March 6th...all of a sudden it hit me-dang this thing got huge!

(right after installation of the native butterfly garden, 18 months ago)

(can you even see the butterfly sign anymore!?)

Can you believe that i watered this only the first 4 weeks after it was planted-no joke! i havent touched it aside from taking sage leaves for food/gift wrap and cleaning out the little pieces of liter that blow into it from time to time.

fortunately the past month or so has been pretty wet in Southern CA, which i am thankful for (i am really terrified of the drought and the absolute ignorance of most of the population of it in this area). the rain has made the garden grow event more...to the point of needing a trim.

**MAINTAINING YOUR NATIVE GARDEN workshop will be held March 6th from 10-noon**

easy chalkboard project

so i have been wanting to have a working chalkboard in the store to post events..we have decorative, temporary ones made from spare pieces of wood and good old chalkboard paint (love it!) but i wanted a bigger version that looked more like a chalkboard and less like a piece of wood with chalkboard paint.
Sabre told me a while ago about this wallpaper treatment that she does using a non-toxic glue and recycled paper pieces, she also does this brown-bag paper application that looks a lot like a leather wallpaper that she has used on walls before...we ended up using it as a a fake-wood lining for the chalkboard...awesome way to make a "custom" frame without spending a ton of money right!?! i have no idea how she made it, but i do know that she will be doing a workshop on this in a few months, let me know if you are interested.

(piece of wood, chalkboard paint, paper "frame")

i guess you have to "prime" chalkboards with a bunch of chalk?? didnt know that but this is the finished product....costs about $20.

Sunset Magazine mention

we are very lucky to be mentioned in this month's Sunset Magazine as an editor's pick...i have been reading the magazine since i was in high school (yes i was a nerd) and to even have a a few words is a dream (next in the dream would be ReadyMade).
(they gave us a sticker for our window to show it off)

if you haven't seen it yet, check out the latest issue, not just because we are in it, but they have some great recipes, seasonal projects and really great tips if you are planning to travel around the West.

TV for the small business

i can't tell you enough how happy i am now that we have cable TV. i went for several years with only rabbit ears and old DVDs, but when you are running a small business, the television is a great sign of relief and relaxation...
funny enough however i have been completely entranced by shows whose premise have to do with the thing that i am trying to get away from-work.
lately, there have been a number of shows helping out the everyday small business, most are a little dramatic (you need the drama to keep viewers i guess), but i think they give certain perspectives, problems, solutions and ideas.

Mary Queen of Shops: is show is the newest of the crop, i have only seen a few episodes (i think that is all there have been!), BBC markets Mary as a Gordon Ramsay of the fashion industry, but as you will see below, i think otherwise. This show should be the one that most engages me, as Mary deals with retail stores, however it is only clothes and i sell more than that. The show is great however for merchandising and retail marketing ideas.

Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: yes my favorite of the bunch-i don't know what it is about him, but i am into Ramsay. i think a big part of it has to do with his show where he visits struggling restaurants and sets out to inspire owners, staff and especially chefs. Ramsay also has clever marketing campaigns for some places and he has an eye for young people with talent.

Tabatha's Salon Takeover: Tabatha, a runner up on Shear Genius (think Top Chef for hair) will be on her 2nd season of this Bravo show that follower her 1 week hostage of a salon in dire straights. Tabatha is the closest thing to Ramsay as far as attitude, passion and energy...this woman is a drill sergeant! This show is pretty entertaining because the people usually in the salons seem to be the most dramatic and hilarious of the bunch (crying, yelling, and queens having a hard time getting off their throne). i can't wait until Nov 3rd when this show starts up again!

The Hotel Inspector: again another BBC import, this show follows Hotelier and Author Ruth Watson as she helps failing British bed and breakfasts . Not as "dramatic" as the other shows, Hotel Inspector has more of a proper English flavor and it moves at a slower pace as hotel makeovers take the course of months, not days. I still really enjoy this show however, even though i am not in the industry-i feel like i am learning something about my own business (and perhaps feeding my desire to one day own a small b&b).

the rain and Ramsay has got me thinking- backyard snails

the image above is what i would like to be doing (and sometimes do) every weekday from 3-4PM: watching my new favorite show- Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. every so often, i can also watch Gordon's other show- The F-Word. now dont confuse both of these shows with his other popular show-that is more of a take on Top Chef (LOVE) with the literal berating of contestants.

but i digress, i am sure to talk of Ramsay and Kitchen Nightmares later, but what i wanted to talk about was a recent episode of The F-Word that i saw where Gordon talked about preparing and cooking garden snails.
that's right- Gordon, who loves snails, visited a British snail farm to learn about eating local snails that are usually shipped from France...when asking if it was the same to cook garden snails, he was told that it was the same thing. so what did he do?? he challenged his kids to pick snails from the garden and prepared them.

i guess once you find the snails, there is a series of steps that you need to take in order to extract the impurities...so don't just pick them up and up them in a pan! i would post the video of Gordon, but i can't find it.
according to the blog eating garden snails, preparing snails for consumption involves the following:

• washing them
  
• place them in a container and making sure they cannot get out!-but make sure they can breathe.
  
• let them sit in the container for a day or 2 (to wash out toxins)
  
• wash snails and container
  
• feed them human veggies for a day or 2 (Gordon says carrots-guess it helps you see when the poop is with carrots)
• wash again and put in the fridge until they stop moving.
• cook.
  

i am still trying to find the video clip of how to prepare the snails. this blog devoted to Ramsay recipes does a nice recap of the episode.
i think i am going to try this next time it rains...

the fun part of my job: Salvage Life and Au She Cosmetics

i must admit, one of the best things about having a store like this is being able to meet so many incredible, talented people that are right in our area.

just yesterday i was able to meet 2 fellow female entrepreneurs: Beth from Salvage Life and Tatiahna from Au She Cosmetics.

I met Beth from Salvage Life at a craft fair in Cerritos...looking at her pieces, i instantly fell in love with her artful deconstruction of things that i would normally overlook. I immediately wanted to carry her jewelry. Beth and her adorable daughter came by in the morning with a series of necklaces made from vintage watches, chains, belts and other trinkets that were combined together to make one-of-a-kind pieces.
she also sells lovely vintage slips and wears that complement her jewelry line. Her blog has better images of her work.
(Beth's beautiful and curious daughter)

(trying to get to her mommie's jewelry!)

(necklaces made from old watch pieces and vintage chain-GORG!)


In the afternoon i met with Tatiahna of Au She Cosmetics. I had only met her a few days ago, when she came in to drop off her application for Patchwork. I asked her what she was selling and she told me that she had a line of handmade, natural and organic cosmetics. HOW do you even begin to make makeup! not only that, but she uses at the least 99% natural ingredients (most of her line is made with natural pigment as well.
i have been searching high and low for a small-batch, natural line, one that i could try and actually talk to the person who made the product-i had completely given up on it and here she was in Placentia!
Tatiahna was formerly a make-up artist and while she loved make-up, she didn't love the industry..she really wanted to work with people and work with a product that made your insides as good as your outside and is a rebel in the cause for changing beauty stereotypes. we met today and now i have a few samples to try out (the lip products smell WONDERFUL!)

(Tatiahna demoing how to mix eye shadow with her cream primer)