Contentment is a quiet acceptance, a peacefulness, a calm amid the endless wanting. When I choose contentment, there's no competition with anyone. The race to keep up simply disappears. Once I realized this, I gave myself permission to see and accept things as they were-- myself included. No constant striving meant the person, place, experience, or relationship was enough. Right here, right now, it's enough.

I still crave change. I still work toward improvement. Contentment simply brings slowness to those changes. It brings quality, not quantity. Depth, not superficiality. It brings peace.
                        ~Brook McAlary in Slow :: simple living for a frantic world

These little garden grown gems...cut in half...tossed with a little olive oil + salt...slow roasted...become the most flavorful part of a variety of meals. This time they topped our pasta + cheese + chickpeas + lemon + cracked pepper plate. (Some CSA onions were added to the roasting pan. The heat was at 325F for about an hour + then turned up to 350F while the pasta cooked to hurry them along.) Yum!

On the reading front, I am reading a book my girls love + often recommend to reluctant readers (Jo is a youth librarian) + friends: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. School starts on Monday (Julia homeschools), so preparing for that has occupied the bulk of my "book time" lately.  :)

How to be happy.
Some good clean recipes whether a reset is in order or not.
Zero-waste travel.
Wise words.
Justice, compassion + truth.
Living low-waste + plant based.
Food court with no trash cans.

Much love + wishes for a very happy weekend, friends-
Jane

Read Meet the Frugalwoods by Elizabeth Willard Thames in a weekend. One point of view. Food for thought.
Had the chance to read an advanced copy of The Unwanted: Stories of the Syrian Refugees by Don Brown. A great way to put the progression of events together for + in front of all of us...including younger readers.
Finally read The Giver by Lois Lowry at my girls' urging. So much to think about + discuss.
Reading Searching for Sunday by Rachel Held Evans.

YES! YES! YES!
This is how it starts...
There's no longer a place for a retailer trying to sell a reasonable amount of clothes at healthy margins.
​More positive news.
Expanded size offerings.

Mentioned Caliphate this week...but just in case it was missed...so good.
Also really enjoyed this chat with one of the original (to me) fair brand founders.

Have a lovely (cool) weekend!  :)
​
Love,
Jane

Enjoying our Avocado Organic Mattress while the sheets are in the laundry. Organic cotton...wool (vegan option available)...natural latex...recycled steel springs...made in the USA to order. We've been sleeping on it for a couple of months now + love it! 

This morning's reading involved these words. 

Scrap exchange program.
​A podcast about love.
Wanna make some Birkenstocks?
A simple, lovely wedding.
​On fountain pens.
Happy tiny house family.
The visuals are just so lovely.
Art x motherhood.

Hope you are enjoying a lovely weekend!
Love,
Jane

The strawberries are rolling in from our garden!

I've been letting my girls choose (at least part of) my reading list this summer + I'm getting to read some good books that I wouldn't have chosen otherwise...and we're getting to have some good conversations too.  :) My first two books were Ready to Fall by Marcella Pixley + Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (along with something substantial to blow my nose on).

"It wasn't lack of space for stuff, it was out of respect for the stuff we say is important enough to have in our lives."
​
"I think I use recycled materials, because it doesn't make sense not to do it."

"Because this should always be our response to life- a celebration."

A connection between female-run indie fashion labels + moves toward sustainability?

hedonic adaptation

600 square feet + a place for everything (including lots of fun!)

​"just need permission from themselves"

Have a glorious weekend, friends!!

Love,
Jane

This week brought our first CSA box of the year...and our first taste of nettle tea. (Julia called it refreshing + I agree!)  Our farmer friend is a big fan of nettles + has told me about cooking with them for years. I've been a bit turned off, since my girls chased a ball into a bush of stinging nettles in London + received terrible itchy welts. Luckily our neighbor, a biology teacher, went with them to look for a plant that often grows near nettles + sure enough found some dock leaves that when rubbed on the rash soothed it right away. Oh nature, you are so amazing!

Nettles are a real powerhouse, rich in vitamins A, C, D, iron, potassium, manganese + calcium...and are also packed with protein. Once nettles are boiled they are no longer stinging...so I boiled them...kept the water as tea...and used the nettles in an omelet along with some other greens. Yum!

​Zero-waste + the beauty industry.
Another step in the right direction for plastic packaging.
​"Prisoners of their own clutter".
​Looking forward to this new book!
"Once you get over the initial fear of looking like a weirdo, it's simple."

Hope you are enjoying some sunshine + a warm breeze this weekend!

Love,
​Jane

The following is Julia's book review that fits right in with this week of remembering the tragedy of Rana Plaza, five years ago today. The similarities between these two disasters is shocking + sobering. The book up for review is Uprising by Margaret Peterson Haddix.

Uprising is a beautiful story about three girls who grow up during the early 1900's.  This is the time of the workers strike at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory and the fire that sets the building to flames not long after. Bella is an Italian girl who is one of the many immigrants who work in New York for the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. Yetta is a Russian Jew who works alongside Bella, and who goes on strike against the horrible working conditions each factory worker faces each day. Privileged Jane discovers the strike of the factory workers, and she becomes a part of the fight for better work conditions and women's rights. Despite their differences, the three girls form a strong friendship and they fight together until the fire in the Shirtwaist Factory occurs on March 25, 1911, changing the lives of many people forever.

Uprising is realistic, powerful, and full of amazing girls who fought to make a difference. It also hit me hard to read about girls who were my age who had to work under such harsh conditions in order to support themselves and their families. Uprising was a wonderful page turner that was also inspirational, unforgettable, and an important story everyone should read. 

-Julia

Next week marks five years since the Rana Plaza garment factory collapse claimed the lives of 1134 people. Another 2500 people were injured, many of them losing limbs. Cracks were seen in the building the day before + an inspector had judged it unsafe, but wary workers were forced inside anyway. This tragedy sparked enhanced awareness of the working conditions + treatment of the people who make our clothing. Clothing bound for store shelves around the world was found in the Bangladeshi rubble. 

Compassion for garment workers is one of the main motivators for the fairdare + many others' commitments to purchase clothing thoughtfully. Education about what garment workers face in terms of working conditions, safety, hours, access to healthcare, wages, rights, and freedom can provide powerful motivation to maintain our commitments. It can also help us to kindly explain our choices to friends + family. It's not necessary to read every book on the topic, but one or two will probably prove helpful (+ The True Cost movie is fantastic). See which ones can be found at the library.

Have a lovely weekend, friends!

Love,
Jane

The following is Julia's(!) book review of Thoreau at Walden, a graphic novel by John Porcellino ::


"My greatest skill has been to want but little."

I love that quote by Henry David Thoreau. It reminds me to find enjoyment in the small things and to think more about the simple things I really need rather than everything I think I have to have. 

Thoreau was a smart and educated man who was unhappy working in business or teaching before he became a writer. He eventually built a small cabin in the woods on the shore of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau planned on living alone in his cabin as an experiment. He would write full time with only a large vegetable garden to support him. During his time living in the woods, Thoreau took hikes and observed the beauty of nature around him. Every once in a while, Thoreau would visit the village a mile away to visit family or to buy something. Thoreau loved waking up to birds singing and spending long hours in the sun. He finally found happiness living a life in nature's glory with little need for money. 

Thoreau wrote beautiful ideas about discovering joy in simple living and nature's beauty that still inspire people up to this day. 

-Julia 

P.S. From Jane: I too enjoy this lighter take on Thoreau's Walden...lots of the great quotes + concepts without all of the dense language.  :) Though graphic novels aren't our usual mode of education, it can be nice to throw a little variety into the mix on occasion. Graphic novels are never substitutes for primary sources, but can lend a little perspective to the spirit of some of these literary giants + historical periods. My girls + I move through history + literature from ancient to modern times three times from kindergarten through twelfth grade. One time we'll read the novel itself, and one time we might read a graphic novel as an introduction or review. A few more educational graphic novels we've included in our mix along the way: 
-Lies in the Dust: A Tale of Remorse from the Salem Witch Trials by Jakob Crane
-Poe: Stories and Poems by Gareth Hinds
-(Gareth Hinds has also written graphic novels on ancient literature + Shakespeare plays.)
-In the younger years, we found the Shakespeare Can be Fun books helpful.

We love the library!

Zero-waste, plant-based, tiny living.
We raise our hands. We raise our voices. We raise the next generation.
We went to Black Panther last weekend + loved it! I noticed some gorgeous knits + found that the costume designer who knit Nakia's scarf released a free pattern for it.
"If happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there." This is so good! 
Why are we making our children be braver than our politicians? Take a stand.

Have a lovely weekend, friends! 
​
Love,
Jane