Showing posts with label Springfield. Show all posts
Lavender Falls Farm
19 June 2017
C-Street Farmer's Market
12 June 2016
It seems to me that Springfield, Missouri is one of those communities that you love the more you get into it. My sister is queen of local events and networking, so I've been trying to up my game and learn more about my hometown.
They oftentimes mix other events with the farmer's market, like the Car Show for the Kilties I attended recently or, in today's case, a dog adoption event! There were lots of cute dogs around, and that made it a lot better, in my opinion.
I've been saving this 1930s crocheted dress for the summer when it would really fit the season. I got it a few months ago in a FB group for vintage clothing that needs TLC. It was stained a bit under the arms and here and there, but a dip in retro clean and a wash has made it look like new!
It's made of cotton yarn and breathes beautifully with all the holes in the pattern and light color. Topped with my giant sun hat Tanith Rowan custom-made for me, I had the best summer outfit ever! I perused the vegetables and local crafts while feeling cool and put together. Giant sun hats and lipstick do that.
I also loved getting to know some of the vendors at the market. I met Denise of Afromationpottery, a lady that makes pottery goods and also spins her own yarn. I also got to meet the Sunflower Gardens crew that owns a family farm in the area. I bought a cilantro/coriander plant and some gorgeous flowers from them that are now cheering up my front porch.
Springfield, it's often said, is a mid-sized city with a small-town feel, and I'm learning to love it more and more!
Outfit Details
dress: 1930s vintage
shoes: ModCloth
hat: Tanith Rowan Designs, custom-made (read about it in this post)
Have you rocked a giant sunhat yet this summer? Do you have local farmer's markets you attend?
C-Street Car Show for the Kilties
24 May 2016
Yesterday I stumbled upon the Car Show for the Kilties here in Springfield. My friend and I were stopping at Springfield's one vintage store (Decades on Commercial Street), and the whole area was blocked off for a car show and the weekly city market! Springfield doesn't have many vintage events at all... except for classic car shows! We dominate those, and there are quite a lot of them throughout the year here.
This car show was a fundraiser for the Kilties, a girls' drum and bugle corps at my alma mater, Central High School. The Kilties were started at Central in 1926, and I always thought they were pretty awesome. I was glad to help out the group!
I grabbed Jacob and we came back later to take it all in. My dad's side of the family is very into classic car restoration, so I've been going to car shows my whole life. However, the extent of my knowledge is pretty much being able to determine the decade a car is from and admiring the shiny chrome.
When I go to car shows, I always pick out my favorite car that I would buy if money and practicality were no object. So let's have a virtual car show! Which one would you pick?
So what's your favorite car? Which one would you like to own?
Prim Goods Beauty Products
15 April 2016
There are few things I love more than buying items I already want and need and knowing the profits go to a good cause. When people from Primrose Hill contacted a blogger group I'm in to see if anyone would want to review their beauty products, I jumped at the chance!
Primrose Hill is a faith-based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center here in Missouri. It's special, though, in the fact that it's one of only a very few centers in the country where a mother can bring her young children to live with her in the center for the twelve month program. Their resources and training are centered on healing and recovery for both a mother and her children. The family stays in a giant house and works through issues together in a loving environment.
Since most of you readers are women, I was sure that you would be like me and appreciate this female-specific type of care. In many centers, although they do wonderful things, they don't always take family and children into consideration. This is a consideration that especially affects moms on their way to recovery, and it's wonderful to see Primrose Hill making family care possible.
Prim Goods Beauty Products also play a role in all of this! You see, the products don't just fund the center, they are also made by women living there! Each item has the name of the woman who made the product on the label. Women are taught a trade that they can take with them back home, they grow their work ethic, and they learn to believe in themselves and their abilities again. How beautiful is that?! Their tagline is "Made Better by Our Story," and these items are a true reflection of that.
I was sent a complimentary beauty bundle that sells for $38.00 on the Prim Goods website. It contains chapstick, liquid hand soap, a bar of soap, a body scrub, and body lotion. I tried each of the items, and they are great! The body scrub, soap, and chapstick are all made of easily pronounceable ingredients like natural oils and lye. There are several scents available for each product.
My personal favorite item was the body scrub. It's a pretty abrasive scrub, but I used it on my winter-dry legs, and it helped remove dry skin and left a coconut oil moisturizing layer that has really helped my skin stop itching and look better. I have sensitive skin, and none of these products bothered it at all, but Prim Goods also has versions made specifically for sensitive skin, which I'm sure would be really good for those of us with a high-maintenance epidermis!
Mother's Day is coming soon in the U.S., and spring and summer is the time for bridal showers, new babies, and all sorts of events. Beauty products like these would make awesome gifts, and instead of funding a giant corporation, you're helping women and children get their lives back after addiction. THAT is worth it.
- Learn more about Primrose Hill.
- Check out the other Prim Goods products on their website.
- Read some of their stories on their blog.
- Donate to this great cause!
I received free product in return for this post, but all opinions expressed are honest and my own. For more information about my sponsorship practices, check out my policies page.
American Farming: Then and Now
13 October 2015
It may surprise you to find out, but I LOVE learning about farms. Farming is one of the oldest ways of life, and it's hugely important to society. (Remember history class? It takes a surplus of food to get to the art part of a culture!)
Last Friday I had the opportunity to tour three local farms with people from the Missouri Farm Bureau. Like I said, I love farms, so I was pumped!
As I looked around the farms and heard from the farmers and their families, I was astounded at how high-tech farming has become and all the science farmers incorporate in their work. I think a lot of us think of "Green Acres" or "Little House on the Prairie" when we think of farms, but that's not true for most of them today! I learned SO MUCH on this trip that I can't possibly post it all here!
In the earlier part of the 20th century, scientists were afraid the world would run out of food as the population grew. With their farming methods of the day, we would have had a food crisis by now. However, major advancements have been made to make farming more efficient, safer, and cheaper to provide us with affordable food.
To show how far farming has come and its importance in history, here are some farm facts from the 1940s:
Farming Then
In 1940, 18% of the American workforce is employed in farming. One farmer supplied an average of almost 11 people with food.
In 1940, 58% of farms had at least one car, 33% had electricity, and only 25% had a phone.
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| source |
In 1941, the National Victory Garden program is launched in the United States. This initiative encouraged civilians to start their own gardens to allow more food to be sent to soldiers overseas. It was a big part of preventing food shortages during the war.
1942-1949: Food price regulation and rationing are in place. Victory gardens become an important way to supplement rationed food options. Women take the place of men in doing a lot of farm work while the men are at war. They get a taste of freedom from working outside the home, and their work is seen as a patriotic duty.
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| source |
Facts found at this source.
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| source |
Farming Now
As of 2012, only 1% of the American workforce works in farming, fishing, or forestry. Less than 2% of Americans live on farms. (source)
The average American farm is still family owned but has increased to 433 acres. (source)
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| calves at the Samek dairy farm |
Nowadays, about 41% of the U.S. is farmland. We still export a lot of our food, and U.S. farmers produce 46% of the world’s soybeans, 41% of the world’s corn, 20.5% of the world’s cotton and 13% of the world’s wheat. (source)
Increased technology has made farmland more productive than ever. One farmer now supplies food for 144 people! (source)
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| Mr. Drake, a row crop farmer |
Things I Learned About Farming
There is an increasingly large gap between farmers and consumers. It didn't used to be this way. Back in the day, nearly everyone had a family member that lived on a farm, or they lived on a farm already! Agricultural basic knowledge was commonplace. Nowadays, that just isn't true. Most Americans don't know why farmers do what they do or where their food comes from. I think it's important to bridge this gap to build trust between farmers and consumers and to create the healthiest, safest food for our communities.
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| Drake Farm |
The vast majority of farmers strive to produce good food using safe practices. Most of them live on the land they farm, drink the water from the wells beneath their fields, and eat the food they produce. They want safe food for their consumers and for their own families.
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| Mr. Samek, the dairyman at Samek Farm, a multi-generational family farm |
There are very, very few farmers that don't care about their animals. Besides being a moral thing to do, taking proper care of animals and providing for their needs produces better food. (In fact, the tags you see on cows' ears are like cow Fit Bits! They track the cow's activity and health on a daily basis to ensure they are doing well. Farmers are very serious about the health of their animals.)
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| Cribbs beef farm |
Farming technology is crazy advanced! There are combines that literally drive themselves, GPS systems in tractors, and fine-tuned machinery that makes farming hugely efficient. These technologies also allow farmers to use only as much water or chemical as is absolutely needed in a field, no more and no less. Agriculture is more precise and accurate than it has ever been.
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| Yes, this is me on a combine. It was awesome. |
Technology and scientific advancement needs to be learned about, not feared. There's a lot of talk of GMOs, pesticides, and other chemicals these days. While it is important to be educated on these topics, I think we need to make more room for farmers to explain their processes before we freak out. A lot of GMOs allow farmers to use less chemicals. The row crop farmer we talked to, Trent, said they use less than a quart of many herbicides and pesticides on their land per acre; most of what you see being sprayed on a field is water. The dairy farmer explained how the hormones they use to help cows produce more milk are already present in cow's bodies; they aren't mutant-juice created in a lab, and there's no detectable difference in the milk. Take time to learn about these issues, but try to hear from a real farmer, too. The media can make things seem scary when, in reality, they aren't. Farmers and their families eat their produce, too; they aren't just faceless corporate farms trying to make a profit. Learn from them!
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| Mr. Cribbs (in the green hat) teaching us the ways of beef farming |
Do any of you have ancestors that were farmers back in the day? What were your ideas of farmers and farming before this post? Have you ever gotten the chance to go to a farm or talk to a farmer about his work?
I learned far too much to include in this post, so if you have questions, feel free to ask! We can find answers together!
For more learning, check out these sites:
Growing a Nation: The Story of American Agriculture
1941 Agriculture Video
Missouri Farm Bureau website
Flea Market Day
03 September 2015
My parents are in town visiting, and today we all had the day off to hang out a bit. We went to the BEST tea room in the area, Spring Creek Tea Room in Ozark, Missouri. The best part about it is the tea room is connected to a small flea market! ("Flea market" in the Missourian sense of the word, like an antique mall.) The tea room is always crowded because, well, it's fantastic food, so you get to meander around and shop while you wait.
The other fabulous part is the food. I got an apple pecan salad, blueberry iced tea, and PEACH SOUP. Yes, that's right, peach soup! They also have strawberry soup. They're cold, sweet soups with a dollop of whip cream on the top, and this tea room makes it perfectly. Sweet, but not too sweet, with a fabulous texture.
My husband was kind enough to pause in the flea market for a quick photo shoot, lovely man that he is. This dress is from the 40s, bought from a friend. I did a quick, careful shrink and it fits me perfectly now! I like the basic lines of it with the pop of color at the top. I paired it with a couple accessories my mom brought me from Kenya, a beaded belt, large purse, and pair of earrings. It's an easy outfit, and I love it!
Then, lastly… this table! My husband and I have been looking for a new kitchen table, and we spotted this beauty for a great price. Obviously, it came home with us! We took it apart, stuffed it in the car, and now it's looking great in our kitchen. I'll take some photos soon to share with you guys when I get a couple more furniture pieces in place. (Doesn't moving in take so long sometimes?!)
Outfit details
dress: 1940s
shoes: kmart? Maybe?
belt, purse and earrings: Kenya
lipstick: F21
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