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Shop Small Gift Guide 2018

November 24, 2018 by Erika

Good golly, how in the world is November almost over?!  I still have things about the Bent Arrow Challenge I want to write about!  Ugh!  Oh well, since time has decided that it will continue on whether I'm behind or not, I guess I need to just roll with it.

As you know, I'm super passionate about local and small businesses.  I truly believe that we as Christians have a responsibility to shop small and local whenever we can.  By buying from "the little guy" we help someone live out what their God-given passions are and we get to build community.  When the small shop owner isn't worried about how in the world she's going to feed her family, she's going to be a lot more open to joining you Sunday morning instead of putting in extra hours just to make ends meet.

That being said, for Small Business Saturday, I wanted to share some of my favorite small and local shops.

Stitch & Timber

Stitch & Timber is owned by my college BF, Malia.  When I asked her to share about her business she said, "I have always loved cross stitching and wanted to share my work...I decided to see if any would sell.  Low and behold they do, slowly but surely!"  Malia creates modern finished cross stitch and paper goods for today's home.  I have several of her pieces, including a custom made "Green is the New Black" reusable produce bag (check my IG to see it).

You can find Malia's work on Instagram here and her shop on Etsy here.  Use code FULLSIMP10 at checkout for 10% off orders of $15 or more!

The Mustard Seed Marketplace

This is a relatively new shop to me, but I fell in love with it immediately!  The Mustard Seed Marketplace partners with over 30 artisan groups in 18 countries to create a marketplace for artisans locally + globally!  They carry a curated collection of Fair Trade + Locally Made + Give Back Brands.  And they have something for just about everyone on your list stocking items like jewelry, apparel, home décor, accessories and more!

My kind of shop!  And it is located in northern Indiana!

You can shop The Mustard Seed Marketplace here and follow them over on Instagram here.  You can use the code SHOPSMALL for 10% through 12/31!

I asked for the black Slub Tee for Christmas...so fingers crossed it shows up under the tree!

Freckled Hen Farmhouse

Y'all know I love Freckled Hen Farmhouse!  I cannot get enough of their cute, yet practical farmhouse décor!  Natalie is also awesome to follow over on Instagram.

You can find the Freckled Hen Farmhouse over on Instagram here or on their website here.

Chalk Full of Design

Another small business that I love is Chalk Full of Design.  Last year I got the kids chalkboards from here as their "something to read" gift instead of books and they love them.  We also have the games pack that we keep in the van to pull out any time we are going somewhere with a long wait time instead of always shoving tablets or phones in front of them (which we do still do occasionally).  This year I got Kate her own personalized board so that she could have one like her big brother and sister.

If you need a laugh, follow Lindsay on Instagram here and watch her stories.  I love her!  You can shop her site here and she's currently running a sale of 15% off with code CFDHOLIDAY2018 until Monday!

Aleks Handmade

The last shop I'm going to share with you is another Indiana shop.  Aleks Handmade makes handmade dolls...even custom orders!  We have three dolls from Aleks and I cannot say enough about the quality.  They are soft and no little plastic pieces to worry about coming off.  Plus, they give back in a BIG way!  With their Dolls for Smiles program, they donate one doll for every doll purchased to the orphanage they are working with that quarter.  You have to go see the video of these children playing with dolls that look like them!  It is amazing.

You can shop Aleks Handmade here and follow them on Instagram here.

In full disclosure, I shopped Amazon too this year.  I get it.  But if everyone took the time and money to buy one or two gifts this season from a small or local business, think about what that could do for our communities!  Spending a little more for a gift that is handmade and/or fairly made is even better.  Make 2018 the year you buy less but better gifts for under your tree.

Merry Christmas!

 

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: My Full Life, Reviews Tagged With: #buybetternotmore, Christmas, farmhouse decor, gift guide, Indiana, shop local, shop small, Small Business Saturday, support local

Bent Arrow Challenge 2018: Eat Local

July 30, 2018 by Erika

Y'all know how important local food is to me.  I'm all about gardening, farmers' markets and supporting local agriculture.  So last year when my friend Claire over at Bent Arrow Acres challenged herself to eat only local for the month of August, I was in awe!  And I planned to try to do it for a week this summer.  BUT Claire is doing the whole month again this year and has created a challenge (with prizes) for others to join her.  So we're going to give it a go and join in.

Concerns

My biggest concerns are: Our oldest starts kindergarten this year, and I have no idea how this will affect our schedules and daily life yet.  My husband will continue classes for his masters.  And I have small kids that eat what we eat for meals...no short-order cook here.

As a perfectionist, I have already identified that I could easily let the challenge overwhelm and stress me out.  I DO NOT want that!  To prevent this, I'm already speaking grace over myself.  The challenge does allow for people to pick some "freebie" items and I'm probably being more lenient with our family than I would if it were just my husband and myself or if we had older kids.  And if I fall off the wagon for a meal or a day, I'll just do my best the next.

My Plan

My plan is to visit Lucky's Market and Bloomingfoods a couple of times during the challenge.  While they are a bit further away, they have a great variety of Indiana produced foods and products.  There are also a few things that I'm allowing as "freebie" items that I'll only allow if I get them from either of these stores' bulk sections.  Partly because I'm excited about how this challenge can help us reduce our waste and partly because doing this will keep me from being too quick to grab things off the local grocery's shelves.

Obviously we have the garden and our own eggs, so we will try to eat a lot from there.  We also have locally raised beef, pork and one of Bent Arrow's chickens in our deep freezer that will take care of any meat we eat.  Things from the garden that we will definitely be able to eat are tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, carrots, shallots, garlic, peppers and maybe corn (It isn't looking too hot.).  Hopefully my zucchini, summer squash and watermelon plants will do something this month too!

We also have access to two farmers' markets, one on Tuesdays and one on Saturdays.  We will shop here frequently as well during the challenge.

Baked goods are something that we already make homemade most of the time.  All bread will be homemade and I'm excited to try to make tortillas and hamburger buns this month!

Our Freebie List

Freebies are things that you can't find local or can't easily make yourself.  HOWEVER, this list should not allow you to buy everything you normally do.  It's a CHALLENGE, remember?  That being said, I do have a few items that are freebies for the kids and not for my husband and myself because I'm just not going to make a 7 month old, 3 year old and 5 year old go completely without some of their favorite things like bananas and shredded cheese.

  • All flours (bread, all-purpose, whole wheat, etc.)
  • Sugars
  • Additional baking items (baking soda/powder, salt, etc.)
  • Cocoa powder (bulk only-we make our own chocolate syrup for the kids' milk and my coffee creamer)
  • Spices (although most herbs dried or fresh will come from my garden)
  • Butter
  • Heavy Cream
  • Cultured Buttermilk
  • Milk (do plan to try to get some from Traders Point and Oberweis, but won't be able to get it all from them)
  • Peanut Butter (bulk only-my kids love PBJ sandwiches and my husband takes them to work a lot)
  • Coffee/Tea
  • Dry pasta
  • Cooking Oils (plan to purchase California Olive Oil and Healthy Hoosier Oils when at all possible)
  • Cheeses (This is mostly for the kids.  I plan to try to avoid cheese as much as possible.  And I do plan to try my hand at making mozzarella!)
  • Lemons
  • Condiments (ketchup and mustard mostly.  I plan to try to make my own ranch dressing and always make my own mayo)

As far as restaurants are concerned, I'm saying that all are fair game.  I know this is an area that Claire is really good about choosing only locally owned places, but one request of my kids when we have to go to Bloomington is Chick-Fil-A.  We also occasionally grab a pizza when I'm single parenting for the night while my husband is in class.  So the plan is to TRY to avoid chains, but I'm not going to beat myself up if its been a crazy and I breakdown and get a carry out pizza from Pizza Hut.

I'm also giving myself a pass on anything already in the house...and no, I'm not going out to stock up on items before the challenge so that I can use this as an excuse.  However, I haven't planned a cleaning out of the pantry this week because of other stuff going on, so if it's already here, its fair game until it runs out.

And my new kindergartener will eat in the cafeteria at school on some days.

How You Can Join

If you think this is something you want to try, even for just one day or one meal, you CAN make a difference!  Visit Bent Arrow Acres's website for more information and to get on their mailing list for tips and rules for the prizes!  I hope to be able to share weekly posts about what we ate, but at the very least, you can follow along on social media.  Use the hashtag #bentarrowschallenge2018 to see what I'm cooking as well as what everyone else is trying!

 

Erika
Influence Network
Food Lovers Devotional

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Filed Under: Gardening, Ponderings & Inspiration Tagged With: #bentarrowchallenge2018, eat local, farm to table, gardening, inspiration, local food, motivation, support local, zero waste

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