My favorite bridge in my old home town, the Clark Street bridge over the Chicago River.
Clark St. Bridge In Blue – Chicago Architectural Photography Mixed Media Composition
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Space Needle In Blue – Seattle Architectural Photography Mixed Media Composition
I have been busy expanding my collection of mixed media pieces over the past couple weeks. My latest is Seattle’s Space Needle in blue tones.
Navy Kitchens
We are starting to toss around ideas for our future kitchen remodel. I am a huge fan of dark cabinets and loved the black cabinets we did in our last house. I’m not sure that I want to do that again though, since I’ve done it before… and that was a decade ago before it was popular and it’s everywhere now.
Navy seems to be popular right now also, which is kind of cool. Not sure how long this trend will last, but it does look fabulous. We will see where things are headed when we are ready to start the project. I want to make sure I choose something that will last and look current for years to come.
Here are my mood board images for the navy kitchen option, enjoy!
Woodland Entertaining Mood Board
In theory, we could do this in the woods at our new home.
When we first moved here, I planned to create outdoor living areas throughout the property to use for different gatherings. That was, until I was hit with the “reality vs. expectation” of spending time outdoors.
The expectation was a beautiful, earthy, moody, woodland gathering vignette to be shared with friends enjoying wine and trendy naked cakes. The reality? Tick bites, swarming mosquitoes, and the desire to throw anything used or worn outdoors into a raging fire, to avoid bringing those pests indoors.
Maybe someday in the future, once we have figured out how to deal with those pests, we can do what I had envisioned. Perhaps that includes the purchase of thousands of quail, an army of bats, or a fire throwing drone (I’m kidding… maybe).
Until then, it remains a dream (more of a nightmare currently). Dreams can be shared though, so enjoy the mood board and if you have any realistic tick and mosquito elimination tricks, please let me know!
Bridge Mixed Media Pop Art In Blue Tones
I started playing with mixed media art again (finally), bringing together some of my bridge photography and abstract paintings. Here is the first pair in blue, grey, and black tones.
Missouri Organic Wineries
I originally intended this post to be a short list of organic Missouri vineyards and wineries. Silly me. Organic wines in Missouri seem to exist only in the magical world of rainbows and unicorns. Probably because of the high humidity and plentiful bugs we enjoy here.
I did find a handful of wineries that practice sustainable viticulture, though not organic. Those wineries are listed below:
Jowler Creek Vineyard and Winery They use IPM, sheep, chickens and bats to minimize the need for synthetic controls.
Platte City, MO
Lambs and Vines Winery They spray fungicides only when needed. They use sheep instead of herbacides.
Diggins Township, MO
Mount Pleasant Estates They use IPM and focus on building quality soil to limit the need for pesticide use.
Augusta, MO
Riverwood Winery They do not use fungicides, but have sprayed herbicides between rows in the past. Per their website they are transitioning away from using herbicides.
Rushville, MO
While I was saddened to discover there are no organic wines available in my new home state, I did learn one important piece of information. When planting grapevines in our garden, I should stick with native varieties well adapted to our growing conditions. Norton it is!
Worthy mention: I came across a few articles from 2012 referencing an organic wine produced from grapes grown at Gascony Vineyards, but that wine doesn’t appear to be available currently.
I did find a handful of wineries that practice sustainable viticulture, though not organic. Those wineries are listed below:
Jowler Creek Vineyard and Winery They use IPM, sheep, chickens and bats to minimize the need for synthetic controls.
Platte City, MO
Lambs and Vines Winery They spray fungicides only when needed. They use sheep instead of herbacides.
Diggins Township, MO
Mount Pleasant Estates They use IPM and focus on building quality soil to limit the need for pesticide use.
Augusta, MO
Riverwood Winery They do not use fungicides, but have sprayed herbicides between rows in the past. Per their website they are transitioning away from using herbicides.
Rushville, MO
While I was saddened to discover there are no organic wines available in my new home state, I did learn one important piece of information. When planting grapevines in our garden, I should stick with native varieties well adapted to our growing conditions. Norton it is!
Worthy mention: I came across a few articles from 2012 referencing an organic wine produced from grapes grown at Gascony Vineyards, but that wine doesn’t appear to be available currently.
Summer Nights
As the long days of summer begin to wind down, I just wanted to share the beauty of our little corner of the world. Every season here holds it’s own sense of wonder and grace, but our summer sunsets are one of my favorite things in the world.
Organic Farms and Orchards In Missouri
Awhile back I did a post about organic farms and orchards near Chicago, my old home town. Now that we are located in Missouri, it is time for a new list.
There weren’t many fully certified organic farms here in Missouri, so I have compiled this list to include farms that follow organic practices, but don’t carry the USDA certification.
Certified Organic:
Blue Heron Orchard Apples and Cider
Canton, MO
McKaskle Family Farm Corn and Rice (Online Only)
Braggadocio, MO
Earth Dance Farms Fruit and Vegetables, Farm School
Produce available at Ferguson Farmers Market
Ferguson, MO
Nature’s Organic Haven Elderberries (Online Only)
Hermann, MO
Not Certified Organic:
Purple Gate Farm Berries, Apples, Peaches, and Honey
Highlandville, MO
Brandywine Blueberry Farm Blueberries
Rolla, MO
Shady Meadows Farm Honeybees, Honey, and Blackberries
Jasper, MO
Restoration Farm Microgreens
Stover, MO
Flower Hill Farm Flowers
Beaufort, MO
CSA
Happy Hollow Farm
Jamestown, MO
Dairy and Eggs
Pasture Nectar Farm Grass Fed Raw Milk and Pasture Raised Eggs (Not Certified Organic)
Mount Vernon, MO
Martin Dairy 573-378-7120 Grass Fed Raw Milk and Pasture Raised Eggs (Not Certified Organic)
Barnett, MO
Be Whole Again Farm Grass Fed A2 Raw Milk and Pasture Raised Eggs (Not Certified Organic)
Excelsior Springs, MO
The Old Homestead Farm Pasture Raised Eggs (Not Certified Organic)
Washington, MO
Family Friendly Farm Grass Fed Raw Milk and Pasture Raised Eggs (Not Certified Organic)
Cape Girardeau, MO
Seeds and Plants (Not Certified Organic)
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
Mansfield, MO
Farms in IL near St. Louis
McConauchie Manor Farm Raw Milk, Berries, and Honey (Not Certified Organic)
Carlyle, IL
Farms in KS near Kansas City
Chestnut Charlie’s Certified Organic Chestnuts
Lawrence, Kansas
I don’t eat meat, so I haven’t compiled the list to include meat products. For grass-fed meat, Eat Wild has done a phenomenal job compiling a map of Missouri farms.
You can visit their website here: Eat Wild’s Missouri Grass Fed Farm List And Map
A word of caution, I created this list as a shortlist for my own use later, so use this list at your own discretion and do your research. Make sure you contact the farm ahead of time to ensure they are open to visitors, still in business, and still farming organically, before you visit. Things seem to change quickly in the farming world, so better safe than sorry!
If you do notice a change in a farm’s status since this list was compiled (or if you know of a great one that I haven’t included), please let me know and I will update the list.
Happy Harvesting!
Late Summer Entertaining
Purple Carriage Horse Art
Introducing our NOLA carriage horse pop art product collection!
