ENUWBE

ENUWBE goes Video!

2009-08-18T10:56:00.000-07:00

HAPPILY KILLING BIG BUSINESS, AND REVIATALIZING THE LOCALS

2009-07-26T23:41:00.000-07:00

Unless you live under a style rock, you probably noticed the huge influx of demand for handmade and vintage goods. There are quite a lot of variables that have created this wonderful demand. It is a win-win situation for almost everyone involved.

With scientific evidence to global warming and other environmental hazards happening all over the globe, buyers and individual sellers all over the world have given up on big business. Many of these buyers and sellers are taking action on their own. Making their voices heard through their art or their purchases. America is also beginning to be a major trend setter in this grand new phenomenon. This could be due to the current economic crisis that America faces today and so many jobs being sent overseas. This has created unique and experimental buyers and sellers. Sellers are using their hearts to speak to buyers with their own creative crafts, and buyers are looking for a great quality, custom made (or vintage revived) items for their own personal budget. Many buyers are looking to vintage and custom made for a long lost quality item. As we have all noticed, quality has slowly disappeared in the past 20 years. Others are looking for items that fit their moral standards. Either way, custom made and vintage items is a trend that will be around for a very long time.

What makes this new trend so permanent? The details. When you buy a custom made item, you are contacting, communicating, and buying from the same person. You can learn every detail you may need, before you purchase. You are also purchasing from an individual, that their biggest marketing advantage is their own high quality and superior uniqueness. In today's global market, we have lost the trail of everything we take into our homes. Many large corporations have taken advantage of this, and used our lack of knowledge against us. Unfortunately, we have not really had much of an alternative. Like robots we march in, buy, and march out. We listen to the multi-million dollar commercials that give us a false idea that McDonald's is one of the major food groups, or that we have to have a particular expensive brand for who know what reason. That is until the global market, met the Internet. In the past ten years many individuals have started using the Internet as a way to offer the masses an alternative. Buyers, by the millions are taking advantage of this. No matter where you live, you can shop for a better deal, or your more moral alternative. A few years ago a brilliant entrepreneur realized this soon to be trend and started Etsy.com. This brought thousands of individual vintage revival sellers and artist together in one mega online "handmade/vintage mall". In the past year the New York based website has grown in unexpected leaps and bounds. Many people enjoy it for it's own catalog quality items. This solidifies the demand that is out there. It offers sellers from all over the world selling items that would fit just about any budget and even the most discriminating tree hugger.

Etsy offers a wonderful opportunity for anyone all over the globe as long as they have access to the Internet. It makes me happy to see that even though Walmart comes into a town and stomps out all local business, these wonderful businesses have not died. They've just gone virtual. Your local neighborhood artist can now reach the entire world. As this realization is made, people stop at Etsy and never look back.

ECO FRIENDLY HORSE HAIR GIVEAWAY!

2009-07-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

This month's giveaway - is a most unique item made by a most unique artist! Our featured artist this month is bazketmakr and her name is Pamela Zimmerman. Pamela is a fiber artist who lives in Washington, NC, and she made this beautiful, tiny little basket.

Pamela tells me that this little horsehair basket is actually pretty large, compared to some she makes. She has made some as small as 1/4 inch high and wide. This one is big enough to hold jewelry or other small treasures. It is made using a very ancient basketry technique called coiling; from mixed dark horsehair and waxed nylon. The different colors of the hair make each one strand in the finished basket. Remember, the photos show this piece many times larger than it actually is! This basket is approx. 1 1/2 x 3/4 inches. Retail value: $35.

Pamela has been making her horsehair baskets for about 6 years. As there are no books on the subject, she had to discover for herself the best ways to work with hair to shape it into little baskets. Each hair is handled individually, which means it takes alot of time and patience (as well as good vision!) to make one little basket. Custom horsehair baskets, with hair from your own horse, can be made, just convo Pamela through her Etsy shop, or email her at basketsbypamela@gmail.com for details on collecting and cleaning the hair.

Pamela has also handmade other styles of goods, all woven, from many different kinds of fibers; from waxed linen beach pouches, to pine needle baskets, to sculptural wall hangings and cards of her fiber art pieces. Her award-winning fiber art pieces can be seen on her website at PamelaZimmerman.net, and nationally at juried art shows. For listings of exhibitions, please see her Facebook Fan Page. You can also follow her basket adventures through her blog, Catching The Moon.

So, how do you enter to win stunning little basket? It's easy....
GO to the Etteam blog and follow the steps for 6 ways to win!!

ALPINE ADVENTURES

2009-07-14T15:23:00.001-07:00

At over 12,000 feet, Mt. Adams seems to look down at the many neighboring volcanoes. It is covered in glaciers and rises well above the tree line. This past weekend, Enuwbe along with the Foursquare mountaineering group took an adventure to the top.We began on a Thursday, and drove to
a campsite located many miles down a dirt road to the base of the mountain. Here we enjoyed a gathering with friends family members, and lots of speghetti. Carbo-loading is a common activity for many high energy sports. However, I think the biggest benefit is the camaraderie between friends before the big event. At this feast I met for the first time the people I would be climbing with. Every one of them are accomplished climbers of over a decade of experience. All in all, it seemed that between them they had climbed every mountain across the globe. With the major climb beginning in the morning we crawled into our base camp tents early for what turned out to be a rather chilly night.
First thing the next morning we checked our gear, packed up last minute stuff, and headed towards the trail head. There are a few different routes to get to the summit, on this particular climb we took the South Trail No. 183. It began well below tree level, which offered plenty of shade. With my cramp-ons and ice axe tied to the back of my pack, I had plenty of confidence that this was going to be an enjoyable and relaxing hike. Along with my 45 pound pack, I brought my 8 year old daughter, who has lately proven to be an excellent hiking companion. About 2 hours after we began we lost one of our team members to elevation sickness. The team leader brought him back to base camp and my daughter, my other team member, Chelsey, and I continued our climb. We luckily caught up with another team and enjoyed our bright sunny day with a mixture of laughs and trail stories.
We eventually reached our first snow sighting and the trees began to get smaller. Trees get smaller the higher you get, do to the extreme conditions. They are not younger; they just can't grow as big. Eventually, however, we hiked past the tree line until we were at an elevation that is too extreme for trees to grow at all. This is about where we met our first glacier, often called Hells Acre. We, however decided to avoid the torturous long ascent up Hells Acre and chose the Widow Maker instead. At fist glance, this seemed to be a good idea. Steeper yes, but much quicker. As we began the ascent up Widow Maker, two climbers on the top of the cliff yelled down, "It is very steep, you may want to take a different route." Not us. We decided, "we fear no steep cliff named Widow Maker. Ha ha ha". So we kept going. It took me quite a while to get to the top of this cliff. I am not sure how I survived. A week after the climb, I still have a rather large bruise on my forearm, where a rather large boulder was broken lose from above and came crashing down on top of me. The picture to the right shows the widow maker from the top. I only wish pictures could really grasp the whole thing. The rocky areas are much longer than they appear in the photos, and the whole cliff is quite a bit higher than it looks. You would think that this long trek would be the end of the day, but it was only the beginning. We still had another three hours of glacial hiking to go. The hike, however, was amazing. The views like you could never imagine. Looking down upon the earth and it's many layers and layers of hills is a landscape so beautiful and glorious, it's impossible to explain with words. You can see in my photos in the background the beautiful cascades, however, my camera could not pick up the details of each mountain that you see, the small town in the distance, or the small farms carved out in a vast forest as far as the eye can see. It is an odd feeling to look down at the rest of the world. To the west, I looked down at Mount. St. Helens, a famous volcano with its good side bravely looking up at us. Mount St. Helens erupted in the 1980's and covered most of Washington with a tremendous amount of volcanic ash. To the south, I looked down upon Mt. Hood. A beautiful, rather distinct volcano with its sharp tall peek.

We continued our slow, yet steady ascent until we arrived at our overnight destination; a popular camping spot for many Mt. Adams hikers called Lunchcounter. It sounds good, but one thing I can assure you is, there is no lunch counter up there. It is a great spot for

pitching a wind resistant tent, gathering water, and heading to bed. As you can see in the picture, it is a very barren place. The views and surroundings, however are spectacular! At this point we are at a height, that is virtually impossible to sustain life. The air is very thin, and the weather is unforgiving. As we arrived, we were lucky to

encounter very low winds and lots of sun shine. The picture to the left, shows our make shift kitchen. The best meal you will ever eat is the one you share with friends that you just spent climbing six hours with. It was a simple meal on a small compact hiking stove with large wind guards. Dinner consisted of minute rice, mixed with some chicken, and cream of chicken

soup. I shared my bowl with my amazingly strong, and brave daughter, and enjoyed every glorious bite.

On either side of lunch counter are very large glaciers. If you can find a

melting creek, they give off the best and coldest water you will ever find. On this hike we found a creek on the side of the mountain about a half mile from our camp. So, after dinner a few of us headed to refill our desperately needed water supply. Even fresh glacier water at over 9,000 feet, must be filtered. So we filtered each bottle with a compact hiking filter (on the left you can see me in my Enuwbe base layer, filtering my water). There are also iodine pills chlorine drops that can be used, however, they ruin the flavor. When you have the chance to drink hand gathered glacier water, you do not want to ruin the flavor.

Once we ate and the water was gathered, the next

best thing to do is sleep. So that is what we did.

At an early 5 am wake up, we packed our smaller packs, left non-essentials at lunch counter and began our final ascent. At this final climb, altitude, weather and ice are the biggest factors. That is why warm clothes, ice axe, and cramp-ons become your best friends. The climb is steep and unforgiving. The most common approach is, take 30 steps, take a break. Take 30 more steps, take another break. It goes like this for three to four hours. In this picture I am standing near my tent with the false summit behind me. This final ascent includes over 2,000 feet of elevation, then an 800 foot drop, before another 1,000 foot elevation to the true summit. A long yet rewarding climb. After completing the climb everyone gets to enjoy a fast, exhilarating glacading (sliding down the glacier on one's backside using an ice axe to control the speed) ride back to lunch counter. Slow up, Very fast down. We quickly packed up and started our hike back to base camp. During our descent, we enjoyed one more glacading ride. This one was the best one yet. Glacading down this hill, meant I did not have to climb back down to Widow Maker. This made me very happy. After being scared half to death the majority of the trip, and vowing to myself I would NEVER do another hike that involved cramp-ons, I have to admit, I can't wait to get back up there again. It's as if the mountain is calling my name. I hope I get one more hike up there this season.

I would like to give many many thanks to the Yakima Foursquare church for allowing me to take advantage of this opportunity. It has been, by far, one of the best experiences of my life. I met fellow climbers that I am so honored to have hiked with. I can't stop thinking about the trip, the people, and how privileged I am to have taken part in it. Thank you.

To learn more about this amazing mountaineering group check our their blog, Foursquare Mountaineering.

GARLIC SCALLOPS WITH CAYENNE PEPPER SAUCE

2009-06-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

My husband loves scallops and due to their price and our moral stand on food, we usually don't splurge on such an exquisite delight. So, this Father's Day, I made an exception and bought about a pound of juicy plump Sea Scallops. For those that don't know, sea scallops are the nice big juicy ones. Bay scallops are a much smaller version. Each has its own use. Sea scallops are perfect when eaten alone as an appetizer.

Because my hubby and I love spicy foods, I made this extra spicy. If you are not a fire eater like me, you may need to sub the sauce for something a little less dangerous.

Scallops can often be sauteed in butter, however I usually don't have any. Therefore I sauteed these in organic extra virgin olive oil. I heated the oil on medium low, in a saute pan with some crushed garlic. FRESH GARLIC!! When the oil is hot carefully place the scallops in the pan. Sprinkle just a tiny bit of salt and pepper. Then don't touch them. Don't roll them. JUST LEAVE THEM!! These are very gentle little fellows and more than likely you paid an arm and a leg for them. Treat them as such. The idea is to get the underside golden brown. Kinda like you would for chicken or tofu. If it seams like it is taking forever, raise the heat just a little. Be careful, you do not want to burn these guys. Once it is golden brown carefully flip them to the other side, and do the same thing.

While waiting, you can make the sauce.

couple table spoons mayo

half lemon juice

1/4 tsp curry

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tbs Cayenne pepper to taste (optional)

When you have arranged you scallopes on the plate, dribble the sauce on reall pretty and add a spig of basil or other pretty herb for color.

One of the most important things when cooking something like this is presentation. Presentation is not something that you have to go to a restaurant for. Have fun at home with it. It is the secret to making food taste better. It also making cooking fun. I will often try to make even the most simple food a little more pleasing to the eye. Spaghetti for example, get a block of real Parmesan cheese and shred it with a potato peeler. All of a sudden your canned spaghetti sauce becomes gourmet. Oh yeah, don't forget a little fresh basil leaf will go a long way too.

*disclaimer: Due to overfishing and destruction of our seafood and food chain, please take this into account when eating seafood. Always research where you food comes from.

ETTEAM GIVEAWAY, SANTIAM DESIGNS!

2009-06-17T10:42:00.000-07:00

Isn't this necklace, just exquisite?! It is the love child of jewelry designer/beader extraordinaire (and of course, Etteam member), Debbie of Santiam Designs. This gorgeous necklace is our June Giveaway!!

I asked Debbie, how she got into beading, and this was her reply, "After decades of being beadless, I picked up the bead habit while working in a medical lab where we had long lunches. With a bead store nearby, I was doomed. When my Dr. put me in the disabled file, here I was with all these beautiful beads, a body that needs to sit more than it stands or walks and a need for incoming cash... and Santiam Designs was born!"

Here is a description of this beautiful necklace.

"Lovely, one of a kind handmade sterling silver loop and link necklace, with prehnite nugget focal area and links with peace stone (jasper) rondelles and Swarovski cream pearls. Perfect for any time of year! Clasp is heart shaped toggle style, sterling silver. Total length: 28 3/4 inches, or between 72 and 73cm." This necklace has a retail value of $80.00.

The giveaway starts today, Sunday, June 14th, and will end at Midnight Pacific time on Saturday, June 20th. We will use a randomizer (random.org) to pick the winner. You can have multiple enteries, but be sure to make each of your entries in a *separate* comment here on the blog. The winner will be announced on Sunday, June 21st. Be sure that you put your email address, Etsy store, or blog address in each of your separate entries, otherwise I won't be able to contact you if you win!!

How do you enter to win this necklace?

Go to ETSY TREASURY TEAM BLOG to enter! 6 chances to win!

Spread the word!!

Training for Mt. Adams

2009-06-15T21:39:00.000-07:00

Well the time has come. I guess I should say the time is running out. I am planning on going to the summit of Mt. Adams in July. So, after a year of winter hybernation, it is time for some training. Our family began our training on the biggest hill I have climbed all season....our household stairs. The kids began first. They went up and down the stairs for 15 minutes. They did pretty well, barely breaking a sweat, laughing and joking the whole time. Then it was mom and dads turn. I started out fast thinking it would be easy. I mean really, 15 minutes, that's not too bad. After about 4 minutes I slowed down and my feet started feeling like dead weights. At 6 minutes, I thought I was going to die. I had my Ipod, and that did help. However it was a long painful trip, and I didn't get very far. One benefit of training and working out in your own house is, you can wear what ever you want. On this day I happend to be in my Enuwbe dress and shirt. Hey, who's going to see me working out in a dress anyways? The view of this very short hike consisted of the Revolutionary war facts and pictures that I put on the wall for my kids history lessons. Far from the glories of the majestical cascade mountains that I look forward to. Afterward, I went to a two hour yoga class by the visiting nationally recognized yoga instructor Sarah Tomson Beyer. That was a wonderful series of stretches after so many steps, however it was a grueling addition to my already depleted body. Hopefully, I will be able to walk again soon, so I can do it all over again. Visit us on our next blog, when we start ot train in the open air.

2009-06-03T03:13:00.000-07:00

Do you recognize someone on this Etsy front page? Why that's me.

A true honor to be picked from the Etsy staff to be featured on their front page!

VIVA LA MODE FEATURE

2009-05-17T22:16:00.000-07:00

I am excited and honored to be featured in VivaLaModa, a classy new fashion zine. Check me out in the May issue here. (pages 18 and 37)

Receiving a request to be featured, is one of the best compliments any designer can get. Thank you VivaLaModa for this feature.

To check out my other designs visit www.enuwbe.etsy.com

To Dye For!

2009-05-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

I have been having so much fun with my custom hand dyes, I thought I

would invite you on a day of dying.

With the warmer weather upon us I love the luxury of taking this often messy activity outside. So I hope you don't mind taking a step outdoors with me. The first step is to make the mixture you see above. This includes salt, oil, and a couple tsp. of dye. It's that simple. In the picture you see, my shirt has already been added. It began as a natural organic cotton racer back tank.

As you can see after a few minutes the natural color is now a brilliant red. However, it's not that easy.

I have to stir it in this first solution for 20 min or more. By doing small batch test projects like this one, I can perfect the most rich colors. The art of custom dying has become a labor of love!

I am still trying to come up with a name for my new red. Possibly, Strawberry Red? What a think?

While I am diligently stirring my blushing bucket of organic cotton, my husband mows the lawn. As you can see we practice eco friendly living every way we can. This is our beloved human powered lawn mower. If you have ever thought of getting one, DO IT! They are actually rather easy to push. Best of all we never run out of gas, or have to worry about a cord. I guess I will have to talk about this eco friendly tip in another blog.

After stirring for 20 minutes or so, I add my Soda Ash. Yes this is the same stuff you use when you tie-dye.

Can you guess what I do after I add the Soda Ash? I stir some more! This time I stir for about a half hour. Dying takes quite a lot of stirring and time, however the results are amazing!

Oh yes, don't forget my very technical measuring devises. When my recipe calls for a gallon of warm water, I get my highly calibrated gallon milk jug. Works like a charm.

Well everyone, thanks for stopping by to work on my newest color with me.

Here is our finished project. Now if you would like to help me name this color, please leave a comment!

Why on earth would I hand dye my fabric?

2009-05-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

Why am I going through the trouble of hand dying my clothes?

I decided to venture into the messy, yet rewarding line of hand dying in order to maintain the strict environmental standards that I feel are so important in everything that I do. When I hand dye, you can be assured that every step of the process is done in the most eco friendly way. We all know that zero dye is the most eco friendly. However, in order to create a demand for more environmentally friendly practices I must keep up with modern trends. Therefore, color is a must. Unlike most dye facilities however, I do not bleach or alter my cotton in any way before I introduce my colors. All my colors are dyed on natural cotton. By removing the bleach processes I have completely removed all the chemicals and
This picture is of the hand dyed Lilac
hazardous waist that would normally be created during this process. My colors end up richer and more natural at the same time. I love it. I am using fiber reactive dyes. This is by far the most eco friendly form of dying. Although I would love to use natural pigments, the cons far out way the pros. Fiber reactive dyes bond with the fabric, whereas natural pigments require a high amount of hazordous chemicals.

Each time I dye a garment it is magical and rewarding. The colors are endless. Keep an eye on this blog for more colors to come and more details of my process.

Pesticides, EEEWWWW, YUCKY STUFF!

2009-04-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

Pesticides have caused far more harm than good. Sometimes the very people using the pesticides are the victims. Many pesticides kill all bugs, even the good ones. This can create a true problem for everyone. When we kill off important bugs, we as a human race become more reliant on the very poison we should have never used. As for the laborers working these fields, well that's a whole different blog.

Enterprise Alabama has a deep history and respect for bugs. If fact in the very center of the town of Enterprise is a statue of a lady holding up a Bull Weevil beetle. Why may you ask why a town is SO proud of their bug? Well it was not always this way, in fact the Bull Weevil almost scared the whole town away. You see Enterprise used to be a typical southern cotton town. Very reliant on their cotton crops. However, this all changed when the Bull Weevil showed up. The Bull Weevil destroyed the Cotton Crop. The town thought they were doomed. They never expected that things were going to change for the better, because of this bug disaster. In modern days we would have easily solved the problem with some killer chemical and, business as usual. Not so easy in the olden days. The people of Enterprise did, however, find out that peanuts were doing swell! The peanuts did so swell, that they were making more money than the cotton ever did.

So there you have it. A little know fact.

Here is another little known fact:

It takes 1/3 lb. of pesticides and fertilizers to produce enough cotton to make just one t-shirt.

Enuwbe makes Etsy's Front Page!

2009-04-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Eco friendly fashion makes Front Page on Etsy! As the trend continues towards the benefits of environmentally friendly clothes, including saving water, less pesticides and many more. Enuwbe made front page on Etsy for the first time with its organic cotton, made int he USA Cross Roads Tank. Along with its Front Page debut was a invatation to be published in a popular fashion zine. (To be announced at a later date. ) Thank you Etsy and the curator for choosing my wonderful tank in this beautiful Front Page selection.

STOP JUNK MAIL

2009-04-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

This simple step could save enough energy to heat 250,000 homes. What I like about this step is it would actually make most of us happier. Therefore it is a win win situation.

The facts beyond the annoying. All the paper you will receive as junk mail this year is about 1 1/2 trees. If you add this up across the nation this adds up to be about 100 million trees. Even if you are not an environmentalist, this should be an outrage. This loss is due to something we don't even ask for or request to begin with.

* Americans receive about 2 million tons of junk mail every year.
*44% of the junk mail is never opened
*Americans spend about 8 months of their lives opening junk mail
*Made possible by the postal service discount bulk mail rate.

This is a great place to show that even one person can make a huge difference! Many times I think people think, "I'm just one person what difference can I make". By reducing your junk mail, just you are already saving trees.

GET STARTED NOW:

1. Recycle the junk mail you get now. Most recycle places will recycle most any paper unless it has the plastic window in the envelope. At least by doing this they can make your junk mail out of post consumer paper instead of new trees.

2. Call 1-888-5-OPT-OUT this will get yu off the credit card junk mail list. You can't complain about that.

3. Stop catalogs and other mailing by contacting them directly.

4. This suggestion is for the more annoyed and motivated. Write you congressman and pass on some of these facts. For example my class wrote a letter to our congressman this week. In the letter we asked tat a new law to be passed that would make it illegal for bulk mailers to send their mail in envelopes with plastic windows.

Link and resources:

Do-it-yourself: stop junk mail
50 Simple Things YOU Can do To Save The Earth, The Earth, The Earth Works Group This book is available at Amazon and other major bookstores. I HIGHLY recommend this book for those that are environmental freaks, and those that want some great ideas, backed with hard clear facts!
USPS bulk mail site

Thanks for reading this post. Please visit often, as I update this blog with easy ideas for you, your family, and your friends to save the earth.

2009-03-28T13:36:00.000-07:00

EARTH HOUR STARTS TODAY!
Everyone that does not know, this is a global campaign. It will cost you nothing, in fact it will save you money! Tonight at 8:30 till 9:30 turn off your lights. That's it. That's all you need to do. This sends a global message to leaders accross the world that the environment is a popular and important issue. Even the Sydney Opera House is taking part in this. Check out the EARTH HOUR photos. To learn more about this movement and to add your own earth hour photos go to the EARTH HOUR website. Have fun, save money, learn about the world, save the Earth!

Vote Earth! Switch Off Your Lights For Earth Hour by Shepard Fairey

2009-03-27T09:18:00.001-07:00

Vote Earth! Switch Off Your Lights For Earth Hour by Shepard Fairey
Originally uploaded by Earth Hour Global

This is a great way use community action for the earth! Elected officials may not be listening to us now, however imagine the message we wend when we get together with something like this.

This is a very easy, and fun way to do something for our environment. It is a win win situation. Not only as a social community making our voices heard, but we are saving energy at the same time!

Visit the website or just turn your lights off from 8:30 to 9:30 on March 28th. It's that easy.

VOTE EARTH!

Welcome

2009-03-26T14:07:00.000-07:00

This is the first post of the ENUWBE Blog. Enuwbe is a clothing line dedicated to the environment and the preservation of it. With this in mind Enuwbe has dedicated this blog to inform what we can all do to save the environment. Here you will find tips, facts and how-to ideas to save our precious earth. Most tips will be dedicated to anyone. Easy changes that anyoe can do. My hope is, that everyone tries some of these and do what you can. If we act and change as a nation, we will SAVE the world! Even the smallest change done on a global scale will make a major impact! So jump in, follow and enjoy this ride! A different tip will be published at least weekly. Facts and info will be added as I see fit. Don't forget, if you learn something new, or find my blog to be of use, spread the word. Also if you learn something on this post, teach others or tell them about my blog!
Register for this post to make sure you don't miss any important tips.