As the world turns... green

Urban Green
A plant takes up space. Which is fine if you have space but more complicated if you live in a Harry Potter-style broom closet. But plants are even being used as purifiers by Nasa so it might be worth throwing a few pair of shoes away in favour of a green friend. Unless you are as lucky as I am to live near the just opened (and AMAZING) shop Urban Green. If they would serve coffee, I would move there.
In this shop I have discovered something which they call string gardens. Small planets with grass growing all around except at the top where you have a different plant sprouting, like a cherry blossom or an olive tree. Apparently they are all over the web but I am thankful Urban Green showed them to me. Sometimes it's nicer to discover something yourself than have a blogger pointing it to you.

The inspiration for these string gardens can be found in the kokedama, an ancient form of bonsai, and is fairly easy to reproduce:
1. Roll clay-heavy soil into balls;
2. Cover the soil in moss, or stick grass seeds in it;
3. Inserting a plant into the soil;
4. Use some lovely string to keep everything together;
5. Attach one or more strings to the ball and hang them where you want.

But you could also drop by Urban Green and just buy one for 19 euros...

Terra Plana
Walking away from the shop with a wonderful Bergamot plant I was asked a few times where I had bought my shoes from. These were from Terra Plana, a wonderful brand with Dutch origins which tries hard to use a variety of eco-friendly materials and innovative minimal glue constructions. All their shoes are made from recycled materials! So I am walking on other people' stories and it feels so soft...

What I particularly love about the shoes is the box. On it you will find a small instruction: either re-use the box to store the shoes, or turn it inside out which leaves you with a wonderfully printed box or bring it to a paper bin and let others recycle it for you.

There are so many brands which do not understand the difference between really be and mean who you are, and just say it for the sake of marketing and sales.

Luxirare
Another great example of meaning who you say you are, is Luxirare, a weekly webzine dedicated to clothing and cuisine. Luxury to them is not a price, it's a personal experience which depends on the time and amount of thinking it took to create something.

One of the luxury things they have created, has stolen my heart completely: I am a crayons lover. I used to drink sweet ink from my uni-ball pens. I love fruit and am addicted to colors.
Luxirare has shaken all my addictions and created something amazing: edible crayons.

All crayons were made of a variety of edible ingredients from nuts to fruity pebbles to dried blueberries. Most of the ingredients that were used were of the healthy variety, but a few colours, such as blue, achieved better results with more sugar and candy. But who cares if you think of the disgusting things we humans tend to eat?
That being said, each crayon was made with color divisions. So the flavour is based on colours, not actual flavours so I am not sure if eating your red crayon after drawing would taste as good as eating a red apple...

Friday 3 September
On each walk I now make, I take seeds from plants along the path and distribute them elsewhere.