This was recently posted on WI Bride magazine blog

Wisconsin Bride Blog

Register | Search

Local Flourishes

Posted on: 10.8.2009 12:37:52 PM Posted by Jessie Houlihan

A wedding, like any event, has an impact on the environment. Flowers that are grown in a different country or region and are flown in for your wedding have a larger carbon footprint that those that are grown regionally. By choosing locally grown flowers you can support your area’s economy and significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your wedding. For my wedding I chose to have the flowers and decorations reflect the region and the season of the wedding. Lucky for me Connie Glasheen from Kindred Spirits had the skills and expertise needed to make my vision a reality. We began our first meeting by talking about the colors I’m incorporating in my wedding, which are a deep plum and sage green. Next she showed me examples of what grows in Wisconsin during the fall that reflects those colors. We looked at several combinations and Connie helped me decide on arrangements that are both seasonal and completely locally sourced. With Connie’s guidance, we designed several different table decorations, wreathes, corsages and bouquets that perfectly match the wedding’s themes. If you’re interested in talking to her about planning flower decorations for your wedding or event, she can be reached at her store, Kindred Spirits Organics, which is located on College Avenue in Appleton. For more information, please call 920.882.2123 or visit www.kindredspiritsorganics.com.

This was recently posted on WI Bride magazine blog

Wisconsin Bride Blog

Register | Search

Local Flourishes

Posted on: 10.8.2009 12:37:52 PM Posted by Jessie Houlihan

A wedding, like any event, has an impact on the environment. Flowers that are grown in a different country or region and are flown in for your wedding have a larger carbon footprint that those that are grown regionally. By choosing locally grown flowers you can support your area’s economy and significantly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with your wedding. For my wedding I chose to have the flowers and decorations reflect the region and the season of the wedding. Lucky for me Connie Glasheen from Kindred Spirits had the skills and expertise needed to make my vision a reality. We began our first meeting by talking about the colors I’m incorporating in my wedding, which are a deep plum and sage green. Next she showed me examples of what grows in Wisconsin during the fall that reflects those colors. We looked at several combinations and Connie helped me decide on arrangements that are both seasonal and completely locally sourced. With Connie’s guidance, we designed several different table decorations, wreathes, corsages and bouquets that perfectly match the wedding’s themes. If you’re interested in talking to her about planning flower decorations for your wedding or event, she can be reached at her store, Kindred Spirits Organics, which is located on College Avenue in Appleton. For more information, please call 920.882.2123 or visit www.kindredspiritsorganics.com.

nominated for retail florist

Just got word we were nominated for Retail Florist, have tons of paperwork to fill out. wow this is cool even if we don't win!

vacation!

We will be going on a much needed vacation from 08/22/09 through 08/31/09. We are going to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, Hersheypark and Colonial Williamsburg. I am in serious burn out mode and hopefully this will help.

Woodtick Festival

Woo hoo! This afternoon we are heading to the woodtick festival in Upper Michigan! Pics to follow....

Zombie Walk Sept 5, 2009

There is going to be a zombie walk on Sept 5, 2009, downtown Oshkosh!! What is this you ask? Show up in your best zombie costume and check out the art gallery walk downtown Oshkosh from 7 pm to 9 pm. Prizes and lots of fun! Gather at the alley behind House of Heroes Comics (407 N Main) and join us for an official zombie walk after party at the time Cinema from 9 to midnight. All ages are welcome!! For more info, go to oshkoshhorror.com, email is info@oshkoshhorror.com

Madison

Wow, had so much fun in Madison the last couple days! My sister Diane watched the shop, it was great to get away. While Jeff was in seminars, it was time for me to explore! I didn't feel comfortable driving downtown, traffic, parking, other cars, people, losing the car....several times every week I lose my car here in Appleton. Usually just in the ramp, having to check 2 or 3 floors because I can never remember where I left it. Once I left it in the parking lot at the library. Couldn't find it on any of the 7 floors of the ramp, till I remembered I went to the library first. 9 hours earlier. Can you imagine me losing it in Madison? Soooooo.....since we were staying in Middleton, I thought I would try out the Metro. I loved it! For two bucks I was able to transfer over and get to the capitol! It was so easy, plus I got to see areas I wouldn't have, watching the scenery not the road. In fact, I got so bold as to get off the bus early several times when I saw interesting shops along the way. I bussed to Ohlbrich Gardens to see the butterfly exhibit (awesome) jonesed for thrifting so stopped at a St. Vinnies and got some groovy vintage hankies, found a cool cafe named Lazy Janes, saw Grandpas Gun shop (did not go in, Grandpa looked surly) and thats all in the first morning! The cafe was pretty cool, had a great chicken salad. When your order was up, the cook literally screamed your name to come fetch it from the window. Had to use the ladies room, when I went in there was a shutter on the wall with the words peek inside in scrabble tiles. So I did! There was a drawing of a nude man! Cool surprise! Got back to the hotel at 3 and met up with Jeff. I told him how easy the Metro is to use, so he decided to try it for us to head back downtown to hit State St. While we were riding there he told me about the seminars he went to and a bus trip they took to see mixed affordable housing. The coference was for housing for everyone, and had to do with housing issues and challenges. One planned community he saw and toured sounded fabulous. Theres 31 acres, with 6 acres built with affordable and market value homes. Each home had a garden plot in the community garden, there was a CSA and mixed use areas. Jeff said it was gorgeous! The wildlife habitat, the shared common space, the mix made this a community in the truest sense of the word! While we wer eon the bus two ladies had chairs along, which I thought was a little odd, but oh well. They asked if we were going to the concert that night. Concert? They explained there was a concert at the square, Chamber Orchestra. We said ok! Well, there were literally thousands of people there, with blankets, chairs, tables, drinking fine wine, picnicing with delicious food, even had bouquets of flowers set up for ambiance! There were lots of food vendors and options galore if you did not bring goodies. It was so respectful, no rowdiness when the orchestra was playing, no cell phones, it was truly lovely. Everyone looked like they were having a great time, as were we. At intermission we went into the Capitol and walked around. My first time, and it was amazing! We ended up coming back the next day for the tour, I highly recommend it. Afterwards we walked State Street, how fun. I saw a shop that I needed to come back to, Anthology. Heaven! We got back to the hotel about 11:30, it was such a blast and no problem parking, since we were on the bus! The next day, I hopped the bus again to go to State Street and to tour the History Museum. We met up by the Capitol around 3, toured and walked to Willy Street to the co op and red sage herbs. We also went into an alternative clothing store, that was interesting. Came back home at about 8:30. what a blast!

examiner.com

I have written another article for examiner.com, under Milwaukee wedding examiner. Its about vintage chic weddings - be sure to check it out!

Examiner.com check out my wedding articles!

I am now writing for Examiner.com under the heading Milwaukee wedding examiner! I'll be writing about flowers (of course!) how to individualize your ceremony and celebration, unusual weddings, herbal and flower symbolism, vintage wedding chic, interviews with bakers, wedding planners, frugal tips, best of the best, destinations and so much more. Go to examiner.com, go to Milwaukee, style and fashion, home and living and you'll find me! If you like it, please bookmark and leave comments or suggestions on upcoming topics!

summer garden 2009

Well, I need to try and find some more bean seeds, since every last bean seedling has been devoured by bunnies. Man, they are so cute but so hungry! They drive Nike wild, as do the chipmunks. One chipmunk in particular seems to like to taunt Nike, sitting on the back step chattering or eating a seed. Nikes tail swishes non stop, tensed body bristling. The raspberries are in flower and have some immature berries, they are thick and will need thinning after just one year. The shallots look great, tomatoes are flowering but no fruit yet. I really should have taken better note which squash was planted where, this will be interesting as they seem to be doing pretty well. Pepper plants died :( I have had trouble the last couple years with them. Still removing hundreds of maple seedlings, grrrrrr. I do love summer like this though, temps are comfortable. I just need more time to garden!

4th of July, fireworks, Mud Run, Mud Queen

We spent 4th of July in Upper Michigan and had a blast! We went to the parade that morning in Hermansville Michigan where the kids got tons of candy, everyone was tossing handfuls. Lots of trucks, firetrucks, ambulances, bicycles, even big military vehicles.
Then we went over to the mud run area, so Jason could sign up. He asked me if I wanted to run his truck, an F350, in the stock division. I never did that before, so of course I said YES! Its a 5 speed and its been oh about 20 years since I drove a stick shift, and never purposefully through a big pit of deep, wet, slimy, gooey clay mud. Cool!! We asked if there was a powderpuff division, with just females, they said no, just run with the boys. OKAY! Then standing in the pits we got the idea, maybe Jeff would like to as well, and he said YES! So three of the 6 in stock were us, woo hoo!! There were 3 different divisions, stock which meant tires up to 35 inches, no nitrous, no overbuilt engines, basic stock trucks. There were a total of 6 drivers in the stock division, Jeff, Jason, me, and three other guys. The next division is semi modified and the last division is super modified. These guys scream through the mud, not sinking in but kind of floating on top, use nitrous for speed and power and have huge lift and tires. Whew! Crazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzy stuff, they fly!!! Not so much measuring for length like stock and semi modified, they are timed and fastest wins! So, we get our numbers and go through the lineup, first forward then reverse order, everyone gets two tries. First try, Jason with 61 feet 5 inches, Jeff 61 feet 11 inches, and I had 57 feet 3 inches (according to Jason, since I was bouncing so high off the seat my foot came off the gas). The other 3 guys ranged from 59 feet to 57 feet. Second try, Jeff got 65 feet even, Jason got 65 feet 3 inches and I got 61 feet 3 inches. The others ended up with lesser yardage, so Jason took 1st, Jeff took 2nd and I took 3rd. We each got beautiful trophies and prize money and had a blast!! Check out the photos I will be posting as well. Jeff said some younger guys in the stands were watching me get into the truck and they were not impressed I was wearing flipflops "Dude, that woman is wearing flipflops! You can't drive a mud truck in flipflops! Flipflops!!! Man, that is just not right!"
After all of the trucks went - including one that very nearly went end over end! - it was time for the mud queen run. This year stakes were running high, $212.00 and bragging rights for all year. You just needed to be 16 or over and run, climb, get stuck, run, climb, get stuck, keep repeating and then make it to the other end of the mud pit. Hard to do, that mud sucks you right down. Afterwards, the grandkids needed to do some trial runs, they and Amber and Jenessa cannot wait till they are 16 and able to run! After they tried to clean up a bit in the Hermansville Pond we went to the The Shop in Nadeau and had a few beers and grilled sweet corn, on the way back to Jason and Amys house we saw a bear. Luckily Gary who was on his Harley slowed way down and we got a good look before it lumbered into the woods. Gary is a friend of Jasons who is camping there and taking a trip into Canada on his Harley today. We also saw turkeys, lots of deer, and fox kits during the weekend.
We got back to Jason's and started getting ready to go to Pauls house in Norway to watch the fireworks. Paul Raiche is Jeff's cousin and a heck of a nice guy. They hunt deer together at the deer camp, 40 acres that Paul owns. Originally it was part of the farm that Jeffs dad grew up on, so its a very special very meaningful place. Noy those small Michigan towns know how to put on a display! Fireworks everywhere and the grand finale went on and on.
The next morning Amber got up and went outside and saw a small bear cub about the size of a black lab. She ran back in which was a smart thing to do, those mama black bear sows can get very ornery if you accidently get near their babies. We goofed around for a bit then Jeff and Jason worked on installing a new toilet, Amy and I worked on planting strawberries. We went to a park nearby and the kids and Amy swam, for us it was too damn cold. This 4th was a blast!!

fishing Sunday afternoon

Sunday afternoon we took the girls fishing. Amber caught two, a bluegill and a sunfish and Jenessa caught one bluegill. They were released (the 3 fish). We went to the mill pond by Weyauwega, there were literally thousands of dragonflies flitting around. Lots of people fishing too, it was a gorgeous day, sunny then overcast, windy but not humid, just right. On the way home we went past cactus rock, a huge expanse of rock near New London, WI. We didn't see any of the native cactus (opuntia) but did see dogbane blooming and a ton of blue berried juniper.

class on Saturday afternoon

On Saturday afternoon, 06/27/09, , 23 ladies took part in a 3 part class here at Kindred Spirits Organics. The first section was about culinary herbs, how to grow, harvest, and prepare delicious food. They sampled chive butter and thyme butter with whole grain crackers. Then it was on to make and take mixed herb vinegars. Each lady was able to make her own container and was given recipes and instructions. Since these make nice hostess gifts, they were pretty pleased at their creations and that it would only be pennies to reproduce more. The last segment was right next to the flower coolers, filled to overflowing with buckets and vases of flowers. First we went through the different kinds, if they grow here in Wisconsin, colors they come in, etc. Then I stood back! The ladies chose their favorites and went to work. Each was unique and beautiful, and they were quite excited to be able to bring home their creation. It was such a blast! It was noisy, the women laughing and oohing and ahhing over each others flowers and petals and stems and leaves everywhere but so much fun!

Dinner plans for tonight

Tonights meal, cannot wait as I think it will be really good. Orange roughy fish that will be baked with a nice big stalk of fennel and a bit of tarragon and thyme, French bread with real French butter that we got from the farm market this morning and butter parsley potatoes, viva la carbs!! Jeff heard a program on public radio a couple weeks ago that was talking about French butter being unique to the region and season, season due to what the cows have been grazing on, and region as to whats available. Since then we have been wanting to try it, and today our favorite cheese purveyer, Nala's Fromagerie from Green Bay just happened to have some!! I can't wait, should be good and a great finish to a hectic week!!!

HOG Harley Owners Group Wisconsin Rally

This weekend here in Appleton, Wisconsin, there are literally thousands of Harleys riding around town. The annual state rally is being held here, there will be a parade of bikes going right down College Avenue past Kindred Spirits this afternoon. Should be interesting and exciting, and what a hot, steamy weekend for this! Cool! Jason and Amy brought Jason's Harley over last night, the two year restoration was just finished a couple weeks ago. Since then, 2 shows, 2 first places!! He gave us a ride, which was awesome. We joked about Jeff needing to wear a seat belt, a couple weeks ago he fell off the 4 wheeler by accident in Upper Michigan and needed medical attention. Do you know that medical grade super glue is used instead of stitches? It really works! And that at the hospital (45 minutes away) emergency room, you take a number, just like at a deli or bakery, and wait for your turn. Since Jeff was the only one in the waiting room bleeding, we had hoped his number would be called soon. As a get well present, Jason and Amy sent him a U. P. care package, consisting of a seat belt cut from a junked out car, an emergency blanket to keep shock from setting in, some antiseptic wipes, a big tube of super glue and some aspirins.

Garden update

With all the rain lately, the garden has been pretty happy (so are the weeds!). The beans are being enjoyed by the rabbits, the potatoes are up, corn is about 4 inches tall and the shallots are doing really well. Not bad for a late start this year. Tomatoes are green but no sign of blossoms. Thanks to my friend Cindy I am experimenting this year - growing my first artichoke! She gave me a beautiful plant and since it will need to overwinter to produce the chokes next year, I transplanted it into a larger sized pot.

Holistic Moms Network

There is a new chapter of Holistic Moms Network forming in Appleton, and the open house meeting is Monday June 20th 2009 at 6 p.m. at Harmony Cafe. For more info contact Rebecca at
rkkberinger@gmail.com or visit the website at www.holisticmoms.org

Kinda chilly today

Its a good soup day, its been raining off and on and temps in the lower 50s. I am making soup when I get home, a creamy wild rice soup that has bits of ham, chopped up carrots, mushrooms and celery, some rosemary, a little thyme...and I am stopping to get a nice loaf of bread to go with. Yum! Can't wait!

Todays weddings

I had two weddings today that I did the floral designs for, each individual, just like the couples getting married. One was in Fremont, along the Wolf River. Bright colors, hot orange, vibrant blue, white accents. The black wrought iron arch was set up next to the shoreline, where I draped a long garland with fresh orange gerbera daisies, bright blue delphinium, white daisies along with lots of organza ribbon. The bridesmaids wore short bright blue dresses, the men wore khaki pants and blue Hawaiian shirts. The bride and groom barefoot in a pool of water. The other wedding was in Green Bay, the flowers were white and pink peonies. The girls wore honeydew melon green dresses with their exquisitely scented pink peonies, the bride in white with all white peonies. For the tables set up in the white tent, green wine bottles with peonies, some had two white, some had two pink, some had a pink and a white, accented with curly willow and an organza bow in honeydew. Classy, not overdone, just right. Thats one of the things I love most about doing wedding design, to capture the essence, the feel, the mood that describes each couple perfectly. Some vibrant, some romantic, some casual, some formal, some traditional, some avant garde, each one as unique as they are.

Compost : Garbage to Gardeners Gold

On Thursday June 11 from 6:30 to 8:30 I will be giving a talk on composting at Heckrodt Wetland Reserve, 1305 Plank Rd, in Menasha, Wisconsin. Composting is a passion of mine, and I will be discussing ideas for small space yards and gardens, simple composting ideas, and how this impacts the environment both by adding organic matter to build healthy soil and by reducing the amount of organic material that ends up in the landfill. Its free and open to the public, hope to see lots of people there!