Grow Vitamins at your Kitchen Door

Stecher-Traung Lithograph Corporation, 1939-45 

Herbert Bayer, 1943, NYC WPA War Services

James Montgomery Flagg, 1918, National War Garden Commission

Frederic G. Cooper, 1917, U.S. Food Administration

I love these vintage posters encouraging citizens to contribute to the WWI and WWII war efforts by growing their own backyard produce and not wasting food. At the time, food rationing was in effect, giving the extra incentive to give gardening a go. But the posters also have quite a positive vibe. More posters HERE.

And really, the messages in these posters are just as relevant today, just with different motivations... reducing fuel use and carbon emissions, access to ripe freshly-picked produce with the highest nutrient content, supporting your local economy and contributing to future food security.

'Urban gardens for healthy families - Grow vitamins at your kitchen door'
'Sow the seeds of sustainability - Grow your own or buy local'
'Every garden contributes to a greener world'

What do you think?!

Good things

You know how exciting it is to get a package in the mail...? (Even when you're the one that paid for that lovely bundle of fabric/books/bed linen/organic moisturiser/ipad/or whatever it is.) Or how nice it is to receive a present on your birthday? But even more exciting are surprise gifts...

To unexpectedly receive something thoughtful from a kind-hearted person just gives me that wonderfully happy glow of what a good place the world can be and how wonderfully lucky I am! And, of course, it makes me want to do nice things for all the people around me and share all the good karma. :)

In the past couple of weeks I've been the recipient of several unexpected packages...

First was the appearance of a brown paper bag on my office desk containing fresh, homegrown lemongrass, limes and kaffir lime leaves, and cubes of palm sugar - not the easiest of things to come by when you live in rural Victoria. A lovely friend, who I don't know well but is a gorgeous person, had put together this little curry pack for me after I'd tasted her deliciously fragrant thai green curry at a recent gathering. What a nice thing to do! (And yes, I made a rather tasty curry myself last week - having fresh ingredients makes all the difference!)

A day or two later I received an email from cityhippyfarmgirl Brydie to say that I'd won some lovely teas in her blog giveaway. Cool! I never win anything so that was rather exciting!

And this sweet little teapot... well that was gifted to me by the lovely lady who has the shop full of vintage goods and collectables next door to mine!

It's nice to know the world is full of such good and generous people! :)

One year older...

Yep, yesterday was my birthday. Thirty-nine. Hmm...

Do you still look forward to your birthday? I do! And this was a good one.

Three sweet people gave me a foot massage in bed in the morning.
I received some lovely cards and cool pressies!
I sat in the midday winter sunshine at the Beechworth Brewery and had delicious pizza with family and friends.
Hubby made my favourite orange & almond cake that we shared for dessert with some more friends.
Ah, life is good! :)

Shifting seasons...

Happy first day of Winter! Do you think this plum tree might be a tad confused about what season it is?