" bring me sunflowers crazed with the love of life "
Eugenio Montale
three sunflowers in a vase
Vincent Van Gough August 1888
(image via)
One of the blogs I really like to read is Tanya's Suburban Jubilee. Tanya lives in Tasmania and writes about living a slower more meaningful lifestyle. The way we live couldn't be more different - Tanya makes her own shampoo, I buy mine from the hairdresser's but even so, I find her thoughts and tips on living more sustainably, interesting and inspiring...maybe one day we'll have a bigger vegie patch and grow more than just basil and tomatoes...
A while ago Tanya told the story of Ed, a young man who sadly took his own life, and of his family's committment to help people understand and cope with depression. You can read (and I hope you will) the whole story here.
Ed's Mum grew a field of sunflowers spelling out the words love, live, enjoy as a tribute to her son and as a way to draw attention to suicide and depression. She sells seeds from these special sunflowers to raise money for The Nettlefold Foundation and this is where Tanya comes in...
If you buy a packet of Ed's sunflower seeds from Tanya before the end of the year, she will post them anywhere in the world for free.
I received mine yesterday. At only three dollars a packet, I think they'd make a lovely little Chrissy gift for the gardeners in your life or you could plant some with your kiddos and watch them grow together...
x
Tanya also makes (from scratch! herself!) the loveliest gardeners soap...each cake in it's own little hand-made jute bag, perfect for tying under your tap and cleaning those grubby garden hands with...
a clean bathroom, and you wont break the bank either...
these little rustic lovelies are only five bucks each!
Contact Tanya here
x
Lastly, a quick spur-of-the-moment give-away...
open to everyone, but probably most appealing to the Crow Eaters out there...
retro coasters
A Starlight Product
Melbourne Australia
Let me know if you'd like them and they're yours.
p.s. I'm happy to post them anywhere, not just to S.A.
p.p.s. A Crow Eater is an Aussie nick-name for a South Australian, we West Australian's are known as Sandgropers...more on that another time.
x
Newsflash: the kitschy Adelaide coasters have a new home. Yay! Sherry from Hello Vintage, an Adelaide girl through and through, has nabbed them.
Hi Kylie, just popped over to have a look, a great blog, such clever ideas.
ReplyDeleteSuicide is so terribly tragic, and so very sad, what an inspiration this lady is, to take something good out of something so bad xx
Sophie
what a lovely idea about the sunflowers, i'm off to take a look at her story x
ReplyDeleteThat gardener's soap looks like a godsend. I wonder if it would help to remove gold paint? (I'm out of white spirit). Lovely idea about the sunflowers too.
ReplyDeleteI am v intrigued by this Crow Eaters / Sandgropers business! Never heard that before.
I love the idea with the sunflowers - recently I was given a packet of poppy seeds from a friend who had been to a funeral. The lady who sadly passed away was a lover of poppies and grew them in her garden - the seeds were from her garden with the wishes to pass them on in her memory.
ReplyDeleteThe gardener's soap looks brill! Scarlett x
Thanks for sharing this Kylie, my son loves planting seeds and plants. The soap with jute bag is a great idea.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I can't wait to check out this blog. Love the sentiment behind the sunflowers, my kids would love some of those to grow.
ReplyDeleteAm always amused by the lingo of the Australians..too funny!
Love those soaps! We have an outdoor shower so I think they'll be perfect stocking stuffers for my Hubby and my Son - Thanks for the tips! Have a super duper day! :-)
ReplyDeleteKylie thank you so much for spreading the message about youth suicide and depression. The more we talk about it the more we know and the less it becomes a taboo or swept under the carpet. Thank you also for your kind enthusiasm and praises. Everything comes at it's own pace and I can assure you that when I was raising children my garden consisted of only parsley, lemon, tomatoes and mint...so I could at least make tabouleh! I am still as busy as when I was raising children but it's just that I can channel the energy into different things.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links, the sunflowers are such a lovely idea. Will definitely check it out seeing I have an avid gardener in my life!
ReplyDeletexx
Hello you! I love sunflowers and Van Gough. Lovely post. :)
ReplyDeleteOhh, Adelaide coasters! I am a Crow Eater, born and breed in the beautiful Adelaide Hills. Love them, count me in for the draw for the coasters! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteA lovely thoughtful post Kylie.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally I had purchased gardeners soaps from Tanya at the Ut Si cafe market and she found me via you! Love the blog community! I have now put in an order for lots more scrummy soaps for gifts :)
thank you for that link +, straight into tasmania, kylie. the head cheese got me interested, since we have exactly that, called 'kop' (which is flemish voor 'head'), yeah? i feel related already.... (although i rarely eat it).
ReplyDeleted'you think i'm too late for the seeds, because i haven't found them on jubilee jumble no more. moving thoughts. suicides are puzzling.
i very much appreciate your concern.
n♥