you can find me here too: facebook | linkedin | raw journal | my old vårresa blogbuy some barkwheats or send me a message Tumblr (3.0; @varresa)http://varresa.org/<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:12163">No Time for Hibernation</a>: <p>The dead of winter is passing and with each day that moves above 32 degrees, I’m reminded that spring is coming! Then, I start to think… I’m not a bear. I’m not hibernating. I’ve got to get to…</p>http://varresa.org/post/76149706http://varresa.org/post/76149706Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:34:57 -0500<p>I’ve been a good blogger lately, everywhere but here!  Chris and I have started eating a raw diet about 80-90% of the time and blogging about it on a new site: <a href="http://rawfoodjournal.wordpress.com/%C2%A0">http://rawfoodjournal.wordpress.com/ </a> I’ve been so busy with work and work and barkwheats and work that thinking about blogging here with no clear theme or topic just hasn’t struck a chord in me.  I’ve been on Facebook a lot more lately where the mini-updates and ease of keeping up with friends seems to be a better fit at the moment.  So I am going to take a hiatus on posting here so that the guilt of not posting won’t burden me any longer!  At the top of the site are links to other places you can follow what’s going on with Chris & I & the pups if you so desire :)</p>http://varresa.org/post/71683938http://varresa.org/post/71683938Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:18:00 -0500<img src="http://26.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwixhbhg981CrPlLvo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://varresa.org/post/71684348http://varresa.org/post/71684348Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:15:54 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwixhavjjo73Ie6r3o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://varresa.org/post/71684282http://varresa.org/post/71684282Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:15:24 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwirc8f05r7tggYuGo1_250.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://varresa.org/post/70724898http://varresa.org/post/70724898Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:06:56 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:11421">Some Big Things For A Small Business</a>: <p>Being a small business owner is no doubt a tough thing to do. You tend to hear of people owning their own businesses because they want “freedom” or to “be at home with the kids”. For me, sure, I…</p>http://varresa.org/post/70420066http://varresa.org/post/70420066Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:19:55 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:11221">Barkwheats and MEBSR</a>: <p><a href="http://www.mebsr.org">MEBSR</a> (Maine Businesses for Social Responsibility) will be hosting a statewide Leadership Series throughout 2009 to spotlight various topics from entrepreneurship, climate change, buying locally,…</p>http://varresa.org/post/69365957http://varresa.org/post/69365957Fri, 09 Jan 2009 08:17:56 -0500“Tune in to Tone Soup on WERU-FM - tonight from 4-6PM!”http://varresa.org/post/68131840http://varresa.org/post/68131840Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:11:51 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:11021">A New Year</a>: <p>Today brings a brand new year with the shivering sunshine peeking above the horizon. What will 2009 bring for all? Exactly what you want it to. Businesses have a chance to really shine this year…</p>http://varresa.org/post/67810889http://varresa.org/post/67810889Thu, 01 Jan 2009 09:29:17 -0500<img src="http://30.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwi4udizeKypixCjbo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>I LOVE my original green El Naturalista clogs that I bought last year at the Shoegazer in Ellsworth (for $110 even with my WERU family discount) and Chris’ sister Alex just found them on a ridiculous sale ($39!!!) in Boston and got me these red ones for Christmas.  Thanks Alex!!!  I love them!</p>http://varresa.org/post/67576419http://varresa.org/post/67576419Tue, 30 Dec 2008 20:16:05 -0500<object width="400" height="292"><param name="movie" value="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="bgColor" value="#ffffff" /><param name="flashvars" value="vu=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/MarkBittman_2007P-embed-PARTNER_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/MarkBittman-2007P.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=263" /><embed src="http://video.ted.com/assets/player/swf/EmbedPlayer.swf" pluginspace="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" bgcolor="#ffffff" width="400" height="292" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="vu=http://static.videoegg.com/ted/movies/MarkBittman_2007P-embed-PARTNER_high.flv&su=http://images.ted.com/images/ted/tedindex/embed-posters/MarkBittman-2007P.embed_thumbnail.jpg&vw=432&vh=240&ap=0&ti=263"></embed></object><br/><br/>http://varresa.org/post/67482348http://varresa.org/post/67482348Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:58:36 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:10963">Success Breeds...</a>: <p>“Success Breeds Success”<br/><br/> We’ve all heard it, some of really “know it” and few have internalized it and see it happen in their lives every single day. How do the successful people of the world…</p>http://varresa.org/post/67479799http://varresa.org/post/67479799Tue, 30 Dec 2008 07:27:15 -0500<p>I uploaded some new photos to Flickr yesterday, which you can see at the top of the webpage…  Chris and I took our first trip out to South Paw Farm in Unity to visit our farmer friend Meg.  Meg purchased the farm this fall and she already has sheep, rabbits, and chickens filling up their pens.  She has a pasture in the front where she installed a greenhouse and that is where she will be growing the Barkwheats parsley, and she has another 6-acre field where she will grow a test plot of chamomile for us.  She is busy building more pens for the piglets that she has on order and possibly a bigger chicken coop.  Even in the dead of winter it was easy to see she has a nice spot of land (just down the street from <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mofga.org/">MOFGA</a> and nearby <a target="_blank" href="http://www.unity.edu/">Unity College</a>), but we are excited to return in the summer when things are in full bloom!  Chris arranged with <a target="_blank" href="http://www.snakeroot.net/farm/">Snakeroot Farm</a> to also grow parsley for us…  about 100 lbs worth, which isn’t much dried, so we still are looking for more growers for next summer.  We are working on our booth design for the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.nepts.com/">New England Products Tradeshow</a>, so we are embarking on a project to photograph all our farmers to display in the booth.  The photos of Meg are our first in the series.  Sarah Kennedy is bringing some barkwheats to Belize with her next week in order to pass them off to our ginger farmers…  she has a professional photographer on this upcoming Smaller World trip, so she plans to get some good photos of those farmers for use in our booth as well.  Eventually we will have a whole section on our website dedicated to the farmer’s stories, including a video project that we are going to do this summer, but for now enjoy the photos as we get them!</p> <p><i>Also, I made a “<a target="_blank" href="http://flickr.com/groups/barkwheats/">Barkwheats</a>” group on Flickr yesterday…  if you use Flickr, please join the group!</i></p>http://varresa.org/post/67399665http://varresa.org/post/67399665Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:06:00 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:10905">The Wheels on the Bus Go...</a>: <p>Round and Round, until they hit a rut in the pavement and everything seems to come to screeching halt, people fly out of their seats and land next to that one person you really didn’t want to sit…</p>http://varresa.org/post/66894750http://varresa.org/post/66894750Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:40:33 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:10883">Merry Everything!</a>: <p>Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy holiday and a happy every day there after.<br/><br/> My dad was awesome yesterday by offering up a Christmas Eve breakfast made with nearly ALL locally produced…</p>http://varresa.org/post/66733773http://varresa.org/post/66733773Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:38:27 -0500<img src="http://29.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwhrwwb1cod0SpA28o1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/><p>Christmas decorations in Stockon Springs.</p>http://varresa.org/post/66125762http://varresa.org/post/66125762Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:05:41 -0500<img src="http://25.media.tumblr.com/gHJigXOTwhrwtwyhaUkNRVVHo1_500.jpg"/><br/><br/>http://varresa.org/post/66125488http://varresa.org/post/66125488Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:03:49 -0500<p>With yet another snow storm predicted for today, Chris finally decided he ought to get some winter boots… the first pair he has had since high school.  I still have my nice toasty green suede South African boots I bought at <a target="_blank" href="http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewProfile&friendID=186930156">Shoegazer</a> in Ellsworth four years ago…  I can go without socks in these boots and they still keep my feet warm!  We headed to Reny’s in Belfast to find some boots and got such a good price on them that we decided to each get a pair of ski pants too.  Ski pants were at the top of my winter wishlist this year once I decided we needed to be better prepared for the cold instead of complain about it.  So when the snow finally hit this afternoon around 1pm and we had to go out to shovel, we both stayed nice and warm in our new pants, and Chris in his boots. I’d almost say we kind of enjoyed being out in the snow playing with the dogs!</p> <p><i>Above is a photo Chris had me take last week when he was sad about not having any boots to play in the snow!</i></p>http://varresa.org/post/66125381http://varresa.org/post/66125381Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:03:00 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:9521">Because our bags are made from wood...</a>: <p>Because the bags that hold our <a href="http://www.barkwheats.com">Barkwheats</a> dog biscuits are made from wood pulp, I learned the other day that they carry the same energy value as wood, and can be safely disposed of by burning. In…</p>http://varresa.org/post/64645860http://varresa.org/post/64645860Sat, 13 Dec 2008 08:39:28 -0500<a href="http://www.eatmainefoods.org/xn/detail/2003922:BlogPost:9448">Cool info from Innovia Films</a>: <p>I just found out this morning that the <a href="http://www.innoviafilms.com">cellulose based bag</a> that we use for <a href="http://www.barkwheats.com">Barkwheats</a> is carbon neutral! Over the past 25 years the plant that the film is produced in has been striving for…</p>http://varresa.org/post/63729964http://varresa.org/post/63729964Mon, 08 Dec 2008 12:55:19 -0500