Chocolate For the Chocoholic

Another fantastic project emerging from middle Tennessee, this is the Booya Cacao: Just.Sustainable.Chocolate.

My special connections with the visionaries and makers of Booya Cacao have afforded me the privilege of buying the product at wholesale to sample with anyone I want to share delicious chocolate love with... Without trying to sell, they've bought jars from me. And with just 4 sales I get a jar for free!

From the website:

"Booya Cacao is a different kind of chocolate... using only pure ingredients our formula maximizes the BOOYA taste sensation and health benefits of Cacao, the healthy and antioxident ingredient of chocolate. Made on an artisan scale from hand picked beans, distributed through local food systems, and with a mission to strive for zero emission trade by using, sail, bike and animal powered transportation, Booya Cacao brings sustainable cacao to its customers in the Cumberland Green Bioregion and beyond."

Made with only cacao, coconut oil, and cane sugar, certified fair trade, certified organic, and shade grown under the rainforest canopy, now you can have your chocolate and eat it too.













Order some and taste for yourself, Booya Cacao is absurdly good chocolate.

Natural Dying withTurmeric - and Natural Tie-Dye!

I had this beautiful white skirt that I absolutely loved but had become stained and old-looking. I decided to use turmeric for a beautiful summer yellow color, despite what I read about it not being light-fast (meaning it fades in light) as well as fading in the wash. The monks use turmeric to dye their clothing and need to re-dye every few months. Turmeric is super cheap and the dye process is super easy so I didn't pay too much mind to all that...


I read both the following websites before starting the project:
Tiny Choices: DIY Natural Dyeing
Plant Cultures: Hands on- Turmeric dye

You will need:

• 4 Tbs Turmeric per 2 pints water (I dyed a few other articles of clothing with it so I used about 10 pints water and didn't have enough turmeric, yet it still produces a strong dye)
• Use a large stainless steal pot, NOT aluminum. Use no aluminum, so that probably means no tongs. Use a wooden or plastic spoon to stir.

This is the process:

1. Add turmeric to the pot of water and stir. Bring to a boil and simmer for a about 15 minutes. Let cool a little.
2. Soak fabric in cold water first. I washed my skirt in the washing machine and added it wet to the pot.
   
3. Stir the liquid again and then add your fabric. Leave the fabric in the pot for as long as you like, being sure to stir it frequently. You want to make sure that your fabric dyes evenly, and for me this meant even pulling the clothes out of the hot water to pull pieces apart that have clung together. (This is why it is a good idea to let the water cool a little.) I left it in for about a half hour.
4. You can stop here, removing your articles and rinsing them in cold water until the water runs clear, or you can wring out the fabric, hang it up to dry, and then repeat the whole process. This will produce a darker color.

DO NOT PUT YOUR FABRIC IN THE DRYER! HANG TO DRY. This may seem obvious to some but not to me and I didn't have a very fun time scrubbing the inside of the now-yellow dryer.

The 2 websites mentioned above left out an important part of the process. You will want to set the dye by rinsing it with water mixed with a lot of white vinegar and salt.


Something bizarre and unexpected happened after I rinsed out the fabric. The fabric started getting spotted with red. I think maybe the turmeric hadn't been mixed thoroughly. But then I noticed that I could spread the red with my hands. I had a little fun with this, twisting up my skirt like when you tie-dye, running my hands up and down the skirt. I was pleased to discover that this created a natural red and yellow tie-dye.


And for the result...

How fun!!

I think what happened is the turmeric dye on my hands reacted with the dye on the skirt and produced a beautiful blood red. Any other thoughts or knowledge to share??? I would love to hear!
Happy Dyeing!!

Laughter is contagious

Bodhisattva in metro

Why I Wake Early

poem- Why I Wake Early by Mary Oliver

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello you, who make the morning
and spread it over the fields and
into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even,
the miserable and the crotchety-

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light-

Good morning.
Good morning.
Good morning!

Watch, now, how I start the day in happiness, in kindness.