Three years ago one of my daughters and I discovered this tree. We have made it a tradition to visit it in spring to experience it's beautiful flowers which blow in the wind and fall onto the surrounding rocks. There are no words to describe how magical this is. In celebration of Earth Day I would like to highlight this tree which illustrates the diversity and gift of our natural world.

Halesia Carolina tree is a species flowering plant in the family Styracaceae, native to southeastern United States. It is a vigorous deciduous shrub or tree, bearing masses of pendent, bell - shaped white flowers which develop in spring before leaves appear.

Watercolor by Suzanne Luby Ahrens ©2020 all rights reserved

Peace.

©2020 Suzanne Luby Ahrens, all rights reserved

Bursting with berries at the end of August and September this European Rowan Tree has been on the property of an established farm for many years.

The wood of the European Rowan Tree is dense and used for carving and turning for wood handles. Rowan fruit are a traditional source for vegetable dyes. In Finland it is a traditional wood for sled shafts and rake spikes.

The fruit of the European Rowan can be cooked and made into a slightly bitter jelly which in Britain is traditionally eaten with game. European Rowan berries are also used to flavor liqueurs and cordials.

Fruit eating birds thrive on this plant.

The dense clusters of varied orange berries and spiked foliage are a beautiful visual for fall, I would love to use them in an arrangement for my table.

Suzanne Ahrens

Each year our family is taken aback at how green our neighbors' lawns are and how quickly they become green. Recently we received a call to action from our town not to direct gutters toward the street - the debris flowing into the street and eventually into our streams, lakes, ponds, and rivers is polluting the water and putting wild life at risk. The chemicals in the substances being used to "weed", chemicals used to "feed" lawns and gardens are polluting our environment. It is detrimental for humans too!

As we celebrate Earth Day today I want to share with you some steps our family and our small business, Verde Cosi, has taken over the years to aid in helping our environment and increase the bio diversity in our own back yard.

1) Decrease the use of plastics.

- We wrap lunches in biodegradable parchment. Also we hope to try the reusable wax coated fabric pouches available.

- We use reusable bags at the grocery store.

2)We do not use gutters on our house.

-Instead we use the small rocks collected while gardening to eliminate back splashing of water against our house.

-We collect rain water with simple storage containers and rain barrels. This reduces the amount of water used to water our gardens. It also reduces our water bill!

3)We collect kitchen scraps in a bucket and combine in our compost pile with leaves and grass clippings. Over time all of this turns into the best soil for our gardens. This saves money on purchasing soil! This has dramatically reduced what we throw out each week in the garbage! We use a small tight lidded metal bucket by the compost pile year round to put organic kitchen scraps in. When it is full we dig a hole in the compost and cover with soil.

This method reduces raccoons, foxes, etc. Actually we haven't seen any in our yard in the past year by using this method. 

4)We buy organic whenever possible. My primary motivation is knowing that the farmers that produce organic crops will benefit from your purchase. More people buying organic will increase the number of organic farms and improve our environment. This is healthier for people too!

5)We try to buy local. Local farms and businesses who are making efforts toward improving our environment will grow from your purchases.

What does Verde Cosi do to help the environment?

-We purchase our supplies locally.

- Our fabrics are printed here in the U.S.A. using environmentally responsible processes. This also means considerably less fuel spent shipping our products. Imagine the products that are made overseas - large tanker ships are used, polluting our oceans.

-Verde Cosi uses local talent to assist in sewing our products. This helps our local community. 

-Verde Cosi saves fabric scraps and repurposes them for smaller products. Our studio on average throws out only one garbage bag per month!

Verde Cosi is constantly examining how we do business to better our environment.

Connecting with nature by teaching our children, families, and friends the importance of trying to become more aware of our environment is a priceless step in the right direction for our earth and future generations of people and wild life.

I want to thank you for your support of Verde Cosi. I hope this post inspires you to take action. Small steps make a big difference. There are many rewards to not having greener grass until it is ready to turn green. People in our neighborhood observe the gardens we have and enjoy with enthusiasm the beauty of our yard. Over the years our family has observed over thirty varieties of bird species! We do not even feed them with bird feeders. Our children pull weeds on their own properties instead of using chemicals. Remember good soil from your compost pile means less weeds.

Honestly, seeing our children be aware of what we do is the best reward, ever!

For more information about what we can do to help the earth, people, and wildlife - visit https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-tips/

and thank you for supporting Verde Cosi!

We will be selling our Garden, home, fashion textiles and fine art at SoWa Open Market. Sunday June 23, 2019! Visit http://www.verdecosi.com for our schedule and details of upcoming shows and markets! We will also be selling Suzanne's fine art at Beacon Hill Art Walk June 2, 2019.