so much for posting every day in september. LOL
october has been full—and of course, it is two days before halloween and i’m semi-frantically trying to finish ella’s costume. i’ll post about it when the rush is over.
i’m about to make a partial about face on my stance against holiday crafting. or rather, i’m about to make that about face on behalf of local and regional crafters and i hope you’ll join me.
the difference it makes when you place your cash into the same hands as the ones that made the thing you’re buying is profound, especially if it is someone from your own town, your own neighborhood, maybe a friend you know in real life. you establish a relationship of trust, of mutual benefit and support, which imbues the transaction with meaning well beyond the simple acquisition of goods or services.
my family has experienced this over and over—by purchasing our beef from a farmer we know, whose family has been in our home and with whom we have a relationship. we have visited the farm where our CSA vegetables were grown, have had our vegetables placed in a box for us by the farmer himself, have carried the box of fresh peppers and eggplants back to our car past the rows and rows of fresh peppers and eggplants still growing on his land. we have, of course, made many, many gifts, and have delighted in the hours of contemplation on the person we love so much that we are willing to invest hours of work to make something just for them.
so what i’m proposing is that we all stop, as much as possible, offering our hard-earned cash to big-box retailers, stop giving away our precious financial resources for cheap trinkets, and take it all back home, by either creating our own gifts and providing our own events and services or, perhaps better yet, by putting our gift and service dreams in the hands of people who can make them come to life. i’m proposing that we buy local or regional, or if you must go afield, to consider places like etsy, where crafters and artisans make their goods available to the whole world.
so--for the month of november i’ll be featuring nashville/middle TN crafters and artists, as well as online makers for those outside middle tennessee. i believe you’ll find someone, or several someones, who can provide the type of handmade craftsmanship that is worthy of your cash and of the recipients of your thoughtfulness.
if you want to be featured in this series, send me a detailed email at rowena@rostitchery.com, with information about your product, service, event, etc. i want to include as many people as possible, so don’t wait--the first week of listings is already full!
*please feel free to share your own stories about buying locally, as well as links to artists and craftsmen in your area. i promise, word gets around, and there is power in numbers. :)
