Spring Fair and Plant Sale at Trailside

Signage for the Arts and Crafts Booth

The Spring Fair and Plant Sale is a major fundraiser for the Demonstration Garden at Trailside (Watchung Reservation). The master gardeners and the interns in the Master Gardener program put in tremendous amount of time and physical work before and during the fair. This event is particularly useful for interns to pick up significant chunk of volunteer hours needed to complete the program.  I was asked to manage the Arts and Crafts section, which ended up being much fun. I made about three dozen catnip toys and half a dozen totes from re-purposed burlap rice bags. There were other items for sale also and we sold $150/ worth of craft items. It was a respectable amount given that the people were there for buying the plants. While at it, I taught a young girl how to make a catnip mouse and gave her a free sample of catnip too. I may have set her on a lifetime of crafty path!

Market Totes 

Catnip Toys

Thanks for visiting.

The rice I cook for my family comes packaged in neat gunny* sacks (burlap in Amer. Engl). After the rice is finished, I try to find new uses for the empty bags. Over the years, I have repurposed them into memo boards, computer bags and little coasters. The above one is the latest reincarnation of the trusty gunny bag into a journal cover. I embellished the cover with a 4x3" piece of cured chalkboard cloth on which you can actually write with a chalk. The felt liner is made out of repurposed plastic bottles. The notebook closes with a cotton cord that I dyed using tea and coffee solutions. I machined stitched around the edges to prevent fraying. I thoroughly enjoy making them and they are available for sale at my Etsy shop

This is a perfect a gift to someone who  keeps journals and likes all things green.

* The British English word "gunny sack" etymologically comes from the Indian word "goni".