Yeah Spring (almost!)

Well, it's been a while, lots has been going on and I'm finally getting the Earthly Presence site up and running within days , maybe even hours.

With the weather warming and the snow drops and crocus popping their little faces out, it really feels the winter cold is behind us (shhhh, I'm completely ignoring the wet flurries call for tonight and tomorrow). Vancouver is such an amazing place to witness the transformation into spring. This year it seems is a little more dramatic than usual since we've had so much of that cold and white stuff. Not whining though. The payoff for enduring it all (bad drivers, no bike riding, frozen toes and all) is on how beautiful this place is in the spring.

I've discovered some amazing local artists and I don't mean to say 'discover' as the early European explorers said 'discover' in a way that meant they didn't have any presence or importance before I came along, I just mean that I've discovered them in my life and am excited to present them to you if you haven't yet 'discovered' them for yourself. Check out my site for artists who's product I'm listing.

By the way, if you are a local artist (Southern BC) and are interested in us listing your product, contact us at info@earthlypresence.com . We are especially interested in artists working with natural/organic or recycled material.

My latest green initiative is using a vinegar and water solution to rinse produce instead of worrying about those "pre-packaged" washes. Here's the info I got from "Ideal Bite" which is an amazing source of tidbits delivered regularly to your email address. You can read or delete as desired but they are truly inspirational and fun to read.

The Bite
Use water and white vinegar - no lie. A few squirts on your fruits and veggies gets rid of the nasty stuff (like pesticide residue) that you don't want - no store-bought washes necessary. Sincerely yours, Ideal Bite.

The Benefits

• Brushing bugs under the rug. A diluted vinegar rinse kills 98% of bacteria on produce - researchers found it works even better than a scrub brush.
• Cash savings you can believe in. Water and vinegar rinses cost just pennies; the premade washes we found cost $4 and up.
• It's a simple truth: Buying plastic bottles of produce wash means having to recycle them too (not to mention the energy and materials needed to make and ship them in the first place) - you'll still need to buy bottles of vinegar, but you'll buy fewer of them.

Personally Speaking
Some of us who happen to have white vinegar in our pantries actually have no idea how it got there. Now we've got a use for it…

Wanna Try?

• Mix water to white vinegar 3:1 in a spray bottle (if you've already got a bottle of the premade stuff, use it up and reuse the sprayer). Rinse with water after you spray. Yes, it's that easy.