Location, Location, Location

Retail is products & merchandise. Service, and experience. And sometimes, it's all about the setting. No brick & mortar store can compete with an outdoor location for a retail shopping event, or the way that nature provides the perfect light, colors, scents, textures, and props. Without any coaxing at all, she brings a glorious life to everything in proximity.

The photos shown above are of the effects of a natural location {the remarkable orchards, barn, & grounds of the Dana-Powers House in Nipomo, California} on our Retreat booth at the recent Remnants of the Past Antique show in California. Can you even imagine a more beautiful setting? I certainly can't, and I'd wager to say that the editor and photographers of Country Living magazine can't, either - they stayed all day and photographed everything and everyone for an upcoming story. This was the perfect show in every way, and I am so happy we were invited to participate.

Every one of the fifty vendors presented their glorious wares with such style and flair, you just have to see some of them:

Inspiring, yes? There are hundreds of great display ideas in these photos. Even if your store isn't located in the midst of a lemon orchard, you can utilize touches of nature each season to really bring your products to life. 

Today we were invited to return to Nipomo for the Fall show in October, and we are thrilled to be able to be a part of this remarkable experience once again. Now all I can think about is how absolutely glorious that setting will be in a riot of fall color!

{images: mine; of Retreat, The Tattered House, Blue Canoe, Pammy J Designs}

Grey & Black-ish Brown Moth

Absolutely stunning, in it's monochromatic tones - this moth still looks like a fancy wedding cake or the decorative gingerbread woodwork on a New Orleans home. It's a common moth and quite well disguised, since it's style is the whole tree bark thing (especially the paper birch tree colors!) --->

So I am sure there is some name for it already? Does anyone know who this moth is?
BUT... If I could rename it, I would call it the Bride -n- Groom Moth.
Xoxo

Ramps! (Edible Native Mountain Leek)

What's that floatin' in my zodiac glasses, you ask?!? It's the most coveted, prized, celebrated, and hidden native onion plant of the Appalachian Mountains! Technically it's actually a leek, but my gawd it doesn't taste like one - it's a pungent, savory, delicious flavor that may just blow all other onions out the water. When I found these ramps being sold on the side of the road on HWY 209 (Duckett's down in Crabtree) I was ecstatic, because I had not yet found any growing in my little forest -
I was told they need shade but also a slightly open area to propagate, so i walked around till I intuitively felt I had hit good spots under a canopy of trees but with plenty space to grow.
The soil was dark under the leaves, rich, and fluffy - I dug a hole a couple inches down (4 inches or so) and placed 3 bulbs together in each hole. (You can place each one separately also.)

I chose spots where many other native plants are already thriving - this is a good way to know that the soil is right for the ramps.
The most fun part was when I bought these on the roadside the local people who ran the produce place told me "Nobody ever tells anyone else where their ramp patch is, so if you plant these don't ever tell anyone where you planted them..."

I won't tell. But next year when they grow if ya'll ask me for some I will definitely share! :)
Xoxoxo