Where Have We Been ?

Over and over again we keep hearing people say where have you guys been? When are you going to start back in business again? We have missed you!
Well it has been over a year now and there has been a lot that has happened.
However, in the course of this time we been able to rediscover our focus and passion for what it was we were trying to do here. It has been very strange to not have a brick and mortar store front to walk into every day. Even stranger still is the somewhat disconnected feeling when you are not out mixing it up with folks in one way or another when you work with the public.
Working with people and helping them to discover beautiful things for themselves, and others, around them, in their homes and lives, but also beautiful things about themselves.
So here's the deal!!!!!!!
E F HOME & CO is in the process of relaunching and we are SOOOOOO excited. This will be a gradual process but we are very hopeful. You will be able to follow us once again on Facebook and we will also soon have a completely redesigned blog called E F STYLE. These changes will help us to reflect an interest and passion for a lifestyle that is both doable and affordable.
On our new blog we will feature great ideas for home, decor, entertaining, & gardening.
But there is one new feature that we are especially excited over....daughter India is joining us with fantastic ideas on fashion and accessories.
Through these blog pages we will keep you up to date, show case featured products, and give you the latest news on E F HOME & CO. Stand by and then come join us SOON!

Scratches on Furniture ?

Have scratches on your furniture? Here are some ideas that might be helpful and we have tried all but the maple one time or another and the work.
-For walnut furniture use the meat of walnut. Break the nut in two and rub the scratch with it.
-For mahogany rub the scratch with a dark brown crayon and buff it gently.
-For maple combine equal amounts of iodine, and denatured alcohol. Use a cotton swab and dab scratch. Then wax and buff surface.
Haven't tried the maple so I can't make any guarantees so test a spot first. As for the other two. We have tried them.

I HAVE TO INTRODUCE YOU TO THIS.........

Ok, so when I recommend food or food stuffs to someone and they say to me "is it really that good?" I  will generally follow up with "yes, Look at me I know food" .
However, I really am impressed with a new olive oil that was given to us as a gift. I know what you are saying ----Olive oil really?!?
Yes, it is that good.
This extra virgin olive oil is from Fratelli Carli - Olio Carli.
It so much reminds me of the olive oil that we used around home years ago.
It has that smooth buttery olive taste that is missing in so much of the oils on the market today.
We have used it to cook chicken breast strips for tacos-- which it really enhanced the flavour of the finished meal.
We've used it on salad and (my personal favourite) drizzled of bread.
I can't wait to grill vegetables with this.
The flavour is not over powering, but has that complimentary effect that really good olive oil should have.
And Fratelli Carli even have a great website; www.oliocarli.com, that is worth checking out. I even enjoyed the fact that they answer all kinds of questions about olive oil and it's benefits. They even touch on the fact that there are oils on the market stocked as "olive oil" which are composed of various other oils in addition. Good information to know --- the more informed you are the better off you are to make choices for you and your family.
Did you know that there is a olive museum? Well there is and you can even find info on that on their website.
You can buy their products directly from them online.
I'm sold !

A Glass Act !

It is estimated that glass has been around for several thousand years. In fact apparently there is evidence that some form of glass making was going on over 5000 years ago around the area of Mesopotamia. Ok that's interesting, but I will bet that some where close behind the person going "oooohhh shiny".
Glass has always had a fascination for most of us even just as children. I am amused when in the course of a conversation an otherwise unaffected and self-controlled adult will suddenly blurt out "look how the light is shining through that glass". Their eyes all aglow like a child when the Christmas lights come on.
Let's face it it is striking.

When I was a child it was all the rage to add food colouring to water and place clear bottles with this concoction in the widow as coloured glass had become somewhat scarce. It was after all the era of the 60's and white bread, white flour, and white eggs were clearly better, so glass had to follow suit and be clear.
Thankfully, coloured glass has been rediscovered and collections of coloured glass on a window sill make a nice way to catch afternoon light.If at some point a sprig of something is add to one here or there even better!
Here we have brought together some ideas from our own collection of glass. As you can see they don't have to be anything fancy in fact. It's amazing how many convenience store drink bottles come in coloured glass. So be creative, look around and don't count out those thrift stores. They can many times be a good source of interesting glassware.Also a suggestion a piece here and there with facets will add some extra pop to your display as well.

Just have fun with it.
Many of the pieces that we have shown here in both the blue and the green collection are family pieces, however others were things friends were glad to get rid of, and yes still others are "thrift finds".

HERE'S AN IDEA !

Irene Jordan works a lot of hours and very rarely gets to find the time for her absolute passion ---gardening. She wanted to create an area where she could have the garden close for those days when she couldn't get to hers, but it had to be something easy to maintain.
So here is what she came up with!
The plants are all from her favorite nursery and the bright and cheery orange teapot was from a thrift store for just a couple bucks.
She combined a Coreopsis, a couple of Spider plants, a English ivy, and Hen and chick. These are all in 4" pots. Notice how the nice variety of plants gave a texture to the whole arrangement which allowed the kettle to shine.

It really says Summer! 
The whole thing cost her maybe $15. She set the arrangement up on a coffee table on her deck. 
Simple no doubt

Trees Like Old Friends

At the head of our drive stands a Silver Maple tree that is probably nearly as old as our home (which was a post-Civil War settlement). 
It isn't shapely, it's arms; which are large enough to be trees in their own right, veer out at angles like a hand with the fingers spread. 
As if this wasn't enough every year it drops what I am sure are the "most seeds ever".
No, I do it ever year. Each year without fail I find myself going crazy trying to keep the maple seeds out of everything.
Now if you are not aware they (the maple seeds) come down like little helicopters raining from above and all I can do is watch.
Hundreds of thousands of attempts at progeny spiral to the ground.
Every year we go round and round about this. I feel that it should be removed. The seed thing aside, if this thing ever comes down it will not only take out our power, any vehicle inopportune enough to be in the drive at the time, and cause damage to our home, but it will also take the power out for a mile radius easy as it spreads out over the power line poles.
However, when I point this out I am reminded by my wife; Alexsondra, that it has stood for this many years, it shows no sign of disease, and that it gives shade to our home.
Now, I wonder how did I find myself in this position. I am after all one of the most infuriated nature lovers you will ever see when trees are being bulldozed indiscriminately.
It has been a real revelation on perspective.
Anyway, the other day I was planning what we could do if the "tree" was gone. As I mused on this I began to think about the effects this would have. I began to think of the large "space" it would leave.
And then--- you guessed it I began to get sentimental.
I thought of how when our children were little; especially our boys who are now both adults, would climb up (I probably should not share this) and spit down on one another.
Apparently, this was great fun.
I remembered the woman I had gone to school with sharing how her parents had put a swing in that tree for she and her sister.Her mother had built a rock garden to the side of that tree.
In old photos of this farm taken some seventy years ago there stands "the tree".
It dawned on me how this tree; like each of us is a "player" in the unfolding story of this place.
Isn't that true for most things in our lives.
The spouse who gets on our last nerve, the children we feel like will never grow up, the friend or relation that always comes with so much "baggage" in their life, and even the "if I have to open this door one more time to let you in or out I will scream" four legged companion.
And when they are gone no more intrusions ---- finally we have our space.
Space....and time to reflect.
Thank the good Lord for this moment of reflection..... and to think all it took was one ancient tree and hundreds of thousands of maple seed pods.
Well the tree and I have made peace for now........but next year it is all on.

Planning A Garden - Consider Pollinators Too !

It has been estimated that about one third of the worlds food production can be traced back; either directly or indirectly to bees. All most 130 agricultural plants are pollinated by bees and the annual value of honey bee pollination is well over $9 billion. That is just here in the U.S.,.
In Canada the estimated annual benefit from honey bees is put at somewhere around $443 million dollars.
These kinds of figures have caused a greater interest in the commercial usage of bees in the scheme of agriculture. This may well however, cause further problems for the honey bee. It has been speculated that part of the reason for so many hives crashing (or dying) are the methods used in the production of commercial hives. Honey bees are one of the few things in nature where inbreeding works in their defense. A single queen will produce the work force that is seen in a hive, and any that are not her offspring are related to her from the previous queen. This process allows the bee colony to develop an enhanced immunity within a radius of around 30 miles (side note: This is also one of the reasons that so many naturopaths recommend local honey to their patients - but that is another post). In commercial hive production it is standard to take the existing queen and destroyed and a new queen is introduced. The reasoning is that this creates a sort of hybrid vigor and also an increase in reproduction, thus allowing for the creation of new hives. These bees; who were formerly within their 30 mile radius, are now trucked sometimes hundreds of miles to commercial farms.
It is amazing that although the honey bee is a European import we have become quite dependent on it even in nature.
In addition as we develop and clear more and more areas there are fewer green spaces that other "native" pollinators can call home.
So, here is where you can help and benefit from your efforts as well.
Many gardeners have known for sometime that planting a strip of blooming flowers along the edge of their vegetable garden would increase not only the aesthetics of the garden but would boost production. In addition you are creating a space for pollinators to feed and flourish. This form of gardening was very apparent in most gardens both here and in Europe for decades. Then after the high production methods of the last 50 yrs the average cultivated space; and even in our veggie gardens, became an sterile desert of only what was produced for direct use. We got our "good" and "new" definitions misplaced in the dictionary.
My grandmother used to say good and new at not found in the same place [in the Webster's].
It is now being rediscovered that pollinators increase your small patch garden yield too, and you can feel good knowing that you have provided for them as well.
Yet another suggestion if you have any areas that you are difficult to mow or maintain consider a wildflower strip. They are easy to do and only require minimal maintenance. Most mixes contain flowers that you will probably recognize like poppies, black-eyed Susan, along with others in the mix. Check out this website for some ideas.
http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/gardening.shtml