Austin’s Urban Farmers Market is Not Far from the Mosaic at Mueller Apartments
August 27, 2010 by Craig
Filed under Around Town, Food, Go Green, Health & Fitness
It's fresh and local at the Triangle Farmers Market.
For a city its size, Austin seems to have an abundance of great farmers markets. It’s no wonder, though. Austinites seem particularly keen to eat well– and the freshest and often most nutritious produce comes from farmers markets. It’s possible, too, that folks in Austin find supporting local growers fulfilling.
We told you about a the very fine Manor Farmers Market to the west of our home at the Mosaic at Mueller Apartments. You can head the other direction, into town, and find an equally good, but slightly more urban farmers market– The Triangle Farmers Market, which meets at Triangle Park at 46th Street.
By “urban” we mean that the Triangle Farmers Market is designed to be an experience as much as a commercial space. Of course, the experience is exactly why some folks might enjoy shopping at the Manor market, but the one in Manor probably wasn’t intended to be an “experience”. In the case of the Triangle Market, in addition to the good, locally grown produce, you can also count on some live music to serenade you as you peruse the fruits and veggies. And there’s a place for kids to play.
In fact, since it’s in a park setting, the organizers urge you to bring a blanket, buy some tomatoes to go with your sandwich, and have a picnic.
The Triangle Farmers Market meets Wednesday evenings 4:00pm to 8:00pm– perfect for after work. It happens at Triangle Park, 4600 Lamar Blvd. at 46th Street. That’s a very short trip from the Mosaic at Mueller apartment community.
Go to the Triangle Farmers Market website for more information.
Photo used under Creative Commons from Laura Taylor.
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Big Bargains and Shopping Fun: Trash to Treasures Garage Sale
August 19, 2010 by Craig
Filed under Around Town, Go Green
It’s a big weekend of bargains coming up.
A lot of people are bracing for the annual Texas Sales Tax Holiday, which is Friday, Saturday and Sunday (August 20 – 22). Most items of clothing, footwear and school supplies under $100 will be exempt from the 6.5% state sales tax this weekend.
That’s excellent. But here’s something else that’s potentially a major money saver… and probably more fun than braving the tax holiday frenzy at the mall– the totally awesome Trash to Treasure Garage Sale on the UT campus.
You just might find the perfect lamp.
It’s a giant garage sale with everything you might want for your dorm, or in the case of the good people of Mosaic at Mueller, your lovely, well appointed apartment.
There will be furniture, area rugs, clothes, books, lamps, mirrors, electronics and other stuff, all in good working order. It’s an annual project that collects items UT students plan to leave behind when they move away for the summer… and then sells them to UT students– and the general public– as the students return to Austin for the new school year.
It helps poor students– and the general public– save some bucks, and it keeps a lot of otherwise good stuff from ending up in the landfill. And all the money raised from the sale goes to the UT Campus Environmental Center to fund student-led environmental projects. Not bad, eh?
The Trash to Treasures Garage Sale happens Sunday (August 22) from 9am to 3pm at the UT Recreational Sports Center, 21st and San Jacinto.
The key is to get there early. Most of the really good stuff goes fast. Shoppers know this. However, to sort of separate the serious bargain hunters from the amateurs, there’s a small entrance fee in the early hours– $4 for regular people, and $2 for current UT students. After 10:30, it’s free to enter.
Have a good time, and here’s hoping you find that perfect lamp for the bed side table.
Photo used under Creative Commons from bark.
Here’s How to Give Your Beloved Old T-Shirt a New Life
Hello Rewind will turn your old t-shirt into a cool laptop sleeve
It seems odd to say, but some of my old t-shirts are among my most treasured possessions. Some remind me of concerts I’ve been to, and I love a couple of old shirts just because they have cool designs.
I would hate to throw them out, but some are just not wearable– either because they’re worn out, or they inexplicably shrunk (I certainly did not enlarge!).
An organization called Hello Rewind has come up with a very clever way of repurposing my old shirts, and helping a good cause at the same time.
Send them an old t-shirt and they will turn it into a very cool and unique laptop computer sleeve. They add some padding, some felt and Velcro, and they take care to include the main graphic design of the shirt in the final product.
Hello Rewind is a social enterprise that helps former victims of sex trafficking create new lives.
Go to hellorewind.com for more information on the work they do, and on how to order your own laptop sleeve. And keep an eye on the website for new t-shirt products they want to roll out eventually.
A Guerrilla Movement That’s Easy to Like
It is not the purpose of the Mosaic at Mueller blog to spread subversion. But there is a guerrilla movement that’s worth making room for. It sometimes has the characteristics of a prank, but it’s non-destructive, and even life affirming, and some say it can have a positive effect on a community.
It’s guerrilla gardening. It often involves groups of people getting together to plant flowers or vegetables in overgrown patches of public land, and even occasionally on neglected private land. There have been guerrilla gardening activities in Austin, but I couldn’t immediately turn up any information on current groups.
But you don’t have to be group minded. It’s as simple as tossing an occasional “seed bomb.” They’re usually a mixture of clay, fertilizer and seeds in a jawbreaker sized ball. You toss one along a barren strip of road, or in a weedy lot, and a while later you’ll see a flower sprout.
VisuaLingual, a design group in Ohio, mail orders seed bombs from their Etsy shop.
And I found this most interesting, Los Angeles design firm CommonStudio also sells refurbrished gumball machines that can be stocked with seed bombs. It’s a way to raise funds, and maybe add some flowers to an urban area.
And it kind of makes you feel like you’re a rebel, too, but in a nice way.
(Image: Some rights reserved, mia.judkins)
One-of-a-Kind Still Exists: The Manor Farmers Market
Fresh is best
Virtually everything we purchase is mass produced, purchased in large chain stores. This includes our food.
I’m not saying there’s anything necessarily wrong with that. But it’s so good to find one-of-a-kind products or experiences. And we have something like that just a few miles from Mosaic at Mueller.
It’s the Manor Farmers Market. It happens only on Wednesday afternoons, but that helps keep it small and special. You’ll find the freshest of fresh produce, home made salsas, jams and dairy products and natural soaps and lotions.
And this being in the Austin area in the 21 century, the market has a very handy presence on the Internet with info on the vendors, who’s expected to be selling each week and what you might see for sale.
The market operates Wednesdays from 4 until 7, at Jennie Lane SmartPark between Lexington & Rector Streets.
Do Your Part in the New Year
December 28, 2009 by
Filed under Go Green
For every trash can of waste you put outside for the trash collector, about 70 trash cans of waste are used in order to create that trash. To reduce the amount of waste you produce, buy products in returnable and recyclable containers and recycle as much as you can. The energy saved from recycling a single aluminum can will operate a television for three hours! If your community doesn’t provide containers for recycling, designate a bin in your garage for recyclables to make it easy for you and your family to recycle things like the newspaper and aluminum cans.
