reduce, reuse, reclaim?

Anyone who's ever visited our warehouse (or read our post about those painted reclaimed planks) will know that we're always excited by new ways to showcase items that had another life.

Whether it's eggshells used as vase facing,

using discarded teak scraps to make a mirror frame,



transforming old bottles into frosty blue vessels, or simply giving some love to a starfish top that just a tad too small to be a table,



we just love it when amazing results come from the unexpected.

So for a couple of weeks, we've been pondering a profile of Ecovative Design in L Magazine at the end of April. Not for nothing, we can almost always be enticed to read articles titled "The Death of Styrofoam?" They were profiled in Treehugger & Popular Science last December, and have even showed up on CSI:NY.

Stumbling on methods of manufacture is certainly is of intellectual interest for the sustainably-minded. However, it's of distinct interest here at FTS. If for no other reason than trying to make sure your eco-friendly principles manifest themselves in all your dealings - including packing material for cross-country shipments - is always a challenge. Foam packing peanuts simply can't compare to this...

photo from Ecovative

That's why the profile about Ecovative's Ecocradle Packaging was amazing. Using materials like mushroom roots (aka fungal mycelium), seed husks, and even cotton burrs to create a cushioned, strong, and mold-able alternative to modern petrol-based styrofoam is inspired not only because you can dispose of it by tossing it in the garden,
photo from Ecovative

but it takes the refuse from agricultural production and gives it a new life.

If - like some of us - you're a bit of a specs nut, you'll even be impressed that the folks at Ecovative think enough of us put material specifications front and center, which is further proof of how serious they are about moving from pesky start-up to the global standard that could be used regionally in different ways depending on indigenous agricultural materials.

When we think about all the packing peanuts, foam spacers, and maybe even shrink wrap that could be grown for us instead of extruded it's an encouraging proposition. Ok, so maybe talk of using fungal mycelium as a bonding resin, saving money on costs by using agricultural waste products, and transforming lignin & cellulose into bio-composites doesn't whet everyone's appetite. However, if you're concerned at all about making changes the help our environment, and styrofoam that grows like a garden doesn't move you, we don't know what will.

photos from Ecovative

Farm gets closer to your table

We've done a bit of restaurant work over the years.





Lately, we've been fielding increasing requests for bar tops, tables, and even some chairs, especially since our first restaurant show early this year.

So, now when we run across articles like Field Report: Fresh Direction in the NY Times magazine at the end of April there's a different level of interest. Like how eating in a restaurant is never the same if you've worked in a kitchen or waited tables.

Like most concerned with sustainability issues and interested in living a more planet-friendly life, we've been encouraged by the steady growth of Slow Food, Farm to Table, and CSAs (community supported agriculture) efforts over the past two decades, and there seems to be a critical growth marker with places like Coon Rock Farm's, Eno Restaurant & Market.

There are all sorts restaurants focused on getting locally & responsibly produced menus. Some are even looking to supply their own ingredients in part - like the upcoming Breuckelen, for example. Detractors and critics of these efforts obviously point to challenges like where to source olive oil, spices or staples like rice and flour, but we think they miss the overall point that taking small steps toward a larger goal are required even if everything can't be solved at once.

Eno Restaurant & Market wants to take local production one step further by producing nearly all of its menu at Coon Rock Farms, which is only about 20 miles away. The partners at Coon Rock Farms - Jamie DeMent & Richard Holcomb - and chef Marco Shaw - formally of Fife in Portland, OR - intend for the farm to provide about 60% of their menu, with hopes to eventually reach 100%. Their goals include continuing to supply local CSA's and even customers in the restaurant (like that turnip salad? when you ask for the check, just tell them to include a few bunches for you to make at home)

photo: David La Spina, New York Times

Listening to chef Shaw discuss the challenges of sourcing locally and working seasonally in the present day restaurant industry you get the sense that he and the team at Eno can make this work. Eno Restaurant & Market could just become another part in the effort toward decentralized, regional production, which some point to as part of the solutions to creating sustainable cities and towns.

photo: Project for Public Spaces site

Of course, spend time with anyone old enough to remember when small, local family farms weren't an endangered species and when vacation planning meant navigating tight harvest schedules and they'd marvel that anyone would think that some of these concepts are foreign. We think that proves exactly how far and how quickly we've gone from having intimate knowledge of food's origins to thinking that pork chops just come wrapped in cellophane. It's like how we must feel when people seemed puzzled when we say that there's no such thing as a plywood tree and MDF isn't an exotic hardwood.

Even if it's not a new idea, we really appreciate the effort to get the farm even closer to the table (hopefully an FTS table). Looking in the past can sometimes point toward a great future path, and Eno Restaurant & Market and Coon Rock Farm will hopefully be one sign of the path to come.

Happy Anniversary, Earth Day

This coming Thursday is Earth Day - the 40th Anniversary - and we think it's a great time to mark all the progress that's been made, and simultaneously think about all that still needs to be done.

Here at FTS we've been really busy over the past year, joining the Sustainable Furnishings Council, experimenting with various eco-friendly finishes, working with the Rainforest Alliance's Smartwood Program to nail down VLO verfication, and prepping to make the next steps toward several different types of certifications. So, we're really aware of how much work it takes to get down in the trenches and make a push toward a sustainable world. It's takes a global effort, it's a local effort, and it takes individual effort.

In the run up there looks like they'll be a lot of different efforts and publicity related to Earth Day, and we found a couple of great examples.

A great source that talks about all the urgent work that still needs to be done is an article by Patricia Pooladi on the National Academies site. It gives great resources on global needs and efforts. One of the pieces we're excited to see is WLIW 21's "Going Green Long Island" a local documentary that goes into the efforts of some of the local efforts being made by our Long Island neighbors.

We have friends out there like the good folks at Gansett Lane out on Montauk, so there's special interest for us. There are a plethora of events out there, and we'll share the ones we know about, but if you know of one let us know.

While it's great that we've had a day every year to bring awareness to what can happen when we try to live within nature's balance instead of outside it, but we're trying to work for a time when everyday's Earth Day.

greener than thou: Spouse edition

It's not necessarily a new phenomenon that disagreements about household purchases can sometimes strain relationships. Anyone who's tried to buy a couch, tv, kitchen, or even a printer with your roommate or significant other has probably experienced some sort escalating argument that stems from slight differences of opinion.

It's a scenario that people in the furniture industry often see, and especially in a company like ours where two people come to the warehouse to buy a dining room table, and one falls for a live edge light brown mango table, and the other can't take their eye off a slab made from railroad ties

However, an article in the NY Times from January still seems to be relevant as we mull it over and over, and run into the situation (as recently as last weekend)...therapists seeing an increase in strained relationships because one considers themselves more environmentally aware than their significant other.

photo: Ann Johansson, NY Times.

Here are a couple of really good lines...

"As awareness of environmental concerns has grown, therapists say they are seeing a rise in bickering between couples and family members over the extent to which they should change their lives to save the planet."

"Mr. Fleming, who says he became committed to Ms. Cobb “before her high-priestess phase,” describes their conflicts as good-natured — mostly.

But he refuses to go out to eat sushi with her anymore, he said, because he cannot stand to hear her quiz the waiters"

We'd offer advice, but as we've found when folks are deciding between two slabs or debating whether to go with a clear water-based finish, or a dark brown finish, sometimes it's best to step away and come back in a few minutes, which might not actually be bad advice.