Heirloom tomatoes

When we were growing up, our dad always planted a fantastic vegetable garden.  Each year, he'd pick one of us three kids and he'd plant radish seeds in the shape of our name. When the seedlings started to sprout our name would be growing there!  The fresh carrots, sugar snap peas, endless zucchini and squash were all delicious. It was the tomatoes, though, that were the real prize. Colorful, sweet, warm right off the vine.

For years, I'd been meaning to sculpt miniature heirloom tomatoes.  This year, inspired by my neighbors at the Charlottesville City Market, Broadhead Mountain Farm, and many many awesome food and farm instagrammers, I finally made some prototypes!  

These are the first three: a green zebra, a yellow pineapple, and a classic red tomato (not sure what variety!).  What other varieties should I make to flesh out the tomato rainbow?

Rolling Broccoli Riders

One of our lovely customers purchased a pair of these broccoli cuff links recently. We always send a thank you email, confirming the purchase and letting people know when their goodies will ship. Virtually no one ever responds to this email. In this instance, however, she replied and gave us the story behind her purchase- a rare treat for us!

Turns out she wanted these broccoli cuff links for her husband, who happens to be an avid motorcyclist (strictly BMWs, which sounds really familiar, Mr. Inedible being a vintage BMW addict rider himself.)

What on earth, you might ask, does broccoli have to do with BMW motorcycling? Well, everything it turns out! Her husband is a member of a group of motorcycle enthusiasts (emphatically not a motorcycle gang) that call themselves The International Order of Rolling Broccoli Riders. They even have a website! You can read all about the history of the order (which is truly international, with members from both Canada and the US), as well as learn some of their broccoli songs.

This is certainly the best broccoli-themed association ever invented!

So, when you're traveling through Canada or some of the more northerly parts of the US, be on the lookout for some really friendly guys on BMWs. You'll know it's the Broccoli Riders if they all have green thumbnails. (Or if they're wearing broccoli cuff links!)

Two veggie treasuries

We were thrilled this week when we were featured in two treasuries dedicated to vegetables! A while back it was all about the cupcakes. Perhaps we're seeing a new healthy-eating trend in the works? :)

The first one was curated by FortCloudy, and has some really hilarious selections! (Click on the image for a closer look.)
I adore the "Aw Shucks" card- how can you not love food puns? Sudlow makes gorgeous peas in the pod earrings. Our little avocado on a ribbon was featured in this one.

The second treasury was curated by SadieandLeo. I love how certain pieces show up again, and yet how different the overall collection looks! (Click on image for a closer look at everything.)

The painting of the onion is lovely, I adore the expressions on the irked felted carrots with buttons, and the asparagus card is fun and fresh. She included our broccoli cuff links in this one. (A guy's gotta have his veggies too!)

Update: Woot! The second treasury made the front page!! (We didn't know this until it was too late- the broccolis sold before we could add a second pair, alas. But they sold, so yay!)

Deathly Hallows Treasury

A while back we mentioned that we were surprised by the number of people requesting radish earrings. Well, this week, we have a follow-up to the story! The last Harry Potter book has, as basically everyone knows, been published. A clever Etsian has put together a treasury about horcruxes on etsy, and included our radishes! (Note: the radishes are not, in fact, horcruxes; do not be afraid to purchase them, they are not evil.)

Here's a screen shot of the treasury, which is really well-put together. (The colors flow together and really capture a mood!) Click on the image for a closer look.

The journal, the tiara, and the gold cup ring are all just stunning pieces! And the angel Snape is just so sad and sweet.

I love treasuries for the way they highlight amazing items I would have never otherwise run across, given the vast number of items for sale on etsy at any given time.

Thank you to OverTheTop for including us in her treasury!

Inedible art: AnthroPoMorphCo

AnthroPoMorphCo has a very simple mission: to make everything your friend. That the vast majority of their goodies are friendly foods makes them all the more awesome.

The artist begins by creating hilariously expressive cartoons of various foods, and gives each of them a distinct personality and great name: Red light Radish, Too-cool Cucumber, No one Likes Broccoli. You get the idea.

Each character is then given life on various goodies, such as stickers, t-shirts, aprons, note cards, wine charms... you name it, she's probably got it. You can even make your own! She has patterns so that you can appliqué various humanized veggies onto pillows or backpacks, or wherever you need your Spud Muffin or Peapod Sisters.

She currently has three collections of food-themed friends (along with a collection of Holiday ones that are not foodie): Mental Vegetables, Gourds of Goth, and Drinky-Poos.

The Gourds of Goth are perfect for Fall and Halloween, or as gifts for your Cure-lovin', eyeliner-wearin' real friend or family member. The white pumpkin with the dark eyeliner is sheer genius. And how can you not love a name like "Baron von Butternut"?

The Drinky-Poos are a swank collection of goodies that you'd find behind a bar: Rocksie (ice cube!), Mara (a cherry), Piña (one guess), Olivier di Martini (a very swanky deboniar Olive- really, you have to see his eyes!), and several others.
You know you need a ring featuring a slice of pineapple for Ladies Night, or a pair of On the Rocks cuff links for a drink at the club.

What are we hoping for next? Baked Buddies. Friendly chocolate chip cookies, brownies, maybe a slice of birthday cake....

radish earrings

Months ago, we had a fun custom request for a pair of radish earrings. We're perhaps a touch too biased towards the dessert foods, so we're always happy to create things that are healthy. The customer received her earrings, and was quite happy. We didn't think much of the whole process (lots of people order random foods) until last week, when a new customer requested that we re-create the radishes for her.

So, we happily re-listed the radish earrings for sale, sold them to another happy customer. And were immediately contacted again. This is fantastic, but we were a little perplexed at the sudden passion for the radish. Veggies are generally not high on our best-sellers list (although the avocado earrings are fairly popular as well, even if they are technically a fruit.) We seem to sell a lot more cupcakes, really. And radishes are not the most obvious of vegetable.

And then, it all became clear! The new Harry Potter movie is coming out in a few weeks (July 11, yes, I did bother to check!), and one of the characters, Luna Lovegood, has a thing for radish earrings. A-ha! One cannot arrive at the opening night of the new Harry Potter movie without radish earrings, can they?

We have now added them to our regular inventory, so if you need some radish earrings of your own, they are listed here: radish earrings If this pair sells out, check our store- we've most likely re-listed them.