We hope that you are fortunate enough to find your way to the precious and colorful backwoods of Vermont in late September or early October. Maybe you can imagine the beauty from looking at Tasha's illustrations. Maybe you can even feel the sweet warmth of the autumn hues and golden sunlight from her watercolors with borders of fall flowers. We wonder what we can do to give back to the earth for the joy it bestows upon us.
How can we bring the joy we feel in Tasha's autumnal forest into your home, so you may enjoy it too? How can we share the feeling we get when we are holding tomatoes, beets and carrots that have grown from such small seeds, planted only a few months ago. We hope to convey some of our rural bounty by putting Tasha's illustrations at your fingertips with something brand new. This fall, for the first time, we release our own 2017 wall art calendar and offer you a taste of the special way that Tasha celebrated each month.
This is not your ordinary calendar, as you can see for yourself! Yes, it will help you figure out what day it is, but doesn’t stop there. Every month can be detached and displayed in a number of ways. You may frame your favorites for year round enjoyment. You may begin collecting these calendars and make an art gallery. For instance, in 2018, you could display both Januarys, side by side to make an art gallery that changes monthly.
That’s not all. Perhaps instead of displaying them in the future, you decide to harvest the pages and turn them into Sparrow Post boxes and cards. We’ve printed templates on the back to guide you. Or if cutting into them is too soul-wrenching, may we suggest that you order two calendars? Imagine the joy of using Tasha’s example and creating a miniature mail system with and for your children and grandchildren. This calendar provides a way for you to spend time with your family and partake in the joy of sending mail to their dolls, teddy bears or other loved ones.
With the same deep connection for the earth that Tasha shared, we are looking at each product we create through a sustainability lens. When we harvest our carrots to store, our guinea pigs feast upon the delicious carrot tops. In a similar manner, we want all parts of our new calendar to recycle back into the earth, even the packaging, once you are done with it. Our new calendar has nothing to throw away, no plastic wrap, no wire, no paper coated with plastic.
Tasha once said “I don’t believe in spraying plants with pesticides, because I think we are all part of the universe and if you abuse it, you are abusing yourself very blindly.”
Now it is our turn to take the extra time to bring you packaging that whispers gently to the earth as it returns to its source by reuse, recycle or upcycling.
We are avidly looking at converting everything we offer to you in this earth centered way...and we hope you will understand the time it takes to find the solutions that would come naturally for Tasha, so that we can feel totally happy with every new product! Sometimes our options create a slightly higher price than we are comfortable passing on to you. Again, as we take our earth into consideration, we, with some nervousness, take on the notion that you support the deep appreciation for the beauty of our woods, earth and rural joys that Tasha expressed in of her illustrations.
So it is with all the joy of the season that we offer you the bounty and harvest of a year's worth of deep exploration into a beautiful product that shares not only Tasha’s whimsical illustrations but also her practice of caring for our earth and thusly ourselves!
Coming next month:
Learn more about Winslow Tudor's new Tasha Tudor Family Cookbook, available for sale now in our online store and at the Tasha Tudor Museum in Brattleboro.
