Welcome to our AUGUST 2021 Newsletter!
The Mama Farm B&B and Our Fall CSA
The Mama Farm B&B is officially open! We’re excited to accommodate you and your guests. Our full B&B booking website will be up by late August. In the meantime, if you are interested in booking, please email info@mamafarm.us.
As the summer season winds down, we will be turning all our attention to getting the B&B operations up and running. For that reason, Mama Farm will not be doing a fall CSA this year. Egg members will continue to receive their eggs until our chickens stop producing (usually around late September). Cheese, bread, chicken and meats offerings will end after Labor Day weekend CSA pick up and resume again in Spring 2022. Thank you all for such a fun and successful summer 2021!
For those interested in receiving only vegetables into the fall, Patty’s vegetable CSA will still be running from September 11th and go until November 20th. Please check out our newsletter’s In The Weeds With Early Girl below for more details.
Prota Fiori is the first of it’s kind – a women’s luxury footwear brand designed using grape and apple skins.
In late 2018, Jennifer Stucko started researching the negative impact of the fashion industry as the 2nd most toxic industry on the planet. At this time, Jennifer realized that her values and what she cared about and loved dearly – Italian craftsmanship and Mother Earth – were not aligned. At this point she wished to make a positive impact for something bigger than herself. The result of this reckoning is Jennifer’s luxury sustainable shoe brand, Prota Fiori, which launched on April 1st, 2020. Prota Fiori is the first of it’s kind – a women’s luxury footwear brand designed and with state-of-the-art sustainable materials including upcycled grape and apple skins, fully sourced and made in Italy.
In fact, the product, including the packaging, are made from plant-based fibers and environmentally friendly materials. “I wanted to create a product which celebrated classic Hollywood glamour, but committed to innovative and responsible fashion design. The ways of doing things in the fashion industry have to change. At the same time, customers expect a certain standard and level of design. My mission is to deliver a quality product that doesn’t rob our beautiful Earth, nor from future generations.”
Prior to creating Prota Fiori, Jennifer worked at luxury brands like Giorgio Armani, Valentino, Ralph Lauren and A.Testoni. Her tenured background meant she had valuable industry expertise in all phases of product development from design to manufacturing, supply chain management, marketing and more.
“Once I had the idea for Prota Fiori, I pounded the pavement hard to locate not only the best sustainable materials to work with, but also the best craftsmen available.”
Jennifer discovered that with the right innovation, grape skins and apple skins, among other premium quality circular materials could be used in place of toxic materials and were aligned with the brand’s mission and perfect to tell the brand’s story.
So as not to compromise on quality and aesthetic, Prota Fiori shoes are handcrafted in an area known as Le Marche, which is located in Central Italy. Le Marche is not only the oldest region in Italy for footwear manufacturing, it also is home to the most revered artisanal luxury shoe makers in all of the country. “I am so honored to work with these exceptional craftsmen that have really made the brand come to life and have also become family to Prota Fiori.”
On August 20th date, Jennifer will be at our CSA stand to meet our members and share her beautiful creations. We invite you to come meet her, shop her collection and learn more about her incredible journey in the creation of her groundbreaking and beautiful brand.
In The Weeds with Early GirL
Early Girl's Fall CSA will start September 11th and go until November 20th. Cost of the fall CSA is $500. Expect deliciousness like sweet winter squash, sweet potato, cauliflower, broccoli, fall greens and more! To sign up, you can contact Patty via her website www.earlygirlfarm.com
Liz Biz | Mama Farm’s Advice Column:
Among our many talented and wonderful CSA members, we have a certain admiration for the all-knowing “Liz” (pseudonym). Liz is revered by their friends for doling the absolute best advice on literally anything from personal issues to finance to ethics and beyond. Members can submit their most pressing questions via our small intake box at the CSA pick up.
Dear Liz Biz,
Due to the pandemic, I've moved out here with my family and are very close to my mother-in-law. I get along with her most of the time and she is wonderful in many ways, but she can be very meddlesome and insistent that her POV is the only way, even regarding things like decisions around decorating our home. She can also be like a dog with bone - not letting go until one relents! I find this extremely difficult to deal with and exhausting AND it causes tension in my marriage. What is the best way to hold a boundary without offending her or causing tension with my partner? Sometimes I just want to tell my mother in law to shove it!
– Mama Issues
Dear Mama Issues,
There is one thing we all must understand: Mother-in-laws have one task in life, let's make our son’s or daughter-in-law's life a living hell. We must also remember you are married to her baby boy or girl, for better or worse, and that includes MOM. She has no idea she is meddling – as a matter of fact she thinks she is doing you a favor! Whether you like it or not she is not going anywhere. Let's cut to the chase, she is NOT going to change. Therefore you need to adapt and change for your own mental health. Praise the good and walk away from the bad. Remember you get free babysitting. Do not bring up any subject that might cause your temperature to rise. For example if you are thinking about a modern sofa and she wants you to get a camel back sofa, just say, “I would love to go to Egypt and ride a camel!” Always remember, kill her with kindness. If that doesn't work there's always a glass of wine at the end of the day.
- Cheers, Liz
Mama Farm Artists
Elettra & Happy by Mama Farm CSA member Ocean Shing, Age 4.