gardening | In Your Head

taking root at the nursery

April 20, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Plants with QR codes are popping up in garden centers for spring.

When we scanned the tag for the MiniFamous™ Compact Orange Calibrachoa (aka Mini Petunia), we were directed to BloomIQ — a generic online tool for gardening — instead of planting or care information for the specific plant we scanned. It was a little bit of a let down considering the potential to educate, sell, and cross-sell products.

Unfortunately, the most unsettling part of the marketing flop occurred when we returned to the office to write this post. The name of the plant above, "MiniFamous™ Compact Orange Calibrachoa", is not searchable within BloomIQ database. To find the correct plant info, the user must search "Petunia" or "MiniFamous".

Just because you can add a QR code to your promotional materials, does not mean you should.

Tags: new media, gardening, marketing, SmartCommerce, Culture

graffiti for gardeners

March 2, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Seed bombing, a technique of introducing vegetation to privately owned land using bundles of soil containing seeds, has been around for decades but it's widely gaining mass appeal as an easy way to improve your backyard.

One of the newest versions of the "Green Guerrilla Grenade" is sold at Anthropologie and contain gumball-sized seed-and-soil pods that will "eventually bombard your yard with a bee, butterfly and bird-friendly wildflower mixture specific to the United States region of your choice".

UPDATE 4/5/12: Williams-Sonoma is now selling a culinary herb seed bomb as part of its new Agrarian line,

Tags: gardening, design, trends, Eco-friendly, trendscaping

grow cook eat.

February 8, 2012 | By Shannon Kelly

Thrilled to see Grow Cook Eat by Willi Galloway

with photography by Jim Henkens at Anthropologie.

We received a copy of this gorgeous gardening handbook-meets-cookbook as a gift from the photographer earlier this month. We love the the fresh approach to seasonal food with helpful techniques on how to plant and prepare delicacies from your own back yard.

Tags: food, Edible garden, gardening

news bites 6.10.11

June 10, 2011 | By Shannon Kelly

A weeks worth of news- strained, ladled, and processed.

CULTURE

{image: japantrends.com}

- Living Walls: Residents in Tokyo's concrete jungle are being encouraged to plant their own the Green Curtain via CScout Japan.

- Watch Steve Jobs reinvent the commercial real estate pitch when he presents an ultra modern Apple 'mothership' campus to the local City Council.

FOOD

{photo: mashable.com}

- Snooth, the world’s largest wine site, turns wine discovery into a social game by using gaming mechanics to encourage and reward players.
- Study: Meatless Monday campaign reaches more than half of America.

- So eloquent & true: "And the San Juans are to seafood what Bravo is to so-called housewives: a seemingly limitless trove of peerless specimens." Eating In and Around Seattle by Frank Bruni via the NYTimes.

FASHION

{photo: crowdscience.com}

- Retailers work to adopt quick response codes to reach more customers but awareness still lags behind. Only 5% of total smartphone owners in the U.S. have scanned a QR, according to Forrester Research.

- Some luxury Brands' still fear Digital Media: "especially the uncontrolled environment of customer posts - for fear of tarnishing the aura of exclusivity". Do you agree?

- On trend with a growing desire among consumers for product differentiation, the role of fashion brands doubled in importance last year (to 28%) and sentiment is holding firm again this year at 29%.

Tags: food, fashion, new media, luxury, trends, Culture, wine, beverages, seattle, gardening, design, japan

fruit go boom

May 17, 2011 | By Shannon Kelly

Watermelon fields in eastern China are a mess after farmers used growth chemicals in an attempt to make extra money. The farmers sprayed forchlorfenuron, a growth accelerator, during overly wet weather and put it on too late in the season, which made the melons explode in the fields according to one report by China Central Television.

According to MSNBC, the exact growth chemical used by Chinese farmers is permitted on grapes and kiwi fruit in the US.

This is yet another example of the increasingly concerns about food safety and quality tracking. As we examine the food chain and the increase in sales of organic produce, it seems logical to draw attention to the inability of agencies to inform the public fully, and avoid potentially severe health hazards.

{sources: BBC, MSNBC}

Tags: china, grocery, gardening, thoughts, japan, food safety, food, organic

news bites 5.9.11

May 9, 2011 | By Shannon Kelly

CULTURE

- The Alexander McQueen retrospective that just opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is the Costume Institute's most popular exhibition ever.
- Guerrilla gardening goes mainstream with the Kabloom SeedBom.

FASHION
- Missoni is the next brand to partner with Target on a 400 piece collection to debut September 13, 2011. We predict a NYC event and/or pop-up to coincide with Fashion Week & Fashion Night Out.
- Catch the London Olympics fever before the Anglomania trend peeks: Stella McCartney unveils adidas Olympic collection in fashion film.

FOOD
- The Southern California companies that outfit and customize catering trucks (or lease them out) enjoy a boom as the food truck trend spreads throughout the country.
- Innovative punches that will make your Granny blush.
- Startup Tabbedout, a platform that allows you to pay your restaurant or bar tab with a smartphone, has raised $3.7 million in additional funding from New Enterprise Associates to complete the company’s Series A round of venture funding, totaling $5.75 million.

Tags: Target, nyc, new media, collaborations, F/W 2011, beverage, FNO, Missoni, food trucks, restaurants, NYFW, gardening

grow potatoes from your raincoat

June 24, 2009 | By Shannon Kelly

{photos: Equilicuá}

Made from compostable potato starch bioplastic, the Spud Raincoat by Equilicuá might be less fashionable than eventually delicious. A concealed packet of Mediterranean seeds within the coat will be nourished by the jacket material as it biodegrades.

Additionally, the environmentally-friendly jacket uses cute graphics to educate the wearer (and passers by) that the eco-product can be planted in the ground to grow potatoes once discarded.

{source: psfk & treehugger}

Tags: fashion, food, Eco-friendly, Edible garden, gardening, produce

lipstick effect & austerity chic: part 2

May 25, 2009 | By Shannon Kelly

Free-spending enthusiasm to dress in the latest fashion and dine out at the chicest Michelin star restaurant might be economically insensitive but chic and delicious in 2009 is not slipping in quality. Our cultural intelligence of trends in consumer spending, continued from lipstick effect & austerity chic: part 1, might make you rethink little indulgences.

Cultivate. Create. Control.
As uncertainty about financial future takes its toll, many people are turning to gardening, sewing and the movies for relief to help treat wounded psyches. People want to control the things in their lives and seeing he fruits of their labor.

Food gardening in the U.S. is on the rise, according to a new survey from the National Gardening Association. Several more households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs or berries in 2009, up 19% from last year. “As in previous recessions, we’ve seen increased participation in and spending on food gardening as people look for ways to economize,” Bruce Butterfield, research director for the association, told WWD. “That said, these results suggest the interest in food gardening may continue to increase, even after the economy improves.”

“People are likely to spend less money on designer jeans during the recession, and instead they purchase more affordable jeans, or they try to preserve the old ones, which leads to higher demand for sewing machines and accessorizing tools by consumers,” according to RecessionInfoCenter.com, a Web site wholly dedicated to the current economic downturn.
In the entertainment sector, movie theater tickets and DVD rentals have spiked: Netflix Inc. said in January its fourth-quarter profit jumped 45% to $22.7m from a year earlier, along with sales growth of 19% to $359.6m. The number of subscribers climbed 39% to 9.4m for the period. And the company revealed last month that it had passed 10m subscribers, including 600,000 net subscribers since Jan. 1.

Taste
Eating and drinking our need not be eliminated completely. Instead, consumers are looking to small portions (a new found appetizer or 70% cacao chocolate can pack a punch) or a indulgent Sunday brunch. Indulge your senses with rich or exotic flavors you can’t readily find in your pantry.

Noting that it’s interesting to eat a wide variety of food at one meal, José Andrés also told Nation's Restaurant News “The smallness of items gives [diners] the power to take chances,” he adds. “It is more than the way Americans eat today. It is a way to tell people you are in control of how much you eat and spend.” Chef-partner Seamus Mullen of Boquería in New York agreed to NRN that tapas are well-suited for these economic times. Mullen, reports his guests spend an average of $45 with beverages. Dates stuffed with almonds and Valdeón, a Spanish blue cheese, are wrapped in bacon. That dish sells the best of all Boquería’s tapas—“like candy,” Mullen says—for $7.
Vaunted chef Ludovic Lefebvre (Bastide, L'Orangerie) is taking over dinner duties at BreadBar from May 19th - August 22nd with a French-influenced prix-fixe ($33 app/entree or entree/dessert, or $39 for all three).

Chocolate The Hershey Co., North America’s largest chocolate company and the maker of Hershey Kisses and other iconic products, said in January that its fourth-quarter profits jumped 51.2% to $82.2m. Sales were up 2.6% to $1.4 billion.
Brunch is big- Restaurant's like Ad Hoc and The Bazaar are offering as cheaper format more in tune with customers pocketbooks as a tool to try new offerings with lower costs.

Tags: Culture, sweets, DIY, trendscaping, customizable, trends, fashion, chocolate, food, trend projections, gardening, Edible garden, apparel

Alice Waters interview on 60minutes

March 16, 2009 | By Shannon Kelly

"Looking for flavor"- Absolutely delightful.

Tags: regional food, organic, food, Edible garden, gardening, trends, restaurants

sustainable foods with Michael Pollan

January 14, 2009 | By Shannon Kelly

Great interview with Michael Pollan where he shared that home gardening is up 64% and that the Ball Jars canning company has experienced a lift in sales (+94%) due to an increased awareness of food savings. Check it out here.

He also gave detail on his open letter to the next President from October, how he'd like a portion of the White House lawn to be a planted organic orchard/vegetable garden and the changing face of local sustainable food.