Franke James

Green Eccentric Glamour

May 5th, 2008

illustration by franke james 2008

illustration of coat by franke james 2008

illustration of purse by franke james 2008

illustration of mondrian type top by franke james 2008

illustration of oscar wilde by franke james 2008

illustration of chicken and lettuce head by franke james 2008

book cover Eccentric Glamour: Creating an Insanely More Fabulous You

Posted in Global Warming, My Green Conscience | 21 Comments »

21 Responses to “Green Eccentric Glamour”

Mother Earth Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 10:14 am
This post reminds me so much of the very first post I ever read

( did you know that you were the first blog I had ever visited? About a year ago! )

I really appreciate your creative expression and quirky style. I see it in your clothing too. I am left with a smile on my face and warmth in my heart. I see it in your clothing as well, the green question I ask is what will you do with all that you decide not to keep??
Franke James Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Karen,

Thanks for visiting — and your great comments! My wardrobe has many good homes to go to — I have five sisters. And they have twenty kids between them. Of course there’s always Freecycle and Goodwill.

~ Franke
Julie Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Your post arrived just after a trip to our little “plaza” where a glance in a shop window has me convinced that I look like a ragamuffin! I don’t think the term “glamorous” could ever be used in the same sentence as my name.

Here’s the thing for me: secondhand chic. We have the coolest secondhand/thrift store on Pender Island. Totally run by volunteers, and all the proceeds go back into the community to support a multitude of projects. It’s become such an icon of island living that the line up at opening time on Friday snakes around the building. (I know what you’re thinking — not much else to do on an island! You should see the outfits my girlfriend puts together. She dresses like a pop star for $5 a bag. (I still look like a ragamuffin.)

The other thing I’m concentrating on these days is not washing my clothes as often as I used to. (Why wash them if they’re not really dirty?) When I lived in Europe, it was common practice to hang our clothes outside every night to air out (on a covered balcony with a clothes line — condo bylaws be damned).

If I’m lucky, the ragamuffin look will come back in style one of these days. Meanwhile, enjoy going “eccentric glamorous green” with your chickens, Franke. (They’ll love those sandals!)
Daharja Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
This post made me realize that you don’t do enough blog posts!

Here’s to 70s fashion - colours that were CRAZY, collars that could FLY, and WIDE pants that you could hide your boyfriend/husband/lover in!
Franke James Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 9:06 am
Daharja,

Thanks for your comment. I had to laugh (and groan) at your astute comment that I don’t do enough posts. It is a tough balancing act — I’ve been submersed in another project for months now… Finally I am free!

But I’m not your usual ‘blogger’. I don’t subscribe to any tyrannical schedule. (Not being bogged — look how close that word is to blogged? — down by anything other than my desire to express myself. Of course if someone wanted to pay me to write or publish wouldn’t that be lovely?)

I have a few ideas I’m working on so you will see a few more come to life here when they are ready…

Cheers

~ Franke
Soulange Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Green Eccentric Glamour was too fun! I love the essay - another great one. You should assemble them in a book for your collectors.
Allison Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I love it, Franke! I know just how you feel as I have had to alter my wardrobe for a corporate job - I was so excited to be able to wear my old vintage dresses and ridiculous ironic t-shirts, but then I thought it best to conform to the heels-and-blazers world of Corporate life.

NO MORE! If I can get away with funky hair, I can certainly show up in a 1950s secretary dress every once in a while! Thank you for the inspiration!
Claire Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Love it! Congrats and thanks for keeping me up to date!

All is well

Check out youbethejudge.tv

And check out playyoubethejudge.com
Martin Edic Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I love the new piece — end the disposable society!
D. Diva Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
fabulous!!

just when I was about to go shopping for my trip next week.

surely I can make do with what I”ve got!!

and you’re right – I’ve been slowly trying to pare down to essential ‘signature’ styles but I‘m a sucker for the consignment store in Yorkville – L’Elegante. …..

oh well – a girl’s gotta have SOME fun!

happy Spring Franke
C.B. Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Franke

Should mention re cupboard

I have two sets of Calvin Klein black pyjama-like top and bottom in the most comfortable lightest swishiest material

$75 each piece

I wear them every day autumn winter and spring (if ever we have that) and indulged in two sets so I should be able to wash one while I wear the clean one

It does look smashing!

C.
A.H. in New York state Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
Awesome. So creative. And an important message.

FYI, I love my Prius.
Jennifer in central Toronto Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Very cool and I loved reading the comments from others. I’ll take the green skirt when you’re finished with it.
Jenn in the Ottawa Valley Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 10:24 am
We tried the chicken thing, Franke, and it is NOT good! They’re darling as chicks but then, unfortunately, they grow into noisy, messy, filthy beasts!

Feel free to clean out your closet into mine! I think we’re still the same size!!!! Love it, love it, love it.
Franke James Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Jenn — Nobody else that I know has real life, daily experience with farm animals! Considering that you are a former-city-slicker-now-Queen-of-the-country-estate, your ‘chicken’ advice is very important to me.

Perhaps chickens in the city are not a good idea?? Julie from Pender Island pointed out that they would love my green petal sandals and polished pedicure…. But what to do? We have to eat and if this global warming / food crisis gets really bad, well maybe some personal sacrifice is needed?

Hope the pugs and horses are better behaved.
Jenn in the Ottawa Valley Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 11:08 am
Goats (we quickly learned) are also NOT a good idea! They ate our cedar bushes as far up as they could possibly reach. Your green petal sandals would not stand a chance!

In our area, we have a few “young” farmers (around my age) that are raising animals without using antibiotics, et cetera. There are two local chicken and turkey farmers that are trying the free range thing, however it can be a challenge with some of the evening wildlife. A fischer (like a weasel) killed thirty turkey’s last week!

Perhaps the food crisis will make people understand the importance of the family farm! Our local farmers are starving and no amount of government subsidy will help. Beef prices at the grocery store DO NOT reflect what the farmers are getting at market. How on earth can a vegetable farmer be making money when a 10 pound bag of carrots sells for $0.99? It is a travesty.

It appears that the family farm could be extinct within the next generation or two. Farming is a full time job, yet without an “outside” job, there is no way for farmers to pay their bills. Children of farmers cannot afford to take over their parents’ farms and, further, there seems to be a lack of interest because of the amount of work vs. income.

In order to have “clean” meats and vegetables, we need these farms to survive.
Sandra in Toronto Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 11:10 am
I love your Green Eccentric Glamour essay! I’ll have to get the book.
Mary Stevenson Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Very inspiring!! Spring is the perfect time for all those old lovely summery fabrics and fashions to pop out of closets and drawers. I tend to prefer certain colours and textures so that mixing old and new usually works although I may sometimes look like a crazy quilt. When you wear clothes you love and feel comfortable in then you look happy which is a big bonus. Your essay makes me appreciate all the effort that went into creating such wearable art. I’ll definitely dig a little deeper this year and pass along more treasures to my daughters.
Julie Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Your art essays remind me that there is more to life than clutter and busyness and stress. There are other ways of seeing the world and being in the world. Thanks so much for creating them and sharing them!
Heather Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Hi Franke,

Great to see another post - and such a fun one too! I just featured it in our blog here.

Thanks!
Nanci Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Love your green skirt! What fun!

What are the secrets of a green driveway? Well one is that they get weeds, just like lawns. Damn weeds! Yes, green driveways do take a little extra care. But hunting down weeds and pulling them out does offer some satisfaction. And also time to ruminate on weeds as a metaphor for social ills. It is much easier to remove the weeds when they are young, rather than wait until they get deeply rooted, have given birth to baby weeds, and are choking out the ‘good’ plants. So long as I stay on top of the task, it is quite easy and pleasant. Which again, is like a lot of things in life.

I have become a go-to person for green driveways. A recent email asked whether we’d cut our driveway yet. Yes, I cut it last weekend with a Gardenia hand mower that I’d received for Mother’s Day, four year’s ago. I’m still puzzling why my kids thought to get me a hand-mower. Perhaps it foreshadowed this whole eco-adventure? Anyway, I baby it. It’s still shiny new and cuts grass so easily I don’t know why people use gas mowers. It’s about as much exercise as pushing a vacuum, which is to say, not much.

Cutting the green driveway is just like cutting any lawn. Except for the fact that we planted Eco-Lawn. Its unique characteristics are that it is slow-growing, drought-tolerant with very long roots, and only needs to be cut once a month. You can let it grow long. After 4 inches it flops over, giving it a distinctive look. Here’s the Mow Down on Grass Cutting which talks about different mowers, and Eco-Lawn.

As you can see, our green driveway is growing in a bit patchy. Based on a tip from Miriam Goldberger at Wildflower Farms, I over-seeded after the rain to encourage more growth, and as a natural way to fight back weeds.

green driveway in April 2008 by franke james

Green Driveways Springing Up

Carole from the US wrote with good news and questions about building her own green driveway, “It seems that the city is pretty excited about this green driveway approach so they are approving the whole remodel job administratively. They are not requiring us to go through the whole board/public hearing process. What I’m looking for is some information about why you decided to go with the PermaTurf system? How/what you decided on regarding the driveway base? How well the product has performed so far, and how does the green plastic really look?”

I directed Carole to The Green Driveway Articles, which lists all of my articles on how we built our green driveway.

Green Driveway: Playing with Perception and Reality goes into detail about the PermaTURF and why we chose it.
And this article: How to Build a Green Driveway in a Long Weekend talks about the laying of the base and building it.

As to the question, “How has the PermaTURF performed so far, and how does the green plastic really look?”, I can say that we are delighted with the PermaTURF. It is invisible (except for some patchy areas).

For Canadians, who don’t want to pay the shipping and duties from the United States, you may want to investigate a new alternative by Green Innovations’ systems called MODI. I have not seen it in person, but after reading about it on their website, I think it’s worth a look.

If you are thinking of building a green driveway, please send me an email: franke at frankejames.com. I’d like to feature other people’s projects in a future post.

Happy eco-gardening!

Posted in Eco-friendly Driveway, My Green Conscience | 1 Comment »

All Season Eco-friendly Driveway

February 23rd, 2008

progressive shots of driveway

Views of our Green Driveway in all seasons:
In the Spring of 2007 we decided to rip up our interlocking brick driveway which spanned the entire 34 ft of our property and replace it with a 10 ft. wide permeable driveway, and have trees and plants in the remaining area. Of course first we had to work through a maze of bylaws and get permission from the City of Toronto. You can read about our adventure in The Green Driveway Articles.

Above and below are photos of the transformation of our front landscape:
1. Spring 2007: Interlocking brick for the full 34 foot width. Photo by Michael Stuparyk, Toronto Star.
2. Fall 2007: Green driveway planted with drought-tolerant Eco-Lawn grass. Load-bearing PermaTurf underneath provides a solid base for vehicles to drive on without crushing the grass.
3. Winter 2008: Snow-covered green driveway is on the right hand side edged with boxwood. There is a foot path up the middle of it. (The opposite of old-fashioned driveways which commonly had concrete on the sides and a strip of grass up the middle.)

progressive shots of driveway

The view from our front door is more aesthetically pleasing now. The row of Hornbeam trees gives us privacy from the street. In the future it will provide natural shade, and cooling.

progressive shots of driveway

Many people ask us if we shovel our green driveway.

We could… but we don’t. (See My SUV and Me Say Goodbye)

But if you want a green driveway and want to keep shoveling through the winter, go ahead. You can do it! It’s okay to shovel the grass because the roots are protected by the PermaTurf, and cannot be damaged. PermaTurf is located in New Hampshire, which gets lots of snow. They tell me they have many customers who regularly shovel their green driveways. (See who helped us build our green driveway)

Of course, grass is not the only way to go. There are other materials which will provide permeability, and allow rainwater to soak into the ground rather than being diverted into the sewers. You will need to research permeable materials that are acceptable in your area as they vary quite a bit.

Our green driveway has met all of our expectations and requirements. The trade-off of more exercise from walking versus shoveling is one we are very happy with.

Cheers,

Franke James