Natural shampoo is a hot topic. Whats in it, does it work, who makes it. We have seen a stir in the media that may be prompting it, men and woman alike are looking for a shampoo they can feel good about using.

This authors of www.nomoredirtylooks.com posted a terrific primer on what to look for in shampoo including this excerpt:

“Natural: Your shampoo may not foam like a conventional product because it contains a higher percentage of natural materials, but your hair will still be just as clean, with added natural benefits.”

We look forward to hearing your feedback on what you are looking for in an organic shampoo, in the meantime check out some of the options on Abe’s for kids, adults and manly man in your life.

Fox Business was kind of enough to invite me into their studio last Thursday to talk about Abe’s Market.
Here is the link and a copy is below.

I was able to mention a few of our seller partners and wish I could have squeezed more in, hopefully next time.

In today’s digital age of emails, conference calls and Skype having true “face time” with our sellers makes me real excited!  This week the Abe’s Market clan got to meet a few face-to-face with a few new sellers and it was a blast!

Jon and Richard (Abe’s Market founders) spent the first half of the week in NYC and had a chance to meet up with the ladies from The Well Dressed Nut (pictured above), Sarah from Rescue Chocolate and Elizabeth from Purely Elizabeth.

Kelsey (Abe’s Market intern) and I got to spend the afternoon with Zak from Little Duck Organics.

Such fun!

“live what you love, love what you do”

Hi! I’m Jenna Short and I am the founder of ShortbreadNYC. I am excited to share my photo tips with the Abe’s Market Community because I know that my sales have drastically increased once I put time and effort into my photography skills.

I originally started off as a graphic designer (I still am) with a minor in photography, so naturally aesthetics are something that is extremely important to me. Something I learned early on is that people eat with their eyes, then with their nose… and of course, their mouths.

When I was younger everyone always taught me to not judge a book by its cover. Well, in the digital age, we can’t afford to buy into that one bit. That’s ALL we do!

Having a brand and a visual voice is one of the most important things you can do for your company. Even if that means just having a logo, website and some stickers; that alone can create a seamless visual for your clientele. Think about one of the most successful brands out there: Apple Computers. They don’t skimp on anything as far as design and that is HUGE part of why they are so successful. Every aspect of marketing from the ads, colors and people working for you play a huge roll in the overall service you provide.

With that being said, you don’t need formal training to do any of this. There are so many great online “do it yourself” reasources from a quick fix, to a complete overhaul. If you do however seek some professional assitance with your brand, logo or website, our comapny can create that for you as well!

For photography, all you need is a good eye and attention to detail. For example; if you have a food blog and like to take photos but can’t afford the fancy equipment or SLR camera, all you have to do is be mindful of lighting.

DIY Photo backdrop:

• Supplies: Run to your local drug store and pick up a few tabletop prop mirrors,  some colored paper and black, white and gray cardboard from your local art supply store.
• Camera ISO Range: Turn off your flash and use your camera’s built in ISO. ISO range is available on all digital cameras and it goes overlooked for causal users. So what is ISO? Basically, ISO is the camera’s sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO number the more light sensitive the camera is being. In natural lighting (near a well-lit windo) place your camera’s ISO on the hightest number which will let you shoot with faster shutter speeds giving you less chance of movement blur.

• Backdrop: Use the colored paper as your back drops. You can tape them to a wall or create your own photo box like the image above. Be sure to take pictures by the window with all the natural sunlight you can get and use the card board and mirrors to reflect the light and get the contrast you want.
• Compose your shot: It’s easy to feel intimated by the composition (styling) of the shot but don’t be. Try different angles, close-ups and details. Think creatively and add details like raw ingredients, utensils or actions (cutting, sewing, etc) into your shots. Try everything and see what feels right for your brand.

Looking back if I could change anything up until now I probably wouldn’t. I think that every event in my life has lead me to the place that I am at right now! Every person I have met and place I have lived has made an incredible contribution to the success of Jshortdesigns & Shortbread NYC. (even though i think deep down my mom still wishes I was a dentist

Chivalry is not dead. We had a hunch and it is proving to be true, folks who come to shop on Abe’s like to share their finds with friends.

Let me rewind the clock two months. We were receiving feedback along the lines of “My sister told me about you and now I see why she is a such a big fan.”

We realized that by not providing a way to easily share products within the site we were pushing visitors off Abe’s. We did the research and found that other sites promote sharing by:

1. Asking a visitor to share based on the hope that their friend buys.
2. Friend may buy – who knows when…
3. Once the friend buys then the only next time the shopper comes back will they be entitled to a discount.

That delayed gratification did not work for us. We wanted to provide an easy and instant way to reward those who share.

Our thinking is:

1. Shoppers are happier if they share – makes your find more enjoyable
2. The recipients always find it fun to see what their friends like
3. The sellers (real people who make the product) benefit from the word of mouth
4. We (not to be selfish here) at Abe’s love it because sharing spreads our passion for remarkable natural products.

Several hours of discussion and Zaydie’s Granola led to our Share It program which works like this:

1. Every product has a Share It price that is cheaper than the regular price
2. In your shopping cart you are asked if you want to share by entering three email address
3. When you share you receive an instant discount and your friends enjoy the same discount (you are a hero among your peers).

We are seeing half of the folks who buy on Abe’s decide to share with friends, a promising start.

Please send share your thoughts on Share It:)

Erin Krug, Krug's Eco-Logic

Today’s guest blogger is Erin Krug of Krug’s Eco-Logic, which makes and sells soaps, body lotions, facial liquor (yes, facial liquor), and more. Erin is a science teacher-turned stay-at-home mother of two young children with ultra-sensitive skin. As a science teacher and natural product maker, Erin is particularly equipped to teach us how to care for and store our natural products. She shares some tips here. Thanks, Erin!

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So you’ve recently ordered some natural skin care products – maybe it’s not Eco-Logic … that’s ok, I won’t hold it against you It is said that the very best products to put on your skin should contain ingredients you could possible put in your mouth (I’m not at all advocating you eat ANY natural skin care products). This means, ingredients such as olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oils are fabulous ingredients to cook with, AND to put on your skin.

BUT … you do have to store your products carefully just as you would your oils from the store – particularly during the hot summer months, or if you live in a consistently hot climate. REAL natural products (not the ones labeled as such with mostly synthetic ingredients) need to be treated as you might treat your groceries. When you go to the grocery store and purchase a large order during the summer – most likely, you’ll want to run home quickly and put them in the refrigerator or in your cooler home. Think about the olive oil you purchase in the baking isle at the store – it needs to be kept (ideally) in a dark, cool cabinet.

If your skin care products are genuinely natural, most likely they will contain oils you can find on your grocer’s shelves – olive, grape seed, safflower, soybean coconut, etc. This means in order to keep them from becoming rancid (spoiling – otherwise known as the oxidation and degradation of vitamins within the oils) they need to be kept in a cool, and relatively dark environment. Most natural formulators will include oils containing loads of antioxidants such as natural Vitamin E, or Rosemary Oil Extract to help protect the natural oils from early oxidation. However, this is not a ‘fool-proof’ system. The user has to also take special care to ensure the quality and life span of their natural products.

There are some other tips and pointers on extending the life of your natural products. Eco-Logic sends a “Natural Product Care & Instruction” sheet along with each order to ensure each customer will receive full use of their product.

Thanks for reading!

Guest blogger Tonya is back to share her thoughts on the powers of shea butter…..

Perfect Organics Unscented Shea Butter

When a friend recommended I try shea butter as a natural moisturizer,
I hoped it would work well, but I didn’t think it would be
multi-functional.  Each time I discovered another way to use shea
butter, not only was I happy and surprised, but it saved me money (on
synthetic products I no longer need).  The first one I tried was 100%
Shea Butter, unscented, from Perfect Organics.

Since I switched from synthetic body and facial washes to natural
soap, my skin is no longer dry.  As a result, I don’t require daily
moisturizing.  Instead, I use shea butter as a moisturizer only where
I need it.  Over time, I have discovered many other uses for this
versatile little product.

• Eczema treatment – My daughter’s eczema decreased a lot when we
  switched to natural soaps, and shea butter clears up the little
  dryness that remains.
• Diaper cream – If corn starch doesn’t clear up all the redness, a
  little shea butter does the trick.
• Hair balm – I rub a small amount into my hair to moisturize it and
  add shine.  With this trick, I no longer use any synthetic hair care
  products.
• Allergy related itch relief – When indoor or outdoor allergies flair
  up, the delicate skin below my eyes becomes very itchy.  I can stop
  this itch with a coating of shea butter under my eyes.  It works, but
  I don’t know how!
• Nail shine – Instead of buffing my nails, I can give them a great
  shine by rubbing shea butter into them.  I actually haven’t broken a nail since I started doing this, and they are long, strong & beautiful.

Blends for Life Organics Ony Shea

Although my daughter prefers unscented, I would like to try any of the
great scents also available. But I may have to wait a while, because a
little shea butter goes a long way!

It frequently happens that the people who live through historical times or in historical places do not realize it. I’m one of those people.

We’re living through a monumental time with regard to America’s consciousness around food – what food we eat, how much of it, and where it comes from. A plethora of books and movies in the past few years have created waves:

• Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma
• Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
• Food, Inc.
• Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals
• and so many more

Alice Waters

But while awareness of food issues is now exploding, one pioneer has been preaching the virtues of fresh, healthful, local and organic for 40 years – Alice Waters. Among her many impressive achievements, is the creation of the Edible Schoolyard. As described on its own site, “The Edible Schoolyard (ESY), a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation, is a one-acre organic garden and kitchen classroom for urban public school students at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California. At ESY, students participate in all aspects of growing, harvesting, and preparing nutritious, seasonal produce. Classroom teachers and Edible Schoolyard educators integrate food systems concepts into the core curriculum. Students’ hands-on experience in the kitchen and garden fosters a deeper appreciation of how the natural world sustains us and promotes the environmental and social well-being of our school community.”

The Edible Schoolyard

Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School sits on a corner and has one house next to it. For 4 years, shortly after the creation of the Edible Schoolyard, I lived in that house – a charming, wood craftsman. I walked through the Edible Schoolyard almost every day. It’s a wondrous place. My kids loved strolling through the garden and having me read the small, colorful signs that indicated what was planted in each section. We enjoyed watching what the students planted go from seeds to fresh produce.

But, as amazing as the Edible Schoolyard is, I didn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of it. Living in the “Berkeley bubble,” I didn’t appreciate the uniqueness of school kids planting their own produce, picking it, preparing it for meals in the school kitchen and, most of all, learning a lifelong appreciation for what they ate. Now that my kids are a bit older and, much to my chagrin, have become picky eaters, I wish I could easily stroll through the Edible Schoolyard and have some of the magic of that place rub off on them.

The excitement around electric vehicles is contagious. We started talking about when we can offer EV’s on Abe’s Market or at minimum some electric vehicle accessories:)

The Chevy Volt, Better Place, Tesla and many other EV’s are turning the automobile industry on its head by performing, looking and making the owner feel, better than their combustible engine counterparts.

Proof that the world is going bonkers over EV’s …0ne of my favorite bands as a teenager, They Might Be Giants (try playing Istanbul next time you want to get the crowd on its feet), released an album called Here Comes Science with a song titled Electric Car. Check out the video:

My favorite lines : “Electric car, on verdant green – Invent a turn, invent a dream – Electric car, the new machine”

As we patiently wait (I am a Better Place man myself, hoping they can provide part of the solution to storing solar energy) lets enjoy what we have….

A personal plea today….

I’ve written in the past about land use. Sometimes I love when land is rezoned for new uses. TreeHugger has a great piece on the new Hayes Valley Farm in San Francisco, a refreshing use of a former freeway off-ramp. And I’m a big fan of cities finding reasonable ways to create more bike lanes.

Sometimes, though, land is meant to remain unchanged. This was my first thought when I saw that the classic farm from ‘Field of Dreams’ is for sale. That farm, which still draws 65,000 visitors a year, is perfect as it is. And the current owners, Don and Becky Lansing, know it. “We love the land and the field, but it is time for us to head to the locker room,” Becky says. “We are getting up there in years and it is time to think about retirement.”

According to Mother Nature Network, for $5.4 million, a buyer will receive 193 acres of prime earth — as well as the site of the movie, with the baseball diamond; a two-bedroom, 1.5-bath house with the familiar front porch; and six outbuildings. And the 65,000 fans annually.

Don and Becky, please sell to someone who assures you that the Field of Dreams will stay put.