Corporate Bullying

We've heard a lot lately about bullying. I want to tell you a story about corporate bullying. In a small garage in Vermont there is a guy who is printing t-shirts one at a time. His t-shirts say, "Eat More Kale." He is trying to promote healthy eating. Bo sold his shirts from a booth at the local farmers’ market for four years. As his popularity grew, he began traveling the Northeast sells shirts and passing out stickers. Bo was doing well printing shirts in his garage until the day he received a Cease and Desist Order from Chick-Fil-A. It seems the Chick-Fil-A company is afraid that it will be too confusing to their customers to see Eat More Kale. Their logo says Eat Mor Chikin. They have been bullying Bo since then. At one point they tried to order him to send them all of his t-shirts, stop printing more, and pay them damages.

Now I don't know about you, but I am not confused at all by a green leafy vegetable

and a bird.

I can tell the difference. And I don't see any similarity between the two logos. In my opinion, Chick-Fil-A is a corporate bully trying to drive a small time local business under. My biggest problem is I just don't see why. It's not like Eating Kale is going to take any business away from Chick-Fil-A. The people who eat Kale are not likely to be going to a fast food place and eating chicken sandwiches. They are just not the same thing.

From the Eat More Kale website:

Most obviously, it's about eating healthier. Kale can be delicious and a SUPER FOOD! You *should* eat more of it. An ancient ancestor of the cabbage plant, kale is primarily a cold-weather crop with a taste not unlike collard greens. It grows in a lot of conditions and climates that are inhospitable to other vegetables and can get tastier with a hard freeze.

Eat More Kale is about supporting small business, business that actually cares and hasn't been swallowed up by the profit-hungry, corporate mentality. I am a one man show, so my shirts are distinctive, offbeat, one-of-a-kind works of art. I have no giant call-centers to hide behind and I don't need them. I am one man with one squeegee and that's how I like it. When you see someone wearing one of my t-shirts you will instantly recognize it's personal style, character and the care I took to craft it.

I'm also about eating locally, supporting local farmers, bakers, famers markets, farm stands, CSA's, community gardens and restaurants, sustainable lifestyles, social commentary and community. Most importantly, I'm about printin' Vermont's one-at-a-time orginial design t-shirts. Have fun and remember: eat more kale!!!

Please go sign Bo's petition. Tell Chick-Fil-A that they can not bully Eat More Kale like this a get away with it. Stop buying their chicken if they continue to bully Bo. Show them with your dollars that this kind of behavior won't be tolerated. For a business that claims to be so Christian, they are certainly not showing Christ-like behavior.

EAT MORE KALE. It's good for you.

Cold Short Days And Evenings By The Fire.

I can't believe this weather we are having here. A couple of days ago we woke up to 12 degrees. Yesterday I sat outside on the porch swing and watched Dakota ride his bike. It was 61. Today it is back down to 40. It is so crazy.

I got a seed catalog in the mail the other day. I was so thrilled. I don't think I've ever gotten one of those before. I have just about worn out the pages looking through it and then trying to visualize what my yard will look like if I plant this plant or that one. It does give me something to do while I sit all snuggled up beside the fire on these really cold days.

I thought I wanted to plant herbs in a couple of old tires in my front yard. So today I was looking up the directions on how to cut the tires and turn them inside out. You can imagine my dismay when I learned that the old tires have cadmium in them. This heavy metal will leach out into any herbs that I plant in them. So I guess I won't be able to do that. So now I have to come up with another plan to plant my herbs. Most things like basil and oregano I will plant in the back yard in a raised garden bed. I also plan on planting tomatoes and peppers in that same raised bed. But I want to plant mint and lemon balm. If I plant them in the raised bed with my other things I will soon have nothing but mint or maybe lemon balm. But one of them will win out and take over the space. So I'm looking for ideas for this. I think I'm going to do a second raised bed with strawberries in it.

I'm thinking about a weeping willow in the back yard as well. I just have to figure out where my husband plans to put his garage. Then I need to make sure I don't plant it where it will shade my garden area too much. I love being able to plan all this out in the big backyard that we have.

I think I'm going to take out whatever the unknown tree is that is growing on one side of the trellis and replace it with grapes on both sides of the trellis.

In this area from the fireplace to the window I'm going to plant some flowering plants. Maybe a rose or two. There is an area along the front of the house too that has been used as a flower bed in the past. My husband wants to plant an evergreen something in the front yard. Maybe I'll just do that instead of using tires to plant herbs. I'll find somewhere to tuck those herbs in in the backyard.

It is so much fun, looking at the catalog and planning and looking and planning some more. Can't wait until it's warm enough to actually do some of this planting. Make sure you stop back by in a few months to see what I ended up doing.