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Edible Plants and Flowers

About a month ago my family and I went on a little hiking trip for a day. I took along my newest book South East Foraging by Chris Bennett. This book is a starter lesson on edible plants and flowers within my area the South East. It was a game that I played along with my kids looking for plants during our day of hiking. That day we didn’t sample any of the plants or flowers since it’s our first foraging hunt plus I really want to know more before sampling the forest or fields. I wanted to share with you a few edible plants/flowers that you might be surprised that you can eat!

If you’re new to foraging, you’ll want to establish some rules before you start looking for edible plants. For example, most people know that some mushrooms can be poisonous, so it’s best to stay away from all mushrooms if you don’t know what’s poisonous and what’s not. The Southeast is abundant in nutrient rich soils and the plant life here is diverse. There are many of these plants that are edible, but you’ll need to be well knowledgeable on how to identify them before you go chomping on strange greens along the trail.

Many edible plants are classified as weeds you can start looking for plants in your lawn or other areas that are regularly cleared like parks and fields. Also, depending on the region of the United States you live in, edible plants will grow in different areas of the landscape.

The Dandelion: Its Flower, leaves, stem, and root are all edible. Flowers taste best as a bud or at a barely-open stage in salads or sauteed in butter. The leaves (best young, in early spring) are highly nutritious, good in salads or stir-fry. The root (best in winter) needs to be parboiled (partially cooked in boiling water), then drained and boiled again until tender.

Violets are edible flowers and they are high in vitamins A and C. Their leaves can be eaten raw or boiled, or they can be dried to make tea. Violets have also been used medicinally, such as a common headache cure is a warm towel soaked with violet tea and placed on the back of the neck. The flower buds can be a garnish in salads or desserts. In addition, be sure not to eat the roots or stems of the flower it can cause nausea and vomiting, also avoid African Violets its toxic.

Clover is can be found about everywhere in the United States it’s edible! It is very high in protein. Raw clover can cause problems with digestion, but it can be made into a juice form. Flour can also be made from dried clover flowers and seed pods. Tea can also be made from clover, just steep it in water and boil then drain the leaves.

Day lilies have a long history in China as both edible flowers and medicine. Young, day-lily leaves can be cut at 5 inches and sauteed or stir-fried. The buds can be eaten raw, boiled, or stir-fried. Partially opened or fully opened day-lily flowers can be battered with a mixture of flour and water and fried. The roots of the day-lily are also edible, either raw or boiled. They pack high nutrition in the late fall after storing vitamins and minerals from the summer season.

Have you tried any Edible plants or Flowers or been foraging for plants? Leave a comment and share your thoughts!

Promoting tips for your business

Promoting your Etsy shop can take time and even years to build up daily sales. Marketing your Etsy shop is a HUGE topic that many ask every day. I am still asking and researching how to get daily sales and it’s a learning process that takes patience, months, and even years. You may not have a lot cash to spend on marketing in the early stages of your startup, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t effective ways to get your brand out there. Before the Internet, small businesses only had a few ways to market their products inexpensively, through approaches like printing out fliers or sponsoring local events. Now today to help your business is the magical world of Social Media! Embrace social media because it can help you grab those customers and followers!

Take for instance, Facebook reaches so many people worldwide and by creating a page for your shop/business can help promote your name and items that you sell. Also joining multiple discussion boards/pages on Facebook can aid your shop by helping you tweak your imperfections or gain more followers and customers. Think about your items that you create and try to find discussion pages that have an interest in your creativity. I have personally joined 3 Etsy selling groups to help promote my shop, and I have join a few 3D printing discussion pages too plus I have created a Facebook page for Flymeawaycreations.

Secondly, create an Instagram and Pinterest account for your shop. This is where it takes time to build up your followers. ( I am still in the learning process of this) I try to post at least once or twice a day of one of my items or something that relates to my Etsy shop. One tool that has worked in the past with me is branding one of your items in your shop on Instagram. Brand ambassadors are essentially people that you send free product to in exchange for them promoting your brand + products on their blog/facebook/instagram/pinterest accounts. There’s another term floating around– “brand enthusiasts” who is similar, but you don’t have to give away your product for free. There are definitely pros + cons to both, but I (personally) like brand ambassadors better because they tend to push your products a little bit more frequently, simply because they get your product for free and feel obliged to make it worth your time so that you will keep them on. So how do you find these people? One of THE BEST ways to find your first brand ambassadors is to start by doing a shout-out on your social media. The people that are following you there are already some of your biggest fans and a lot of them would LOVE free product in exchange for promotion. Also think about how you tag your picture (#). For instance, what you create think about that audience and reach out by using (#) in a new way. (Example: baby items: # momtobe or #nurseryideas

Thirdly, enter email marketing. If you don’t have a mailing list yet, it’s time to change that. Mailing lists sounds so old-fashioned, but there’s a reason everyone recommends them! It’s the only marketing technique that you have complete control over. Getting started isn’t that hard– just sign up for an email service provider like MailChimp (perfect for beginners) or ConvertKit (for those a little more savvy) and start asking for those emails. Personally, I sell locally and I leave out an email list sheet for my customers and whoever that would like to sign up to receive a monthly letter/ message letting them know when I will be selling at the market and what new items that I have been creating. This is great tool to show off your newest items or even promote a sale at your shop!

Lastly, listing a new item! I’m sure you notice on Etsy that there are a lot of “favorited” items + shops. Did you know? — Every time someone favorites an item of yours or a shop, you become a part of that person’s Etsy home page ! Also, every time you list (or renew) a new item, it shows up on their homepage. It’s essentially free advertising to a targeted potential customer– someone that has already shown interest in your product.

These are a few creative marketing techniques to promote your product-based business. If you have any new ideas or creative ways that work/ promote your shop and are ridiculously effective Leave a comment and share them below!

Sea glass

One of the crafter’s at Flymeawaycreations is my Mother. She is the one that you can find roaming the beaches looking for that special seashell or sea glass to create a necklace or earrings for the shop! My Mother has been creating the jewelry that can be found at Flymeawaycreations on Etsy for over two years now. In her spare time, she likes to collect seashells and unique pieces of sea glass on the SC coastal beaches. The latest piece that she created is now listed on the shop’s page. It is a Seahorse necklace and earring set. I love seahorses and their beauty, so to create jewelry from one of my favorite sea creatures is so unique! Every piece is one of a kind handmade with wire wrapped collected sea glass or a special charm that she has collected at an antique shop. The shells or sea glass are all natural and follows the theme for Flymeawaycreations. I love the ocean and for my Mother to find a way to bring my passion into a piece of jewelry art is one of a kind beauty! She takes her time when creating the pieces by using special tools and wire to wrap around the collected sea glass. Over the years, the colors of sea glass have been mint green to a sky blue that she has collected near Pawley’s Island, SC. The bond between my Mother and I is very special, I love that we share the same crafting passion. I also love that I can share all the unique handmade pieces that she creates on my Etsy shop and when I sell locally at the Salty Air Open Market.

You can follow the link to find the jewelry pieces at www.Flymeawaycreations.com

( More pieces will be added soon to the shop) ( If you have any special request for a jewelry piece you can ask here or at the Flymeawacreations shop)

#HurricaneFlorence

Two days ago, my family and I left Hubert, NC leaving my home and my Etsy shop Flymeawaycreations in the direct path of Hurricane Florence. As I packed as much as I could to take with us, I left almost all my items that I sell locally and online. My craft space just sitting there waiting for the storm to swallow it. Flymeawaycreations has been in business online since 2011 and it’s my heart and I had to leave everything. Our shop moved last August to the coastal region and my family and I knew that we might have to encounter storms, but not a storm that is being known as a historic storm to hit not only NC but SC coastline as well. Everyone was told to evacuate creating over millions to leave their homes and memories that they have made behind. We left NC and headed towards family in the middle of SC, but we are still not in the clear from the storm’s path. As we settled into our family’s home in Columbia, SC and keep all our eyes on the storm’s path we all see that it actually changes path and now forecasting to come through SC. All we can do is pray for our safety and pray for anyone who decided to stay in our home town.

Before we decided to leave I did decide to close my Etsy shop for a while due to the weather conditions that will occur. I am trying to stay positive through this time by interacting with my followers on Instagram and Facebook. All the followers that follow Flymeawaycreations have commented with prayers and positive sayings, which have put a smile on my face. I keep telling myself to stay positive and this is a blessing in disguise, and that God will not put myself or my family in harm’s way or place us in any situation that we cannot handle.

You can follow Flymeawaycreations Instagram page and see videos and items that are in works before adding it to the Flymeawaycreations Etsy shop! www.instagram.com/flymeawaycreations

Flymeawaycreations going Internationally

Some sellers don’t offer international shipping because they worry that no one will be willing to pay the cost, or because they fear it will be too complicated to consolidate. This is exactly how I felt, and then I took baby steps and started selling to Canada a few years ago. After offering it within a week I had a sale! I still remember how excited I was at the thought of my products being used and enjoyed by someone halfway across the world! I had to make some adjustments such as learning new shipping rates, adjusting my timelines for delivery. The involvement has taught me a lot about how to appeal more to an international viewer. Over the years I was hesitate to expand my shop international, then today I expanded my field again, so as of today I am selling to the UK.

Although you can certainly limit your Etsy business to domestic buyers, part of the fun of selling on Etsy is connecting with so many people. globe First, however, you need to get a feel for the ins and outs of shipping internationally. These tips have helped me expand my business and hopefully they could help you. Keep a few points in mind:

Items shipped to some countries, such as Canada and countries in the European Union, may be subject to duties or taxes.
You need to include a Customs form! To figure out what type of form you need, check with your carrier or go to the Customs website. Be sure to fill out the form thoroughly, to keep it from being held up at Customs.
Shipping certain items: think food products, plant and animal products, precious jewelry, could be prohibited in some countries. To find out whether your item is prohibited, check out the Individual Country Listings page on the USPS website
Remember: Be sure to warn international customers that you can’t be responsible for delays if your package gets stuck in Customs.

Whether you’re a new seller or have been selling for years, offering international shipping is a great way to open your shop up to a vast customer base!

You can check out the shop by following the link below

http://www.flymeawaycreations.com