Fall is here; Portland's summers always seem so short, but the weather sure has been perfect fall weather. But it's time to start getting back inside, into the kitchen and living spaces again. Check out our new products, and of course we still have plenty of other kitchen and home items.

New Items

• Bambu bowls, baskets and plates made from bamboo
• Carpet sweeper and, micro-fiber mops made in Germany
• 2, 3 and 4 quart stainless steel saucepans with handles
• Recycline recycled plastic razors and refills
• Less-expensive and more accurate electronic scales – in colors!
• Porkert cast-iron poppyseed mill – will also do flax, sesame and small amounts of grain
• Laptop Lunch systems – a trash-free strategy of providing balanced meals away from home. (See website.)
• Staple-less staplers. Yes, staple without staples!
• Pewter Blessing Rings – message charms for pocket, necklace or key chain
• Lost Horizons 100% hand-dyed fair-trade wool hats, made in Nepal
• Hugger Mugger eco-friendly yoga mats – toxic-free, recyclable, decomposable
• Handmade, colorful ceramic coaster sets
• Organic cotton blankets and throws (including baby blankets); natural and color-grown brown chenille; cotton grown in Texas; blankets made in US;
• Cotton and hemp shower curtains
• Building Bamboo Fences by Isao Yoshikawa
• Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls by Nigel Dunnett and Noël Kingsbury
• Zojirushi Electric Coffee Maker – comes with its own thermal carafe!
• Zojirushi thermal carafe
• Breville blender – 500 watt motor, stainless steel base, glass container
• Back to Basics blender – 500 watt motor, stainless steel base, glass container; also comes with a base with a spout for smoothies and other beverage
• Back to Basics personal blender – 350 watt motor, brushed chrome base, 24 ounce container that turns into a travel mug!

• All garden items (except windchimes and bells)
• French cookware – carbon steel and enameled cast iron
• Select Salt & Pepper sets
• Italian-made trays
• Bodum Electric Hot Water Kettles
• Multi-Pure Water Filters
• Barbecue tools
• Children's pails

LED Lights

We are re-stocked on LED light strings. These lights use less than 10% of the electricity that the mini-lights use and have a limited lifetime guarantee (when's the last time a string of min-lights lasted more than a year or two?). We have them in blue (the favorite), white, orange (Hallowe'en!), green & red and green, red, blue, yellow & orange.

Employee News

Tyrrell has left us to work full-time for a violin shop. As music is her love (she plays cello), this is a perfect position for her.

Jenny Owen started working for us last week. She is a long-time customer with a strong interest in nutrition and natural living. She is already proving to be a quick learner and we are really excited to have her on board.

Lael's sister, a librarian in the San Francisco area, has invited Lael to go to the Frankfurt Book Fair, the most famous book event in the world. Lael spent a year in Germany during college (and thus speaks good German), so this opportunity was too good to pass up. So she will be gone for two weeks or so in early October. We will miss her and her help, but having Jenny should help take up the slack.

Incense 101 – Nag Champa and Morningstar

Nag Champa is the most popular incense in the world (or at least America). We sell more Nag Champa than any other type of incense and you will often find it in stores that carry no other incense at all; for instance, Village Merchants, a store that sells used goods, has it at their checkout counter. Nag Champa is a masala incense (a combination of resins and woods). The champa is a tree grown in Asia that has very aromatic flowers. It is often grown close to Hindu temples in India and the incense is used to invoke the aura of temples and meditation.

Morningstar Incenses are made by Nippon Kodo, a Japanese company that produces dozens of different incenses. They are the most popular of the Japanese incenses that we carry and come in 12 different scents, from sandalwood to jasmine to green tea. I especially like the cedarwood, with its spicy fragrance. These are a good way to get introduced to the Japanese-style incenses.

Recycling

We accept certain rechargeable batteries for recycling through a program of the Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation. The types of batteries we can accept are: Lithium ion (Li-ion), Nickel Cadmium (Ni-Cd), Nickel Metal Hydride (Ni-MH) and Small Sealed Lead Acid (Pb) up to 2 pounds. Please don't bring non-rechargeable or other batteries outside of these guidelines – that just makes us responsible for your cast-offs. Regular batteries can be taken to People's Food Co-op for proper disposal.

We are also accepting compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) that a customer has kindly offered to take to the hazardous waste site for proper disposal (CFLs, like all fluorescent bulbs, contain a small amount of mercury which should not be just thrown in the regular garbage). Please don't bring broken CFLs or regular light bulbs; again, that just makes us responsible for your trash.