SLOW FASHION + SLOW FOOD + SLOW LIVING

SLOW FASHION + SLOW FOOD + SLOW LIVING

FOREST + OCEAN is the fourth business venture that Derek and I have undertaken together. It’s been awhile since our last one and we are a bit rusty. Plus, times have changed! My design business had a website but our ornamental grass farm and old fashioned sweet shoppe did not. Only now can we see the possibilities if they had been! But it was a different time back in the early 2000’s.

Our beloved sweet shoppe – a life time ago.

Because we have a full time seasonal job, Derek and I are not able to have a bricks and mortar. We move twice a year and live an RV full time. Yes, with 2 Huskies and 3 cats! Now in our 13th year of managing parks, we were looking to do something different. A sideline to perk up our fairly routine lives. Which is how many businesses get their start – right? Turning an interest into a hobby and then turning that hobby into a business.

Derek’s hobby is fabrics and clothing!

It’s been a few years since we really started focusing on quality over quantity regarding the choices we make in purchasing. These better choices caused us to learn more about the clothing, gear, food, skincare etc. we were buying. We had found the ‘slow movement’. We had our ‘aha’ moment.

The slow fashion, slow food and slow living part of our business has become our guiding statement for F + O.

Great – but what does that mean exactly – you may be wondering. Well, here is how they are commonly defined:

SLOW FASHION = “Slow fashion is considered to be a continuation of sustainable fashion. Today, it is distinguished by quality, locally manufactured clothing, produced on a smaller scale and with slower production times.1 Mindfulness is paid to workers, the environment, and cultural connections. Slow fashion is more than the antithesis of fast fashion; it is a reimagining of what the clothes-making industry could be.” The main principles are to buy less, choose well, and make it last. From Treehugger.com

SLOW FOOD = “Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Simply stated, we link the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.” From slowfoodseattle.org.

SLOW LIVING = “Slow living is a mindset whereby you curate more meaningful and conscious lifestyle that’s in line with what you value most in life. It means doing everything at the right speed. Instead of striving to do things faster, the slow movement focuses on doing things better. Often, that means slowing down, doing less, and prioritising spending the right amount of time on the things that matter most to you.” From slowlivingldn.com.

Ok – so that sounds good, but what does it mean in our lives? Well, for Derek, Cassia and I it means choosing our clothing and food carefully. Not perfectly! Just choosing more often than not good stuff – good quality, good for us, good for others etc. We are huge fans of our local farmer’s market which we attend every Thursday at 8am. We need to do our shopping and be back to work. It’s not always easy to get an early start but it is worth it to us. We also buy local as much as possible. For much of what we consume it means carefully considering what we purchase and the consequences of these choices.

What does that mean for F + O? It means that Derek and I have decided to represent people and businesses who fall into these categories as well. We do this to celebrate the slow movement and those who are a part of it. Not only do they offer products for, or from, the forest and ocean, but they do so in a way that either helps those environments or allows us to comfortably exist in them.

Until recently we didn’t realize there were so many small batch producers. But now we do and now we hope you do too!

Until next time,

Teresa