Hands-On Restoration -- Hardware Help

I'm cleaning out my clipping file -- never know what I might have stuck in there.

A tip on how to strip paint from hardware from Bungalow magazine.

Boil water; add Arm and Hammer Superwash. Add hardware and boil until the paint is gone. It takes about 10-15 minutes.

I have not tried this but it supposedly orginates with the folks at Rejuvenation.

Insurance for Historic Property

Need insurance for your historic property? The National Trust for Historic Preservation has an insurance affiliate with experience and understanding of insurance needs specific to historic properties.

www.nationaltrust-insurance.org

From Farm to Table

Heather and Marc Hill, farmers from Greenfield, IN, are part of a small, but growing effort to sell food directly to consumers.

As part of coursework for her MBA, Heather developed a business plan for The Pork Shoppe. As part of her plan she says she, "studied the demand for locally-raised livestock and people being in the know about where their food comes from."

The Hills have implemented Heather's business plan and now have some of the 11,000 hogs they sell commercially custom butchered and packaged. They sell their products to an ever-growing list of customers, mostly at farmers markets. The Edibles market in the Irvington neighborhood of Indianapolis is another outlet for their pork. Their ultimate goal is to have a retail location at their farm.

They find that their customers like knowing where their food is coming from.

From The Hoosier Farmer, Winter 2006-2007.

How Sustainable Can You Go?

George Wilkes, the owner of a sucessful fish-and-chips restaurant on the north shore of Lake Surperior, knows sustainability and applies his values to every aspect of his business.

At the Angry Trout Cafe he serves locally produced food, his servers wear locally made organic cotton aprons, takeout containers are reusable, wooden pens are refillable, and the straws are compostable.

If you would like to find out more about this example of sustainability in action you are in luck becuause Wilkes has written the Angry Trout Cafe Notebook: Friends, Recipes, and the Culture of Sustainability. (Northwind Sailing)

From Jul/Aug 2005 Orion magazine.