Splash Magazine has put out its 2011 Mothers Day fashion gift guide and we are pleased to announce that we were included.  Zulugrass is  the perfect gift for mother day  and don’t forget that it is the Gift of Opportunity for the Maasai women who hand bead each piece.

Anne Mahrle

Today I was fortunate to catch up with Anne  Mahrle, owner of The Green Scene.  She has been a customer of The Leakey Collection for over three years, since she opened her natural living store in Marshall, Michigan.

Anne’s story is amazing and should be shared.  Anne had been very ill, hospitalized 17 times in one year, and her body was wasting away to nothing.  Doctors tried traditional medicine, such as daily steroids, but it only made her sicker.  She was told she’d have 10 years to live and her quality of life wouldn’t be great.  That’s when Anne decided to take matters into her own hands.  She discovered a wholesome, all natural approach to her health care, as well as her entire life, and suddenly Anne was feeling stronger.  Her improvement was so dramatic and powerful that she knew she had to share her findings with more people.  Using her store as the platform, she lets everyone know that there are natural alternatives to toxic products and prescriptions that we use on a daily basis.  Her entire store is dedicated to one stop shopping for a healthy lifestyle.  She carries products in health & beauty, arts & crafts, food & drink, cleaning supplies, natural supplements and fortunately for us and the Maasai, she also carries a variety of jewelry including Zulugrass.

She has a very loyal base of customers who, thanks to Anne, are living a healthier lifestyle.  Anne says she is rewarded on a daily basis by her interactions with people.  Many young people have found her store and are sharing her stories of healthy living with their friends and even with their parents.   Her customers locally have improved their quality of life and at the same time she is making positive change for people across the globe, like the Maasai from Kenya.  All of her products are gentle on the earth and give back in numerous ways.

This Earth Day, we hope more people across the globe find a healthier way of living- just like Anne.

Please join Katy Leakey, founder of The Leakey Collection, to hear about living in the bush of the Great Rift Valley and the positive change that is taking place because of you.

Enjoy special one-day pricing, share tips on greening your life, and a chance to win door prizes – you don’t want to miss this event!

Also, check out our Earth Day pledge of a Million Beads of Green and how you can help us reach our goal.

Read more about how you can get involved in Earth Day 2011 at HTTP://WWW.EARTHDAY.ORG/ . We love this year’s campaign and think you will too. Pledge your act to help reach

1 Billion Acts of Green: HTTP://ACT.EARTHDAY.ORG/ .

Wearing Zulugrass is just the start!

For Earth Day 2011, The Leakey Collection has partnered with Earthday.org in putting together two very special collections of GRASS beads. By purchasing these bracelets, you are not only supporting fair trade, but you are making a pledge to tread lightly and to show your support for a sustainable planet!

During the month of April, for every Earth Day bracelet sold , The Leakey Collection will donate $1.00 to Women and the Green Economy (WAGE™).

A BILLION BEADS OF GREEN COLLECTION

To celebrate this years Earth Day theme “ONE BILLION ACTS OF GREEN“, The Leakey Collection  has created this special collection for you. By purchasing this bracelet, you are not only supporting fair trade, but you are making a pledge to tread lightly and to show your support for a sustainable planet! Buy 3 strands for the price of 2 at $25.95.   $1.00 of  each “Billion Beads of Green” collection sold will go to Women and the Green Economy (WAGE™).

CELEBRATE THE EARTH COLLECTION

This 6 strand collection, called Celebrate the Earth, commemorates the many facets of our planet. Each strand represents one of the following- the waters, the air we breathe, vegetation, animals, the mountains, and finally our dreams for a beautiful world full of respect, care, and love. This set is priced for just $51.95 through April 2011, you will receive 6 strands for the price of 4.  $1.00 of each “Celebrate the Earth” Collection sold will go to Women and the Green Economy (WAGE™).

Read more about how you can get involved in Earth Day 2011 at Earthday.org . We love this year’s campaign and think you will too. Pledge your act to help reach One Billion Acts of Green. Wearing Zulugrass is just the start!

We are extremely happy that Tiny Green Mom considers Zulugrass to be one of the Eco-Chic must haves for Spring. Who can resist those luscious colors.

Check them out at a store near you or online.

Last week I talked about Philips love for plants and growing a variety in our garden(Shamba).

Our neighbors the Maasai are pastoralists  that prefer  herding to farming and therefore their shambas are of a narrower scope then Philip’s; they plant mainly maize (corn), kale, beans, and maybe a few tomatoes if there is enough water.  Most have no shamba at all because of the arid nature of their circumstances but those that have access to gravity irrigation will usually grow a bit of maize if nothing else.  The Maasai diet today has evolved to eating mainly ugali, ground maize meal that is boiled and pressed into a loaf and eaten with warm tea rich with milk and sugar if available.

Every morning the Maasai women wake long before dawn and milk the cattle and goats before they make tea and porridge for their children. Their day is working, beading, tending livestock, and the children not in school while watching over the boma.  I am constantly amazed at their skills and admire the ease with which they go about their daily activities.

Technically, I have actually milked a cow before, however I if you asked the cow she might have a different rendition of the experience.  I think if I were given a choice to be born a pastoralist or a farmer I would take pastoralist.  Although a very difficult existence to me it seems more befitting of my black thumb.  However I did leave a grapefruit in my refrigerator so long that months later when I finally cut it open it had sprouted.  For someone of my sketchy farming skills I put that in the success column, even though in my heart of hearts I know all the credit goes to the grapefruit desperate to grow its way to warmth and light.

It’s nice to live in the bush with friends who don’t notice that I can’t grow things and who like the fact that I enjoy sitting with them under Acacia trees watching cows graze.  There is something so peaceful about watching cows chew cud.  They make it look so good that it’s almost irresistible to not pluck a blade and stick it in your mouth and chew right along with them.

Talent or no for growing things it is lovely to live on this beautiful earth and appreciate all that it provides.  My mother appreciated nature as much as Philip and the Maasai and taught me to love it too.  Whether a grapefruit in your refrigerator, a plant on your sink, that adoring pet at your feet, or the tree out your window, let’s all take this month and honor the earth.  Pluck a blade of grass and notice its sweetness, wear your favorite color of Zulugrass or buy two strands and share one with a friend to celebrate our glorious planet.   Happy Earth Day to all!

When Katy and Philip Leakey founded The Leakey Collection in 2002, they set out to create eco chic jewelry while providing employment opportunities to the Maasai women and men of Kenya in non-factory settings.   Read more…

I used to scoff at my mother who always wanted to live on a farm, thinking that was not cosmopolitan enough for my liking.  I fancied myself an urban woman from a very young age, preferring museums, restaurants and social interaction as a way of life.  She used to extoll the virtue of a “simple and clean” life, one that was “close to the earth”, while I craved the intellectual stimulation that vibrated in the great cities around the world.  I wish she were alive today; she would laugh at the farmer’s wife I’ve become and delight in my eating “fresh crow” in the form of the best vegetables every day and loving it!

No one loves plants more than my husband, Philip, who for years has identified himself as a farmer before anything else.  On the land we lease from the Maasai Philip has created a prolific Shamba, (vegetable garden), from which we get all our lettuces, beans, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, eggplant, kale, sprouts, melons, fruit, and herbs.

Trees are his absolute favorite in the plant kingdom and he has planted nearly 10,000 seedlings of over 40 species.  Philip starts and ends each day with a walk among his precious plants, inspecting each row, securing leafs, and turning every melon.  We also keep chickens, broilers and layers, ducks and someday we’ll get a cow or two.

My mother never did get to live on a farm but I think she was really just all talk on that one because she told me when I was young; “If you ever do marry a farmer and he asks if you want to learn to milk a cow, I recommend you say, No”.  I think how much my mother would love the fact that I get to eat fresh organic food every day and don’t have to milk one single cow.

Hello  Zulugirl Fashionistas!  Zulugrass Friendship Bracelets are in the April/May Issue of Girls Life!

During the month of April, Girls Life will be holding their Eco-Chic  Giveaway. To enter just log into girlslife.com and look for the WIN TODAY box.  Click on the prize and enter. Check the winners list every Friday. Enter as many times as you want.

Just an FYI… ZuluSport Friendship Bracelets will be posted on  Day 14 of April  and on April 30th World of Green will do a Grand Prize Giveaway which includes an entire outfit including  Zulugrass.  If you’re a winner share your good news on our Facebook page.

Good luck Fashionista’s!