Saturday Market - 9/18/10

It was a wet one this past Saturday at the Eugene Saturday Market, so it was nice to have our 10 x 10 space with built-in protection from the elements. If you live in Oregon and don't go out in the rain, you must be living in the wrong place. That being said, we had quite a few people who are living in the right place and many came by and visited, shopped and browsed. Thanks to all.

We continue to get ready for the upcoming Holiday Market, making cotton gift bags, wine bottle bags and other fun holiday things to add to the current shopping bag collection. Should be fun and make available something unique for those visiting the Holiday Market this year.

We look forward to seeing you at both Markets by the end of the year. Remember to take your own reusable shopping bags when you do your weekly grocery shopping. Visit us at the market or online or make your own, just BYOB. So far, this is the only planet available to us, so let's keep it for a long, long time.

Saturday Market - 7/31/2010

Already the last day of July, just can't believe it. What a beautiful day to finish off a great month at the Eugene Saturday Market. We had a lot of family stop by again and toured the vendors for fresh fruit, veggies, cool frozen fruit bars and, of course balloon creatures. Fun was had by all.

If you're one of the many who stopped by our booth to say hi and talk about saving the planet, thank you so much. We had lots of interest and some good discussions and I really think that is what will help us to turn the tide and help people to pay attention to what they can do to keep Mother Earth happy.

We're starting to get ready for the upcoming (not all that far away) Holiday Market and some new bag products to try out and see what ya'll think. Of course, we always consider special orders and this past weekend we had a few interesting ones that we will do our best to accommodate.

Hope everyone has a great stay-cool week and we'll see you next Saturday. Hey, did you take your reusable bags to the store this week? BYOB - cool, thanks.

Saturday Market - 5/29/2010

I feel like I've been the Saturday Market weather reporter lately, so this will be my attempt to ween myself off of that slippery slope. If you want to know, you'll just have to come on by on Saturday and be your own expert. But, since I'm weening, it wasn't cold and it wasn't wet. Now I feel complete.

We moved to a different, bigger location again this past weekend. I felt that we were kind of sandwiched in, so we'll move next time again. Always a trial and error process until we find a permanent home at some point. That said, we made some new friends and saw some "old" ones again. Nice to do some business with our friends from The Daily Bagel. Yummy good stuff there, you should check it out.

We were apparently camera shy this past Saturday so I'll just share something from the achieves and hope to see you next weekend or on our website. And remember, use reusable bags and bring them shopping with you - that's what they live for - BYOB. Later gator.

Saturday Market - 5/15/2010

Saturday Market now dives into its 41st year with the birthday celebration taking place for the 40th last week. And to celebrate, the weather was magnificent. Lots of musicians out and about Saturday also, and here's picture-proof. Didn't catch their group's name, but it was some good bluegrass and we sure appreciated them playing in front of our little space.

Again, a great turnout to enjoy the day, the local made-products, good food and enjoyable people-watching.

We sold a few sets of Bzz Bags which always makes us feel great knowing that more and more people are using reusable, recyclable materials to do their shopping. We see a number of people that have purchased our bags in the past and sure makes us happy to hear that they are taking them to the store each week. Thanks everyone.

We've mentioned before that we make custom bags too. We have made some bags for a local bagel store, a market vendor for hair sticks and have had recent requests for a cell phone bag and one for party gifts, so there are lots of fun, inventive was to find uses. But for us, the most important is to use bags as a replacement for plastic. We've found, in our house that our overall use of plastic has been reduced by about 90%. Just think, if everyone did that . . . So, make your own, find someone online or buy ours, but please remember to BYOB to the store.

See ya next time.

Saturday Market - 5/8/2010

Saturday Market was exceptional this past weekend. Best weather this year and the turnout was a direct reflection. All the vendor spots were filled and people just poured in. Great people, great entertainment - what a fun mix for a weekend. Here's a shot of a dancing fairy (not her, in her left hand) and face painting. Fun stuff for the kids.

We're getting a lot of requests this year for custom bags and we love making them for specific situations. We've done some for hair sticks, for bagels, we have some for coffee beans and of course many sets for your grocery shopping bulk food and produce, either in sets or individual if you prefer.

Come by and say "hi" next Saturday and/or stop by our website and see what we have. BzzBags.com (we pronounce it Bee's Bags, but call it whatever you want, just BYOB to the store). Help save our planet one bag at a time by using reusable cotton bags as an alternative to plastic in your daily adventures.

Not at the Market

We will not be at the Saturday Market for two Saturdays this month. The Bzz needs a rest and a chance to pick up some new material, so off we go to the deep south (of California). We'll miss the rain and the people, but we'll be back on the 31st, so make sure to stop by.

Not much new to share this week, but we will most likely have some new fabrics to add to the arsenal, so keep a close eye on our website for the latest.

Pictured here is our 6-bag set of Earth Day Jungle. This is fun and colorful set as you can see. Come on by or check it on the web.

Saturday Market - 10/10

Another market day come and gone. Good turnout on a day that required some patients to get the sun up and started. Eventually the coffee kicked in and the sun and people got more active. Thank you to those that came out - no Duck game to compete with in town this time.

Wanted to take a second and introduce our Bzz Bags coffee bean bag - one of our newer family members. As with all of our other bags, it is 100% cotton with an elastic band at the mouth of the bag for easy access. Just need to wrap a tie (supplied by the store) to the top with the product number. We reuse our tie a number of times to create less waste that way too.

So join the recycle, save and BYOB generation. One way is through our website at BzzBags.com. Another is to stop by the Saturday Market in Eugene and see us. Heck, make your own or find another vendor online, just do it (sorry Nike).

Saturday Market - Eugene 8/22

Another Saturday Market in Eugene, another beautiful day to spend outside. About 82 today with morning clouds - perfect.
Met a lot of great people this weekend, so if you weren't there, you missed out. Here's some pics for you to soak in. I'm telling you, it was nice and the fountains help for a great ambiance.

These guys were probably just taking a break from their intensive Bzz Bags shopping experience. There we are in the background. Hope you stop by next weekend. See you there.

Organic Bags Coming Soon

Exciting news for those who are organically driven. Bzz Bags is going organic with new certified organic fabric. We will continue to use the popular elastic banding sewn into the opening of the bag, so you'll get the best of both worlds.

No pictures to share yet, but it will be coming soon. Come on out to the Saturday Market in Eugene or visit the us at BzzBags.com to see what we've come up with for you.

So, until then, keep remembering to BYOB - Bring Your Own Bags. Whether you're buying from Bzz Bags, making your own or buying from someone else, the important thing is to remember to grab them, take them to the store and use them over and over again. We've got one planet and we should all think green - do the right thing - help save our planet one bag at a time. Recycle what you can't reuse and think about leaving this place in better shape than it when you first got to it. That's just got to make you feel good.

Plant to Help Pollinate

Here's a test. What kind of plant do you think this is. Is it under water? Is it from a rain forest?

Okay, we'll pull the picture back a little and see if this helps.

Give up? Well, first of all, the bees love them when you let them bloom, but you've given up a good meal for it, so your decision. If you just let them go, the artichoke plants have a unique bloom and the pollinators seem to love it. So from our garden, to you your computer - the blooming artichoke.
Here's a couple more plants that the critters love. Remember, if we didn't have pollinating critters, there would be no need for Bzz Bags, because you wouldn't have any good food stuff to put in them.

Saturday Market - Eugene 7/18

Got a lot of feedback from our give away of bags from last week. We heard and saw people using them at the market today and it really feels like a grass roots push. Can't wait to start hearing from people at the grocery stores in the area.

It was warm today in Eugene - low 90's, with a decent turn-out. Here's a picture of a local pirate. Okay, probably not a pirate, but he did have a bird on his shoulder. They don't allow dogs at the market, so I'm only guessing here, but this must have been his next best choice - man's second-best friend.

Speaking of birds, we've started to Twitter - so feel free to check it out on the site. You can also see the most recent twitters just to the right of this - second from the top.

Have a great one folks and don't forget to Bring Your Own Bags (BYOB) when you go to the store. Lot's of folks are starting to now and its definately the thing to do. Get ours, make your own, buy from someone else, just do it. Its fun to watch things change and head in a more responsible direction and its even more fun to know that you're part of the change.

Saturday Market - Eugene 7/11

Lil, my grandaughter came to the Saturday Market this weekend. I never mentioned that you can get your face painted while you're standing in the long line to buy Bzz Bags. Hard to understand, but Lilian would have more fun getting her face painted instead of helping us sell bags. I would have chosen a bag painted on mine, but she, for some reason, chose a unicorn - kids, what ya gonna do?

BYOB - just Bring Your Own Bags and everything else is gravy.

4th of July Market

Summer's here in Eugene, Oregon. Our Saturday Market was at about 94 degrees today. Hey, this is why we moved away from the desert!!! Oh, well, we also moved here because we love the seasons, so much to my dismay, summer is a season too. Here's a quick shot of people waiting at the start of the Saturday Market on July 4th.

In addition to crafts and other hand-made items (like Bzz Bags), they have some great food and a large locally grown fresh produce area. This picture shows where we sign up in the AM, and behind that is the produce section. We set up off to the left around a grassy area this time.

Hope to see you next week. Come on by, we've request slightly cooler weather for that weekend.

Promoting BYOB

Here's a fun way to promote Bring Your Own Bag. Lots of us like to wear stuff that says how we feel. Well, dang it, I feel that we should bring our own bags to the grocery store and do what we can to save the planet. This is Bzz Bags way of saying how we feel - and we think it looks kinda cool too.

So jump on board and pick a shirt or a hat or whatever you find on our Cafe Press site we call BYOBzzBag. Have some fun with it, I know we have already. See you at the grocery store.

Eugene Saturday Market 2009

I'm happy to say that I've joined the Eugene Saturday Market (Eugene, Oregon). They are celebrating their 40 year anniversary this year http://eugenesaturdaymarket.org/. This is a fun venue for artisans and is adjacent to the farmers market. Both support local businesses. Please come on by and check out the event any Saturday from now through November from 10 AM to 5 PM.



Hey, don't forget that June is National Pollinators' Month. So, help the bees and plant some flowers.
Visit our website at bzzbags.com and see what we've go new to offer. Or better yet, come visit us at the Saturday Market - fun in the sun.

Web Site Up and Running

Well, I'm not sure "up and running" is exactly correct, but it is functional. BzzBags.com is finally a reality. Just having the opportunity to get the message out in a different format is really exciting. All of our various bag set combinations are up to date and available for purchase. I'm also thrilled to help anyone make their own shopping bags - the point is to use less plastic that fills up the landfill and stays there for years and years.
I've notice that there are a growing number of sites out there now that offer similar type bags for sale. Some of them are on my links here. I love it! I hope more and more show their faces and continue to help save our planet, one bag at a time. Remember to BYOB - bring your own bags - when you shop.

We're also going to have some animal only bags on tapirback.com - my sister-in-law's long standing site for animal preservation. Nothing like a picture of a tapir with a plastic bag in its mouth to make you want to keep this stuff out of the landfill.
Enjoy your bag journey helping keep our planet clean and alive for future generations. Thanks

Pollinators Partnership, Bzz Bags & Cottage Grove Growers Market

Bzz Bags is proud to be a supporter of The Pollinators Partnership. Pollinators are birds, bees, butterflies, mosquitoes, beetles and bats that help transfer pollen between seed plants. Recently, I became aware of what has been dubbed Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which refers to honey bee colonies around the world that have been mysteriously disappearing. Remember that many (nearly 80%) of the world's crops require pollination. So, its a big deal if it doesn't get done and we certainly rely on nature to do its part.

When Bzz Bags begins to market our produce and bulk food bags, planned for the beginning of summer in our "home town" of Cottage Grove, a portion of our profits will be donated to this group and a cause that certainly gives us pause and concern.

So, feel free to join us in Cottage Grove in Oregon on Wednesdays in the park downtown (Coiner Park) starting June 25th. The first week happens to coincide with National Pollinators' Week, which is recognized in many states - Oregon currently is an exception. I have written to Governor Kulongoske to request that Oregon jump on the bandwagon, but either way, I will be giving my support and would love to have yours. In addition to Bzz Bags, there will be many local growers and artisans along with live music. I will be there each Wednesday throughout the summer, so come on by and have some fun and maybe even help save the planet . . . one bag at a time.

The weekly events are a combination of "Concerts in the Park" and "Cottage Grove Growers' Market." Remember Wednesdays throughout the summer - late afternoon through early evening - 4PM to 8 PM. Have some fun, get some good deals and great locally grown produce, oh and save the world.