Lifestyle: Living in the Catskills

In an age where we as a society are shunning all things natural for all things touchscreen it was refreshing to read this NYTimes Home & Garden article on Jared Handelsman and Portia Munson, a couple of artists building, (sometimes growing) their home into the land of their 83 acre plot in the Catskills. I'm supremely jealous of their treehouse turned camera-obscura and their bathroom covered in reclaimed birch bark not to mention the beautiful blue and yellow tiles covering their kitchen. Below are some of the images of their home and land, you can click here for the full article and set of images!

Newspaper Clip of the Week: The Writing Revolution

So this isn't usually something that I would talk about on the Bamboo & Fern blog, but as many of you are parents I thought you might be interested. As someone who hasn't always had the greatest confidence in this government's educational system, particularly in the english department, it is a relief to see that someone is trying a new formula. Below is an excerpt of the story of how New Dorp High School was able to turn itself around. If you'd like to read the article in it's entirety click here!

"For years, nothing seemed capable of turning around New Dorp High School’s dismal performance—not firing bad teachers, not flashy education technology, not after-school programs. So, faced with closure, the school’s principal went all-in on a very specific curriculum reform, placing an overwhelming focus on teaching the basics of analytic writing, every day, in virtually every class. What followed was an extraordinary blossoming of student potential, across nearly every subject—one that has made New Dorp a model for educational reform."

NJ Bride Mention

In the Fall/Winter 2012 issue of NJ Bride there was a beautiful article done on the Barrasso~Nigam wedding that Christoffers did the flowers for. One thing that was extra special about this wedding was that there were two ceremonies one Hindu and one Christian. It was a beautiful display of both religions and cultures coming together. Check out some of the pictures below!

Newspaper Clip of the Week

This weekend while looking through the Sunday paper I immediately stopped at this photograph. I thought this was such a cool idea to do a gradiation with succulents and ferns. You might even think of doing this with your initials at a wedding or an event of some sort.