Stocking stuffer alert! It’s re-usable, washable, compact and packable, and it helps save our planet’s resources. It’s simple and it works – both at home and on the road. I’m talking about ChicoBag – an awesome little gift for your earth-roaming, or just planet-conscious, friends.

Never again will you need to feel the crush of guilt when you are caught bag-less…“paper or plastic?” ChicoBag’s ChicoBag Sling rePETe is super-compact and tucks easily into your purse or daybag. Yet, once unfurled, the Sling has an amazingly generous carrying capacity. Keep one of these on-hand and you’ll always be ready for the spontaneous market find. Going tropical for the holidays? Tuck it away in your carry-on when traveling between warm and chilly climes for an easy way to carry your extra clothing layers.

Whether hitting up your neighborhood farmers market on the weekend, or checking out the local vendors when traveling, market life brings you right into the heart of a community. Cool thing is – no matter what’s in season, ChicoBag’s ChicoBag Produce Stand Starter Kit has you covered.

The set consists of 3 different reusable produce bags:

- a rePETe bag that blocks airflow and keeps things like squash and carrots moist,

- a rePETe Mesh bag that allows ethylene gas to escape for things like apples and onions,

- and a 70% Hemp – 30% Cotton blend bag that absorbs excess moisture and is great for bulk grains and nuts.

Between the Sling and the Produce Stand Set (both available on Amazon
), I haven’t needed to take a plastic bag for anything in a very long time. And that’s a good thing!

Here’s our trusty steed, waiting for us patiently on the dock while I consume an extremely satisfying plate of seafood pasta for a pre-flight lunch at Sechelt’s Lighthouse Pub. I eyeballed the tiny aircraft and the jitters set in…would I be able to hold it down?

My fellow passengers (three other travel writers and Liz from Spectacular Ink, who hosted us along with Tourism BC) climb into the tiny steel bird and our pilot takes a minute to acquaint us with the safety features. Then the moment arrives, and I feel a surge of nervous excitement as the engines whine loudly and we taxi along the water’s surface.

We lift up on the air as gently as a feather on the breeze, and all the nervous anticipation is instantaneously replaced with a flood of sheer euphoria as we are gorgeously aloft. I can’t wipe the smile off my face. This is glorious! And breathtaking! And so not scary!

As we continue to climb, the landscape unwraps around us. Kayakers become tiny yellow dots on the waters surface. As we fly out of Porpoise Bay, I see the green and white patches of something surfacing…is it fish? No, it can’t be! We’re too high now. It must be the Pacific White-sided dolphin we heard talk about during lunch down at the dock.

I can see for miles down these fjords and it’s reminding me of the grandeur of Alaska. But oh so much closer to home.

The pilot is enjoying just as good of a view (if not better) from his seat. Riding shotgun up front is Kristen of Adventure Gill; deservedly so, not just because she won the coin toss at lunch, but also because she has the best camera with the largest lens.

As the landscape rolls out below us, we get to look down on tiny coves, uninhabited islands, and large tracks of unspoiled forest. It’s an amazing place to be.

I see my plane’s little shadow cast upon a spiral of trees below me.

Towards the end of the flight, our trusty pilot starts tweaking with things…a handle is pumped, levers are flipped and a couple of buttons are pushed. He didn’t seem alarmed but, as we crest the top of a wooded hill, the engine stalls out and we woosh into a nosedive freefall. I’m totally taken off guard, and unexpectedly a gutteral noise from the depths of my being bubbles up and erupts into a strange, arm-flailing screech…”gggkkkhhgggGAAAHHHHHHH!!” I think I might just be about to die, or at least plunge into the fair green trees below. “No,” my brain races, “this is all wrong! A float plane can plunge in to water and bob up like toy. But… trees??!” But in a few seconds that feel like an eternity the pilot rights the plane again and smiles back at us. I’ll never live this down, and I won’t even try. I’m still laughing at myself as the plane descends touches down, smooth as silk, on the water’s surface again.

Having just looked my own mortality in the face, here is a picture of my cool and composed colleagues, and me smiling at the fact that I’ve navigated a momentary crisis of the imagination. At this moment, all I really want to do is go back up again!

Aerial theatrics aside, West Coast Air has a proven safety record. I love the fact that they’ve been carbon neutral since 2007, supporting Canadian-based Offsetters on a variety of environmental initiatives. They offer flight-seeing tours of the spectacular Sunshine Coast out of Sechelt, B.C. as well as connecting flights to Vancouver, Victoria and more. This is a unique and wonderful way to enjoy the region.

For me, the pictures really tell this story! Enjoy more photo-centric blog posts today over at Delicious Baby’s Photo Friday.

Stepping into the sweet little Rustic Soap Co. shop in Greendale, the first thing I notice is the wonderful smell. Scents of fresh lavender, citrus, and spice mingle pleasantly in the air. Proprietor Tawnya Walsh’s wares are creatively displayed among vintage crates, baskets and buckets….functional country art. Living up to its name, the space is undeniably rustic-cute, and it seems to double as an aromatherapy den. I find I’m breathing deeply and smiling a lot.

Tawnya mixes a batch of ginger lime soap and chats with us about the inspiration for her business. Her young son had suffered from eczema and she’d been struggling to find a soap that didn’t irritate his skin. She learned to make her own, using strictly natural products (often edible), because as she puts it, “your skin ingests what you put you on it.” Tawnya took courses in herbalism and aromatherapy to further enhance the healing properties of her soaps, and word caught on – people with skin issues continue to be frequent clients. There is no lye or fragrance oils in any of her finished products.

She’s been making handmade natural soap for 12 years now, but in recent years has branched out into other products as well. A line of baby products includes diaper balm and bath mix for the sensitive skin of little ones. A rich lavender lotion I took home, full of healing goodies such as jojoba oil, shea butter and cocoa butter, has found a permanent place next to my keyboard to soothe tired hands. A spice-scented candle simmers nearby, and I rejoiced when I found her hemp-based lip balm.  In the shower, I’m enjoying a natural soap called “Mr. Vetiver”, an exotic blend named in honor of a friend who moved to Indonesia. I daydream of travel to faraway places whenever I use it.

If I’m trying to reproduce the aroma-therapeutic sanctuary of the Rustic Soap Co. in my own home, then I’m also hoping to channel some of Tawnya’s peaceful creative energy. She pours the mixed soap into a wood-framed box, explaining that she’ll let it set for 24 hours and then cut into bars that cure for about a month before they go out on the shelves. She makes it look so easy that I think for a moment that I’ll go home and try to whip up a batch of sweet-smelling soap in my basement. But when I learn that I can order her products directly through her website, I ditch that notion. I’d rather have a box of country magic delivered fresh from the Fraser Valley.

It’s just a short jaunt down the road to Greendale Pottery & Country Guest House, where the smells on the air shift to sweet hay and the faint musk of cows grazing nearby. But Holly McKeen knows where we’ve been. “You’ve just come from Tawnya’s, haven’t you?” She smiles, “You smell lovely.”

Holly tells us she and her husband Ken bought this farm 14 years ago and moved their kids out of the city. “But I didn’t know this was in me,” she says, gesturing to her handiwork, the sparkling pottery filling her showroom. Holly’s specialty is crystalline, a type of pottery that to me brings to mind an ephemeral undersea garden. She mixes her own chemicals in her studio and often has the kiln fired up on Saturdays so that Circle Farm Tour visitors who are taken with her beautiful work can bring home a “newborn” piece, freshly fired.

The kids have grown up, but Holly and Ken are now raising a different brood – the happy cows that are grazing outside. The organic, naturally-raised and grass-fed beef is sold in portable freezer packs for visiting day-trippers, but Holly says they often make a special trip back to stock up their freezers once they’ve tasted this high-quality meat. The McKeens work with a local butcher and carefully oversee the process from start to finish.

Just when I’m thinking I could stay on this peaceful farm forever, Holly shows me the upstairs guest quarters, which can accommodate 2 – 4 people. The suite features a full kitchen and a Jacuzzi tub with a killer view of the sunrise over the mountain. Hawks, herons and barn owls are frequent sightings from the deck, but otherwise it’s peace and privacy for guests. I’m not surprised when Holly tells me that 50% of the guest house renters are folks returning after a Circle Farm visit. I may well be one them someday!

Heading back to Vancouver, there’s one more stop to be made – dinner at Abbotsford’s restaurant 62. Inspired by the bounty of local ingredients, chef Jeff Massey brings the whole Fraser Valley into one harmonious and sublime meal. Jeff’s seasonal menu highlights the simple goodness growing down the road – fresh produce plays off locally-caught seafood and farm-raised meats. Local wine pairings add to the alchemy, and elevate the meal. After a day of tasting the valley with all my senses, dinner at restaurant 62 was the perfect punctuation point, a sweet closer to bring the whole day together in a bite.

But for me, after a marathon day out in the valley, there is still a lot of unfinished business. I love that fact that there is such a wealth of options to choose from – 5 regions and over 60 businesses are more than anyone can see in one day. I look forward to return not only to cover some of the areas that I didn’t yet explore, but also to re-visit some favorites at different seasons and have an ever-evolving experience of life in the valley.

With everything hand-crafted I’ve seen on the Circle Farm Tour, quality rules over quantity, and small-scale hand-crafting allows for more natural, sustainable products with a personal touch. And indeed it is the people – the artisans and farmers – who add the heart and depth to Circle Farm. To me, this is the best kind of sustainability – inviting me to form a lasting relationship with this place, its people and ultimately its culture.