Library Research Notes #44
Good things
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Hello and welcome to the weekend! If you are new here, thank you for joining, and if you are one of my longtime readers, thank you for sticking with me.
Now that the midterms have passed, I was thinking about potentially writing on a new topic, but all things lead back to politics for me. After all, our lives are dictated by the politics of the time, whether we want to believe that or not. Still, though, I think we could all use a little breather from politics and elections and such (oh my!)
So this time I want to focus on some of the good things that I’ve been doing to try and keep my head straight during the election season. It isn’t all reading, researching, and writing over here - we also take day trips for coffee, beer, crystals, books, and other things to keep the knowledge flowing and the activism fueled.
Next time, I’ll get into the results from the midterm and maybe discuss the demise of Twitter, but for now, join me on this journey of good things. I think we all need a little break!
Food through the mail
After moving to the South, we decided that it might be nice to start trying out food delivery services. And we had a little nudge from my uncle and cousin (shout out to Sam and Gabby!) who sent us a gift subscription for Daily Harvest. Since then, we have tested out Hello Fresh, (great service, not enough options for low carb diet) Home Chef (great so far, still in the testing phase), Naturebox (great for snacks, but not as much variety as we can get at the grocery store), and the aforementioned Daily Harvest, (enjoyed, but we aren’t big on soups and smoothies), but by far the best services we have received are the coffee subscriptions.
We started off with Trade, which although it can be pricey, has been our favourite subscription so far. The coffee is always high quality and beans are ethically sourced and roasted by small batch roasters across the country. When you visit the site, you will first take a quiz to see what your coffee preferences are and then you can choose a plan depending on your consumption. Plans allow you to choose 1 or 2 lbs every 1-6 weeks. (click this referral link to get your first bag free when you signup for a subscription!)
Because Trade is such a ‘treat’ for us we lowered our subscription to 2 bags every 6 weeks and then, rather than supplementing via the grocery store, I setup a Peace Coffee subscription to arrive every 6 weeks. It took a couple months to sync these two subscriptions up, but now, as we finish one type of coffee, the other one is arriving. Peace Coffee is less expensive, per pound, than Trade, but it is higher quality than the beans we were getting from the grocery store. (click this referral link to get 20% off your first order with Peace!)
Overall, we are quite pleased with the coffee subscriptions. It saves us time and we get to try coffee roasters from all over the United States. So if you are a coffee lover, click on one of the links above and try a subscription. Coffee beans delivered to your mailbox - how can you go wrong?
Although we enjoy quite a bit of coffee, we are also very into tea. One of the best parts of working for Nancy’s Coffee Cafe (in the 1990s!) was that they introduced me to The Republic of Tea. Back then it was a new venture in tea, but has grown to be one of the most recognizable brands on the market. And if you like vanilla flavoured tea, this is the place to go. They use the best ingredients and you can shop based on health interests, caffeine content, tea flavour, or a combination of all this and more. They also have the most lovely gifts and offer a ‘sip by sip’ subscription program. And I have one more referral link for you: click here to sign up and earn 200 tea leaf rewards which you can use toward your first purchase on the site!
Hippie things
We have been visiting Nashville quite a bit in the last couple years. Since we moved just 40 minutes away, it is a place we feel comfortable driving to for day trips. Being the 21st largest city in the United States, and growing exponentially, means that there is plenty to do to fill a day, weekend, or even a full weeks vacation. The first time we visited, we stumbled across a store called Two Old Hippies, located in the Gulch, that has since shut its doors, but it showed us that Nashville was way more than country music and woo girls.
If you are in need of crystals, incense, tapestries, or anything astral related, you need to check out Cosmic Connections. The store is a delight to visit and they just expanded into a larger spot. On our last trip, I treated myself to this singing bowl, along with some worry stones, patchouli oil, and a few other gifts for the upcoming holidays. We were hoping to get a glimpse of the resident cat (Sunny) but they were still marking the new location and wasn’t in the mood for company. Maybe next time!
Another location that we visited on one of our early trips to Nashville, in January 2020, was High Garden Tea. Their location, in East Nashville, was devastated in the 2020 tornado and they moved the business online. Their tea is an absolute must have for whatever ails you and the purveyours, Leah and Joel Larabell, are the most mindful and lovely souls. Their instagram page has a wealth of information, presented by Leah as she showcases her talents as an herbalist and steward of the forest.
On our summer trips to Nashville, we are always sure to visit the Gardens of Babylon Plant Nursery at the Farmers Market. They give great advice for growing our house plants and herbs and have a large selection of pots and tools for sale as well. In Clarksville, we love visiting our own little garden shop, Pups Plants & Goods, where we also receive great advice and enjoy browsing the retro decor.
Reading
This wouldn’t be a complete newsletter if I didn’t mention where I go to get my reading materials and the places I visit, both online and in person, to do research.
Our local small business bookstore, in Clarksville, is Hudubam Booktraders, where you can find both used and new books for sale and friendly staff to assist in your search for the next great read. When I can’t find what I’m looking for here, I use bookshop.org for my online purchases. Through bookshop, you can support your local bookstore as well. Book lists make it easy to browse the site for curated collections that relate to your reading preferences.
I also love visiting the UB libraries online when I want to do some more intense article research. I’m lucky to still have access, as alumni, now 6 years out from my graduation! I cannot circulate books from the stacks, but I have access to all the databases and I’m able to download articles to .pdf format for saving to my many many many folders of research.
Locally, I have a library card for both the Clarksville - Montgomery County Public and the Nashville Public libraries, as well as the Austin Peay State University library. Previously, I had cards with the Huntsville - Madison County Public and New York Public libraries, which are both expired, and the Buffalo - Erie County Public library system, which I can still (for now) access online!
A note here: if you live in the State of New York, you are eligible for a New York Public Library card. This might seem strange if you are someone that isn’t planning on visiting the City anytime soon, but it is a really great way to get digital access to all that the NYPL has to offer. And they send you a physical card as well, so that is super cool. I still have the mini card on my keychain and truly miss the access that little card gave me. The ancestry.com resources alone are worth the effort!! Here is a link to that process: Get a Digital Library Card Today in a Few Easy Steps. (hat tip here to my reader Grace for originally turning me on to the fact that this was even possible!)
Health and wellness
In the past 3 years, I have started subscribing to a few things that help my physical and mental wellbeing. First up was a vitamin subscription through Ritual. The thing that sold me on this multivitamin was the fact that it has 9 traceable ingredients. D3, E, Folate, B12, Iron, Magnesium, Boron, Omega 3 DHA, and K2. Nothing more. They are also translucent and scented with either lemon or citrus, depending on your preference. I add a CoQ10 from the grocery store and I’m all set. And the best part of ritual is that it is on subscription, so around the time I am about to run out, a new bottle appears in the mail. Simple.
When it comes to oral health, I’m a bit of a stickler for keeping my teeth as healthy as possible. I always thought I was doing a great job of brushing and a semi-good job of flossing, but since I started with the Quip, I have had nothing but rave reviews from my hygienist! The smart electric brush can sync to your phone and tracks your habits. The brush stops and starts in 30 second intervals to prompt me to move to the next quadrant and helps me fulfill the 2 minute brush rule that was a lot harder to track with a manual brush.
Quip also has other products that are pretty great, like the refillable floss pick, mouthwash dispenser, and gum dispenser, along with toothpaste and other accessories to keep your teeth and gums healthy. But, the best part of all is the subscription - you can set it and forget it and every 90 days a new brush head and battery, along with any other refills you might need, comes in the mail. Keeping your brush clean and running perfectly. And if you think you might like to invest in a quip, right now the smart brush is on sale for only $25. Use my referral code: 6FJCZCGN - and get a $5 credit for your first refill.
Thank you for indulging this link post. I thought it would be a nice distraction from the election and then the strange week we just had. (Twitter collapsing under the weight of a capitalist twit and the orange twit announcing a return?!) I hope your weekend is lovely and I’ll see you back here next week when we return to the regularly scheduled programming. Peace!