`It's hemp, much stronger than cotton'.Byline: Bob Welch There are a number of famous people of this name including:
EDITOR'S NOTE Editor's Note (foaled in 1993 in Kentucky) is an American thoroughbred Stallion racehorse. He was sired by 1992 U.S. Champion 2 YO Colt Forty Niner, who in turn was a son of Champion sire Mr. Prospector and out of the mare, Beware Of The Cat. Trained by D. : This is the fifth in a six-part series about Bob Welch doing other people's jobs. Today, he works at the Saturday Market. I look in the mirror. I'm a poor excuse for a new-millennium hippie: tie-dyed shirt, navy blue headband, jeans, sandals, leather fanny pack and a necklace that I made in two minutes by drilling a quarter-inch hole through an old skipping stone. But, hey, when you're selling hemp hemp, common name for a tall annual herb (Cannabis sativa) of the family Cannabinaceae, native to Asia but now widespread because of its formerly large-scale cultivation for the bast fiber (also called hemp) and for the drugs it yields. clothes at the Saturday Market and your closet is hemp-free, you do what you can. As I help Tim Taber and Shannon Mahoney set up their Earth & Water booth in Eugene's park blocks, I learn about them. How Taber was living out in the woods near Cougar cougar: see puma. cougar or puma or mountain lion or panther Species (Puma concolor) of large, graceful cat that lives in a wide variety of habitats in the Americas, from southern Alaska to Patagonia. and Mahoney was bumming around the country in a Chevy van when they met at the main stage of the Oregon Country Fair The Oregon Country Fair (OCF) is a three-day fair that takes place yearly beginning on the Friday of the second weekend in July in Veneta, Oregon, approximately 15 miles west of Eugene, with an attendance of approximately 45,000 over the three day period, with attendance peaking . (It was love at a psychedelic site.) They got married and had two kids, Zayah, 5, and Neeiah, 1. Now 27, they spend their Saturdays selling the hemp dresses, shirts, pants and tops that Taber designs and makes. Taber, with blond dreadlocks dread·locks pl.n. 1. A natural hairstyle in which the hair is twisted into long matted or ropelike locks. 2. A similar hairstyle consisting of long thin braids radiating from the scalp. to his waist, looks like an extension of the hemp clothing he sells. Mahoney is wearing a hemp top and has that early Carole King look. I'm feeling a tad self-conscious, like someone who's shown up at a '60s-themed party and will win the prize for "dumbest outfit." But the couple welcome me to their humble abooth. Taber asks about my necklace. I explain how I made it. "Cool," he says. We erect the booth in about 10 minutes. It is wood-framed, stained with a mixture that Taber made himself from black walnuts. I get a crash course in hemp clothes. Taber buys the plain fabric from China - the hemp grows in bamboolike stalks - and dyes it. He then makes it into nature-inspired designs. "Wearable art Wearable art, also known as Artwear, describes the making of individually designed pieces of usually hand-made clothing as artistic expressions. Pieces may be sold and/or exhibited ," he says. For example: Dresses with intricate embroidery, pants with leaflike cutouts at the bottom of each leg and buttons made from yew trees or scrap wood. Taber and Mahoney favor a low-key sales approach. No pressing the customer when one starts "kicking the tires Kicking the Tires Slang for doing the grassroots research of a prospective investment. Notes: Individual investors and fund managers alike partake in tire kicking. ." Just answer questions. Be friendly. And invite them to try on the item in a changing room changing room n (BRIT) → vestuario changing room change n (Brit) (in shop) → salon m d'essayage: (Sport) → that makes a phone booth look huge. "Someone always asks - I'm serious - if the clothes can be smoked," says Taber. "I tell them, yeah, if you pay me." He heads off to help a customer - 2 feet away. "These are all cotton?" a woman asks me. "Uh, no, hemp," I say. "Much stronger than cotton. One-of-a-kind pieces." Zoe Dubnikoff, a 26-year-old yoga teacher from Berkeley who's smitten by the designs, tries on a dress but leaves, worried that she couldn't ride her bicycle or motorcycle in it. "She'll be back," Taber predicts. I have my doubts. The morning warms. The customers keep coming. I pretty much keep telling people that "it's hemp, much stronger than cotton." A woman looks at a top, then at me. "Love your stuff," she says. Lois Roberts, a woman from Salem, tries on a pair of $65 pants and writes a check on the spot. By the time my half-day shift is up, I haven't made a single sale. But I've upheld the Hippocratic oath Hippocratic oath ethical code of medicine. [Western Culture: EB, 11: 827] See : Medicine - first, do no harm. I've seen life from the other side of the booth. And I've learned that dreadlocked entrepreneurs know their stuff. Remember the yoga teacher? She returned. And, for $75, walked off in a new hemp dress. Market analysis Environment: Festive mood. Friendly folks. Musicians. Limited patchouli patchouli or patchouly (both: păch`  lē, pəch oil smell. B
Challenge: Selling is the easy part. Taber sometimes pulls all-nighters making the stuff. B Boss, co-workers: Welcomed me to their world, despite my having last been a hippie in 1972 (and even then, not very good at it). A- Customers: A few huffed at the prices - hemp clothes aren't cheap - but most polite, upbeat. B Overall: Would have liked more action, but can't beat the people-watching. B |
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