clothes

Vera's work

focus: 

 

Vera currently has two jobs that link well  her passions for vegetarianism and creating ways to make things more sustainable. She cooks at the vegetarian restaurant Nakite and she designs and makes products for women and children.

Vera Martins



Location

Vera's home Porto
Portugal
41° 11' 3.7356" N, 8° 33' 26.8128" W
PT
focus: 

Vera grew up in a family with traditional values where the focus was on making your own things and using material well and with respect. She also has a connection with her neighbourhood, as she has lived in the same home for much of her life. For instance, some of her furniture comes from a local furniture maker, and her olive oil is made by a neighbour’s family.

“Besides being important, it is something that is so easy to do”

Q: How do you deal with little insects that like to eat herbs in pots?
I am not so experienced with food grown in pots, healthy soil is very important, and you can spray a mild soap and water mix on the leaves. It doesn't harm the plants but the bugs don't like it.

Q: How do you keep your vegetables and fruits from going bad?
Actually, a good way is to keep the food in soil, even apples. If you have a balcony or some place you can have a pot of soil, but then you have to keep it safe from mice and other animals. I also recently heard that storing for instance carrots vertically lengthens their shelf-life, as vegetables struggle to get into their natural position as they were in the ground, and using the extra energy to try to straighten up makes them go bad sooner, but I haven't had experience with that yet.

Q: When you buy meat, where do you go?
I don't eat meat very often, mostly when I go out for dinner. If I buy meat for cooking at home, I sometimes go to the organic meat stand at the Friday market in Leuven centre. Also, the man who sells goat cheese there sometimes has goat meat, from goats that were getting old. And then there is the Veeakker, a sustainable meat shop. There you can buy meat from animals that grazed on a protected land close by.

Q: Where do you get your clothes and other things?
1. There is a great hemp clothes shop Hempmade in Leuven
2. I buy my organic cotton underwear at C&A
3. Spit is a local second hand shop with all kinds of things
4. For my house that I am rebuilding, I got many things from the Internet site Kapaza

Theme by Danetsoft and Danang Probo Sayekti inspired by Maksimer