If you read our last post, you know our lives have become a whirlwind of emotions this week. Your incredible support, messages, follows, shares, comments and smoke signals have been so amazing I’ve been jumping up and down every single day! If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can check out that story here, but basically, my husband and I are beginning the final countdown into what will be a brand new vegan program/project/website that will be coming to you this fall! It goes by the name of brownble, and you can catch a little glimpse of it in our post, our youtube channel (with two sneak peek videos!), and you can sign up here (in the little pop up window you’ll see) if you want us to let you know when more content is live for you to check out.
One of our most faithful readers Wendy (hey Wendy!), asked us where the name brownble comes from. So I thought I’d share that story with you today. Brownble is really a play on words, with its origin being the British English word ‘bramble’ which is by definition a rough, tangled and messy shrub that produces the blackberry. Bramble jam, is also a common treat, which is basically another name for blackberry jam! I love this mental image of one of the most perfect and beautiful fruits coming from a prickly messy shrub, and those berries being used for making a sweet jam you can spread on a scone in the morning with a warm cup of coffee. That little messy shrub reminds me of myself a little bit.
It wouldn’t appear to be so, but I’m always all over the place! I drop things constantly, break every single water or wine glass that steps foot in our house, smash plates, smash into things, my bag is always a mess, and I forget where I put that object that is comfortably resting in my hand, or on my head, or in my pocket. Brownble, is that little shiny berry that I still can’t believe we’ve managed to create in spite of my forgetfulness, clumsiness, silliness. Perhaps it’s my hubby’s magic and laser-focused touch that are making that brownble-berry jam so sweet!
Mainly however, that image of that shrub and those perfect blackberries hanging from it, take me back to one of our favorite moments as a little family of four.
Right after we adopted our dog Vega, her sister Nala, my husband and I took a little road trip to Galicia, Spain and stayed in this incredible vegan bed and breakfast. On our second morning there, we were setting out to explore some waterfalls and forests. Nala wanted to see what the other guests were doing, Vega was pulling in the opposite direction to find some dogs that had been barking at her the night before, my husband had the two dogs pulling in opposite directions and our vegan picnic in a backpack over his shoulder, and he was calling out to me to hurry up and help get the dogs in the car. I was busy taking the photo you’re about to see. In the middle of a completely disheveled shrub, there were the most perfect blackberries.
Now whenever I think of that trip, I remember a totally mundane morning, with the dogs going slightly wild, Carlos getting mad at me for taking too much time taking too many pictures (a common occurrence at our house since I’m physically attached to my camera), and how much I felt like we were a little family… and I remember that blackberry.
Bramble slowly morphed into brownble, and there you go!
There is so much of our hearts in this little endeavor that it felt very fitting to think of a name that represented food and our little family. If you’ve seen the video sneak peek of our recipe for BBQ black bean sliders you’ll see that even Nala and Vega are a part of this project!
Thanks Wendy for the question! For all of you who are interested, Wendy has a wonderful blog about vegan travel, which is like a travelling bible for me. Check it out here, and connect with her if you’d like!
I’m off ‘til next week dear readers! Don’t forget to sign up to our email list below, where we’ll notify you when our program goes live, and click the buttons below to start following us on social media. Within the next few months before fall arrives, we’ll be moving all of our posts and content over to brownble.
Follow brownble and Sign Up!
Hi Kim,
Thanks so much for your very kind words! And that’s a beautiful story. Blackberries are a very nostalgic fruit for me; I have fond memories of picking them in our own backyard and at my grandparents’ house. Since I’m used to being able to forage them for free, I’ve always balked at the high prices the grocery stores here charge for them. Recently, though, I caved in and bought some. I’m now looking forward to a bowl of blackberry lime cheesecake oatmeal later today 🙂
Hi Wendy! The words are so well deserved! I love what you’re doing with your website. Such a needed resource for vegans, I’ll be sharing it in brownble a ton when we go live. It’s so practical. I also loved your story about blackberries and please… blackberry lime cheesecake oatmeal???!!! What is that heavenly thing!? It sounds so good!
Here’s the recipe! It’s from the Oatmeal Artist, another one of my favourite vegan bloggers: http://www.theoatmealartist.com/blackberry-lime-cheesecake-oatmeal/
Wow!! Thank you so much Wendy! Can’t wait to try it!