Apple Park is a new line of 100% organic plush toys and baby accessories designed with love in San Francisco and manufactured at China's first and only organic-certified toy factory. Apple Park Picnic Pals are five plush baby animals:  bunny, cubby, ducky, monkey and lamby, who live and play in Apple Park, a make-believe park in San Francisco, where heart-shaped apples grow on trees and every day is the perfect day for a picnic. All Apple Park products and packaging are made with state-of-the art, ecologically supported materials.  One hundred percent organic cotton, natural silk, non toxic plastics and sustainably-grown corn fiber, soy and hemp are used to create the unique and naturally hypoallergenic products. Apple Park fuses new technology and old world craft to create products that are one hundred percent non-toxic and exceed safety standards. 

Next we're excited to welcome Tammy Wilson. Last fall, when we were invited to film a segment for Parents TV in NYC on staging a green baby shower, we were in touch with Tammy to ask about including an amazing upcycled diaper bag by Brazilian artist Gabi Goncalves and were thrilled when Tammy sent us one for the segment. You can see it here. In her online shop, Earth Lover Shopping, Tammy stocks fair trade gifts and accessories along with natural, organic, handmade, renewable and recycled items.

We'll wind up today's show speaking wtih Mike Reichner from the incredible Purple Haze Lavender farm in Sequim, WA. (We dare you to try pronouncing Sequim if you don't know how!) Mike's career job was as a Park Ranger, but in 1995 he saw a blurb in the local Sequim paper about a meeting on growing lavender.  Mike attended the meeting,  saw this as a great opportunity and Purple Haze Lavender Farm was born!  After 14 years of hard work...Mike and his wife Rosalind now split their time between their home in Mexico and the Lavender Farm, which has grown into 12 acres of Certified Organic Lavender, two retail shops, a vacation rental, and a wholesale supplier to hundreds of stores all over the country.

I am delighted to have Traci Bisson- one of my role models when it comes to owning a successful business with competence and integrity- here on Learning and Laughter with Louise!  Here is her story as told on her amazing website: http://www.TheMomEntrepreneur.com

She admits to being broke at the time and less than sure about what her next steps would be.

But from bare-bones beginnings, Traci spent her remaining savings of $18.49 on "nice paper and envelopes" from Staples as her first step in running her own business. From there, her firm Bisson Barcelona grew to service writers and authors, a mostly ignored and misunderstood market, and individual business professionals.

Come learn more about Traci, The Mom Entrepreneur Group, Her new concept- The Baby Business Shower (BBS) and answers to some of your questions or comments (leave them here.)