• Community Profile: Sharon Turner with Feed to Fashion

There are so many terrific people in Wildomar, and I'm so happy when I'm able to share what they do with the community. 

Pretty good prices for the very durable bags she makes.

It started when I saw her at The Bean at The Barn (the new coffee place on Clinton Keith just east of Palomar), where she had some of her Feed to Fashion bags out on display. Then I saw her wares on display at the Wildomar Market Place a couple of weeks later. I'm talking about Sharon Turner. 

I've known [of] her for years and years. She and her family have done a lot for Wildomar (you may remember Jasper the Alpaca, and just last year her daughter Kaylyn installed Wildomar's first "Free little library" at DeJong's Dairy).

Click this link to read the April 2017 blog about it.

This is from the Wildomar Parks grand reopening, April 2014. You can see Sharon on the left, with Kaylyn next to Jasper the Alpaca at the "kissing booth", a popular attraction that day.

I asked if I could feature her tote bags in the blog, and she was all for it, and she asked if I'd like like a tour of her "itty bitty farm" too. That was an easy "yes" to issue. 

What a charming place she and her family has.

Grace and I had a chance to see three of her four tortoises, the alpacas which they've had for about ten years, Ollie the sheep - last year he was Ollie the lamb. As it happens, Ollie photobombed a Wildomar Rap picture last year when I was out taking pics of the poppy fields last spring. 

This is Ollie the sheep, who I was told, loves to tear up boxes. I bet he loves Christmas. ☺

I'm sticking with "Ollie photobombing this picture" story, and not me taking photos of people in the poppies. ☺ It looks to me like Sharon (to the right in this picture, just behind Ollie the lamb) is using one of her tote bags here. This was first seen in the March 13, 2017 Blog about poppies. LINK

Sharon was telling us that they like Knott's Berry Farm, and that was some of their inspiration for a lot of the decorations. They have given tours to a lot of locals, homeschool groups and girl scouts over the years.

Now you see it!

Now you don't!
This burro loves kumquats.

Then I remembered that I was there to ask about her Feed to Fashion bags... She has an etsy store, Feed to Fashion, but is happy to help locals save the shipping with a pick up or drop off.

She's been making the bags for "years and years", but has only been selling them for the last year or so. The bags are made of a very durable material and they hold up even after years of use. 

When making them, she washes bags out thoroughly, then cuts the material in such a way so that the image is centered and will look nice when it becomes a tote bag. She stitches the bottom, then the top, makes the handles and they're ready to go.

A look at the bags as they hang on a display stand.

In addition to the bags she gets with her own animals' feed, DeJong's saves bags for her, as do some of her friends that have different animals than she has... which means different feed to fashion bags too.

She doesn't make them out of dog and cat food bags anymore, since the food for cats and dogs is meat based and it leaves an oily residue in the bags; sometimes an odor too.

We enjoyed seeing the Christmas stockings that she has in her Etsy store starting in October.

The perfect touch for a rural Christmas feel.

The idea for the bags came from a combination of things. Her desire to recycle, that the material is so sturdy, her creativity and she saw a good opportunity. 

She's not looking to retire off the sales of these bags, but is able to recoup enough so that it pays for her animals' feed. She estimates that she's made hundreds and hundreds of these bags since she started selling them.

Grace Morabito and Sharon Turner posing with the homemade shopping bags. I'm going to have to bring Grace along to more Wildomar Rap blog meetings... Sharon gave her a couple of bags after seeing how much Grace liked them. Thank you, that was nice. ☺

The best way to contact Sharon is through email or facebook.

You have to love her business card. What a great message, reduce >reuse >upcycle.

Contact info: 

Sharon Turner

feedtofashion@gmail.com

FaceBook Link

Etsy Link

This is a close up of my favorite picture of the afternoon.
He sticks his tongue out on command. 

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If you know of a Wildomar resident with an interesting story, and they wouldn't mind being the topic of a blog, send me a message and I'd like to hear about them. No promises, but if I don't hear about them, I can't share their what they do with others.

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There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.
– Sophia Loren

Wildomar Rap slew age eons ago.

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