The last day of the market was fabulous, sunny, cold and clear. Many friends stopping by and remarks like where were you last week? My wife needs a bag for her mother, or I need some hand creme. Just what I needed to cheer me up and take my mind off the frustrating week I just finished. Debbie stopped by in her beautiful handspun crocheted cape and angora sweater. The cape is a clever way to use up some of the handspun skeins I have. Candace's friend, Susan, stopped by and told me about another felting class coming up at the Earlville Opera House taught by my friend and local fiber guru, Lisa Merian, and one in Hamilton taught by none other than Suzanne Farrington, well-known local potter. I visited Suzanne at her booth today and bought some more soap dishes. She wears felted clothing and accessories which I admire so much. Felting is a new frontier for me and I want to do more of it. Lord knows I have the fiber. Suzanne came to my space to look at her soap dishes in use, with large chunks of clove soap and a brush tied to it. She says they look like soap barges. I sold several of them today, mostly to Colgate dads here to attend the Haverford game. One man said his wife sent him to check to see if I was here, but did not allow him to pick out the bag she needed for her mother. They want to come to my "store" and look them over. I told him I don't have a store yet, but they could come and I would pull the big tub out of the cargo trailer and they could go through the bags in my driveway. He said that would be fine. What can I say? I'm only two years into a ten year plan (if I live that long!) Suzanne wants to come and look through raw fleeces. Jim Baldwin is supposed to come and shear next Saturday and she wants to watch. I told her to keep an open mind. I'm shy about who I let come to the farm. People just don't understand, and make rude comments that hurt my feelings, like "Why are the goats so small?" or "Why is that one limping?" or "Why don't you feed your cats somewhere else so they are not right next to the door?" or "Why hasn't Matt built you some hay feeders so you don't have all this hay on the floor?" I never think of catchy, snotty retorts until they are long gone. Suzanne is probably okay, but I never know. Anyway, back on the farm. I think the power outage killed my receiver box - no TV. Have to call Direct TV. No election coverage or movie channels. Not good! I watched Pride and Prejudice last night and it's on now. All those wonderful long dresses, servants, critters and even piggies!! Have to get a new batch of creme going, but I wandered all over Wal-Mart yesterday and couldn't find my jars! Combing grocery stores for canning jars is not my idea of fun. I can get them through the mail but there's shipping...My bag stash is getting low, a nice thing, and have to fire up the machine. I brought home some delicious BOCE culinary program food for the weekend, hmmmmm, shrimp bisque tonight!
The last few weeks of the farmers' market are always the best, I think. Crisp enough that the looky-loos stay home - mostly only serious buyers come to get what they need to stock up on for the winter. That's when the best produce is there, too. I love winter squash and pumpkins, apples, the last of the peaches, and the fresh bread. The Farmers' market in Cheyenne didn't have any fiber venders, but they had fruit trees and herbs for sale, and all kinds of produce. Once in a while, someone would bring that accidental litter of pups to sell and, in the end, give away.
ReplyDeletePeople who don't live on farms really do not understand the life, the animals, and probably do not understand the people, either. I have laugh about how many times I heard someone talking about retiring to the farm so they could put their feet up. Ha.