Bradford Farmer's Market.

It was a rather pleasant day at the Farmer's Market this morning. Gray clouds threatened overhead, but the crowd didn't seem deterred. Lots of folks were out and about looking at all the lovely fresh produce and baked goods. The sun finally made an appearance right around noon and traffic picked up a bit.

Truly a great selection and competitive prices too! (I can't resist Mary's baked goods. mmmm... chocolate and peanut butter. Pistachio bread too!)

Most of the vendors are local. They make and sell things as a hobby or to earn a few extra dollars that our grandma's would have called "pin money".  Many have been there for years, although this is it's first year in the present location. I'm told that in years past the Bradford Farmer's Market was downtown in the historic district. Nice location, but not much room for growth.

This week I met a couple new vendors with great ideas.

Hurry Up and Wait (Prep Work)

Having spent the last three days playing with paint and the gourds shown here, it was time to break the morning routine and prep some future projects.

A while back some vintage, wooden-handled hand saws became available and have since been languishing the year away in the "workroom".

Two hand saws and a bare-wood occasional table were pulled and moved to the glass-top table on the back deck. Fine steel wool gently removed all remaining surface rust and debris.

Sunday: A Traditional Day of Rest... 17 August 2014

Yesterday was spent wandering the back roads of McKean County. Stopped at a friend's house and wandered their fields for a while. Snapped a few photos along the way even though the day was overcast and cool.

The strange looking flowering plant you see at the left is Teasel. Dipsacus fullonum according to Wikipedia.

Although it looks delicate the "cones" that hold the blooms (and subsequent seed) are actually quite sturdy when dried. Many people use them to add interest to dried arrangements. When an opportunity for harvest presents itself this is one of the plants on the list to add to the 'mostly' native garden out back along with Turtlehead and another as-yet unidentified flower (which doesn't happen all that often). It gives both Summer and Fall interest PLUS is a Winter food source for finches.

As a child I often wondered if pioneer women used teasel to comb tangles out of windblown locks. What do you think?

2014 Mt. Jewett Swedish Festival

The weekend blew Summer into being as temperatures soared into the lower 80s. Hoards of rain-weary people flooded the streets of downtown Mt. Jewett, PA for the 44th Annual Swedish Festival with the motto "Let's Swede It Up".


It's so nice when a community comes together to welcome strangers into their homes and businesses for a few days. What a great job the festival committee did making sure the activities were continuous. We came away with so many wonderful memories of the festival, community, other vendors and most important: YOU our customers!

A big thank you to everyone who came out and showed their support. Until we see you next we thought we'd share some photos of the festival with you.  Enjoy!

This may look rather odd...

But I thought you might want to see a work in progress.

One of the reasons I like working with acrylic paint is it's so versatile. It can be used in the consistency of watercolor, tempera or oil. Also, it cleans up easily with soap and water when still wet - yet dries to a surface that can be built upon for depth.

The field flowers sketch on this wooden tray (the last wooden tray I have in stock) is a rough draft showing the basic form and elements that will be included in this painting.

Shown below is the current rendition. Some elements will be staying, some will be erased (the Columbine looks simply horrible) and some will be added.