galloping goat gossip

Kids Art Camp Van

2010-05-15T17:32:00.001-07:00

So our van has had a bit of a face lift, two giant faces to be exact, in order to promote our summer art camp and after school art clubs.

The idea behind the blank pages the kids are holding up goes like this: Each child who takes part in this years summer art camp in July will have the opportunity to paint or draw a picture that will be judged by a few prominent Prince Edward County artisans. The 2 winning pieces of art will be printed in vinyl and placed on top of the blank pages on the van, so that the winning child artists will have their artwork zooming around the county and visiting local schools for as long as the van lasts. We will be picking one boy piece and one girl piece to match the characters on the van, but there's no guarantee that the winners will look exactly like the characters you see here!

Also, as we had to get a little promo for the shop in there, this is the view you will get when you are driving behind us.

Here's the close up:

And finally, here is a quick video of a walk around the van, so you can see how it all fits together:

If you have a child interested in joining the camp, read the next post (press conference), or visit www.gallopinggoat.com for camp details. Oh, and watch for us next time you're out and about!

Press Conference for Summer Camp

2010-05-14T16:41:00.001-07:00

The press conference on Tuesday was great and thanks to everyone who came out and showed their support for us! I think the kids had the best time doing some fun little projects while we chatted about what we are up to with the summer camp and our expansion that is happening this year.

We get to borrow the Big Red Shed in Milford this year! Yeah! It's a really nice new building that is right beside the playground and Mt.Tabor playhouse which is the old church in Milford. I love the fact that we will be able to walk with the kids on the nature trail around the mill pond and over to the library during the week at camp.

People have asked me a number of times how this all started so I'll go back about 15 yrs ago to how it all began.

Tim and I met & graduated from Sheridan College's illustration program together in 1994 started doing freelance work as illustrators & graphic designers in Toronto. I wanted to teach kids art as well so I set up art workshops in High Park for a couple of summers. Then when my kids entered the school system I was able to volunteer in the classrooms and get to know the teachers and principal. My kids kept asking me to come in the school more and more and the teachers were asking me to help every week that there was an art project happening. Finally I asked the principal for use of an empty room to start a lunch program called the "Art Club". That started it all... there were so many kids wanting to come we had to set up new groups of kids every few weeks so that everyone had a chance.

Four years ago we decided to make the big move to Prince Edward County with visions of a new life. We opened up the Galloping Goat Gallery & Gift Shop in the little barn on our property in Black River by the well known Black River Cheese Factory. This has turned into a very popular spot, I'm not sure if it's the gorgeous view from the river shoreline, the fun, eclectic gifts we carry or the fact that we welcome people holding ice cream cones and even dogs on leashes!

My kids started almost immediately after the move asking for the Art Club to make it's debut here in the County. I went to South Marysburgh's principal asking for space and started the first after school Art Club. From there I added Pinecrest Public School, then Sophiasburgh Public School. This year with Tim's help and his very own stop motion animation art club we added CML Snider Public School, Queen Elizabeth in Picton and St.Gregory's Catholic School.

We had a 3 week Summer Art Camp in our backyard last year. We were filled to capacity with kids! This year I started in January trying to figure out a plan as to how to find a bigger space for the Art Camp and chatted to Bruce Dowdell in Milford and he suggested that the South Marysburgh Recreation Committee might be able to help me out. Off I went to their meeting in January with my papers of budgets and proposals and Chris Pengally, chair of S. Marysburgh Rec. Committee was more than happy to offer rental of Mt.Tabor's red shed to our camp. They also offered to sponsor 4 spots in the Art Camp for children that might not otherwise be able to attend due to finances.

Is this not a great community? Everytime I've hit some wall or glitch I start to ask around and always there has been support, advice or information that I needed to keep moving forward. It really is an amazing group of people that live here, I am so lucky to have all this support.

I also have Carol Rutledge partnering with me on the Summer Camp. She is like an energizer bunny with so much creative and musical talent it's going to make it a blast to work with her this summer.

Brianna Gorsline (1^st year student at Sheridan College) is also back with us to help with the summer camp along with Stacey York (2^nd year student at Trent University). They are both creative young ladies with lots of experience working with kids and Stacey is even going through University to become a teacher!

The Summer Art Camp will run weekly starting July 5^th for 4 weeks, 9 am to 4 pm. Children need to be at least 7 yrs old or starting Grade 1 this September. Cost is $188 (GST included and materials supplied) for a full week. 10% discount to siblings in the same week.

My approach to teaching art is to create a fun and interactive environment for children to play, explore and create. This is not your typical classroom experience. There will be imaginative themes changing weekly that range from Magic is All Around to Colour Wonder. For more Summer Art Camp details go to the website Galloping Goat Gallery

For further information please contact me, Lesley Snyder by telephone at 613-476-9696 or email at lesley@gallopinggoat.com.

Easy Landscape for Kids

2010-04-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

I took more paint out again for Art Club today. Most teachers and parents, myself included usually avoid the whole paint thing in the classroom and at home with their kids. It can be disasterously messy for furniture, floors and clothes. Not to mention how everyone disappears when it's time to clean up and who wants to make a mess all over their kitchen table and find places for wet masterpieces to dry?

Well since this is a short Art Club session of only 4 weeks we are painting! I have been told by the kids many times that they love to paint so 4 solid weeks of painting! Last week was the challenge of putting into practice how to make the secondary colours in a rainbow using only 3 colours on their palette, red, yellow and blue. It's amazing how few kids really know their primary colours and which go together to make the secondary colours, orange, green and purple. The kids were surprised how hard it was to make a nice orange and the purple brighter. Also how quickly the colours got muddy when mixed less than carefully. Anyways we all survived and turned out some nice rainbows and they don't even know it but they just learned the school's art curriculum!

When I showed up this week the kids were a little worried about having to go through all that paint mixing again but breathed a sigh of relief at the bottles of "normal" colours! Pulling out the straws did confound them for a short time but with a quick demo of how to create trees using very liquidy paint they loved it!
Once I do the lesson of the techniques I really let them explore and play and create whatever they want.

It always surprises me when they ask permission to add flowers, a pond or a log lying on the ground.

I guess it's the years of being told exactly what to do, step by step, they tend to need to check in to see if it's OK to do things a bit different. It makes me a bit sad that our kids are so regimented that they feel they need to ask permission as to what they can add to their own art. As a painter myself I feel like I'm always trying to let myself really go in my paintings the way a very young child does without any consideration as to what people's interpretation might be. I'm being shown by these kids that that disappears very fast when they enter school. I guess it's the need to keep all those kids focused and learning within all the parameters that are set in the classroom.

I always say in response to a question like "Can I put flowers in my picture?" "You are the artist, it's your artwork so do what you feel will work best, follow your gut."

The usual response to that is the rather shocked question "I'm an artist????"

Green Gala at Books & Company, Picton

2010-03-24T06:39:00.000-07:00

The speakers at this event are Mark Cullen, Canada's best known gardener, television personality and author, Denis Flanigan Landscape Ontario HGTV, Scott Wentworth of Wentworth Landscape Group, Stephen Poole from Connon's Nurseries. Some pretty awesome speakers and I'm glad that I get to be there with my booth of wares to sit and listen to all the talks!

SUMMER ART CAMP for KIDS!!!

2010-03-09T11:10:00.000-08:00

So we have finally gotten all the details sorted out like location, projects and the sticky wicket... insurance. Now the fun starts with testing crafts and buying up supplies!

One thing we forgot on the poster is that for siblings, as in children from the same household, we will offer a 10% discount on the price of the camp for the 2nd child, and 3rd and so on.

Call or email us ASAP so that we can hold your child a spot and remember that all payments will need to be completed before July 1st if you want to avoid HST. That lovely tax set up the government likes to tell us that we won't even notice when they start it up! Oh, I think we are going to notice it big time!

9am to 4pm - ages 7 (entering gr 1) and up.

July 5th to the 9th - Monday to Friday - $179 per student
July 12th to the 16th - Monday to Friday - $179 per student
July 19th to the 23rd - Monday to Friday - $179 per student
July 26th to the 30th - Tuesday to Friday - $179 per student
All materials will be supplied.

Magic is All Around - Week 1 - creating wands, fairy homes, working with crystals and
making rune stones and wishing boats, hunting for fairies and elves...

Paint, Percussion & Paint - Week 2 - create a skin frame drum, design and paint a tribal
flag, making chimes, end the week with a performance of stomp-like music!

Colour Wonder - Week 3 - Solar dying, tie dye t-shirts, needle felting, build a kalidescope,
painting and lots of other colourful projects!

Finders, Keepers... Krafty - Week 4 - creating art from all the fabulous things that we
find all around us like twig fairy furniture, toad houses, herb dolls, stepping stones...

There will also be lots of other games & activities, nature walks
and swimming at the Mill Pond!

Register and complete payment before July 1st and pay only the GST.
After July 1st HST (13%) will apply.

The art camp will take place at Mt.Tabor in the red shed beside
the playground in Milford.
For more info look on our website www.gallopinggoat.com.

The classes will be run by Lesley Snyder, teacher of the after school Art Club at 5 local schools & owner of the Galloping Goat Gallery along with Carol Rutledge, an expericence crafter and director of Annie and Cinderella’s Christmas at Mt.Tabor. Community Playhouse.

For more information & registration call or email lesley@gallopinggoat.com 613-476-9696.

Goat Girls

2010-02-25T06:58:00.000-08:00

Knit and Purl love school day mornings. They know we are out early and the kids are running around and interesting to watch. It also means that they get me in the pen visiting with them and feeding them earlier than those two other days that I don't seem to show up until they are completely starving!! They even recognize the sound of the school bus and try to show off a bit when the kids come home in hopes they will come into the pen to play with them. I think they might need more friends! Soon all the visitors will keep them better socialized than this small crew of goat herders.

Hopefully the girls will get used to being on tie outs so they can munch on the grass and weeds and visit people. They are a bit skittish when I walk them on their leashes around to different areas that they haven't seen before. I really would love to just let them wander around but they will totally trash my gardens and eat everything that looks remotely like vegetation!

Belle sees me taking out her leash to walk the goats and gets all excited thinking she is going for a walk and then depressed when she sees it's for the girls. The girls are always cautious of poor Belle because after all she is a dog, very dangerous creatures, apparently for goats. Everytime I've taken the girls for a walk on their leashes and Belle tries to tag along, Knit constantly rears up on her back feet and tries to head butt poor Belle. She has only made contact once so Belle has learned the painful lesson to avoid goat heads & horns.

The girls are pretty wet in the video I took of them this morning and goats never like to be wet! The will be happy when the snow is gone and all the greens start growing. Of course the green stuff will disappear the instant the goats find it. It's amazing to think that pen area before the other goats arrived was so thick with greens you couldn't even see through it to the barn!

Laughter is ALWAYS the Best Medicine!

2010-01-30T05:56:00.000-08:00

It is once again that time of year when the blues starts creeping in around us. Not enough sunlight and too cold to be outside, unless you don't mind your nostrils freezing together everytime you try to sniff away a runny nose because it's so freaking cold!

I tend to go the way of the blues in the month of Jan. and Feb. and haven't yet been able to escape to somewhere sunny during this time of year but I'm always hopeful that it will happen!

I'm leaving tomorrow for Toronto for the big gift show, which is combined with the toy show and a few others. My mission is simple, run around like a maniac to the 4 shows find all the cool unique things and buy, buy, buy but don't over spend! Oh did I mention I only have 3 days to do it in?

Thankfully my girlfriend is on the same mission for her newly opened gift shop Sacred Circle so we get to drive together and share a hotel room and catch up and lots of girl gossip. This way we both have a sounding board for what we think we might be acquiring for our businesses. It's a bit scary just jumping into this arena and all these helpful salespersons and their helpful suggestions of what else I should add to my order that would be fabulous!

So the list is long with "have to find these", "try to find something like this" and a few "does anybody make these?". The hard part is the booths are all gorgeous and professionally displayed that it is completely distracting and you end up looking at stuff that is completely not what the shop needs! But it is so fun! It's probably a very good thing you can't actually buy the items on display to take home for personal use or it would be very dangerous.

I do like going and seeing my funny sign lady and her husband since we do a whole lot of laughing and she always shows me all the newest signs. I also share with her some other sayings and funny signs I've seen around so she can go on the hunt to carry those as well.

I also think this line of vintage images with Anne Taintor adding in her brilliant lines are beyond hilarious! Anne Taintor you have a wicked sense of humour and I would love to have coffee with you someday! You are, I bet a fun person to hang out with!

For updates, Tim is now diligently pursuing his favourite thing to do, illustration and graphic design. This is a link so you can check out some of the things he has worked on. If you need anything along these lines created for yourself or business we would love to work with you. Long distance jobs are easy to do with the joys of the internet, anything is possible.

I'm also working out the details for the 2nd year of the Galloping Goat Art Camp for kids. We are going to have the camp at Mt.Tabor so we will have a better space to work in and a playground to use! There will be 4 weeks (Monday to Friday 9 am to 4 pm) this year with each week a different theme, which at this point I haven't exactly figured out yet! The cost has gone up a bit since things like insurance, summer students and renting a space have all become a factor. The good news is we have some way cooler art projects in the works! $180 a week plus GST, with 10% discount for any sibling also attending the same week. After July 1st payments will be subject to HST (13%). I need to do more research in regards to the HST and the camp fee but I think this is how it will work.

Carol Rutledge is partnering with me in the running of the art camp and bringing along her amazing skills in music and theatre to add to the art mix so it is going to be so awesome! Carol has worked with kids, for years and worked with the Mummers drama camp, directed a number of plays, like Annie, Cinderella's Christmas and tonnes more whose names have currently become lost in my head. Not to mention she is a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to working with her!

I have actually started a list of names of kids that already know they want to attend Art Camp since last year we ran out of spaces rather quickly. If you want to add your child's name to a week email me your contact info and I'll add them to the list. Please email your info instead of phoning, phone messages through my kids end up being a bit of a muddled mess sometimes. I will also email you all the specific details of themes in the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping to have all the details worked out before March break so I can hand out flyers to all the afterschool Art Clubs that I teaching.
Go and play in the snow if you can, it helps make it a bit less annoying! Not to mention it's a serious workout trying to haul yourself up the hill you just went flying down on your sled!

Snow Goats!

2010-01-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here are Knit and Purl standing on their ramp with Knit at the top. Knit has this funny thing about using her hooves to paw at you. We can't quite figure out what she wants. She does it to her sister all the time too, as you'll see in the video. Knit has tonnes of personality and loves to do her little prancing, leaping into the air and has become very talented with walking on her hind legs trying to check out the food bucket when I come into the pen in the morning.

Knit really wants to play but she doesn't quite know what to do with me. Or maybe it's me not sure what to do with them. I'm cautious of those horns which they have no problem using on each other. Also I can't figure out if Knit racing around is because I'm scaring her or if she is just having fun.

I need to take the camera out and put it on the tripod and then play with her and get it on video. She loves to do these whirling leaps off of the little house and then race up the ramp but I need to clap my hands and sort of get her going which doesn't work so well when I have the camera in my hand. Not to mention the camera seems to be irresistible to them both trying to nibble on.

Purl has the curly coat and all the curls on her cheeks like big mutton chop sideburns. Knit has taken more after her mother and has no curl just this fuzzy straight hair that seems to stick straight out from her body. This should look pretty funny in the spring when it's twice the length!

The girls and the rest of us in the Galloping Goat Gang wish you a very Happy New Year!

Busy Hands Christmas Craft Show - This Weekend!!

2009-12-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

This should be another excellent craft show since I know a few people that are bringing their wares to this show. Tim has been working hard on all his concrete sculptures so he has lots for the show. I have been knitting like a mad woman so that I have my crazy hats and some very funky scarves made from this new funky yarn with pompoms and also a few pairs of fingerless gloves. I even pulled out my sewing machine and started playing with some bright and cheerful polar fleece to make fingerless gloves that seems to be the new hot fashion accessory this year.
I'm also whipping up some yummy chocolate bark with cranberries and nuts for a little treat to pop in some lucky person's stocking.

Hope to see you there!

And the Winner is...

2009-11-28T07:23:00.000-08:00

Knit and Purl!
Congratulations to Leslie Hetherington who submitted the winning names!

Thanks to all that participated.

Here they are, actually in this photo Knit is on the right and Purl is on the left.

In truth Leslie suggested Kit and Purl, as knit could be seen as a rather buggy or pest-like name. However, if you enter their pen and stand there for any length of time, Knit (or Kit) will start nibbling on your pants or shirt tail or whatever else happens to look tasty to her. Therefore a pesty name isn't quite so far off the mark.

We already have a small bag of their mohair in the house, and will soon begin the process of washing, carding and spinning it. Look for it in Lesley's hats in the spring!

In the meantime the goats will be proudly hosting their first December sale. December is our annual 'no tax' month, so come on over and say 'Hello' to Knit and Purl offer them an oak leaf from the lawn, and browse the shop. We're open Thursday to Sunday and our last day open this year is December 19th, so don't delay!

Let the Voting Begin!

2009-11-21T07:10:00.001-08:00

We are all very excited to find out the names of our goats! We've gotten a great response and have a big list to choose from, so let the let's get voting!

Here is the link to vote for your favorite goat names:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8WBFHSS
You can only vote once, so make it count!

And no, I can't tell them apart either...

2 Days Left to Name Our Goats!

2009-11-19T06:38:00.001-08:00

The deadline for submissions is Friday Nov 20th at midnight, then the voting begins!

Get your name suggestions in today!! They are too cute to go nameless for much longer. How else will Santa put them on his list??

(See the next post for details)

Name the Galloping Goats' Goats Contest!

2009-11-04T15:21:00.000-08:00

Our girls are here!!! Yay!! They are so small and cute but fairly timid so far. Everyday we have gone out and talked to them and petted them as much as they will allow.
I think they are slowly getting more comfortable and even are starting to play a bit with each other. They will also follow Leah around when she is in the pen with them. I'm hoping that by spring they will be as easy going and tame as our old dog Belle.

They are a Pygmy and Angora goat cross, so they have the short stature of a pygmy goat and the curly long hair of an Angora goat. Their coats will be routinely sheared and then I will hopefully get my mom, aka. the Crafty Crone, to spin up some mohair yarn and then I'll be able to knit it right into my hats!

THE CONTEST:

So we are having trouble naming the sister goats, and need your help! You can enter your clever name ideas, then everyone will have a chance to vote, and the creator of the winning entry will win a fabulous prize!

How to enter:

You can enter your suggestions starting at 7PM Nov 4th by emailing us, leaving a note at the friends of the Galloping Goat facebook group, by commenting on this blog entry, or by visiting the Galloping Goat and dropping a note in the box on the barn. We will take submissions of names up until Nov. 20th midnight. There are just a couple of things to consider...

They are beautiful girls and deserve girly names, no boy names allowed!
You must include 2 names, one for each goat.
The names must be cute, but not too cute!
You must include your name and either a phone number or email address so we can reach you if you win. Your contact info will not be published, unless you publish it yourself by submitting in one of the more public venues. (Like on the comments on this blog.)
No vulgar names will be permitted. :P
Sorry, but no entries from our own family will be accepted! This means you Snyder/Morris'
All entries will be posted on this blog and on the facebook group.

Voting:

Voting will take place from November 21st to midnight November 27th. We will put the names on this blog and facebook group so that everyone has a chance to vote.

Winning!

On November 28th the person with the most popular names for our goats will get a $25 gift certificate for the Galloping Goat Gallery, bragging rights, and will be able to come and visit the girls anytime they like! AND, the goats will finally have names we can put up on their little house. They likely still won't come when we call though.

Scarecrow Festival Success!!

2009-10-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

We had an amazing and fantastic Scarecrow Festival this year!! Thank you again to all of the people that came out and made a scarecrow and for those that just gave a donation. We raised the most $ ever and gave a cheque for $1300 to the Reverend Jean Wilson for the church's trust fund that is set up for Joseph Stoness and his family.
This year we were lucky enough to have Terry from the Picton Fire Department come and set up his tent and show people the importance of fire safety in their homes, barns and garages.

I have to say the goats were probably the biggest hit of the day. Children and adults loved petting and feeding them and the goats thoroughly enjoyed all the attention. They had enough corn and treats from the garden that they didn't even want their dinner that night!

The popcorn crew of ladies were also alot of help though I'm not sure if they ate more popcorn then they sold or not!

We also decided this year that we would give a prize for the most unusual scarecrow of the Festival and Lucy and Hannah's creative use of the clothes and a lace curtain to create a bride and groom were the definite winners!

I also have to give a shout out and a huge thank you to our amazing Picton businesses that donated all the items to make our day possible and give us a low enough overhead that we could give 100% of the money donated straight to Joseph and his family.
Home Hardware for creating all our scarecrow sticks and delivering them to us!
George Emlaw for that very important bale of straw for stuffing!
County Farm Centre for all the hotdogs.
The Co-op for the feed bags that we use for scarecrow heads and the corn for the goats.
Giant Tiger for their gift certificate
No Frills for their gift certificate
Metro for their gift certificate
Black River Cheese for the free ice and ice cream cones for all our volunteers that helped us that day! Nothing like getting paid in ice cream!
Sobeys for all the hotdog buns we could handle!
2nd Time Round for all the times I went in begging for used clothes and letting me dig through all the bags looking for items we could use. You ladies are awesome!
Picton Gazette and Wellington Times for the articles and photos of our event that helped us in promoting a good cause.
And last but definitely not least the ladies that came and helped out during the day and tried not to freeze in that brisk wind off the river. Aynsley Emlaw, Lucy Mee, Lori Farrington, Kirstie Ross, Heather Zantingh, Pat Dubyk, Sheila, Leah Snyder, Annette, Bri-Anne & Hannah Brummell, Rosemary Morris and Valery Phillip. Also thank you to Barb Guernsey of Black River Tree Service for ferrying me around all over the County delivering flyers to promote the day and requesting donations for the event. I can't thank you all enough and feel very blessed to live in this amazing community. These kinds of things just can't be done without people willing to step up and help out! You all are awesome! Can't wait to see all of you again next year!

3rd Annual Scarecrow Festival

2009-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, does time fly by or what!!! It's Thanksgiving weekend already and the trees are all dressed out in their prettiest colours for the season. Where did the time go, it has been a bit of a blur this year that's for sure.

So since it's fall and Thanksgiving you know what that means? Right? Scarecrow time is here!! We have been gathering up all the makings for our annual fundraiser and as always the local businesses have gladly pitched in with donations. This year the funds we raise are going to Joseph Stoness and his family. Joseph was the boy that was so terribly burned this past May and was a good buddy of my son Quinn's. His family is really struggling under a financial strain that we are hoping we can help to relieve a bit. They are actually working on having Joseph home soon but he is in a wheelchair so they need to have ramps put in and some other alterations to the house in order to make this happen.

It is going to be a fun Scarecrow Festival this year with hotdogs and drinks, facepainting and popcorn as well! It is this Saturday October the 10th from 10 am to 4 pm. Also our goats, are looking forward to visiting with everyone as well. Coco and her sister Smores (she is the one that looks like the colour of marshmallows) love to play with my kids and their mom Nana Aggie is always just looking for something to eat. This is a fun event for kids of all ages and it's for a really good cause.

Don't forget it is also the last weekend for ice cream at Black River Cheese Factory so don't miss out, it's along time until April!

The store, of course, is full of some new cool things I found in Montreal like my crazy purses. I've been carrying the silver magic bus purse and it has been getting tonnes of comments from people. There are also purses of volkswagon bugs cars, pug dogs, trains, cinderella carriages, high heel shoes, a red snail wearing a rhinstone necklace and many more.

Also I just got another big order of our funny old signs and there are some new ones I've never had before. So don't forget to come and read the walls and have a good laugh and giggle.

We are now open Thursdays and Fridays 11 am to 5 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 5pm. We can also ship things out to you if you can't make it in to the store. Just send me an email at lesley@gallopinggoat.com and let me know what you are trying to get a hold of and I'll do my best to help you out. Someday maybe our website will get fancy enough to shop online but I doubt it. I am constantly picking up new fun things so I don't think we could keep up with the changing stock in the barn and on a website.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family and hope to see you in the barn real soon!

Turtles, Turtles Every Where Turtles!

2009-09-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

Well these are not goats but they are baby snapping turtles that were born on the shores of the Galloping Goat Gallery.

We have a mother snapping turtle that comes every June to climb the hill surrounding our house and lay eggs all over our lawn in front of picture window. This turtle is huge, bigger than a dinner plate and fairly scary looking so we don't bother her while she goes about her business. This year about a week ago we noticed there were holes torn up all over the front lawn. Little round sections as if someone was digging all over the place in small sections. No egg shells anywhere to give us any clues but as I was walking from the barn to the house I saw one tiny turtle just plodding along. These guys are about the size of a looney. I went and got Tim and then we started wandering around with our eyes peeled on the ground. We found about 8 of these guys all over our property, going every which way and obviously no idea where the water was. We put them into the bottom of the wheelbarrow and took them to the river shore. We plopped them into the grasses on the shore and left them to do what turtles are supposed to do.

We stepped gingerly for a few days with hopes that the turtles all made their way to the water. It's funny how you like these guys when they are cute little babies but when they are adults they are kind of creepy and a bit evil! We saw a baby swan get eaten by a turtle and they will take a full sized Canadian goose down as well. I think next time I might not be so helpful getting these guys to the river. We did find another area of lawn holes from another nest of turtles so just on our property alone there must have been more than 60 small holes dug up so that means 60 or so turtles heading to the river. I sure hope they don't all make it or there won't be much else living on the river with these guys taking down anything they can get their jaws on!!

Labour Day SALE!!!

2009-09-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

We are cleaning up and clearing some stuff out so that means it's time for a SALE!!

50% off Christmas items,

50% off bits for the kitchen, like wine charms, pate knives, dip bowls and such.

25% to 45% off some of our garden statuary

and more!!!

Still Shopping and More to Come!!

2009-09-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

I got to go to Montreal to the Gift show there. My girlfriend Charlene is expanding her store that is in Deseronto into a gift store so she came with me and we also brought our guys along. Not always the smartest idea to bring men on a serious shopping trip but they actually did well without too much hovering or reminders of "are you on a shopping frenzy or is this something we really need?" What kind of a question is that??

I shopped for the store for 2 days and the last day I shopped for myself and for once picked up some treats just for me! I of course did get the kids there token souvenirs and Tim found a really nice jacket. The clothes I saw in all the shops were amazing and all had a funky style to them that I love!! I don't clothes shop much, since everything is all so boring and the same. Montreal is so the opposite it rocks!! I'm doing the trip more often, the prices were even reasonable and the ladies in the shops were helpful and really nice. My french unfortunately is so old and rusty that it is pretty much useless to me. I hate that when I went backpacking back in my early twenties I could actually manage to converse and understand french when I was in France but now, forget it.

Anyway I did find some new artists and wholesalers and have a fairly decent amount of things I asked to have delivered ASAP so hopefully over the next week it will start arriving. I'm probably crazy to fill up the barn at this point with the season slowing down but I have a feeling there are going to be alot of visitors this fall coming to see the fabulous foliage colours. Plus lots of people will be looking for Christmas gifts and such. I found some really cool and funky new metal wall art that I'm going to put in the upstairs of the barn and on the outside as well. This company had some really neat pieces and good prices.

Also we will be at the Milford Fair again this year and it's always a really fun day. It's on Saturday September 19th with a parade at the beginning and lots of fun activities for the kids and lots of local vendors with fun things to check out. It's a real old fashioned country fair with contests for everything from the best cake, cookies or muffins to best knitted hat (which I won 1st prize for last year! - I've never won 1st prize for anything before!!), lego sculpture to best photograph. Everyone puts things into the competition, including all the kids so everyone has fun getting ribbons.

On the fall agenda is the Scarecrow Festival Fundraiser as well. It is happening on the Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, unless we get rained out. I need to find volunteers to help me pull this off this year. It's not that much to set up but more people make a big difference to making it run smoothly and easily. We need donations of hats and clothes so email or phone me to drop off any donations. We actually ran out of pants last year and had to run to town once and then when they were gone I raided my husbands trunk of his old jeans that are fitting a bit too snuggly for more donations! Any loud coloured shirts, scarves, paints or overalls would be welcome.

Almost time to open so that's it for now! See you in the barn!

New Hattitude Hats Added to the Mix

2009-07-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Ok I have to say this hat is now my favourite and might even be worth repeating the combination of colours and yarn. Assuming of course I can find it all again!

I named this hat "Limesicle" for it's tangy green-ness and cool icy blue. I wish the photo was a bit better lighted but I shot this in the barn on the counter before I put it on display. This hat fits me so size wise it's for an average adult-sized head.

I also made another of my glow-in-the-dark skull hats that were so popular with the men in my family at Christmas last year.

This picture is the best I could come up with of the skull glowing in the dark. It actually glows quite brightly.

I have to start working on a special hat that someone ordered for a gift. It is a earflap hat with the batman logo on it. Should be a challenge but a fun one. I do love a challenge.

Garden Show

2009-05-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well we had a great time at the Edith Fox Life and Loss Garden show "A Bench and a Few Good Chairs". We met lots of new people and a few old friends and put out the word about the Galloping Goat Gallery.

This is the booth we set up at the Crystal Palace in Picton. What a gorgeous building this is, I've never really been in it before for more than a walk through. It really is fabulous even when the sun is tucked behind cloud cover.

I did a little talk about hypertufa and handed out our workshop schedule and seemed to have converted a few people to all the cool things you can make with the stuff.

We are going to be in the Picton Curling Club Saturday June 13th for the Horticultural Garden Tea to set up another booth. I think this time we will take a little less stuff. Tim and I took 2 hours to box it all up and leave after the show at the Crystal Palace. It's so hard to figure out what to bring and what to leave, I hate to leave my favourite things behind. I just need more practice I guess!

Workshop Schedule 2009

2009-04-16T04:14:00.000-07:00

Well finally I think I have all the workshop dates figured out so here they are. Also I should add that I'm not going to put the word out in an email until next week that I've put up the schedule since the next 2 days I'm going to be at the Bench and a Few Good Chairs show so don't call to register until at least Sunday. My dear husband Tim isn't up to speed on all the details and I'll have the sign up book with me. Next week I'll be going full force into putting the word out with the classes so once Monday comes don't delay signing up most of the classes only have room for 8 or 9 people.

Hope you are all out enjoying this awesome week of sunshine and warmer temps. Of course I've been trapped inside but at least I get to watch the ducks enjoy the weather in our backyard while I slave at the computer!

Hpertufa Birdbath Class - evenings 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm - (cost $28) - (Taught by Lesley Snyder)
Dates: Wed. May 27th, Thurs. June 25th, Fri. July 10th, Saturday August15th, Saturday September 12th.

Dichroic Glass Jewellery Workshop- Monday evenings 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm - (cost $30) - taught by Marg Seaton
Dates: May 11th, June 8th, July 13th, August 10th, September 14th.

Fused Glass Window Workshop - All Day Saturdays - 9:30 am to 4:00 pm - taught by Marg Seaton or Wilma Kropla - (cost $80)
Dates: May 23rd, June 20th, July 11th, August 15th, September 19th.

Wood Carving Workshops - taught by Diane Irwin
Saturday May 16th - 9:00 am to 12:00 pm - carve a musical frog (cost $38 )
- 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm carve a shelf elf (cost $38 )
Sunday May 17th - 9:30 am to 4:30 pm - carve & paint a fish decoy (cost $55)
Sunday June 21st - 9:30 am to 4:30 pm - carve a bark house (cost $65)
Saturday July 18th - 9:00 am to 12:00 pm - carve a shelf elf (cost $38)
Sunday August 23rd - 9:00 am to 12:00pm - carve and create a medieval shield (cost $38)
- Kids -ages 7 and up can do this class too.
- 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm - carve a musical frog (cost $38 )

Wood Relief Carving - taught by Terry - (cost $40 ?)
Thursday June 11th - 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm & Friday August 21st 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

All Natural Lip Balm or Ointment Workshop - taught by Bay Woodyard - (cost $30?)
Wednesday May 20th - 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm

All Natural Soapmaking Workshop - taught by Bay Woodyard - (cost $30?)
Sunday June 28th - 9:30 am to 3:00 pm

News Flash!!

2009-04-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Ok so we had our neighbour tree guy come and check out Great Grandmother Willow and it looks like we can do some drastic trimming so that she won't be carrying so much weight and also when she does decide to actually drop to the ground she won't hit our barn/shop! So now we just need to get Glen to come and do the trimming, which hopefully will now be next week since the 2 days we were closed this week have past and he didn't show up.

Anyways so busy, busy, busy at the Goat. I decided to take on another thing and now we are going to have a booth at the Bench and a Few Good Chairs Garden show at the Crystal Palace in Picton. I must be nuts! All this packing of merchandise and stressing as to how to set up a booth that looks good from a couple of folding tables and some crates seems impossible at this point. The good thing is my shipment from B.C. came and it's all this really awesome iron work grills, trellis' and obelisks and stuff so I'll be able to show it off at least. I've been told it's a good show, though I've never been but then I don't go anywhere since I'm always in the shop on weekends. At least everyone comes to visit me and keep me up on the gossip!

For an update to the Good Friday excitement with the by-law officer, here is how it went down. Apparently the by-law officer went to the stores in Bloomfield and later in Picton and told each of them that they had to close their businesses since it was a statuary holiday. Which they did to avoid the fines. Now this by-law is in place mostly these days to protect employees being forced to work on holidays. If Prince Edward County had a "Designated Tourist Season" than we could be exempt from this by-law. The paper work for this must be done at the municipality level and it's arduous work according to the person who was telling me what must be done. Hopefully the local business groups of Bloomfield and Picton will jump on this so it gets sorted out soon.

At the Galloping Goat we are exempt from the by-law since we don't have any employees currently and even then we are smaller then the minimum square footage, plus we sell handicrafts. Hopefully I never have to deal with this problem and I can continue to enjoy the freedom of being open for all the holidays so I can keep trying to make a living!

Othery gossipy news I'm receiving by next weekend a load of brand new hilariously funny signs from a new company I found. Be prepared for serious guffawing, my new favourite one that I'm going to seriously keep for my very own is the sign with a cute little girl with golden curls smiling in the corner of the sign and it reads "All unattended children will be given an expresso and a free kitten!" Hee hee! That made me laugh hard! Luckily, so far I've never had any trouble with unattended kids at my shop, I think it might have to do with the fact we are sitting on a riverbank so most parents are pretty conscientious with their kids around water. Or maybe it's Godzilla coming up out of the river that makes them keep their kids close!!!

Great Grandmother Willow Tree, sad news

2009-04-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

Well, thanks to Baxter and his fascination with a squirrel that lives in our favourite tree Great Grandmother Willow beside our little shop we discovered a very large and deep crack in that tree.

She is a fabulous, unique and gigantic willow tree. I think, quite possibly one of the oldest trees in the County because of her mammoth circumference. It takes 4 adults with their arms outstretched to go around her trunk. As far as willows go they usually fall down around 60 yrs old or so. We had 2 willow trees in the back of our house fall down, one week a part. We have been cutting them up slowly over the year and counted the rings to find they were both around 60 yrs old. Those trees are about a quarter of the size of our dear Great Grandmother Willow.

This old dame always gets lots of oohs and aahs from our visitors and everyone seems to be unable to resist pressing a hand on her in wonder. She also gets probably as many photos taken of her as our dear little godzilla rising from the riverbank.

I've taken to tucking in all the little elves, fairies and such that have been damaged, mostly by me moving stuff around, since her bark looks like a magicial wonderland where elves would happily live.

So here it is, the sad news, while Baxter was starring so fixedly on the tree we walked around to see what was so fascinating that he wouldn't even blink. When we looked there was a giant crack running from the base of the trunk up about 15 feet. It was so deep you could actually peer into the tree and see snow hiding in the crevice and it was deep enough I could have put my arm in up to my shoulder. This crack wasn't there before the winter and now that it is there we can see that the tree is practically hollow. This is very scary since the weight of the top of the tree is massive so without some intervention she will fall. Considering how close she is to our barn there is a good chance she will knock the corner as she drops and do serious damage to the building.

We have put in the call to the tree service and are hoping that if we can just take the top off we may still be able to keep a large portion of her. It's bad timing since the number of critters that have made their spring homes in all her lovely nooks and crannies are going to be very upset.

I'll keep you posted as to how this plays out but I'm going to be shedding alot of tears if she really does need to be cut down. Even if we manage to keep 15 or 20 feet of her so the animals and woodpeckers can still use her for homes it is going to be very sad. I know willows don't ever normally get this big and she has lived a grand life but I really, really don't want to loose her.

2009-03-25T19:07:00.000-07:00

It's that time, at last!!! Maple In The County! Sugarbushes are in full gear and smoke and steam is pumping out of the different sites boiling down all that sap. Yum! The Black River Cheese Factory has their maple cheddar cheese at the ready and extra curds and even better... ICE CREAM!! Yes you heard me correctly. They are scooping ice cream starting this weekend. Apparently they are showcasing the maple walnut flavour, of course!
We are also doing our bit of maple in the barn too. The great and talented Crafty Crone has created a maple pecan biscotti for the occasion of this weekend and it tastes awesome! I couldn't resist a nibble.

Also Scott Switzer is coming for a visit and bringing more of his wares to show off on in the garden outside the barn this weekend. He is an incredibly talented rock carver. I can't wait until I see what else he is bringing to sell. He makes some fabulous birdbaths, benches and even solar granite lights. To see lots more photos of Scott's work click here.

Hope to see you all soon and get out there and enjoy this gorgeous weather and eat some maple sugar for me since I'll be in the barn I'm missing out on those treats, though I probably will sneak across the street for a ice cream before closing on Sunday, hee hee.

Our Spring Opening is Almost Here!!

2009-03-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

Well only a week to go! March 19th is our opening for the 2009 season and the snow has finally melted, just in time.

I've been doing some more fixing up inside the barn, mostly painting, cleaning really but Tim did put some new lights upstairs so now, even on the cloudy days, it's bright and sunny feeling up there.

The delivery truck has been stopping by just about every other day and my house is filling up with boxes of goodies while I go through them and input everything to inventory. I couldn't take any of the boxes out to the barn today thanks to the insane wind! Another big branch fell of Grandma Willow beside the barn but luckily it missed me and the barn. It's crazy how big those branches are when they are finally on the ground. They don't look that big when you look up at them still attached to the tree!

Anyways I've completely turned the barn inside out and now I have only 7 days to put it back together as well as bring in all the new fun stuff that keeps landing on my doorstep. Luckily my friend Laurie, display creator extraordinaire, is coming to help me on Friday and will hopefully fix some of the mess I've made. I've found some new, old furnishings at a few auctions that I've refinished and painted up and put in the barn so now I've got some new ways to display. I really love auctions but I'm bad with always seeing the gem in the rough that anyone else sees as complete junk. I've been refinishing furniture since I was 16 and always loved bringing wood back to life or painting it into something pretty. I haven't really bought any real lemons at the auctions and occasionally under all the grim, wax or thick paint I've found a real beauty that ends up being worth a lot more than I paid. It's a good thing I don't mind the work of getting to the good stuff under all the gunk. These days I avoid items that need stripping because of the chemicals and the mess, so I usually stick with items that a good sanding, some TSP and a coat of paint or clear coat can fix up easily.This is one of my painted side tables that I did a couple of years ago. This furniture I bought from an old mennonite furniture maker whose farm is near my in-laws. The furniture is always pine and absolutely beautifully made. Dovetailed drawers, hand hewn knobs and perfect finishing. Then I get to paint on the fresh new pine. I love the new wood and I like to let the wood grain show through so I use acrylic paints like a wash or stain and follow the pattern of the natural knots in the wood to help decide the design and placement. I have been buying furniture from Mr. Martin for 8 years and he has always made excellent pieces. I just wish I was able to do more of this work for clients, it's so fun to create a painting on a functional piece of furniture.

Well I must go and finish some orders I forgot about or I won't have any of those pretty spring flags to fly from the barn!

2009-02-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

When we say that the barn is on the banks of the Black River in some of our ads, we mean it quite literally since we are about 5 feet from the bank of the river during the dry season. Springtime though the bank of the river sneaks alot closer to the barn and the grassy section disappears under water.

April last year for instance we had a lot of snow and rain so the river rose and was basically over the bank & across the narrow patch of grass and under the barn. Not to worry though the brilliant builders of our barn knew what they were doing 200 years ago (or around that we have no clear dates of when it was built). The barn was built about 2 feet above the ground on the river side with big stacks of rocks under the joists holding it up high and dry. Along with a deep ditch or cavity under the barn keeps all the wood dry no matter how high the river rises.

In the early spring when you look out this favourite window of all our camera carrying customers you won't see the bullrushes just water. It literally feels as if you are floating on the river, not beside it.

These window pictures were taken in the spring out the window and the barn shot was in the fall and since I'm absolutely sick of cold, wet sloppy snow I'm refusing to post anymore wintery shots!! Come on Spring!

Don't forget when you come to visit us in the cooler weather we use our little side door for entering the barn. Just don't forget to duck your head that doorway is only for people 5'6" or under!! We'll have the furnace going so it will be nice and toasty inside.

I can't wait to start getting the shipments of goodies that I found! Hee hee! There were so many new things at the shows I went to and some really cool things. Also found another person to buy more of those funny metal signs from so I have a whole new bunch coming with some truly hilarious sayings. I'm thinking seriously about creating a wall in the upstairs to just put all those signs, I have a lot coming and I can't figure out where I'm going to put them all!

I also found a few new artists to add to the mix so the barn is going to be switched around a bit to fit all the new things that are coming in. I have also been finding more crafts to create in our workshops and new people to teach them so keep checking back for the schedule of classes that will be coming.
There will also be a kids Art Camp this summer for probably 2 weeks, with each week having different activities. It's going to be a very busy summer!!

Brrrr.... it's chilly and silent.

2009-01-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Well it's minus 19 here (that's zero fahrenheit) or at least it was when the kids hopped on the bus this morning. It might have gotten warmer but it sure doesn't feel warmer.
It's snowing again, lightly so hopefully I won't have to shovel out the driveway before I go off to teach my after school art club at Pinecrest in Bloomfield. Isn't it amazing how quiet the snow makes it outside? It muffles all the sound so it's completely still. I love that moment after the bus drives away with the kids and it is out of ear shot, it is the time when I do the wander around to the barn and down along the riverbank. It is utterly still and so silent. The squirrel family in our willow tree gets a little irriated with my wandering but soon scurry off to different trees to avoid me.
I went for a walk on the frozen river last week when it was minus 25 or so and bitterly cold with my mom. We walked right in the centre of the river where the snowmobile tracks were and then our feet starting breaking through a couple of inches into slushy stuff. Well that surprised and unnerved us enough for us to hightail it to the shoreline! There was a fairly thick blanket of snow on the ice so I guess it acted as an insulating blanket for the ice. When the snowmobiles go over the river they are moving quickly and therefore aren't as heavy as if they were standing still. We were apparently too heavy with our slower walking.

I love walking on the river since you see the land from such a different perspective and plus there is no cars or people so you are completely in nature. I have to say though everytime I walk on the ice of the river I am very nervous since you never know how thick it really is. We know in the shallow part of the off shoot of the river in our backyard there are definitely warm springs that are underground there since you can see almost a polka dot effect when the ice is beginning to form. Our two cats always get way too bold when they see the ice on the river and can't resist the new hunting grounds on the other side and are always trying to get across by zigzagging across the ice to the thicker spots so they can cross. Insane! I call them back when I see them but one time Smudge came into the house with the entire back end of him soaked from what I assume was a dip in the river off of the ice.

So it's all quiet and I have to leave on Saturday for the opposite side of quiet and drive to Toronto. My kids are both coming since I sneakily called their old Toronto friends and set up play dates for them while I go to a Canadian Artist wholesale show in hopes of finding more handcrafts for the Galloping Goat shop. I'm not sure it was a good idea to take the kids or not for this visit. They are still moaning about leaving our home in the downtown Toronto core and all of their friends. I'm hoping they'll gain a bit of perspective when they see the crazy small houses we all were crammed into and the no backyard. Plus the restrictions we all placed on our kids when it came to playing outside or going anywhere off the front porch. Probably not, and maybe they'll start moaning all the more loudly and longer after the visit...sigh. I like the idea of visiting the city since I think the multi cultural area we lived in was great for keeping them open to different ways of life and people. Not to mention they may end up back there for college or university (a mother can only hope!) and in that case it's better to see Toronto as not the "big bad city" but a large grouping of small villages that are pushed up next to each other. It's not so overwhelming that way. I do miss Toronto and our friends. We had a lot of fun during the 4 yrs we lived in the core and oh, the awesome food from all over the world was truly fabulous!
Maybe I'll be able to grab some singapore noodles from my fav spot in Chinatown to bring home! Yum!

Snowy 2nd Last Day

2008-12-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the last day we are open for 2008! Boy did this year fly by!

It's the day of the crazy snow storm the weather people have been warning us about and it is blowing fiercely and snowing so hard my foot prints to the barn fill up in about 5 mins. I did have one brave soul come for a quick shop, thanks Sari!

I've been hiding in the house doing some of the painting jobs that I've been avoiding since we moved here 2 years ago. The house is slowly becoming more homey and colourful the way we like it. There still are a million jobs to do for it to become the way we envision it. The list is long, very long and the winter free time is short, not to mention all the things we want to do to the barn.

So when I closed up tonight (bad me, I closed 25 mins early since the wind kept blowing the door open and there wasn't a car on the road in the past hour!) I took the camera outside to get some shots of the snow and lights.

Facebook Galloping Goat Group

2008-11-27T11:18:00.001-08:00

For all of you that are facebook fans, we started a group for the Galloping Goat Gallery a while back that is open to members. Click on this "Galloping Goat Facebook Group" and it will take you there.

Also for those of you that are new to reading blogs, we, the writers of the blogs, love to receive comments from you! You can leave comments by clicking below the text on the word comment and send us a note. It's a fun way let me know someone out there is reading all my blathering!!! LOL

Here's a few pics I took this morning after the bus picked up the kids.

This picture is from the backyard of our house looking back at the horses in the field.

This concrete heron is right outside the door of the barn in the riverside garden. I did manage to lift him and put him into the barn so he'll be able to be seen easier than if we get a dumping of snow and he gets buried! Poor bird!

End of Season Sale

2008-11-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

Well it's November and the chill is in the air and there was actually snow falling for most of the morning today. It's hard not not to get a bit excited when those first flakes start flying, it always gets my kids jumping out of bed and running to the window to see.

I managed to get the outside of the barn decked out in lights and greenery on the last warm day we will probably see until April. It looks so cheerful and festive with it all lite up in the evening.

Since there are only 6 weeks left until we close (last day open is Saturday December 20th) for the winter we are having a BIG SALE! This is mostly due to the fact that there is so much cool stuff I want to buy for the spring season that I need to make room for it!
I've run around the store and marked down a bunch of things with coloured dots and big price cuts but this is surprisingly time consuming, soooo... I've decided to make it easier and set up sales this way;

25% off all flags, (the big ones & the smaller garden ones) windsocks and garden stakes.
20% off all Christmas and seasonal items
15% off all regular priced items
10% off all artist's works & consigned items.
Plus all the items that I've already marked down so literally everything in the barn is on sale!!! And, yes, that includes those crazy yoga frogs.

Also good news the little furnace we installed this past spring is working great so it's warm and cozy in the barn. All those chilly drafts are being kept at bay so I can happily knit with warm fingers while I'm in the store!

Let the season of giving begin!!

Scarecrow Success

2008-10-19T18:28:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Scarecrow Festival. It was a great success for the Regent Theatre and raised even more money than last year.

The children had a lot of fun playing on the hay bale that was dropped in our yard. Who knew that leaping off and climbing back on a round hay bale would be so much fun. Of course burying each other in straw was also on the top of the list of good times too.

We built about 32 scarecrows and ran out of clothes twice that had us running to Picton to beg for more pants and then more shirts. Also I should say thanks to my husband in the panic who donated a number of pants he found buried in the closet that he no longer fits into. Thanks also to Rick Clarke who gave up all those great straw hats that were hiding in his barn until I discovered them.

Also all these photos were taken by Susan Hodge, she makes the beautiful lily of the valley jewellery, photocards and even the tie dye that we have in the barn. Thanks for the great photos Susan!

Of course a big big thank you to the Regent fundraising crew of ladies, it wouldn't run without all the help off all the volunteers behind the scenes and under the straw hats!!!

Hope everyone had a fabulous turkey day!!!
Cheers!

Scarecrow Festival Tomorrow!!!! (Oct 11th)

2008-10-10T04:36:00.000-07:00

The weather is gorgeous this Thanksgiving weekend, warm and sunny and perfect for building scarecrows!!! Now I know why we Canadians have an earlier Thanksgiving weekend compared to our neighbours to the south, it's because it is soooo beautiful with all the trees in their spectacular autumn colours (see photos from last year). Who doesn't want to just drive around and drink in all that beauty? So it's the perfect time for a long weekend to enjoy the last of the nice weather, eat a turkey and spend time with the family before the grey days of winter set in. So while your driving around oohing and ahhing at the gorgeous views come and build a scarecrow for charity at our place. It is also the last weekend for ice cream at the Black River Cheese Factory so don't miss out!!!

Glass Jewellery Workshop - Saturday October 25th

2008-10-09T06:13:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

Well with it getting so close to Christmas and the gift giving season, Margaret, our glass jewellery artist has put together 3 workshops running during one day, Saturday October 25th.

She has also set up price breaks so if you want to make 5 pairs of earrings or 4 pendant and earring sets it will cost a little less than if you only made one.

So here is how the pricing is going to work out.

To make -One pendant $32
- Two pendants $30 ea.
- Three pendants $27 ea.
- Four pendants $25 ea.
- Five pendants $20 ea.

To make -One pendant +earring set $47
- Two sets $44 ea.
- Three sets $40 ea.
- Four sets $37 ea.
- Five sets $32 ea.

To make - One pair of earrings $20
- Two pair $19 ea.
- Three pair $18 ea.
- Four pair $17 ea.
- Five pair $14 ea.

For any more than five of one item the individual price stays at the lowest price for that piece.

Hopefully that makes a reasonable amount of sense. We are trying to make it easier for people that have been wanting to come and make presents for people and this jewellery would make great gifts!

There will be three workshops during the day;
#1/ 10 am to 12 pm
#2/ 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
#3/ 3 pm to 5 pm.

You should be able to create at least 5 or more pieces if you have a good idea of what you want (as in what you are going to make, pendant or earrings, and know what colours you want to use.) in the 2 hour class.

Now this is a very popular class and we have limited room upstairs in the barn so call and register as soon as possible.

Call me, Lesley, at 476-9696 to register or drop by the store, we are open Thursday thru Sunday.

2008-10-05T06:37:00.001-07:00

Well it was fun day for these ladies and apparently it was mother daughter day with this group. We set this class up in the green room upstairs which made for some cosy quarters but it was definitely too chilly to do this outside!
Fall is settling in quickly here.

Fused Glass Windows - September's Class

2008-09-22T16:33:00.000-07:00

This is Nancy's window with all the pretty flowers and buzzing dragonfly. Cutting those wings looks tricky but it seems these ladies have figured it out.
Lynn found some tumbled blown glass that she had picked up ages ago and this added some great dimension to the shatter look of the pattern. This looks even better close up.
Jacyln's window has the cattails and dragonflys and she even put real pebbles in with the glass which really adds some neat texture. This is really beautiful and suits this old frame so well.

This is Colleen's second time making a window. All the tumbled glass and glass buttons surrounded by the textured and opalescent clear glass looks spectacular when the light goes through it.

Beth and Gupka (hope I spelled that right!) worked together on this one. Very pretty and fresh looking with the various tones of blue.

Hypertufa Workshop Fri. Sept. 26th

2008-09-18T06:53:00.002-07:00

We are going to have another Hypertufa class before the weather gets too chilly and we are going to do it Friday September the 26th 6:30pm to 8:30pm.

For anyone that has taken the hypertufa class before you are welcome to come again and make something else at the cost for the materials. This will probably be $10 unless you are making something much bigger than a birdbath.

For first timers the class will be $25 and everyone needs to bring a form to build on. A form can be a peat pot or shallow plastic bowl for a birdbath or other plastic containers.

Call or email me if you are interested in registering for the Hypertufa class.
lesley@gallopinggoat.com

Fall Colours

2008-09-18T06:53:00.001-07:00

The view on the Black River is always quite gorgeous but in the fall it really is spectacular. It doesn't seem possible some of the colours of the trees. They seem to glow and look more like an incredible painting than be real.

I was browsing through some old photos from the first fall that we were here and found this one and thought it was worth posting again here.

If you ever needed an excuse to come to the County I think this photo will give it to you. This photo was taken in October 2007 so in a few weeks this will be our view. The colours aren't quite here yet, but every day they change.

Scarecrow Festival October 11th!!

2008-09-18T06:53:00.000-07:00

It is that time of year again for the Scarecrow Festival!! It is going to happen this year over the long weekend of Thanksgiving, Saturday October the 11th, which is when the Black River Cheese Factory sells the last of it's ice cream for the year. (The raindate will be the following day, Sunday the 12th).

From 10 am to 4 pm we will be offering all the materials to "Make Your Own Scarecrow" with a $20 donation going to the Regent Theatre in Picton. The Regent Theatre is run entirely by volunteers and is a hardworking organization that needs strong community support to keep running, so come out and support our heritage theatre.

We will also be having a BBQ with hotdogs and drinks available for sale along with facepainting by the Crafty Crone.

It will be a fun family day at the barn!

Milford Fair 2008

2008-09-17T07:32:00.000-07:00

Well we did it! We had a entry for the Milford Fair parade and we had a booth at the Milford Fair. It was alot of fun and we met lots of new people and had lots of regular customers drop by. ( My sincere appologies to the ladies that went to the barn for their biscotti and found it missing and had to come all the way to the fair to get it! I forgot to leave some with Brianna, whoops!)

Lucky for us friends of our daughter Leah were raising goats for their 4H club so we asked them if they would come along and parade them at the fair. I quickly called the Crafty Crone (aka my mom) and requested 3 red goat coats to be made. She of course took it an extra step and made the red hats out of the scraps of material that were leftover from the coats. Tim made some Galloping Goat t-shirts for everyone to wear with our logo on it and had a large sign made for our little red wagon. Voila! It was a parade float or whatever you call it when a bunch of people and animals walk in a parade! Tim is already planning to improve our parade float for next year, though whether or not we can locate some goats to borrow again might be tricky.

Quinn, our son walking beside Tim decided there was no way he was wearing one of our hats, too cool for that. After all his friends were all going to be watching him... sigh. What happened to that little boy who dressed like Harry Potter for 2 months straight when he was 4 with the cape, glasses and wand everywhere we went? And I mean everywhere we went, on the subway and streetcars in Toronto where we were living, walking to school, walking down Queen street to visit Tim at work, well actually on Queen street he actually looked pretty normal in comparison to some of the characters you find there!!LOL Soon, I imagine, he won't want to be even seen with us, weird people that we are, and of course totally uncool.

Fused Glass Window Workshop

2008-08-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

This was the class we all wanted it seemed and it was greatly enjoyed by those that attended that long awaited Saturday in August. Here are some pictures of what the students created in the day long workshop. Thanks to Wilma the artist and teacher that showed everyone all the tricks of creating these gorgeous pieces.

There will be more window workshops to come in the spring, the ones scheduled this fall are filled. If you want your name on the list call or email me so I can let you know right away what the next dates will be and you don't miss out!

Also anyone with wood framed old windows please contact us if you want to get rid of them, this seems to be the most difficult thing to find for these classes.

Dichroic Glass Pendant Class

2008-07-05T09:08:00.000-07:00

Margaret Seaton is the artist that creates those beautiful iridescent glass pendants that we sell in the barn. She has come out and taught 2 evening classes where you can make your own pendant. These pictures are of the first classes pendants and in some cases earrings as well that were created.

We are setting up more class dates for October so call us or email if you are interested in attending these workshops. The cost is $32 and this gives you one pendant piece on a silk cord, other chains are available along with making matching earrings at an additional cost.

Hypertufa Class #1

2008-06-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Here are some fun shots of the ladies that took the first hypertufa class in May when it was a bit chilly out. This class raised $230 for Breast Cancer, YEAH!

Hypertufa recipe
2 parts portland cement
3 parts peat moss
3 parts sand

Use the same container to measure all the amounts and add water until it is mixed to the consistency of cookie dough. It should stick together but when you squeeze it no water should drip out. One trick is to mix the dry ingredients before adding water since it's a bit of a heavy job mixing it all once it is wet. Most importantly when pressing the tufa mud onto a form make it really thick so it's strong when it's dry.

We were working in our other barn which is a bit of a mess for all stuff we store in there.

For all of you that are interested in taking the class I'm going to have another class in late September. All the graduates of past classes are welcome to come back and make another piece for the cost of material alone.