Garden Show

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

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!!

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

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.

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!!

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!

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!!