bodner046

We have tomatoes this year! I wanted to try growing something different. These are heirloom yellow pear tomatoes. They are about the size of grape tomatoes. I have to say, they are good, but not as good as I thought they would be. Very soon we should have some "big boys"... a great tomato for a BLT. Our plants are HUGE. Taller then me. I really think that everything grows bigger in North Carolina. The bowl that holds the tomatoes is one that Jeff salvaged a few weeks ago. It's one his that was wood fired and had cracked in two pieces. He repaired it with stone epoxy and now we have great bowl to use for ourselves. I don't even mind the crack. I think it adds character. One week from today we will be in New Hampshire, setting up our booth for the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. Tomorrow we unload the kiln, and load it up again. One last firing before we hit the road.

I haven't checked in for awhile. We are still here and working hard for the final push to get to our biggest show of the year next month. Jeff threw fifty mugs the other night. He decided that I would pull the handles on all of the straight sided mugs and he would do the altered mugs. I was very hesitant about putting my handles on his mugs. He wasn't concerned a bit. I tried my best to make them look more like his. In the end they were a combination of the two! Aside from pottery work, we are really enjoying our land this year. We have quite a few tomato plants that are just starting to give us fruit, and along with the herbs and flowers, we feel like we are super fortunate. Most of our gardening is still happening in the front yard, but Jeff has spent many evenings reclaiming the over grown back acre. Last evening Jeff took me out back to show me the maypops that are blooming out there. This is a southern climbing vine that I was not familiar with until we moved to this house...

We (especially Jeff) are working hard to get the pots we need done for the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair next month. This is Jeff's gig. It's his work at this show. I become the assistant during the month of July. We usually have a good idea of what will sell. Bowls are always a winner. Big bowls often go first.  It's been hot the last couple of days and we are really appreciative of working in an air conditioned studio. It sure makes life easier.

 We've got blackberries... Loads of them! The original owner of our home planted them many years ago. They were all over grown in the back portion of our land. Jeff has gone out and whacked the weeds and brush a number of times over the past two years. This season they have really taken off. We went out during the sweltering heat on the Fourth of July and picked a good size bowl full. There will be plenty more in the days to come. The downside of blackberries are thorns and bugs. I pretty much suited up in long pants, tall boots, and bug spray. The boots were my "snake protection". I will admit to being a little afraid of snakes, more so the poisonous variety. Jeff has planted a couple blueberry bushes this year. It will be a few years before we have enough to really do some picking, and we are really looking forward to it. Our goal for next year is to be able to have our vegetable garden out there too.

A couple of months ago I had an order for a personalized piggy bank with a couple of stars stamped on the side. I didn't have a star stamp, so I made one for the order figuring I may eventually use it again. Last week when I was finished making pigs for orders I decided to have some fun with the star stamp. Since the 4th of July holiday was just around the corner... The star spangled, patriotic piggy bank came into being!