Win Stuff - Blog Contest!

Welcome to our Herb Blog Group Contest!
For the week between Friday, February 27 and Thursday, March 5 you can enter simply by entering a comment in response to this blog entry and take a chance at winning a full year's subscription to The Essential Herbal Magazine! The Essential Herbal is written by, for, and about herbie people and the things they love. It is a grassroots publication that talks about the things you want to know when it comes to herbs.The following blogs are also participating, so stop over to enter with them for additional chances to win AND the chance to explore some cool blogs. If you are already a subscriber, we"ll just add the free year on the end. Be sure to leave an email addy in your response so that we can reach you if you win!

Possum Creek Herb Farm
Blessings of an Herbwyfe
Garden Chick ***
SunRose Aromatics ***
Herbs from the Labyrinth ***
Patti's Potions ***
PrairieLand Herbs ***
Aquarian Bath ***
The Rosemary House ***
Natures Gift ***
Torchsong Studio ***
The Essential Herbal ***

*** These blogs will be taking turns having contests for the next 10 weeks for their own products. Be sure to come back!

My treats!

I know I mentioned the big project I am working on and so I am working on the torch much more than I have been. It's kinda wonderful because I feel like I have to complete a number of the required pieces every time I sit down. After I have done my "must do's" I treat myself by making something I really want to try or do... Yesterday, it was mostly vessels, but I did have one set:
I call it "Winter Wonderland" or "Winter Whites". It is pretty simple, but it is a great color combo that seems to go with everything in the winter time and was probably one of the first successful organic-style bead sets that I ever made.

My first vessel was "Golden Tea":I call it that because the top and bottom are made of a gold luster glass and the center is clear glass called iced tea. It is interesting because some of the luster actually turned gold, but it also fumed the iced tea glass. It is see through, but there is a sort of oil slick look to the whole thing..

Next, I tried a different combo and came up with "Gold Depths":
This was a different gold luster glass that seemed to behave a bit better. I used it with a veiled olive green glass. The bubbles in the glass along with the aged gold look makes it look like something that has been pulled from the depths of the ocean.

Finally, I think this is one of my all-time favorite vessels, "Blue Luster":
I don't think I ever used this glass since I purchased it a year or so ago. I just seemed to discover it yesterday. The top, handle and bottom are blue luster and the center is a veiled blue gaffer glass. There is a strong iridescent or metallic effect all over the dark blue while the center is clear, threaded with blue. In person, it is very much like a shimmering blue soap bubble.

Signs of Spring - and beads

In February, we're always looking for signs of spring around here. This picture shows a few of them. First, you can see two scooters parked in front of the shop. We had a little break and the temp actually got up to the 60's over the weekend and the guys immediately got the scooters out and went on a short excursion.

Then, there's Bob working on the tractor, getting things ready to go as soon as there's a real break

And, of course, there are the chickens... They're traveling in packs now. Little harems. Lots of squawking and chasing going on, so I guess they believe winter is soon coming to an end!

While we're waiting, I've been getting in some torch time. Mostly I'm working on a large project that I'll be revealing in a couple of months(!) But, I am getting a few things done here and there and doing a bit of experimentation.

I haven't made any "nebula beads" recently and I love them. Everyone who sees them seems to love them too as they disappear almost as soon as I make them!
And then, this is an interesting little collection that has grown through various experiements with new colors and techniques as well as a couple older ones. The beads were all together and I realized they would make a great set/bracelet just as they are.
I'll be making the bracelets up soon and getting a bunch of stuff up on the web site as well as probably taking some to Radiance in Lancaster.

Winter beauties

So, it looks like the groundhog has thrown us a curve ball this year! I'm sure it's just temporary and we can fully expect our usual 6 more weeks of winter, but today, you could hardly believe it.

A couple of days ago, we narrowly missed a real "dumpage" of snow. A rare band of heavy, isolated snow showers covered a good part of our county with 12" of snow. We had a few flurries earlier in the day and when the reporter came on TV that evening talking about the amounts in Lititz (15-20 miles away from us) I found it hard to comprehend.

When the newly inaugurated automatic phone call system for Lancaster Country Day School woke me the next morning AT 5:30 AM (!) to let me know there was a 2 hour delay, I was still confused, especially since my son graduated from the school in 2004!

So, the next day, when we took out a few deliveries, it was interesting to see all the snow within miles of our house.

We had stopped at Landis Valley Farm Museum and were greeted with different vistas than usual. A couple of the buildings really stood out in the white background, much more than in the usual lush greenery I am accustomed to.

This yellow building is right across from The Weathervane (the gift shop) and I had never noticed how bright it was until this day, seeing it framed by the bright blue sky, the bare branches and the snowy ground.
As we were climbing in the car, I thought a shot of the newly painted Weathervane Shop would be in order too. This is really a lovely place to visit. You might want to think about it if you come to visit our fair county and have never have been there. The museum is full of nifty old farm equipment and lots of interesting stuff for kids and grownups as well!
The other thing I wanted to share today was a charcoal drawing I did, probably 30 years ago. I had just finished a drawing from life class and was pretty pleased with how my skills had progressed.
One afternoon, I set up this still life and started drawing. It has always been one of my favorite pictures and it is framed and hangs in our living room. A new forum I frequent has a thread right now of people's artwork and although I don't think I'll share it there, it inspired me to take a picture of it - just in case something should someday happen to it.

We've just realized that orders are starting to come in for spring (despite the groundhog) and we are sadly in need of some soap on the shelves... Today will be spent getting a couple of orders out and then preparing to make soap: weighing fats, preparing molds, etc., etc.

Murrinis & Focals - Yummm

So, I mentioned Murrinis yesterday on Facebook and this is what I was talking about.
It isn't a food, but it is glass and it is a cane that is built by forming a glob of glass, a large version of what you want the smaller "cane" to be when it is pulled. It winds up as a long "cane" which must be cut into sections to be applied to beads. This is a VERY simple version of a murrini. Some are extremely complex, for instance I believe someone made a Mona Lisa murrini.

I applied it to a bead yesterday and this is the result:
I was really happy to see the result because I was sure it wouldn't form the pinwheel, so when it did it was a happy surprise. I had fun making the base bead, just because it is such a departure for me. I've been collecting some really nice corals and pinks, so had the chance to use a few - along with some pale lavender and a bit of silvered ivory.

After that little triumph went into the kiln, I started playing with some other colors. There was also a complex stringer used in the next bead, but it disappeared in all the various layers. Oh well, I was happy with what the silver and "magic" did all by themselves:
So, I spent a good hour at the torch and the two beads about were the result. both of the focals are about 25mm long, about 18 mm wide and about 10mm thick. A nice size for a pendant.

I promise to get busy finishing up some of the vessels and pendants so I can post them for sale soon and get my website updated.

Our (as yet) unnamed holiday

Tina did such a good job posting about this (and took all the pictures) I'll just refer you to her entry which covers our day yesterday pretty well!

I do have to say that the celebration seemed to settle something in me and I wound up sleeping in until 10 AM today. I really think I haven't slept so late since our son was born - almost 23 years ago! It was wonderfully decadent, but not getting started on the day until close to noon is a very weird feeling for me!

Everything is here for the magazine (deadline was the 15th) so in the few hours I had today, I started working on that after proof-reading Tina's latest book... which I'm sure you'll be hearing about soon.

And another day at the torch

I was still curious about the silver brown reaction on black and so had to give it another try.

This is much more what I was expecting. This time, I was sure to reduce the finished bead, just waved it through the flame and this is what happened.

I thought it required encasing, but I didn't do any of that and a gorgeous reaction happened all on its own.

I haven't made any vessels for a while and my selection was looking a little slim, so I had decided to work on a few of them.

This is the first one I made. A green opalino base with some sprinkles of spring frit. green scrolled stems with little candy flowers dancing on them.

I was so anxious to show this that it really isn't finished. It'll get wired and a cork or maybe a fancy top will be applied. Same goes for the last vessel on this page.

To the left, you will see two different views of, in my opinion, one of the most interesting vessels I have ever made.

It's interesting and beautiful.

The base is a grey-blue opaque glass and the handle and "decorations" are made of silver plum. Silver plum is a very cool purple glass that blooms in the right flame to become silver.

The decorations on the vessel are shards, which are a very thin pieces of a bubble that is blown with the glass and then broken when it has cooled. The pieces are applied very carefully so that the shards will just melt onto the shape rather than ball up from too much heat.

After everything is on the vessel, it is flashed in the flame and the silver appears. It is like magic happening before my eyes!

Finally, I have been thinking of making a new moon vessel.

I formed the vessel and then began the moonlit sky. The stars skimming across the sky are fine silver wire, melted in to become spots of shining silver in the lapis sky.

The moon was added and then I thought some filmy clouds would make this moon vessel different from the others I have made in the past.

I remember one night, long ago being with some friends looking up at the sky. It was full of wispy clouds and the moon just sailed along through the clouds, never completely covered, but dancing in and out of the "veils". One of my friends called it a Hamlet moon and ever since, when I would look up and see the moon peeking in and out of clouds, I think of her and that long-ago night.

Finally! Some time on the torch.

I finally sat down at the torch on the last day of 2008. I had received some new glass in the mail(my Christmas present to myself) a day or so before.

What to do... what to do? Well, this was the first thing....

I read up on the glass that had so intrigued me and sat down to try some of it out.

The base of this bead is regular old dark ivory.

The dots are two new (to me) colors. The gorgeous blue one is called "dense iris blue" and it is truly such an intense color, the name fits it perfectly.

The other dots, which range through many shades of amber to blue to green is called "silver brown". It reacts strongly with different colors and varies depending on the application.

The little raised dots, some of which are undercut probably because it's been so long since I was at the torch and also because this was just an experiment and never was intended as a salable bead, are also made of silver brown. Leaving them raised and just reducing them slightly made them strike to this golden color.

The one to the right is another example of silver brown with a much different outcome.

The base is black and I understood that silver brown on black would turn brown and green. Well, it does, but they are transparent, so it is very hard to see them!

In the right light, if you hold your head just so, you can see some of the hints of electric blue.

I'm not sure where the wispy inclusion came from, but it is about the most interesting thing about this bead, with the exception of a strand of silvered ivory I put down between the stripes of silver brown...

This is what I like to do with my experiments with new glass. I have a notebook of ideas and inspirations. After saving pictures by themselves, sometimes I will label them like this so I know what I did to get the effect. The Mystic Beige is a new color and I tried it with the desert chameleon. I'm afraid the beige overpowers the chameleon, but maybe I'll try it again. The striped one is much more impressive in this photo. In real life, the green stripes are hardly noticeable!
I was getting tired by the time I started working on these and they are just small round beads that I decided to use for experimentation. The one in the middle seems to be the favorite!

Another Tree Season

This is the last weekend for Frog Hollow this year. On Sunday, we will have sold our last tree for the season.

On Tuesday, we had a beautiful snowfall and expected to have a pretty uneventful day, but apparently there are some folks who don't mind braving snow (or even the occasional changeover to freezing rain) to cut their tree.

Somehow, I found myself up the hill with my camera and decided to take some "winter wonderland" pictures.

Bob and Rudy had to come up too. You can see that Rudy, as ever, is proving he can outrun the "Frogmobile".

Sometimes he leads the way and sometimes he decides to take a shortcut through the trees or on a connector road and manages to pop out ahead of his nemesis!

I took this picture today. This is a huge Blue Spruce. I wish I had thought to get the camera a little sooner, because when they began to load the tree, it appeared to be a nearly impossible job. It seemed bigger than the van! As it is, it barely fits in the van.

The people came into the shop and we laughed about the fact that they usually bring a bigger van and they just overestimated this one's size.

I found it interesting that their son's girlfriend had the job of sawing this monster down...

So - another tree season has come and is just about gone...

An interesting pendant

A few weeks ago - or was it more(?) - a friend handed me a little baggie full of beads, stones and crystals. She asked me to put them all together into a pendant.

They've been sitting around in my living room, taunting me for all the time since then.

Last night, I finally decided how I would put them together and this is the result.

The pendant is about 4" long and quite impressive...

I have to drop Roe a line to let her know to check here. If you want a better view of it, just click on the picture and it will appear on a new screen, enlarged.

Another mention ... and Rudy in the rain

After all the media attention we have gotten this year, we have had some fun and busy weekends around here.

There are usually two busy weekends each year - Thanksgiving weekend and the weekend after. This year was no exception.

We set up our shop, but when things are crowded, most people want to just get in and out as parking is at a premium around here. This year, we offered free cocoa and hot cider on Saturday and Sunday both weeks and at least had a few folks stop into the shop for that! Last Sunday was bitterly cold and we were glad we had something to help our customers warm up a bit.

Things should be a bit more leisurely the next two weeks and that is fine with me.

I was surprised by a google alert this morning that led to this article which is about keeping Christmas green, and mentions Frog Hollow!

Every year during "tree season", we have a day or two (and sometimes more) of rain or other inclement weather. The rain is the worst though.

I was hoping for a day or two of respite in the middle of the week, but it is stretching out and people are coming out despite the pouring rain.

<<This is Rudy, our self appointed welcoming committee. His job is to keep track of everyone, but especially to chase the "Frogmobile" a utility vehicle we use to get around here, and Rudy's nemesis!

He was outside off and on all day today and when he wasn't out in the rain, he was spending his time wrapped in a big old dry towel, sleeping!

This is his post rain garb! Poor baby...

Media Coverage

We've been really lucky this year with a lot of media coverage for Frog Hollow Evergreens, our Christmas tree farm.

It started with an article in our morning paper the morning before Thanksgiving. A reporter had called me the evening before and I just tossed off the line about how we avoid haggling price by keeping our pricing simple. Bob brought the Paper home on Weds. and I was surprised to see my quote starting off the article!

Another reporter had called me earlier in the day and asked many, many questions. I kept checking the papers because I hadn't remembered to ask what paper it would be in - datewise. As it turned out, he was from our Sunday paper and that interview resulted in this article.

The first article attracted the attention of a couple of TV stations! First, our cable service has its own channel and they came out on Weds. evening. They did a cute little bit with the footage they shot on their evening news.

Then, the local FOX channel was scheduled to come out on Saturday which, as a result of the newspaper was crazy busy - although it is usually pretty insane Thanksgiving weekend. They had to cancel, but said they'd be here Sunday. I was shocked that they did show up in on Sunday since it was raining all day and we had only a few very hardy customers. We did an interview in the drizzle on Tina's deck, overlooking the trees. Again they showed a clip that evening on their news broadcast. I thought I wasn't identified, but a couple of friends have let me know they saw it, so I guess I was... I'll have to watch the tape again.

it was amazing the amount of footage that is shot for a 10-20 second bit!

First Snow

Of course the first snowfall of the year is news. It's beautiful and exciting. I'm sure if there is a lot of this this winter, it will become boring and depressing, but for now... it's great!

This morning, I woke to a surprise dusting and, after talking to Tina, we decided to take Molly to school in the Rav - it is wonderful in snow. Her school is in our old neighborhood and after dropping her off, we stopped to snap a couple of pictures:

This is State Street in Lancaster and it is tree lined and shady in the summer... In the winter, it becomes a snow dusted fairy land!

Here is the yard of just one corner house. There are so many shrubs and big old trees in this area and when the snow hits.... they're just beautiful.

I was just outside a couple of days ago, photographing the last of the leaves on the trees and a couple of late blooming roses... It's always amazing to me how things change so quickly.

New Bracelets

I've been busy the past few days. I had some orders to get done and while I was at it. I thought I'd better put some bracelets together for the shop and bracelet page of the Torchsong website.

This one is Robin's Nests:

Favorite Colors:

Midnight Wanderings:

Lights in the Forest:

The last three haven't gone up on the Web yet, but here they are...

(Please feel free to groan!) Fiesta-wear:

Bee Flowers:

Purple Custard:

Mystery berries

We stopped over at the post office in Mount Joy the other day, noticed these plants and realized we have no idea what we found:

Before the brash, gaudy orange parts push through, this is what the berries look like - pale, demure, blush pink....
And then, the orange part pokes out ... Here's a close up.

And even closer!
If you know what these are, I'd love to know!

Sweet September

So many things I have been wanting to blog about and just couldn't find the time, so, here I go...

As the summer wound down, there were a couple of things that had to be done. One day,

Tina, Molly & I took a walk down into the woods to gather jewelweed for the last time of the year. We clean it and process it to use in the jewelweed soap we call "Happy Wanderer" that people find so helpful in the spring after their first exposures to poison ivy.

It's kind of a pleasant way to pass a few hours, and we wound up with plenty of the frozen "goop"!

That same day, as we were walking around the yard preparing to venture down to the woods, we saw this fungus growing under the paper birch in the front yard.

If you know of the PA Dutch treat called shoofly pie, this mushroom reminded us of a "wet" shoofly pie. The edges certainly looked like pie crust and the top appeared to glisten with molasses. We decided not to taste it though!

Last Saturday was the last day for our market this year, but a couple of weeks ago, I left Tina alone at the tables so I could drop some mail off at the Post Office before it closed (I think I may have also continued on to Dunkin' Donuts to get us some coffee and Bagels). As I walked out of the P.O., this steeple reared up into the gray sky and it just cried out for a photo. Luckily, I had my camera along and took the shot. It is quite massive and very impressive although it really doesn't appear that way here.

I continued then around to the parking lot with my camera still in hand and saw something that has always been very interesting to me. Lancaster had a famous artist named Charles Demuth and for some reason, these silos remind me of his work. It often contains stylized depictions of just this type of thing.

The final event of the Month was the first wholesale show we have ever attended as vendors. Other years, we have been represented at shows, but we have never represented ourselves at one, so it was a pretty exciting event.

We were small potatoes compared to a lot of the vendors there. While we weren't sure exactly what to expect, we held our own just fine and picked up a few new customers.

Oven Tomato Sauce

Looks like this may be the last tomato harvest of the year.

We've actually been going through them so fast (and Bob's been giving a lot away too) that I haven't given a whole lot of thought as to what to do with them all and I haven't preserved any for the winter.

Recently, I read (on my sister's Yahoo list) a way of preparing tomatoes to use as a sauce and to freeze. I've made it twice before and this time, I was determined to get extra to freeze.

I picked as many tomatoes as I could find on the bushes as well as a few peppers.

I also found some basil and oregano, brought it all inside and added a few onions and garlic.
My son helped me by briefly dipping each tomato in boiling water and then plunging them into ice water to make them easier to peel. Peeling is not compulsory, but it makes the sauce a little more civilized.

The tomatoes were chopped into halves and quarters and I squeezed some of the seedy parts out as I was preparing them. I chopped the onions and peppers, smashed up quite a bit of garlic, cut up the basil and oregano and found a box of baby portabello mushrooms, then sprinkled all of those as evenly as I could over the tomatoes. A little salt and pepper and a good shot of olive oil over it all, and into an oven at 400 degree Fahrenheit for about an hour and a half.
I stirred it a couple of times as it baked and when it came out, it looked like this:
This was followed by a frenzy of eating! I made spaghetti and added the sauce. We served it with mozzarella and Parmesan and a loaf of Italian bread - oh, so good!

I don't have any pictures of the finished dish (see above frenzy!) Suffice it to say, it was delicious! We served 7 people with one pan of sauce and 2 pounds of pasta. The sauce appears to be thin and watery, but do not be mislead by the appearance. This sauce is full of flavor and especially good when served in a bowl.

I'm a bit excited because after the second pan of sauce cooled, I packaged it in zip loc bags and now have 2 quarts of this ambrosia in the freezer for the winter - or maybe the fall.

Next year, I'll be doing this all summer and we'll be well stocked! Sorry to tell you if you have received some of our overabundance this year you should not be expecting it next year!