First Craft Show of the Season.

Yesterday (Saturday) I attended my first craft show of the season, and the first one for me in Halifax.  Unfortunately it was not well attended, though this was through no fault of the organizers who worked their butts off to line up some great vendors with lovely products.  It rained hard later in the day, but for an event the day before Mother's Day, we were all scratching our heads wondering where all the shoppers were!  Despite that, I'm happy to have my name and my cards out in the Halifax area.  You never know when that little bit of presence may come back to you in the future.  Of course I promoted the Pictou County Weekend Market too, so people would know where to find my products and the products of other fine artisans through the summer - June 19th to September 19th.  Website is HERE.

Whatever the challenges of the day, it gave me a chance to try out a new display scheme and I think it worked well.

I had a corner spot, and because the tables were set up with me behind one leg of the L instead of being behind both of them, it gave me a different option to setting up my products.  I've been using two heavy folding bookshelves and I wanted to try something a little less cumbersome to set up.  So here it is.

This is the soap and B&B part of the display.  The tables are quite narrow, so there isn't a lot of room to spare, but I have 24 varieties of soap here.  Plus bath bombs (which are new this year) and a small display of lotion sticks, Night Time Foot Cream and Peppermint Foot Scrub.  I'm using black metal mesh letter trays from Staples and they fit 4 varieties of soap very well.  I also have matching black mesh sorting trays from the dollar store for things like the bath bombs.  I like that they fade into the black of the table covering so the soap and other things stand out.

Here's a closeup of one of the soap trays.  I've added labels for each of the varieties of soap too.  I still have a little work to do on them, but the general idea works pretty well.  The upper trays are sitting on the upended totes that I used to take the soap to the show.  As you can see, there is space between them to put other stuff too.

A little better view of the corner.  Not really enough space where the votives are to put anything else because it will hide the business cards, but on a larger table it might be more accessible.

Here are the candles facing the table with the soap.  I used a couple of step shelves that I got at Wal-Mart to make them easier to see.  I really wish I could get a few more of them, but the last few times I've looked for them I haven't seen them.

This is the end of the table.  The wax tarts and the tealights are in two of the dollar store mesh paper trays.  They work pretty well turned sideways so the candles don't slip out.

The far side of the candle table - Soy candles and wax votives on this side.  I had intended to only put out 6 boxes of votives, but decided to put the other two out as well.

And a closeup of the votives.  Two scents in each box; I tried to keep them complimentary, such as French Vanilla and Hot Fudge Brownie in one box, Northern Blueberry and Strawberry Rhubarb in another and so on.  I did remove the incorrect and leftover labels after I took the photo.  ;-)







All in all, I was pleased at how the display went together.  There are still some bugs to work out, but for the most part it was pretty smooth, especially tear down.  This weekend coming, I'll see how it works at the Farmers' Market.

Now I have to tidy my workshop and take pictures of that - that will be the subject of my next post.

See you then!

Potting Season is here!

It has been a busy spring!  We've gone from loafing around the house to working our tails off getting ready for our respective selling seasons.  I've been working in the basement on soap and candles and such, and Steve has been transforming the backyard into a plant nursery!  Because he is starting fresh, everything is getting done in the reverse order - ideally he'd be working in the greenhouse, then moving to the outdoor area, but the plants have to be potted up within a specific time frame, so that has to come first.

Here's what we started with - not much there:

This picture is from when I moved in - it doesn't show the shed I had built last summer.










Here is the back yard when things got going.  It's March 31 of this year - finally warm enough to start working outside.  And it's time to start potting up the root perennials that came from a Nova Scotia grower - things like hostas, astilbes, perennial geraniums, daylilies and lots more.  You can see supplies like bales of potting soil, pots, and pallets - Steve uses these to make raised tables to put the potted plants on.  The pallets allow the water to drain so the plants aren't sitting in too much water.  The pallets are used ones that the building centre is happy to give him.  :-)

The first pots are done - we started with the hostas; there are 4 different varieties.  The blue and pink sticks (plant names) in the pots are from old window mini blinds - nice way to recycle/reuse, eh?  :-D 










So here is the main view of the back forty on Day One.  You can see the lumber at the right that will be the frame for the greenhouse - when we actually get to it!   It's pretty bare, but it won't stay that way!
 

Fast forward a week to April 6th.  Lots more plants in pots and there are now tables for the pots to sit on - well some tables for some pots to sit on anyway! 

So here we are - tables on the right and the basic shape of the greenhouse laid out.

Here's the supply pile.  All the lumber in this pile is scrounged - from the same building centre where we purchased the lumber for the greenhouse (it's hard to find scrap 6"x6" pressure treated stuff  LOL) and where we get most of the discarded pallets.  There are some nice 4x4's for table legs and some good 2x4's and other stuff there.





 And here is a special plant - the only outside plant I 
brought with me from my old house.  It's the About Face Rose; the one I thought the deer had killed by eating all the buds off before they bloomed.  The one that didn't come up the year before I moved, but did the last summer I was in that house.  It got stuck in the ground at my new house (supposedly only temporarily) and apparently loves it where it is.  It's growing again - if you look closely you can see the leaves beginning to grow.  And yes, that is a strawberry plant beside it - left over from last year.




Another week or so goes by and here it is April 14th.  Lots more pots full, lots more tables built and work on the greenhouse is at least started.  But the plants come first!









You can see from this photo that the sills for the greenhouse are being placed.  And that there are now tables on both sides of the back yard.  Though I'm going to start calling it the back garden - it's much more than simply a "yard"!
 

A little better look at the sills and just how loooooong the row of tables is!









The supply pile is going down.  And, yes, that is an aluminum screen door for the greenhouse.  Traded for plants.









And we must have a picture of the gardener himself - though it's still pretty chilly, it's good to be working in the dirt again!

Another ten days goes by and more progress is made.  A generous friend needs her gardens (yes, multiple gardens) thinned out and Steve gets to keep a whole lot of those plants - lilies, evening primrose, columbine, creeping phlox and a lot more.  We actually have to make several trips to get all of it.  Then, of course, all the plants have to be potted up.

So now there are three rows of tables - and more to come.






Another week goes by and it's May 1st - May Day.  It doesn't feel very May like - still chilly and wet-ish.  But the work goes on.  Another row of tables and lots more plants.  It's lawn mowing time and our Plant Man has more plants from other clients to pot up.  Some we're not sure what they are, but he pots them up and we wait in anticipation for blooms so we can identify them.  Some of the plants we only have one or two of will go into the ground to provide for next year.

There are now 4 rows of tables and one started for inside the greenhouse.  That's a lotta plants!








Not all the plants are in the back garden.  The rose and strawberry (along with the sage, thyme, basil and rhubarb that you can't see) are in the little garden by the little barn.  Steve painted the dragon that guards them.  And those are weeds too.  Sigh.  My job.




It's May 2nd - Sunday.  And we made our first sale from the back garden!!! And then another one the next day!!!  Apparently word is getting around - we've been told that the town is buzzing about the new plant place where you can buy perennials - Whoo Hoo!!

These are the most recent pictures taken - on May 5th.  I'll take more soon, but you can see that we're still working away getting stock ready.  Soon the time will be past for potting for sale this year, and anything we put in pots after that will be for fall plants or for next season, or plants that we'll put in the ground to cultivate for next year. 




The table that was in the greenhouse area has been moved and a pallet has been put in its place, while the table is now filling up with pots.

The supplies are going down.  The last bale of soil has been opened, as has the last bale of peat moss.  There is one more bag of sheep manure and quite a few pots left.  We plan on accepting used plant pots to re-use, but until we get enough for a season, we've had to purchase new pots.  Listen to me!  "We", "Our" - LOLOLOL  You'd think I was the gardener!

 One of the gardens at the front of the house - tulips, crocus, hyacinth are up.  The little shrub is a spirea that we moved to this location last year when Steve put these gardens in for me.  The lights look really nice at night.

Here is the garden at the other side of the front stairs.  The pink hyacinth is in full bloom - pretty isn't it?

And another look at the About Face Rose and the little herb garden - complete with protective dragon.  Yes there are weeds, and yes the grass needs mowing, but that has to wait until the potting crunch has passed.  We thought we'd be able to take care of some of the lawn today, but it rained off and on all day.  Oh well.  It will get done eventually.



As always, if you click on a photo, it will open a much larger version.  Don't forget to click the back button to get back to the rest of the post!

Thanks for looking!

Sad News and Laughter

I had the occasion to go home to Saint John a short while ago because my uncle had passed away and his memorial was celebrated.  And it was, as these things always are, a mix of sadness at the reason for the gathering and happiness at seeing relatives whom we haven't seen in far too long.  It's the first time that all of my siblings and I have been together for a very long time.  I won't bore you all with the stuff that was said and done, but we did celebrate Uncle Bob's life with lots of tales about him and about family.  There was laughter among the tears and lots of visiting with people we hadn't talked to in years.  Here is a photo of my siblings and my Mom.