Moving on (by Marybeth)

Well it’s been quite a while since I last posted!  The winter season proved to be an exciting start to the business of brooms, bowls and spoons – we attended a few art fairs, now have our wares in multiple stores, and the online sales have been steady.  After much thought, I decided to move away from Colorado, where the business originally started, and to head to the land of hardwoods and water.  I’ve been living in the southwest for over ten years now and have been struggling to find my place in the world of traditional craft.  The oaks grow in miniature, the aspen is incredibly soft, the junipers are twisty and difficult to work with, and pine, fir and spruce just can’t provide what I want.  Though I have been extremely grateful for the apple and apricot trees on my land, and they have generously provided much spoon wood and many broom handles, it was time to move to where black cherry, sugar maple, beech and birch grow in abundance.  Where the rivers flow and the lakes are not formed by dams, where gardens are watered by rain and not irrigated from reservoirs, and where the traditional crafts so common to my heritage have been practiced for generations.  I’ve been busily working in the shop where I’ve been tying brooms and making bowls and spoons from cherry, birch, maple and beech.  This summer should prove to be exciting and interesting and I’m looking forward to spending more time creating beautiful and useful items and less time hunting down suitable wood!

Be sure to check out our booth at the following art fairs this summer:

• July 10-12: Blissfest near Petoskey, MI
  
• August 7-9: Great Lakes Folk Festival in East Lansing, MI
  
• September 26-27: Pentwater Annual Fall Fest Art & Craft Fair in Pentwater, MI