the festival that was not it:

Thanks to my dear sister Sandy and my long time BFF Anita, my booth looked fantastic. They came out early with me to unload and schlep my stuff to my spot and help me make this new type of set up I tried out look gorgeous. 

Besides my booth looking pretty fantastic, this festival was an EPIC failure on so many levels. 

Between mass-produced and imported goods from china that were being sold left and right next to me for $5.00 a pop, there were only a rare few - probably not even a handful - of craftsmen who actually made their goods themself. What made matters worse, was that all the food and tasting booths were on one end of the grounds, and really the only thing that brought visitors down to the other end were the restrooms that were just past us.

The festival had looked fun and promising when i had researched it online, yet he crowd was not - which we noticed immediately upon their arrival. 

Despite the rain holding off for as long as it did - the nicer weather we had prior did absolutely nothing for my sales. i had some very pleasant conversations with some visitors, but the ONLY sale I had was from an old friend of mine, who purchased a gift for his sweet wife Helen. Thank you Jonathan!

The saving grace was that we all decided to pack up, "sneak" everything out (thanks to the stealth-masters Robert, Neil, and Sandy) and to ditch the festival 3 hours early after we sampled some good, some better, and some awful beer. Best decision ever!

I am so very thankful I had my friends and loved ones around to hang out with. You really made this event bearable and fun, and hanging out at the house was 10.000 times better!!

Lynchburg, you will not see me for the Beer & Wine Festival next year, and i am totally ok with that.

gherkins:

tuesday we picked these adorable little gherkins, cleaned them, soaked them in a brine overnight, pickled them in apple cider vinegar with some garlic chives, a cayenne pepper, pepper corns, and mustard seeds and processed in a water-bath for 10 minutes:

....now its waiting waiting waiting for a month to see if we succeeded in making delicious, crunchy pickles....

shop-elf:

yesterday and today i've had a busy shop-elf helping me out:

 she's been re-sanding and re-oiling all the things that got damaged during the downpour that was the edible fest - and getting ready for the Lynchburg Beer and Wine Festival that will be happening this coming Saturday

....and this is the result when Sandy sands....

traay production: never-ending days:

after shaping the little handles that are on each end of the long chemist cup tray, and the ones that run around the entire square chemist cup tray, it was time for sanding. OH boy!!

 i truly did not anticipate that the sanding would take longer - twice as long, i do believe - than it took to make the trays. my poor fingers sure could believe it as the nails were shorter than i have ever had them since i stopped biting them, and my fingertips were all raw from the grits rubbing not only the wood but them also.

 but they got done, and done in time, and here they are, sunning themselves, soaking up coat after coat of danish oil

please do check out the sale at which they are currently available at One Kings Lane!

Thank you so much for reading.

oregano:

5 trays of oregano are getting dried:

. 

Homemade dried herbs are the bomb, I tell you! So rich in aroma and flavor!!

hot pepper flakes:

regular cayenne peppers, hot cayenne peppers, ghost peppers, jalapeño peppers,

and tabasco peppers are awaiting the dehydrator to later be crushed to bits!!