SPRING Open House at The Colonial Housefitter

Yesterday we gathered for a Spring Open House at one of the BEST primitive shops around! 

The Colonial Housefitter in Jamesville NY

Chris the shop owner let 7 of us set up our wares in her shop for the CELEBRATION of SpRiNg.!

Thank you Chris!!!!!

...................................................................

OK so maybe you heard me "rooklin'" for the past few weeks. Another cRaZy saying of my Mom's which meant...Bee eye tee see achh ING!

I rookled rookled ROOKLED for dayyyssss! 

"I'm neverrrr going to do another show again. NEVER. NO matter what. NOT NEVER"

I not only sell antiques but I make primitive old looking things. There's lots of steps in the aging process and my house gets TRASHED. 

If you know me I can take a bit of dust but messes doooo meeee innnn. 

Order. I neeeeed order.

Poor sweet Dave had to eat his measly dinner...if he even got dinner....in a little tiny spot on the kitchen table amongst piles of walnut stained baked in the oven papers, clippings form antique journals, old faded Easter grass (my most FAV!), wire (which HE searched high and low for me 'cause it haddd to be "black 22guage") and all my jewelry making supplies.

Not one surface in this house was clear. My heart is racing right this second with the memory.

BUT BUT BUT

As ALWAYS the high of the day changed my mind!!

We laughed and cried and ate and made $$$ all day long.

AND as a special surprise my dear friend Linda from Lindowen's American Country came!!

It was GREAT!!!

The Colonial Housefitter

Carol upstairs in the window. She's such a funny chick and all day long her cute face was a smilin' in my pics :)

My display area

My dear friend Matha's WONDERFUL candles!

Hey there's Karen from Lockwood Lavender Farm!

Carol smilin' in the background! :) :)

 Delights my soul when young people keep the love of antiques and primitives alive!

Bethany and Josh <3

Dried Carrots

Looks like mine in my fridge!

It's what life's all about here at Hidden Pond Farm
...wow no food or Moonshine pics in this post!

PLEASE DON'T TXT AND DRIVE. Pleeease don't.. We all have loved ones out there.

SpRiNg!

We made it...as my Mom would say "we bickalabackala made it!"

Through another freeezing COLD, longggg winter!!!

The week kinda started out sad because the sap basically STOPPED running.

First time in our 17 years of sugaring that the sap stopped the second week in. 

For sap to run it needs to be cold nights, warm days. 

Soooo grateful for the warm days this week though!

And we did get some sap. Just enough to boil today for our annual Church Pancake Breakfast at the 

Sugar House!

I have to run over there soon but I wanted to post a few snippets of the week first.

St. Patty's Day at Petters Pond

I'm not Irish but Dave and our girls are so the corned beef had to be made!

I don't get a regular corned beef from the grocery store. I just can't do all the nitrites and trates they put in.
...not to mention everything else about non-organic meat :( :(
So I get an organically raised brisket from our farm friends the Nan's at Springbrook Farm. 

...then add my own spices.

We don't eat much meat at all, but allll our meat comes from them.

Loreen and Russ and their ADORABLE family put every ounce of their heart and soul into giving us their veryyy BEST!

We are sooo soooo SOOOO grateful and love them dearly for that!

x o x o

Boiled for 2 1/2 hours with a bit of cinnamon, cloves, mustard, bay leaf, and coriander.

Baked for 1 1/2 hrs. more, with onion, brown sugar, chili powder, tomato, garlic, and beer.

Shared with friends and family :)

See the twinkle in their eye?

Oooo OOO OOOO

Thennn...last night Dave and I were watching that cute Julie Julia movie and we got a picture txt from our Lacy and her JP

"IT WORKED!" the txt said.

!!!!!

Earlier in the week they were here and our friends told them that on the Vernal Equinox you can stand an egg on end straight up!

Sooo, WE haddd to stop the movie and try it ourselves. 

...It didn't work for us :(

Then we thought we maybe heard something about the energy of standing them outside on the ground.

Sure enough! Boom boom boom they stood right up!!!

Next thing we know our friends, Cindy and Rich, who originally told us about this, show up!

So at 10:30 pm outside on our bellies we stood up ALL the eggs we had!!

And even though this mayyy happen everyyy other day of the year, we jumped up and down and delighted in the FACT that, yesss, it reeeally isss SpRiNg and we bickalabackala made it!!!

Maple Sugaring...First day boiling.

So, sunny boiling days are not my favorite. I love the cold and cloudy, cozy all inside together ones.

Yesterday was theee BEST cozy all inside together day in all our sugaring years!

Cold, cloudy, rainy, and Auntie Em WINDY

We boiled from 7am til 9pm. Had lots of visitors blow in the sugar shack doors, lots of laughs, and kept ourselves alive with the typical "sugaring foods"

My organic rule kinda goes out the window when the boys put on their Sugar hats. 

...I guess organic isn't manly enough for The SUGAR Boys.

(I keep my girly supply of seeds and nuts in my bag)

Welcome to The Sugar Shack!

The Evaporator

My Sugar Dave breathing in the first of the season :)

Boy food

Dave and Rod workin' hard

...careful not to burn the pan Guys!

 Rod consulting the log book for last year's stats

"...who burnt it last year?"

Oh yea, YOU Rod. :)

 Feeding the fire

Drawing off just before syrup at 217 degrees. At the end of the season they finish it off on a stove in a big pan where they can be more precise and bring it up to syrup at 219 degrees.

Syrup stored in milk cans before final boiling.

Rod going to the woods to collect more sap.

 Friends visit and Dave explains "The Operation" 

:)

 Time for "Tea"

Medium sweet sap with a Lipton tea bag. Mmmmm!

Mike and Emma <3

 Ummm

What's that?

Sugar Boy Tea!!!

All cozied in. 

Gary with his tea

Dinner.

9pm. 

 Too cold and tired to cook more than just a couple of eggs in some boiling sap.

Perfect first day.