Outdoor craft market, courtesy of ME!!

I have super exciting news!!  Starting the first Sunday in May, I will be hosting the first monthly outdoor craft market at Shupp's Grove in Adamstown, PA!  My dear friend Tara, as well as my devoted and uber-talented husband, Corey, are working hard to get this thing off the ground as quickly as we can.  Although we haven't set up the site yet, the show will be called Made in the Shade--An Outdoor Craft Market at Shupp's Grove, and the site (coming soon) will be www.madeintheshademarket.com.  If you are a maker of things and want to get involved, you can contact me and I will get you the details while the site is still in progress.  Shupp's Grove is an outdoor antique flea market located--you guessed it--in the woods, and has been one of my family's favorite weekend haunts for many years.  They have been so generous in allocating space for us for this event, and helping to promote in in DC, Philly, Pittsburgh, NJ, and beyond.  MITS Market will be hosted every first Sunday of the month from May until October.  More details to come!!

Update on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 1:04AM by all mimsy

Oops!  Well, after a weekend of high drama by any standards, this event has a new name!  Apparently great minds think alike, and there is already a terrific indie craft event in Glasgow with this same name!  You can check out their site and events at Made in the Shade Indie Markets.  As soon as I discovered this overlap, I sent them a note, and, after much soul-searching and generous communication, we decided that it would be best for everyone if we came up with something new.  This way we can both have our moment in the sun (or shade, as the case may be...)!  So, our new event name is Crafty by Nature--still quite fitting for a show in the woods!

Make new friends...

What a great day!  I had the distinct pleasure of meeting PA indie movement maven, Tara Gentile, of Handmade in PA!  We have been having a blast sharing links and comments on our favorite crafters and other topics on Facebook and her site.  We have discovered a mutual passion for all things handmade, locally grown food, and beautiful babies (she has one--gorgeous 8 month old Lola!), and getting ourselves in over our heads for the people and movements that inspire us.  Unlike most of my online buddies, we also discovered that we have the fortunate coincidence of living 10 minutes from each other!

My "day job" requires that I drive far and wide as a road rep in the retail industry, meeting new shop owners in Pennsylvania and Delaware every day.  Given this daily dose of new people and places, it may come as a surprise that I still experience a certain level of social anxiety.  The "virtual world" does a pretty good job of disguising this for me.  I mean, it is one thing to toss off a random posted comment to a smiling avatar, but the act of actually connecting in real life is pretty daunting.  I can effectively maintain an air of cool-headed confidence in two-sentence soundbites, taking as much time as I want before posting, and backspacing more than a few times to edit the space between my mind and the page.  In real time, I can't fall back on a "redo" to save me.  Throw in a giant mug of tea and a scoop of homemade extra extra dark chocolate espresso sorbet (we met at the fabulous local cafe, Haute Chocolate), and, well, we have a real-time recipe for disaster!

Fortunately, Tara seemed to match me in enthusiasm for this crazy movement we call "indie."  I still managed to talk a mile-a-minute about my dreams and aspirations to bring the world of craft to life in Reading, but Tara didn't run away from my high-strung antics, nor did she let on that I was practically vibrating out of my seat (thank goodness she had Lola to distract her!).  I am reading a book that was just published by HNA Books, Life is Friends, which relates the art of making adult friends in "real life" to dating.  Although I am pretty sure I ignored (aka forgot) most of the advice the author gave for taking it slow and testing the waters, I am pleasantly surprised to report that, all in all, I think our "date" went pretty well, and I have a good feeling about the future of handmade in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Now--how many days am I supposed to wait to call?  I never could remember...

and Speaking of Seeds...

I meant to add this post last night, but, apparently, a weekend of digging in the dirt is not without its side-effects!  After a good night's rest,  I think I am ready to write about my weekend adventures in gardening.

First, let me note that part of my inspiration to actually start my wee backyard produce section was the new blog and facebook group, growindie.  I encourage you to check it out and get inspired to start your own homegrown effort!  I confess that I am coveting her lovely indoor grow lights (as seen here), but will probably have to make due with the good old (free) sun in my windows.  I didn't get any indoor seeds started this weekend, however, as the miraculous and deliciously warm weather forced us outside.  Plus, I clearly need to save up a few egg cartons (I'm sure Corey's dubious-yet-effective Atkins diet will speed that along quite nicely!).

Words cannot express how amazing it felt to get outside with my family this weekend.  We started Saturday morning with a stroller trip to the Shillington Farmer's Market, for lattes and our fair share of Amish-made baked goods, veggies, and organic, local milk and eggs--and more inspiration.  It was so nice to leave our coats and car behind.  We live only a few blocks from the market (lucky us!), but have only renewed our zeal to go there more religiously over the past few weeks.  Although it is only open Thursday-Saturday, we have proudly done almost all of our shopping there in quick trips after work.  If only they sold some of the staples I need for cooking, I might never have to go to Giant again! 

From the market, we moved right into the backyard, powered by delicious doses of caffiene and sun.  Now, our garden, like my website, has been subject to an unfair dose of neglect since this "real life" of working full-time began.  True, we did put in some herbs and other usual fare (tomatoes, peppers, broccoli) last year, but they were forced to fend for themselves against nature, weeds, and small children.  Needless to say, it was not the most fruitful garden, for any of us.  So, this year, our work is cut out for us!

Even in my short-lived career as a backyard farmer, I have never gotten organized in time to get my peas planted in time--so, given the unseasonally fortunate gift of this weekend's mild weather, we decided this was the most obvious place to start!

So, without further ado, I will post some pic's of our family's first efforts to revive our garden. I'd like to think that the gift of this weekend's warmth was the bountiful universe allowing us a moment to come together around our renewed mission. Wouldn't it be nice to think that all it will take is sunlight, water, and good soil?

Ladies and gent's, I give you our bamboo pea teepees!

Finigan and Mommy inspect under boards for signs of early spring life.

My two best helpers! (self-portrait taken by Eden!)Corey battles the wisteria with one arm (and wins!)...Bamboo teepee finished!

Update on Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 4:07PM by all mimsy

I was just perousing recent posts by one of my fav little blogger, Modish, and noticed she featured some quick links to seed sources on etsy (who knew??) here.  Also, my friend Rachel at growindie responded to a suggestion I sent her and has posted downloadable sheets of her supercute seed markers here.  Now you have no excuse--get out there and start those victory gardens!  All the cool kids are doing it!!

Up and Running--or crawling--but up nonetheless!

I have been putting this journal together for about a week now, and have been procrastinating my first entry all the while.  I am like that a lot--focusing a lot of energy on funny little details while I skate around the task REALLY at hand!  What am I avoiding?  Lack of perfection, of course.  The same reason I haven't made much of anything for the last two years!  There I was, 2005, Miss Super Crafty, running my sweet little online craft co-op and trotting off to indie craft fairs.  It was a glorious time for me--one of the few times I have felt fully myself as an adult.  Corey and I would stay up so late every night, Finigan just an infant, curled up in my arms and nursing while we plodded through html code and tables and color choices and photo editting, putting our site together.  I loved that we were a team, and that we were creating something that was ours, for us.

In life, we have to make all of these ridiculous choices.  Just as Blossom was really starting to get somewhere, boasting over 25 artists and continuing to grow, Corey and I realized that the strain of trying to make it on just his income was too stressful, and our credit was maxed.  So, the life we dreamed of fell victim to the life we could afford. Finigan went to daycare, and I went back to work.

I couldn't close Blossom.  After so much effort had been poured into building her, I wanted to believe that I would find my way back, once things settled a bit.  I was sure that I could find a rhythm between working full-time, homework, dishes, laundry, dinner--that I would be able to carve out some time to get back to my craft table, to my computer, to the artists I wanted to keep supporting and the indie movement I believed in, to my dreams.  Blossom has waited, lonely and neglected, a source of guilt and longing.  Somehow, two years passed.

Finigan will be four in May, and my daughter, Eden, is turning 10 this month.  As a mother, it is terrifying how quickly a childhood passes.  I don't want to use up the precious time I have with my young children, working for the weekends.  I don't want to look back on these years and wonder where they went.  I want my home to be filled with enough laughter and play and creation to last us a lifetime of good stories.  I want to give my kids the gift of a childhood they will want to repeat with their own families, as my parents did for me.  It's time to move beyond "survival mode."

Blossom Boutique started out as a seed of an idea.  We had no idea when we were playing with paperscraps and pretty ribbon at my dining room table that it would grow into a business.  I need to remember that our best pursuits don't start out perfectly.  Starting this journal has been terrifying to me.  What if I have nothing to say?  What if no one reads it?  Will Blossom be revived, will I go to craft shows again, will I start a new site, quit my day job?  Or will this renaissance fizzle out under the pressure of my day job, of piles of dishes, of life?

The truth is, I have no idea.  All I can say is that it is March, there is snow on the ground, and it is the month for planting seeds.