Booksigning Saturday!

I'll be signing books at the Howe Meadow farmer's market in Cuyahoga Valley National Park tomorrow, Saturday, August 18th! I'll be there from 9-12.

If you're in the area, stop by - the market is terrific! I'll be stocking up on buffalo meat, honey, free-range chicken patties, and yummy baked goods : ) Oh, and signing books, too - I'll have all three of my books on hand to sign.

I'll also bring my drop spindles and some of my Japanese indigo-dyed fiber to spin while not swamped with people buying books ; )

Hope to see you there!

A successful book signing at the indoor farmer's market

My book signing at the indoor farmer's market yesterday was fun. I brought my drop-spindle along with a finished skein of yarn to show anyone who was interested in my spinning.

I ended up selling not only several books, but my finished skein of yarn, too! I also got to eat a warm breakfast pie from the Gaelic Imports table, and I brought home some ground bison from the man who sells pasture-raised, grass-fed bison, and made a big pot of bison chili for dinner last night. Yum!

I love farmer's markets!

Bison Chili

We've been enjoying Bison chili a lot over the past several weeks. One thing I like to make with the peppers and tomatoes from the garden is chili.

Early on in the season, when I didn't have enough ripe tomatoes of my own, I made a trip to the farmer's market to buy some so that I could make a batch of chili up with some ground beef I had in my freezer. While there, I happened to stroll by a booth where a man was selling locally raised, grass-fed bison meat. I decided to try making the chili with ground bison instead of my ground beef.

My whole family loved it. My son and daughter have said that they think it's the best chili they've ever eaten. So I've been making bison chili now. I use heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and garlic from my garden, and onions and ground bison from the farmer's market. The beans I buy in cans from the grocery store.

It's so fun to walk out to the garden, fill a basket with tomatoes and peppers, and then walk back inside and put it all into a pot along with the cooked ground bison, onion and beans for a flavor-rich dinner.

Yum.

Farmer's Market

Yesterday, hubby, dog, and I strolled down to the farmer's market. We had a very pleasant walk, the weather was beautiful. We even bumped into my son's girlfriend who was on her way to the market too.

The market was busy with people. This is the market's third year in our quaint little downtown. In its first year I was a participant and sold homemade candies and fudge. I really enjoyed the experience, lots of happy people all enjoying the market on a Saturday morning.

Yesterday we came away from the market with these various items:

Honey from two sisters (I would guess teen and pre-teen) who have been keeping bees for the past four years. They started beekeeping as a 4-H project.

A sixpack of fern cakes from the local owner of a Gaelic Imports shop who sells pasties and pies and confections at the market on Saturday mornings.

Three breakfast cakes from a seller of all-vegan treats.

A package of double ginger almond biscotti from a local baker's booth.

A small bag of green beans.

And not pictured here because I forgot about it when taking the picture, a bag maple coated puffed spelt which I bought from an Amish man. It was homemade and the maple syrup was locally produced.

Also not pictured, a little package of homemade dog biscuits - peanut butter- for Strider. He enjoyed them while we sat at outside a local shop and hubby and I slurped fruit smoothies.

Today it's back to the damp, drizzly weather we've had for most of the past week. It's nice that the damp took a break for the market.

Candy and the Farmer's Market

Last summer I sold homemade candies at a local farmer's market. It was the first ever farmer's market for my nice little town, and it was a lot of fun.

I sold my candies under the name Castle Door Candies. I used the image above as background for my signs.* I sold three types of fudge, two types of caramels, and something which I called treacle crunch, which is candy honeycomb (not actual honeycomb) covered in a chocolaty coating.

It was a lot of work making the candies during the week. I cut and wrap the caramels by hand, which is tedious. And making the fudge is always a bit nerve-wracking. It takes quite a while for the candy concoction in the pot to reach the right temperatures, and then it must cool for a time, and then comes the nerve-wracking part. It must be beaten to just the right consistency. If it's underbeaten then it doesn't set right. If it's overbeaten, then you're left with a stiff gob of unsellable gump - and there are only a few seconds between the perfect consistency, which will result in velvety, chocolaty ambrosia -and overbeating which will give you a lump of crusty hard-tack.

The insides of the treacle crunch are kind of fun to make. When the treacle-sugar concoction in the pot reaches the right temp, you add baking soda and whip up. The mixture expands into a candy foam which you pour out and let harden. When hard, you break it up. Then comes the part that I don't like so much. Dipping the crunchy centers in the chocolaty coating. It makes my back sore for some reason.

But when Saturday morning came - it was all worth it. The market was so much fun! We had great weather every single Saturday. I gave out free samples of my treats and it was such a blast to hear people saying good things about my candies. I was always amazed to actually be selling my candies. People actually bought them!

The market is returning this summer and I have to decide whether or not I want to participate again. It was a lot of work during the week for one morning of fun. The profits weren't all that stellar - even upon selling out most weekends. There's a limit to what people will pay for a bag of caramels or a block of fudge, or a bag of treacle crunch - no matter how yummy it is.

The experience last year, though, was very rewarding personally if not necessarily monetarily.

* The castle door image above was photoshop-ed from one of my own pictures. It's actually of a church door, not a castle door. I took the picture on a trip that my family took to Germany when I was 19. The original picture (although shown in B&W because that's what I have saved in my computer) is below: