Well, it's not a pick-up truck load...

 like some folks I know bring in daily from their garden...

Actually, I just think the colors are very pretty, well, and I appreciate the vegetables too, but it's certainly not the best garden I've ever grown. 

You may remember the year I went to the garden and was greeted by the giant sunflower with a pretty face looking down at me...

A closer looks showed it was just the bees, and I thought my sunflower had come to life...

Oh, and one of my favorite oddities in the teeny tiny garden was the leek that grew and grew and attached itself to my heart...

and I was there in the garden when the beautiful leek removed it's night cap, revealing a head full of tiny flowers. I've tried since then to grow another leek but with no luck.

Anyhow, I was up bright and early yesterday morning and on my way to the farmer's market. 

The fact that the weather is so very hot these days worried me a little, but I carried a small cooler filled with crushed ice.  There was an amazing breeze all day that blew through the big open doors, making the day seem much cooler that it actually was...

Not a good picture and my table looked better from the front. Just wanted to show you a little of the building, it's huge. Big enough for ten or more vendors on each side and behind each vendor is a large roll-up door. Lucky me, when I look out here's my view...

A small but beautiful garden, maintained by the Master Gardners at the market. Didn't make much Saturday, but had fun. Oh, look at this sweet lady trying on one of my bonnets...

The farmer in the green shirt came by my table, picked up a bonnet and asked, "mind if I let someone try this on"? She looks adorable, doesn't she. She bought a bonnet and apron from me the first time I was a vendor there. 

Good grief! 9:15 already! Poppy will be headed to bed soon. Guess I need to get up from here. I will leave you with Mokey again...

Yeah, he asked if I thought he would be a good ornament for the bird bath. :(

Thank you for visiting, oh, and thank you for the nice comments on my last post. Once again, I meant to get back and reply to each one. Time flies!

Love, Henny

Another first!

There's lettuce growing in the teeny tiny garden...

Lettuce fit for picking and eating! I'm pretty tickled about that. 

Have I told you about the farmer's market?

Well you see, wishing for a little extra spending money and seeing all the sunbonnets and aprons I've sewn, hanging around decorating my little sewing room, I decided to call our county extention office. What a sweet lady I spoke with..."honey, she said, we would love to have you"!

"Spring Fling" , opening of the markets, begins May 5th, so I packed up and was there at 7:00 am.  Can't see my table in this picture, but here's half the market...

My bonnets and aprons were a big hit, who would have thought! My first sale was to this lady who was a vendor there selling beef from her ranch.

She wore the bonnet and apron all day and had it on again last Saturday.

Anyhow, you have got to see this! Talk about luck! I've been raking and scraping for fabric to sew with and said to Poppy, "with the money I made at the market, I'm going to Walmart tomorrow and buy a few pieces of fabric"! 

And so I did...

Every piece I picked up, the clerk scanned and said, "oh, this is on sale for $1.00 a yard"! Be still my heart!  Here's my messy little sewing room with my new fabric folded under two new bonnets...

Right now I'm working on three bonnets and two aprons. Pieces stacked on the right of the sewing machine need stitching. I then move it to the little table on the left for pressing. Kind of a one man assembly line. :) Works good for me. 

S

and...

So, I am all excited and into sewing again...what with a stack of new fabrics and a place to sell what I make. 

Okay, I'm sure you have heard enough. Thank you for listening and oh my goodness, new followers! Who would have thought! Thank you so much!

Will say goodbye for now and leave you with a picture of Randall Rabbit, visiting with me in his home...

Love, Henny

Burrr! Another cold market day!

Okay, I really need to post a little something here. Don't want folks thinking I blew away. Can it really be four days since I looked at my blog! 

Lynn and I were visiting vendors at the Wake Forest Farmer's Market again today, and guess what happened! Snow! And not just snow! We had snow, sleet, and freezing rain! The entire time! What is it with me and markets? It was really a cold miserable day at the market. Anyway, a day with Lynn is always fun. I sold only three dolls today. Nothing else. Lynn had a few sales too.

Being a vendor at the farmer's market is really fun. It is work, but fun. I miss being there. Lynn and I are thinking about maybe doing it again...part time anyway...if things can be worked out. Selling crafts is different from selling vegetables or eggs. Customers are simply not going to rush out to buy an apron or a doll every Saturday. Selling craft items one week a month, now that would be good. :)

Poppy and I will be driving to Yorktown on Christmas morning to spend the day with Andee, Todd, and Madison. Looking forward to that!

Not much of a post here, but hopefully I will be back soon, with more...better stuff! :)

Love,
Henny

Saturday at the Market

Thank you for the nice comments on the teeny tiny farm post. Didn't mean to go away and be gone so long. Four day has it been already? 

Seems like Poppy is on the computer now, well off and on, from the time he gets home from work til bedtime. 

And I've been busy preparing for the Christmas farmer's market and let me tell you, it was a good day, in spite of the rain! Yep, it rained again! The rain was light and there was no wind. It was cold but not freezing cold. And, there were shoppers! Shoppers who were buying! :)

The rain made it hard to keep our display pretty. Why didn't I get a picture before the rain! Lynn paintings, brooches, and dolls were displayed beautifully, before we shoved everything back out of the rain.

Dampness made the aprons hang limp. Lynn's smile brightened this picture. She has always been like a ray of sunshine...those freckles, those blue eyes, and her smile! Four aprons had already sold off the clothesline! Yay!

We were set up next to this nice lady. Her pralines were a big hit. I dared not sample any. It would have been easy to spend everything at her booth and undo all my trying to eat healthy and lose ten pounds!

Lynn across the way at The Flour Garden buying us each a cup of hot chocolate.

Gabbie's vegetables are always quick to sell out. I really meant to come home with a bag of Kale, but didn't.

These two are really good and make being at the market fun. Yesterday they played and sang Christmas songs.

That's about it for now. Exciting times around here what with decorating and thinking about Christmas! Baking cookies is on my list for today and you know what? Poppy and I want a fruit cake this year. He mentioned it just a day or so ago. Does anybody bake fruit cakes any more? It costs so much to buy all the ingredients...nuts, lots of nut, dried fruits. Shelby mentioned us getting together to bake fruit cakes. We'll see. For now, Shelby and Jimmy, Cousin Pat, and Mike are on a cruise heading for the Bahamas! Must be nice. The only place I cruise to is aboard Mama's old 1998 Toyota headed toward Walmart. How exciting is that? :)

Thank you for stopping by.

Love,
Henny

A blustery day at the market

A dry towel! Thank you, Eli!

We got our first taste of winter yesterday! Yes we did! Where was I? Out in the wet, windy, wide open Western Wake Farmer's Market with lots of other shivering, chilled to the bone vendors. Wind, rain, falling temperatures, everything the weatherman predicted, and more. Vendor tents bounced in the wind unable to blow away because of the water filled jugs that hung from each corner. Two boat anchors and two milk jugs barely held down my tent. Not even one picture do I have to show you. I was too busy warming my hands in my pockets, wiping my cold runny nose, and keeping the bonnets from blowing off the table.

Poppy called it a wasted day. Not me. Shelby and Jimmy always make any day fun. We don't see enough of family anymore. Shelby and I are the only two left in our family and Jimmy is just the best brother-in-law ever! Shelby and I talked about old times. We talked about mama. We laughed, we visited other vendor's booths. Shelby traded an apple pie for vegetables...kale, eggplant, and broccoli. We bought a large coffee to warm us which by the way was the best cup of coffee I have ever put to my lips. I selected the "dark, ghoulish, halloween blend"...really good!

It was probably going on 2:00 when I got home yesterday. There was no coming in the house, curling up with a warm dry blanket and relaxing. No sirree! I unloaded the car, changed into old jeans, got my feed bucket and headed right back out into the cold wind to the animals. The baby guineas were my biggest worry, but they were all fine. After feeding and giving them clean water, I found a piece of plywood which I stood up to make another windbreak. Their corner of the dog lot is now enclosed on three sides...toasty warm what with the heat lamp and their mama to snuggle under too.  I continued on with the chickens, goats, ducks, Bun Bun, the cats, Weetie, Smokey, all needing attention, and of course Eli needed to be hugged and walked. Just finishing up and stepping back up on the porch, Poppy pulled into the driveway. Thoughts of cooking supper sent burning red flashes through my mind! Crap! 

Plundering through the cabinets with my cold, numb fingers, I pulled out everything needed to make a big pot of chili beans...Good hot chili using...

    1 lb. Hamburger
    1 onion cut up
    bell pepper cut up
    1 can diced tomatoes
    1 can tomato sauce
    2 cans pinto beans
    1 can (almost) water
    2 heaping T chili powder
    1 tsp. cumin
    salt & pepper
    and one chopped, long hot red pepper like 
    these...

(This was my last pickings from the 
    teeny tiny garden last week) 

Brown hamburger, add peppers and onions browning a little longer. Add other ingredients. Simmer couple hours or longer.

Putting chili on to cook did warm me up some so I kept up the pace and began unpacking the damp bonnets, aprons, and dolls. Did I mention the only sales yesterday were one small doll, one bonnet, and one girl's apron. Yep, I made $28.00. 

Shelby had two pieces of her chocolate fudge cake left. She sent these to Poppy...

Speaking of Poppy, look who has become all buddy buddy with him...

Thank you for putting up with my rambling on and on about nothing. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny Penny
    

Ready for the craft show

I know! I say this all the time...where do the hours go! Poppy is off work today and is in the woods at his favorite hunting spot. Quickly, while he is away, I can have a little computer time. There is so much else I need to be doing though!!  It will still be there.

This picture was taken early yesterday morning from the back porch. I thought hmmm, this looks right pretty...

Friends, you know the craft show at the farmer's market is coming up this Saturday. The day after tomorrow, already! I have been in the sewing room every night working, working, working...

The weatherman informed us last night that, "Saturday is going to be cold, rainy, and windy. It will feel like 30 degrees out there", he said! How encouraging!! It is truly a job in wet windy weather. I don't plan to let the weather stop me from going! My booth will be set up next to Shelby and Jimmy and that in itself makes for a fun day. 

Some of you asked to see a close up of the finished dolls...

Some pictures are blurred. ?

Don't know why I got stuck on the color pink. Most of the time young girls do pick out the dolls dressed in either pink or purple so this may be a good thing.

My favorite doll of the bunch is in the first picture, wearing the pink checked apron. Oh my, Eli was too quite for too long this morning. I went looking for him. That doll will not be going to the show. Her hair is chewed and one eye smeared. I couldn't fuss at Eli. It looked like a toy to him. The box of dolls should not have been left on the floor. In the months that Eli has been with us he has chewed up two things, Poppy's Food Lion work cap and now this doll. He has been such a good dog!

Speaking of the old sweetie pie...

Okay, I'm pushing my luck here. I'm off to get some work done. Thank you again for visiting. Hope to be back soon.

Love,
Henny

A Busy Day

Funny, I had titled this post "Monday Morning", and here it is Tuesday night.   

What a day this has been!  I went in to town, bought hay and goat feed, carried aprons and bonnets to the feed and seed store to sell, delivered 4 dozen eggs to a friend in Wake Forest, left Wake Forest and drove 30 miles to Henderson to pick up prescriptions and buy a gift...then headed toward home.

I was in a hurry because I worry so about the baby guineas...feeling the need to check on them every hour or so.  As soon as I got home I did indeed check and there was a baby, cold and wedged between the fence and a piece of 4 x 4 post, cold and near death.  How in the world they manage to stray that far from the warmth and safety of their mother is beyond me! 

It was meant for me to get home when I did!  I used the warm cloths and sugar water again.  This baby survived too.  It breaks my heart to think how long it lay there, cold and needing help.  Anyway, all is well now.

I am enjoying reading other blogs so much that I hardly have  the time to write a decent post of my own!  :)  I love the donkey stories and pictures, the dogs, the beautiful fall pictures, the walks in the woods, the delicious foods and recipes...persimmon pudding, old photographs, sewing, crafting, the cats and the funny stories, and the altered couture...that you all post about!

Terry, since you requested it, and because you are so nice......Here I am, "swinging" out over the goat lot! :)  No wonder I fell out backwards...look how much hangs over!  Pardon the lovely shoes, my crocs that sit at the front door.

The craft fair was held last Saturday.  The car was packed and I was on my way at 5:15 a.m.  Shelby and Jimmy leave for the market at 6:30 on Saturdays so I needed to be there on time.

Don't Shelby and Jimmy look like people you would love?  Well, they are.  I heard it several times at the market from the vendors and the customers.  It was a fun day!

They sell dozens and dozens of large dark brown eggs.  They also sell baked goods, jams and jellies, and sometimes produce.  There are many flavors of jam on display here, and for sampling.  Sorry there's no picture of my booth.  You can see a bit of a Christmas apron hanging.  I sold a few bonnets and aprons and one doll.   Made a bit of spending money and enjoyed the day.

Looks like Poppy and I will be getting even more sun and light into our place.  The folks who own the property across from us have been thinning out...clearing rows, making room for the smaller pines to grow.  Poppy says this will give him more places to hunt next deer season.

Thanks for visiting.  

Love, 
Henny Penny

 

Craft Fair

Lately, I have been busy sewing and crafting again!  That's right!!!  There is a craft fair coming up on November 3rd and it is being held at the Western Wake Farmer's Market.  The same market where Shelby and Jimmy, "the farmers", sell their goods every Saturday.  Once a year this farmer's market holds a craft fair along with the regular activities at the market.  So, after hearing all about it from Shelby, I signed up.  This means I will get to set up my tent and tables next to Shelby and Jimmy.  I am so excited!!  This has encouraged me to get back in the sewing room!

Last year while I was still selling bonnets, aprons, and dolls at the farmer's market in Wake Forest...I had a brain storm!  When I was young, mama showed me how to cut out paper dolls that were holding hands.  Since I had quite a collection of paper chicken feed bags from "Southern States"...I can't throw anything away :)...I decided to take these bags apart and cut paper dolls from them.  There are three layers of paper in each feed bag.  That's a lot of paper to work with.  I enjoy drawing, cutting, and coloring these paper dolls and young children are fascinated with them...

  
Girl paper dolls, boy paper dolls...teddy bears, trains, and angels...

 

The trains need to be colored red!

A few girls aprons for the craft fair...

and ladies...

Guess I had better go...I am supposed to be shampooing carpet.  Got the carpet vacuumed and the furniture moved out of the way...and here I sit at the computer!!!

Love,
Henny Penny