Gardening Starts!

 The last of my stored tomatoes from 2017. Went through them today and ditched the ones that had gone bad. Enough for one big pot of soup and for the pizza I am making tonight.

 The new babies under the grow lights. I planted these guys last Saturday. Some are coming up already.

 Those Geranium seeds came up within 48 hours of being planted. Light and bottom heat do the trick. There is an old heating pad underneath them.

The first baby Artichoke! I usually plant 4 or 5 plants and get 3-5 fruits per plant. A couple of meals. It is too cold here for them to over-winter so the annual types do for me. Our cool climate is perfect for them until the middle of September.

Pots from Cone 6 Electric Firing

     This glaze turned out really nice. June Perry Purple.

     Some misc. bowls I made for my granddaughters.

    Fun experiment with 3 glazes. Came out okay, a place to start.

     Some of the spoons.

    There are 30 spoons for my coffee roaster gig.

Orange Street covered with Dirty Snow. I like it.

Something Different

     I had an order from my coffee roaster guy for scoop/spoons. I'd never made them before but the process seemed straightforward. Cut out a newspaper pattern, tried it out, looked okay, made a cardboard template from an old cereal box and away we went! Made 36 of them. Found out that the pestle part of my stone mortar/pestle set worked perfectly to make the scoop part. The white stuff is cornstarch that I use so the pestle won't stick. It burns off in the firing. Right now these guys are all bisqued, glazed  and waiting in the kiln for me to fire them up.

     Three little pigs that I made for my 3 little granddaughters that live near us. Grandpa carved the wooden plugs from a piece of firewood. They each got a handful of 'twonies' in their banks.

   Tea time! Made this set for the same granddaughters last year for Christmas. Had a heck of a time getting the handles right on the little cups. They look way larger in the photo. They were just right for a 4 and 5 year old.

   It is fun to try something completely new. Most of my pottery making is serious work. Nice to go off and play around.

Winter Garden Pests

   For the fourth year in a row we are having some unwelcome visits from some very bad neighbors! When I went out on the deck to yell at the Ms she came right up with her ears back. I knew I was safe but it makes going in the yard in the dark a bit unnerving! My studio is a distance from the house and there are lots of large willows bent down with snow along it. I scan the area with my headlamp and hope she isn't around.

    Their favorite foods are caragana, saskatoons, sour cherries and raspberries. There are tons of their natural food, willow, but they like our plants better. They'd also eat the apple and pear bushes except they got wrapped with burlap which doesn't appeal to them.

   These guys are far more dangerous than bears. And they are huge!!

Back to Blogging!!

 My display at the only big sale Christmas 2017

Steam train ride in July at Bennet, B.C. This was an incredible trip on the White Pass And Yukon route railway. They had a Yukoner's day special. We rode from Carcross to Bennet and back. Everyone brought their own picnic lunch and they served coffee and cake at the Park HQ. It was a beautiful day and the scenery was fantastic!!

   I have finally resolved some problems that I had with Blogger so I'll be trying to update this blog and get back into writing again.

Current Events

 Some of the mushrooms we collected this Summer. Dried and pickled lots. Ate them many times! So good. Plus it is really fun to find them....like a treasure hunt.

 This is what happens when a Chun glaze is downwind of lots of copper glazes in a kiln that won't stop reducing. There was a huge green flame coming out of the chimney. From last year's horrible firings. Fixed the problem by cutting out bigger primary air holes in the new door. Refired this guy and wowie! The photo does not due justice to it.

 Another pot that got refired. Love it.

 The copper glaze that sells, sells and sells. It goes blue, green, purple, turquoise and every shade in between. Sometimes a pot will be sea green on one side and purple or turquoise on the other.

 My table before the big sale in Whitehorse. People buy LOTS of handmade objects in the North. Any of my customers that are reading this, THANK YOU! I went home without most of this stuff. Can't see my scarves in this photo. Rack was close to empty too.

If you ever wondered what we do with all those berries we pick......this is how some of them end up. High bush Cranberries and Mossberries. 12 gallons of very fine wine!

Mr. Grizz

 Saw this guy standing on the road on my way to school on Tuesday. With the snow going fast the bears come out. I stopped and watched him digging up roots and eating them.