Farm Dinners

betsy

Last year, totally serendipitously, I found a new part time job at a third-generation family farmette here in Pittsburgh. I was hired to do 8-10 hours a week of bookkeeping and invoicing, etc. While that is part of the job the bigger part has become much more than that. Farmer Tara has welcomed me as her partner-in-crime to help brood chickens, take care of the beehives, host special events (our first wedding is in October!) and produce the Summer Farm Dinner Series.

The Farm Dinners are one of the coolest things I've ever been part of. This season we have seventeen dinners in the series. Tara worked this past winter to secure chefs from around Pittsburgh to participate by planning menus based primarily on produce from the farm. The chefs also source meats and cheese and other items as locally as possible. We even ask that as much of the alcohol is locally produced and we're lucky to have vodka, rum and whiskey made right here. And the beer! So many great brewers doing their thing locally.

[Side note: We just started working with Hitchhiker Brewing Co right here in my little town. There are plans in the works for them to create a special Churchview Brew with ingredients from the farm. Standby for details on that.]

One of my favorite roles in these dinners is creating the look and feel of the farm. Getting to go "yard-sale-ing" (with my dudes) for vintage dishes and linens is a great way to spend a Saturday morning. We have amassed a nice collection to set the table and various other spots around the farm but I'm always on the hunt. The farm itself is ripe with old wooden boxes, farm tools and antlers to use to create the feeling I'm going for. The flowers for every dinner are pulled from the fields, herb garden, edges of the surrounding woods and Tara's mom's amazing garden. As such the arrangements change along with the season just as the menus do. It's really cool to watch the summer unfold and slowly turn to fall and bear witness to it in such an intimate, close to the earth, way.

I'm wildly thankful to be a part of what goes on at Churchview Farm.  Check us out when you get a minute.

Our Fair Country (and a big announcement)

I'm heading to NYC for the National Stationery Show. When I return I will be throwing myself fully into making Worker Bird a real, real thing. I am excited and inspired to take this leap. There will be more of these maps and all 50 states and much more coming this year. Onward.

Spring Announcement

I am so thrilled to announce that Bourbon & Boots will be selling the Southern States from my Our Fair States series. I am shipping the pieces to them today and will announce shortly when they're live on their site.

Summer for real and everything is growing

P1000893

 It's the season of CSAs and farmers markets and fresh everything wonderful. I started a new job with Churchview Farm here in Pittsburgh and I love every minute I spend there. It's not just that the women who own it are awesome and driven and hard-working; it's not just that there are chickens roaming and dust-bathing and crowing and scratching everywhere; it's not just that bees are flying in and out of their hives - it's all of things rolled into perfect hours under the sun. When I'm not there I find myself daydreaming about our own farm sometime in the future. There's something special about having your surroundings sustain you in ways physical and emotional. I'm thankful for the things that are shifting in my life and in my heart. I'm thankful for my family who I share these days with. Grow some vegetables. And eat them. Enjoy your summer.

Big doings around the Foxbury Farm

Just in time for Spring everything is new around here now. The biggest of the big doings is that my wonderful husband took the leap into working and living the way he (WE) wants to. Yesterday was his first official day as the Big Boss Man at Yellow Couch Studio. This means so much to us - more time together and more time as a family, flexibility with our time and our days, space and time to explore new ideas and projects. It's all so wonderful. I am so proud of him and excited to see what our future brings. I'll have a couple of full days a week to work myself which will be the first time since 2006 that I've been able to dedicate big, fat blocks of time to my pursuits. (Watch out, pursuits!) I'm starting my new work life by putting a bunch of new work up in my Etsy Shop. ONWARD. 

Worker Bird

Alright ladies and gents, I've got it. I decided to name the new project "Worker Bird" (as in, busy as a bird). I'm not entirely sure how I plan to reconcile this space with the new space but I think it'll all fall into place as I go. I think this blog will be used for general posts about the chickens, illustration projects, client work, life, etc. I think Worker Bird will be solely about the products I design and make under that name. We'll see. Maybe in the end I'll fold it all together under one umbrella.Thanks to everyone for your ideas and suggestions. I need to get to work - Worker Bird will make its debut at Handmade Arcade on December 8.Lastly, please visit Sweet Six to read a little interview that my friend Jenny did with me. And order some tasty hand-crafted candy while you're at it.

Any other name

I love to name things - Christmas trees, cars, plants, animals - but not anything of my own.I am taking a leap this Fall. I am going to start - FOR REAL - making and trying to get an audience for all sorts of art and craft-related things that float around in my head but never see the light of day.So I need a name. What should I call this venture? I welcome any ideas and thoughts and suggestions. The name I'm mulling over is "Beehive Crafted." I love bees and their unwavering industriousness. Someone opined that this is a forgettable name (JERK) and someone else said it might be "too cutesy" (DOUBLE JERK) for the things I make. So...back to square one? Or not.The first step in my giant leap was to apply to vend my wares at Handmade Arcade. I've done this show in years' past at the L2 Design Collective table and I love every second of it. It draws a huge, selective crowd with great taste and to be accepted to exhibit is a pretty big deal. Fingers crossed.I'll be posting more in the coming weeks about the products I'll be making. Of course I will feature my Love Letter to Pittsburgh series of prints on wood (along with bees, chickens, etc). But there will be other new things in the works. Standby.And do let me know if you come up with anything magical.

**UPDATE: My dear, sweet, best big brother pointed out that by calling people JERK and DOUBLE JERK for giving feedback might dissuade others from offering their thoughts. He's so right. He's always right about everything.

Little Suburban Farm Life

The chicks should be arriving next week and we're so excited to see the wee things. Fingers crossed that they arrive safely. We're busy prepping for their arrival and also planning the large outdoor "Chicken CUBE" that we're building. We have pretty much decided to build a fully enclosed space and then site the coop - and all other hen-related things - inside the cube.First we have to relocate the castle: Then try to build something a lot like this:Then put this little guy into the "CUBE" (and finish staining the deck and rebuild the retaining wall and stack the firewood and and and)This past weekend we took a quick trip to Chadds Ford, PA and spent a few hours roaming around Terrain at Styer's in absolute awe of it all. I know where I want to be buried. Hope the fine folks at Terrain won't mind. Every square inch was inspiring. Maybe we will face one side of the CUBE in funnels? More on Terrain later. Headed to the incredible Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. 

Taking the trolley into the city

Happy holidays, all.

Texture

This new old house is filled with texture. Cracked plaster, new plaster, sanded wood, stained wood, cracked paint and on and on. Overall the feeling of the house right now is a little bit mayhemish but there are these tiny bits of beauty that I love. I think they keep me focused on what this place will be for us. I think it's the first place we've lived in that we truly see ourselves living in for - well, a long time. Recently I clocked the distance to the high school (there are no buses here. Kids walk to school - gasp!) to make sure it'll be manageable for the boy. He's almost three. So we're thinking long term for the first time. I love the calm I feel about this.