A trip to John C. Campbell Folk School..

If you've visited either of my shops this past week then you know I was on a little artistic retreat taking a metalsmithing workshop at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC. If you ever get the chance to go I highly recommend it! I'm already in the process of planning my next visit =). Now the question is which class to take next?!
This was literally the view from my bedroom on Monday - the first morning I woke up there.. just beautiful!

And this is where we (me and my friend Nicole) stayed for the week. It is appropiately named the "Orchard House" as it has a lovely little orchard with a variety of fruit trees right in the front yard.

And here is a little friend I made along the way. Every morning and evening on my walk to and from the dining hall this little guy would be poking his head out of his little bird house greeting everyone that came by. We had quite a few conversations - mostly consisting of me telling him how darn adorable he is. =)

And here's a few more feathered friends that were staying in a bird hotel in the yard of our Orchard House. Wonder if they were on a retreat too...

And this is me (the one w/ the lobster on her head) and my friend Nicole (whom I haven't seen since college nearly 10 years ago) being silly with a box full of funny hats we found. We had a reunion of sorts as we lost touch years ago and recently found each other via FaceBook. We were roommates and good friends but once we graduated we lost touch as she went into the Peace Corps and eventually ended up right outside of Boulder, Colorado. So we planned this little get together as we discovered we both have a passion for metalsmithing and she even has chickens too! It didn't take us long to fall right back into our friendship (or being silly together)! I have a very similar picture of the two of us back in college studying for a chemisty exam with models of cyclo-hexane on our heads. Yes we're dorks ;).

And this is the Blacksmithing studio. Everyone in that class always showed up to dinner and lunch filthy but they all seemed like they were having one of the best times too. This class is definitely on my list of things I would love to take in the future!

And this is the Woodturning studio that was right across the way from our Jewerly studio...

And these are some lovely flowers in front of the Woodturning studio... after seeing this studio and the beautiful pieces that came out of it I thought that class might interest me too...

Until I saw this! The saw mill out back. I do enough damage to myself with my little jeweler's saw. I can only imagine what I would do to myself with that thing!

And this is just a little random, old building behind our jewelry studio. If you've read my blog before you know I have this thing for old wooden buildings and this campus was full of them! Pure heaven!

This was square dancing/ contra dancing night in the Keith Hall... fun stuff!

Little hemlock cones after a rain shower...

Our finished work on our bench after a week of tolling away ;)

And our class =) Starting on the far left is Lisa, Sandie, Trish, Our instructor Molly, Deb (who also has an Etsy shop http://soulwhispers.etsy.com/ so check it out!), Molly's assitant instructor Kim, me and my friend Nicole =)

And what an appropiate way to end the week - a double rainbow! These two little treasures appeared right after a rain shower on our last day and they ended right in the parking lot because I think the Folk School is the pot of gold at the end of rainbow =).

Hope you had a great week!

Time for Peach Cobbler!

There are few things that I enjoy more than the smell of fresh peaches and a hot, fresh peach cobbler right out of the oven (although the smell of a fresh cut hay field comes in a close second!)! My little peach tree went into overtime this year making those delicious smelling little fruits... must've been all that sweet talking I did ;). I've been picking peaches, peeling peaches and freezing peaches all week and now it's time to reap the benefits! We're having peach cobbler and peach daiquiris this weekend before I head off to Brasstown, NC Sunday afternoon to start my week long metal smithing workshop at the John C. Campbell School of Folk Art. (Hopefully I'll have lots of pics and stories to share next week =)
Here's the recipe if you get a hold of some fresh Georgia peaches in your market (or I like to use blackberries too when they're in season, apples work well, cherries or even pears) and it's super easy too!

Peach Cobbler

1 stick butter, melted

1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

1 cup all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 to 4 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Heat oven to 375

Pour melted butter into a 2 quart baking dish (11 x 7 or 8 inch square). In mixing bowl combine 1 cup of sugar, the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir to blend. Stir in milk and vanilla until blended. Pour the batter over the melted butter. Toss peaches with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Arrange peach slices over the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. The top will be browned and the edges will begin to pull away from the pan.

Don't forget to top it off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

ENJOY! =)

Free hoops anyone?

Then hop on over to Stacie Vaughan's blog to read a little interview about me and enter the give away! Good luck! And happy Monday! =)

Random Shrapnel

Living on a piece of property that was once a cow pasture and the home to an old farm shed I find some pretty interesting things just walking around our yard where the chickens have been scratching.
Like this warped, beat up old spoon - random.
And this very dangerous rusty old saw blade that I found (by almost stepping on it) nearly completely buried except for the still very sharp edges just poking up out of the soil! Thank goodness for Tetanus shots ;)

Last week I found quite the collection of broken bottles and ceramic pieces. Who knows what will turn up this week.

And speaking of random this guy has taken to flying over our house quite low in his little powered parachute thingy about once a month and scaring the bejeezus out of my critters.

I heard this really loud buzzing airplane/go kart noise and looked out to see my horses and goats running for their lives so I threw on my boots ran out the door and caught him buzzing over the pasture next door. I walked around the yard picking up the random shrapnel as I waited to see if he would come back. He didn't return. I'd like to ask him to please not buzz so close over my barn - my horses are old and they don't need that kind of stress ;).

Until next time... =)

Umm... OUCH!

So apparently I broke my finger last night playing volleyball...ouch! And I'm wearing this nifty little robotic looking splint that Shirley is totally intrigued by so I can keep my poor little aching finger out of more trouble. This is definitely putting a damper on my productivity and my typing abilities =P. We're heading on a little camping trip to Tallulah Gorge in the morning too and I'm almost afraid to leave the house - I seem to be accident prone here lately. Hope your Thursday finds you accident free and healthy! =)

Happy St. Patty's Day Sale!

Hop on over to my Loft shop tomorrow to receive 15% off your entire order if it contains any green stones! Sale starts at midnight tonight and runs through midnight tomorrow night (March 17).
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! =)

A week later....

It's spring! It's hard to believe just a week ago we had nearly 7 inches of snow on the ground and this weekend it was 79 degrees! We spent the entire weekend working out in our yard clearing away all the branches that had fallen, raking all the little prickly balls from our Sweetgum trees and getting the spot for our little vegetable garden ready and I have the calluses to prove it - ouch!
Preparing our garden site was a family event and here some of the ladies are helping us spread our "organic" matter around and adding a bit more of their own ;). They had a regular little chicken buffet going on here with all the worms and larvae they were finding.
Thelma and Louise were supervising the activities and making sure no one went out the gate that wasn't suppose to while we made trips back and forth to the compost pile.

Mandy had to come poke her nose in to see what was going on =).

And this is Golly's big mouth. You can't carry on a conversation anywhere near him otherwise he thinks you're talking to him and he likes to talk back. ALOT. And very loudly too. ;)

And I just had to add this picture of Thelma and Louise because they're so darn cute and they look like little abominable snow chickens.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!