Shop Small, Shop Local

 

Open Holiday Market Day in Raymond, Nebraska

As the days grow shorter, and the nights grow longer, we slide closer and closer to Winter Solstice and Christmas.  This year more than ever shopping local businesses and small businesses has become critical.

As large corporate giants continue to fill a need, small businesses were already on the decline, now they are endangered. 

I converted this adorable
kerosene heater to a flickering
flame, electric floor lamp.

I've been lucky enough over the past few years to have joined in the Etsy community, where my items are shipped all over.  It's an amazing group of ridiculously talent people that would otherwise not be able to afford to ply their wares.  Etsy has given them a virtual store front and an audience of people who appreciate the hard work, dedication, and originality of craftsmen in a small scale operation.

Many of us are also lucky enough to partner with other small businesses in our own local areas for small shop days.  I partner with Rebecca at West Mill Flowers in Raymond, Nebraska who generously opens her shop to local artisans.  The increase in her shop inventory increases her foot traffic, which increases her own business and word of mouth.  

She makes the most GORGEOUS full wreaths in the floral 'off season'.  INCREDIBLE!

We all help each other.  As the time to actually ship things to family 

and friends becomes more and more difficult, seek out these small 

local treasures (observing local restrictions of course), and go on an adventure

and make your holiday small and personal again.

We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

I knit dozens of Norwegian Fjord and Fjell
wool blend cowls for Open Holiday Market.

  

                                                                                 

November -

 Well another month gone by. ( Forgot to hit publish on this post. Sorry about that.)

Suzie is still a little dream.  She has high anxiety problem.  And who can blame her, she was bounced around from home to home and lived at the veterinary surgery for months.  So every morning, she takes a doggie Prozac, hidden in a marshmallow (she's figured out liver treats, cheese, bread, etc so marshies it is), then she gets her enzyme doggie bone that cleans her teeth every morning.

Her leg is healed.  

Her ears are healed.

She's still a nut and VERY routine orientated.  Which is fine by us.

She has her own group of followers on Twitter (@WthrLdy) as Coding With Beagles - she's such a helper when it comes to computer and other house tasks.

Our weather has been fantastic, considering what it could be.  We could use precipitation, but the temperature has been in the 50s and 60s, and the sun has been a near constant companion.

The alpacas are packing on their winter fleeces, so SOMETHING much be in our future.  So far we've managed a quick passing snowstorm, but then hit 70 the next two days.  Then we had a beautiful, albeit, annoying, ice storm.  Then we had more heat.

The hens are doing their thing.  The teenagers, not knowing any better, are still laying away.  So we still have 6-10 eggs a day, which is wonderful with the holiday baking season looming.

I sold two of my antique typewriter and worked my way down to owning just one.  Then I found another I just HAD to bring home, clean up, repair and refinish.  Ya.  It's amazing.  She works like a dream, sounds fantastic, and suits me to a T.

 She was one hot mess.

But now...

While working on ANOTHER project I opened up a high, high kitchen cupboard and found, not the item I was looking for, but rather a set of dishes I though I had gotten rid of 6 years ago.  Wondering if I had just cleaned and sorted all the upper cupboards and DIDN"T get around to getting rid of them, I opened all the upper niches. Yup, more dishes.  All in all 8 sets of dishes in all the cupboards combined.  That included our daily use dishes and our wedding china.  OK, that had to change.  Every time we moved, it seems I changed up the dishes to suit the locale.  Kind of like the throw pillows of the kitchen.  

Well that had to stop.

I put of plain dishes aside for the boy to take with him some day.  Put the wedding china away.  And the daily dishes and the Franciscan apples could stay, everything else had to go!

Friends, neighbors, Goodwill.....and finally the Etsy shop for the pricier odds and ends that might a hole in someone else's collection.

All in all it was a busy month.  A good month.