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ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-19 09:19 pm
ysabetwordsmith) wrote2025-04-19 09:19 pm
Entry tags:
Today's Adventures
We went up to Amish territory today.
Breaking from our usual route, we started at Shady Crest Market for lunch. This was somewhat of a mistake because they were mobbed. In the future we will reserve this stop for other days; I think it was a combination of Saturday, midday, and craft show day that created the crowds. The sandwiches were still good though. We also picked up a couple of chocolate chip cookies for dessert, a bag of Just the Good Part ice cream cone tips in caramel, and a carton of strawberries.
Then we went to the Craft Show / Market and Bazaar at the Otto Center. It's not quite as big as the Home and Garden Expo earlier, as the left wing was closed, but the middle was full and the back was open too. Some of our favorite vendors were there, along with folks we haven't seen before.
Several booths were selling T-shirts. At the first one, I got a gray T-shirt that says "Things I like to do in my spare time: propagate plants, repot plants, buy plants, rearrange plants, talk with plants." My partner Doug got a music-themed one. At Denim & Dye I got a gorgeous pastel geode-patterned ice-dyed T-shirt for a very reasonable $20 instead of the usual $40-50, plus two pairs of tie-dye socks (one mostly blue, one mostly purple) at the utter bargain of 2 pairs for $5. The other T-shirt booth had some things I liked, but was way overpriced. :/ I'm still really happy with what we found and we'll definitely watch for those booths again.
One lady had plants for sale. She had a lot of things I liked. I wound up getting a small fern, which I will put in a new terrarium, and a 'Mr. Stripey' tomato plant that I have already potted up and put on the new picnic table outside.
Mimi's Terrariums was there, which was first exciting and then frustrating. Alas, I am not their target market. They had loose parts but only to have the staff assemble a custom terrarium. :( Cute things to put inside, live moss (locally harvested, like mine), some really pretty nerve plants and others -- but not available one by one. They even had cleanup crew like springtails at home, but not at the show. Wah. Maybe next time I'll try and wheedle them into making a special arrangement to bring in springtails for me. I'd rather pick them up than try ordering from online. They did lovely work, though, and had one huge pennymouth terrarium that caught my eye from across the room. If you want to have a custom terrarium made, they look like a good bet. They also run workshops where people can build a terrarium from furnished supplies.
The Ultimate Harvest was there with freeze-dried foods, so I got a couple more bags of strawberries since I scarfed down the previous bag. We also found out that it costs $25 to run a batch of freeze-dried whatever for about 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of fruit, candy, etc. Doug is tempted to run a batch of freeze-dried Peeps. I'm keeping it in mind should we find one of those enormous boxes of fruit or vegetables. I mean once it's freeze-dried and bagged, the shelf life is stupendous.
Also in food, our favorite vendor of Tastefully Simple was there, so we grabbed a box of Absolutely Almond Pound Cake. Aaaaand I just realized that we forgot to buy whipped cream to make strawberry shortcake. *headdesk* But at least the pound cake is made, so we can have it with strawberries tonight and get whipped cream later.
Wittys Honey showed up selling honey and other bee products, but won't be back until October since he does farmer's markets in summer. He had both summer (lighter) and autumn (darker) honey available, so I bought one of each. The summer batch is the usual mixed wildflowers. The autumn batch tends to come from things like asters and goldenrods, with molasses notes. I'm curious to try that one. It's not always available.
I am delighted to report that Tupperware is alive and well! After recent difficulties, they were going to close, but they are back to making products again. Some things are in short supply or out of stock due to the production gap but are expected to return. We found out because a Tupperware lady was at the show with a table of stuff. \o/ So we bought a travel bowl with lid, salad dressing container, knife and fork for my partner Doug. He was traveling recently and got leftovers in a not-microwaveable container. So this fixes that problem as the bowl, without lid, can be microwaved. We picked up a catalog too. :D We don't own a huge amount of Tupperware, but we have some pieces that we just love, and it has always been the best company at creating uniquely useful storage items. Speaking of which, if you like to reuse plastic bags, they now have several sizes of food-grade silicone bags.
One really annoying thing is that the Otto Center website listed the hours from 8AM-5PM but the real hours were 9AM-3PM. O_O One of the vendors we talked to promised to raise that point with their organizer, who wasn't present at the time. The early close means that this event won't stack easily with other stops in the area, unless we get up extra-extra early. :/ But it was still a great show that we definitely plan to revisit, probably about every other month.
We also finished reading Taste of Home Grandma's Favorites 2024.
It has been a fun and productive day. :D
Breaking from our usual route, we started at Shady Crest Market for lunch. This was somewhat of a mistake because they were mobbed. In the future we will reserve this stop for other days; I think it was a combination of Saturday, midday, and craft show day that created the crowds. The sandwiches were still good though. We also picked up a couple of chocolate chip cookies for dessert, a bag of Just the Good Part ice cream cone tips in caramel, and a carton of strawberries.
Then we went to the Craft Show / Market and Bazaar at the Otto Center. It's not quite as big as the Home and Garden Expo earlier, as the left wing was closed, but the middle was full and the back was open too. Some of our favorite vendors were there, along with folks we haven't seen before.
Several booths were selling T-shirts. At the first one, I got a gray T-shirt that says "Things I like to do in my spare time: propagate plants, repot plants, buy plants, rearrange plants, talk with plants." My partner Doug got a music-themed one. At Denim & Dye I got a gorgeous pastel geode-patterned ice-dyed T-shirt for a very reasonable $20 instead of the usual $40-50, plus two pairs of tie-dye socks (one mostly blue, one mostly purple) at the utter bargain of 2 pairs for $5. The other T-shirt booth had some things I liked, but was way overpriced. :/ I'm still really happy with what we found and we'll definitely watch for those booths again.
One lady had plants for sale. She had a lot of things I liked. I wound up getting a small fern, which I will put in a new terrarium, and a 'Mr. Stripey' tomato plant that I have already potted up and put on the new picnic table outside.
Mimi's Terrariums was there, which was first exciting and then frustrating. Alas, I am not their target market. They had loose parts but only to have the staff assemble a custom terrarium. :( Cute things to put inside, live moss (locally harvested, like mine), some really pretty nerve plants and others -- but not available one by one. They even had cleanup crew like springtails at home, but not at the show. Wah. Maybe next time I'll try and wheedle them into making a special arrangement to bring in springtails for me. I'd rather pick them up than try ordering from online. They did lovely work, though, and had one huge pennymouth terrarium that caught my eye from across the room. If you want to have a custom terrarium made, they look like a good bet. They also run workshops where people can build a terrarium from furnished supplies.
The Ultimate Harvest was there with freeze-dried foods, so I got a couple more bags of strawberries since I scarfed down the previous bag. We also found out that it costs $25 to run a batch of freeze-dried whatever for about 2 to 2 1/2 gallons of fruit, candy, etc. Doug is tempted to run a batch of freeze-dried Peeps. I'm keeping it in mind should we find one of those enormous boxes of fruit or vegetables. I mean once it's freeze-dried and bagged, the shelf life is stupendous.
Also in food, our favorite vendor of Tastefully Simple was there, so we grabbed a box of Absolutely Almond Pound Cake. Aaaaand I just realized that we forgot to buy whipped cream to make strawberry shortcake. *headdesk* But at least the pound cake is made, so we can have it with strawberries tonight and get whipped cream later.
Wittys Honey showed up selling honey and other bee products, but won't be back until October since he does farmer's markets in summer. He had both summer (lighter) and autumn (darker) honey available, so I bought one of each. The summer batch is the usual mixed wildflowers. The autumn batch tends to come from things like asters and goldenrods, with molasses notes. I'm curious to try that one. It's not always available.
I am delighted to report that Tupperware is alive and well! After recent difficulties, they were going to close, but they are back to making products again. Some things are in short supply or out of stock due to the production gap but are expected to return. We found out because a Tupperware lady was at the show with a table of stuff. \o/ So we bought a travel bowl with lid, salad dressing container, knife and fork for my partner Doug. He was traveling recently and got leftovers in a not-microwaveable container. So this fixes that problem as the bowl, without lid, can be microwaved. We picked up a catalog too. :D We don't own a huge amount of Tupperware, but we have some pieces that we just love, and it has always been the best company at creating uniquely useful storage items. Speaking of which, if you like to reuse plastic bags, they now have several sizes of food-grade silicone bags.
One really annoying thing is that the Otto Center website listed the hours from 8AM-5PM but the real hours were 9AM-3PM. O_O One of the vendors we talked to promised to raise that point with their organizer, who wasn't present at the time. The early close means that this event won't stack easily with other stops in the area, unless we get up extra-extra early. :/ But it was still a great show that we definitely plan to revisit, probably about every other month.
We also finished reading Taste of Home Grandma's Favorites 2024.
It has been a fun and productive day. :D
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