Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 3

I've fallen a little behind on my vendor profiles so I thought I'd better get in gear and do some more.

Here are some more of the vendors who are signed up for
the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market.

Don't know what I'm talking about?
Catch up on what's happening on the links below.

Announcing the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market

Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 1

Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 2

Meet Vicki Brunner of Vic's Festive Expressions.

Vicki and her daughter, Tessa.

Vicki makes personalized candy bar wrappers which are perfect for stocking stuffers or secret santa gifts. What a great idea! She also makes candy bouquets, gift baskets and seasonal crafts. Vicki can also personalize water bottles for any special event. She has a gazillion great ideas for a number of personalized projects. Stop by her booth and check it out. I am sure you will find the perfect gift for someone on your Christmas list!

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Meet Robin Wescher of Rockin' Robin Creations.

"He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and singing his song..."

I love that song! Can't help but tap my toes just thinking about it! Hee, hee! I'll think of the song now every time I see Robin!

Robin will be selling her handmade warm and cozy fleece blankets, throws and pillows. She also creates beautiful fabric bound photo albums and journals perfect for your treasured family memories. You need to check out her line of hand make greeting cards as well.

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Meet Margie Murphy of Heirloom Recipes. Margie is from Torrington and is very excited to be a part of the Scottsbluff Winter Market. Let's pray for good weather on the market days so Margie and the other out of town vendors don't have problems getting to market!

Margie is planning on bringing caramel sticky rolls, cream cheese frosted cinnamon rolls, banana bread, pumpkin bread and cranberry-orange bread. Margie will also take orders for cheesecakes! Nothing is better than a homemade cheesecake, seriously!

Stock up on some of Margie's sweets, put them in the freezer and you will not have to bake for the holidays!

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I must include the Green Valley Homesteaders as well even though they aren't really a vendor, but in a way you could say they are. Wynne Buehler, Bill Snocker and John Jessup filled the market with toe tappin', hand slappin' music at the first market on November 6th.

Bill Snocker, Wynne Buehler and John Jessup

I contacted Wynne about playing at a few of the markets and told him about my dismal entertainment budget ($0) and he said they'd be happy to play at the Market at no cost to us, but would play solely for tips. How cool is that? So if you really like having them there at the market, please, please, please let them know and support them with your generous tips! All tips generously given are graciously received!

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Here's the market dates for the season!

Wednesday Morning Inspiration: November 10, 2010

Isaiah 49:16 "Behold, I have carved you on the palms of my hands."


Wow, what a truth to contemplate!

A Bird in the Hand is Better Than Two in the Bush

One of my cats, Squeakers, is the worlds best bird hunter. I hate to think about how many birds lose their lives prematurely because of this keen hunting machine. Squeaks is the smallest of all our cats and the most agile. She loves to share her "catches" with us and is constantly bringing LIVE birds into the house through the dog door. Upon entering the house she releases the birds and they fly around and she chases them until Dan the Man or myself finally catch them and release them back outdoors.

This little guy was Squeakers catch of the day this morning. After I caught him and photographed him, he flew away unharmed. I'm sure he flew far, far away, hoping to never have to go though that ordeal again!

Click on the photo for a full screen view, the details are incredible, especially his feathers. And see the little twinkle in his eye, that's not post processed in by the way. Click on your browsers back button to return to the blog.

Holding the little guy in my hand made me think of the saying "A Bird in the Hand is Better Than Two in the Bush."

So I googled the phrase and found this at WiseGeek.com. Thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with you.

According to WiseGeek.com:

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” also sometimes given as, “A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush,” is a proverb saying that it is better to stick with something you already have, rather than pursuing something you may never get. This proverb is a very popular warning, widely used in many English-speaking countries.

The basic warning of “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” is that you must take care not to get too greedy in life. If you are holding a bird in the hand, you have your meal for the evening. You can take that one bird, and be well fed. If instead you let it go to pursue two birds you’ve spied in a bush, you may catch neither, and wind up hungry for the night. This proverb points out that by passing up a sure thing for a more promising possibility, you also run the risk of losing both the sure thing and the promising possibility.

Squeakers, the bird hunter

Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 2

Here are some of the vendors who are signed up for
the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market.

Don't know what I'm talking about?
Catch up on what's happening on the links below.

Announcing the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market

Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 1



And now for some new faces...

Meet Laura Whelchel of Laura's Herbal Apothecary
Click here to check out her great website

Laura is from Harrisburg and will be offering 100% goat milk soap, lotion, body butter, lip balm, FUDGE, herbal tinctures, organic soap nuts, handcrafted face clothes and wooden soap holders.

Laura is new to the Scottsbluff Farmer's Market and we are excited to welcome her aboard!

Read more about Laura on her website.
Who We Are - Laura's Herbal Apothecary


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Meet Chuck & Carolyn Driver of Blue Heeler Glass
Click here to check out their website

Chuck & Carolyn along with their daughter Connie, are regular vendors at the Morrill Farmers Market. They have some of the most beautiful and truly unique glass beads I have ever seen. What a talented family the three of them are. They will be offering their beautiful handmade art glass lampwork beads along with home made breads. Insider tip: the bread is often still hot from the oven!! If I close my eyes and think back to the Morrill market, I can smell Carolyn's bread!

You can also check out their beads at their Esty Shop
Beautifully simple components by bluhealer on Esty



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Meet Melanie West of MWestDesigns

Melanie is from Lisco and will be offering handcrafted rag rugs and and unique tin art. Melanie is also new to the Scottsbluff Farmers Market and we are very excited to see her wares!

You can check out Melanie's unique rag rugs and tin art on her Esty store.

Melaine also has a blog, MWestDesigns.



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Meet Leanne Knox of Lyman. Leanne is also a newbie to the farmers markets. Leanne has participated in many craft fairs in the past, but after giving the craft show thing a break, she is ready to start selling her wares again and is excited to be participating the Winter Farmers Market.

Leanne will be offering handcrafted dolls, kitchen items and various crafts along with handcrafted furniture. Leanne also is a wonderful baker and will be offering various homemade goodies such as PIES, cakes, caramel apples, fudge, BUTTERBALLS, breads and cookies.

I have eaten many of Leanne's dishes and can personally testify that she is a wonderful cook!!!



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You know, I haven't even mentioned that we are a vendor.


So... meet Dan & Kathi Manville of the Open A Bar 2 Ranch.
Yes, Dan the Man is actually going to work the Winter Market! (hee, hee)
They will be offering their all-natural beef, farm fresh eggs, baked goods (have you tried Kathi's "Death by Chocolate Cake" or the "Darn Good Chocolate Cake"?) along with some of Kathi's Primitive Folk Art.

Check out their website
Open A Bar 2 Ranch, LLC

and Kathi's Store on Ebay
(which desperately needs some more goods in it!)
Sassy Cat Folk Art Studio
or this link for some pictures of Kathi's previous work
Some of Kathi's Folk Art


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Did you know that the Winter Market is on Facebook?
User name: ScottsbluffWinter FarmersMarket
Become a friend to keep posted on market happenings!



Well, that's all I have time for now. I have to make two cakes for the computer club for Skyler. He always volunteers me to make the desserts, at least he has faith in me in that department, other wise, according to his thinking, I am so misinformed on the ways of the world! hee, hee. Typical teenage boy...

Oh Skyler also said that "the only thing the computer club does is meet in the computer room and that is why they are the computer club." The club has nothing to do with computers? I wonder what exactly it is that they do then? Do they just meet every once in a while so they can have an excuse for me to make dessert for them??? Hmmm...

Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market, Meet the Vendors, Part 1

Here are some of the vendors who are signed up for the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market.

Don't know what I'm talking about? Catch up on what's happening on the link below.

Announcing the Scottsbluff Winter Farmers Market

Click here to read more about Sarah and the Victory Hill Farm.

Click here to read more about Styria Bakery.

Bob Sharp and his Outrageous Spice Rub
Surface of the Sun (SOS)

Judy Meter & Heidi Robertus
These Ladies know how to bake some delicious treats!


Read about Bob, Judy & Heidi in this previous post.
They are both summer market vendors.

Bob Sharp and Judy Meter & Heidi Robertus



Christina Armstrong Beeloved Jam

Read about Christina in this post
Christina Armstrong and her Beeloved Jam!

Mary & Mike Armstrong
Creative Bubbles

Read about Mike & Mary here
Mary Armstrong and her Creative Bubbles

Jane Sedman
Mamma Jane's Artisan Breads

Click here to read more about Jane in this post.

Ernest Griffiths
E Bee Honey

Click here to read more about Ernie in this post.

There are even MORE vendors
but I need to take a break...

to be continued.

I'm So Confused... What Is Today's Date?

No wonder I never know what the date is...

What happened to October 29th?

I thought it went something like 17, 18, 19 ...

And there are TWO April Fools Days in April?
Who knew??

Nice job Calendar Maker!
Maybe you should proof read next time.



I guess you get what you pay for and since it was free...
I won't complain!

Hill's 2010 Pumpkin Carving Party

I have some of the best neighbors out here in our little corner of Western Nebraska. Peggy & Calvin Hill live just to the east of us and invited us to their 3rd Annual Pumpkin Carving Party & Contest which was held on Sunday at their farm.

Unfortunately Dan the Man had three semis to load with hay so he wasn't able to go and Skyler had youth group and better things to do so he didn't go either. I ended up going as the lone ranger from our family. I wasn't going to miss it, besides Peggy said there was money involved with the pumpkin carving contest AND that she was making chili and everyone else would bring a side dish. You know what that means... can you say POT LUCK DINNER! You say POT LUCK... I say DINNER... POT LUCK... DINNER!! I love pot luck dinners! Where else can you eat your self silly and have 20 different kinds of dessert? Well I suppose you could at a buffet restaurant, like "Country Buffet" but we don't have one of those around these here parts and besides, that's restaurant food where 90% of it is pre-made, frozen, processed bad-for-you food. At a pot luck here in good ole' Western Nebraska, we are talking HOMEMADE folks! From people who actually know how to cook.

I had to deliver some chickens to Morrill before I could go to the party so I was a little late. Peggy and Calvin had the party in their immaculately clean three car garage/shop. When I opened the door an enormous cloud of pumpkin smell came gushing out along with the sound of a thousand kids and adults all busy carving away at their pumpkins. Well, there really wasn't a thousand, but Peggy said that 52 people came. Now that's a party! Some came as far away as WYOMING! (Actually Wyoming is only 4 miles away, hee, hee, but it adds drama to the story.)

This being the first time I had attended one of these shin-digs, I wasn't prepared for the seriousness of the matter at hand. Peggy said the rules were that you could use anything you want to to carve your pumpkin, patterns were allowed and you had 3 hours to get the job done. THREE HOURS I was thinking... that's plenty of time. It was so full of people and pumpkin guts in there that I had a hard time finding a place to set-up, but Peggy, the great hostess that she is, gather me and my pumpkin under her motherly wings and shuffled me over to a spot where she was working. Everyone was so intent on their carving, that I figured I better get straight to work, no time for visiting now.

There were three divisions: The 5 and under class had 4 entries and everyone in that class got a prize. Then there was the kid's class which had two winners who each received $16 and the Adult Class received 60 smack-a-roos each ($60). One moment I found cute was when the money was passed out, one of the kids from the 5 and under class felt "jipped" because they only got prizes, he wanted the cold hard cash baby! Hee, hee! I heard someone consoling him that NEXT year he could compete for the loot!

Realizing the seriousness of the matter, I took my knife in hand and got busy carving. Guess there wouldn't be any pumpkin carving pictures, there just wasn't time, especially since I had shown up late and had to leave around 5 pm to go home to feed the chickens and cows. Well, 5 pm came and I still was not done with my "sure to win in my mind" masterpiece. I worked for 30 more minutes until I was satisfied with my pumpkin and then ran home to do the chores. As soon as I was done with with my chores I ran back over to the party. I got there just in time for the good eats! Peggy's chili was delicious and so was all the other yummies!

After eating, the voting began. We each were allowed to vote for two pumpkins and we could not vote for our own. Man what a hard decision. There were so many good ones. The pumpkins were all lined up in a row and the lights were dimmed. What a sight. We all walked back and forth in front of the pumpkins trying to decide who was worthy of the title of "winner." People were committing "this is so hard", "they all are good" and "I love that one!"

Finally the votes were cast and collected. It was a tense wait while all the votes were counted and then the winners were announced.

Winners of the Kids Division were
LeAnne Sherrod and Keaton Robb.
Congratulations guys!!

LeAnne Sherrod's Winning Pumpkin

Keaton Robb's Winning Pumkin




Winners of the Adult Division were
Kim Robb and Terry Hill!
Congratulations!

Kim Robb's Winning Pumpkin

Terry Hill's Winning Pumpkin

I'm not positive that I got pictures of all the pumpkins so if I missed yours, I am truly sorry and you can throw pumpkin guts at me next year! Here is a video of the pumpkins.

Here is my pumpkin at the party.
I was sure I had a winner,
but when the lights were dimmed,
my pumpkin did not perform like the rest.

Too bad, so sad for me.

Here are some more shots of my pumpkin that I took later at home.
Looks much better here!
(PS, I did not use a pattern except for the lettering.)












One Final Picture.