A Delightful Table... almost

I just took a good look at the stuff on our table and decided to take this picture. Local, lovely and delicious... check it out:

1. An army of fresh peaches from Union Lake Orchard in Barrington. I traded postcards and a display crate for them -- great deal! I've already eaten a bunch and brought some to friends, Becky was very generous.

2. Fresh tomatoes, lovely sunflowers and an entire basil plant (in a 5 gal. bucket) from Harvey Farm in Epping. I was looking for sprigs of basil when Louise Harvey came around the corner with this basil plant (roots and everything) -- I asked her for a couple sprigs and she gave me the whole thing! Woo Hoo!

3. Garlic and shallots from Dimond Hill Farm in Concord.

4. Honey and maple syrup, from Maine farms, that we picked up at the Windsor Fair.

5. Oh yeah, not so delicious... a Portsmouth parking ticket. Horrible in-town parking because that's the friendliest way to treat local business owners, employees and shoppers. Let's hear it for the City of Portsmouth Parking Jerks -- PPppppfffffFFFFTTT! (That's the sound of me writing a check while giving a raspberry.)

So, except for number five, we've got a table full of yummy New Hampshire and Maine goodness. Isn't Summer grand?

Windsor Fair

The weather was lovely Sunday, we arrived at the fair just before noon and our first order of business was lunch at Kabayan. Mmm... mmm... good!

We had lumpia, pancit, empanadas and the most delicious sweet chili pepper sauce ever. Everything is home made by Emily, her husband John and their daughter help run the show.

We passed by this ride that made me think of Erica. Rat, don't you have a T-shirt with this bee on it?

I wanted to drive the kiddie train made from 55 gallon drums painted like railroad cars. I'd like to load a bunch of beer soaked buddies in those cars and take 'em for a rip around the fairground!

One of my favorite sights was after a team pulling event. A farm couple rode back to the stables on the sled they'd outfitted with an old school bus seat. I also got a kick watching a young man learn to lead his team of 3-month-old calves.

It was a wonderful day.

Garden Sculpture

If you look carefully, you'll see that this bird is made from old tools: shovel head, rake head, hand cultivator, iron rake, etc. (It lives in the flower garden at Dimond Hill Farm.)

Tomorrow we're going to the Windsor Fair and I can't wait! When we were there last year we saw a bunch of cool sculptures like this one. If I see one this year that I REALLY (really, really) like (and I can afford it), I'm getting one.

There were also blacksmiths, tool makers and guys napping flint blade knives. Michael and I tried our axe throwing skills and we'll DEFINITELY be purchasing a set of those. Fun, fun, fun and I'm really good at it -- and I don't mind saying so!

Also, we were surprised and delighted to find a Filipino Food vendor in among the usual fair fare -- and this year we'll visit that booth FIRST. Last time we had sampled a bunch of different tasties before stumbling on the FilipinoMobile and were too full to try everything. This year we've got a better game plan, heh, heh, heh...

My Latest Logo

Phyllis Harvey needed some labels for the cheeses she's experimenting with...

Farm Math?

Here's a word problem to test your deduction skills...

Michael visits a farm approximately 30 miles from home and admires 6 bee hives on 1 acre of clover.

He talks to 5 llamas and gets smooched repeatedly by one particular llama named Max.

So what does CLOVER + BEE HIVES + MAX = _____?

HONEY LLAMAS!
(Is that anything like the Dalai Lama?)

Sorry Honey, you are a prop in my bad math joke.

Everyone else, I can hear you groaning :o)
Seriously though, if you'd been with us yesterday at the farm you would have been laughing as Michael had his collar steamed up with smoochy llama breath. It was great!

Ta Da!

They need a few finishing touches and a couple coats of paint... but they're done :o)

Dear Jon

I love Jon Stewart.

Yeah, yeah... Michael knows all about it -- he loves Jon Stewart too.

This illustration started as a pencil sketch and after many, many late night sessions, I've FINALLY finished the Adobe CS2 Illustrator file. It's my most complex computer illustration to date. I think it turned out pretty good, especially because everything I know is self-taught, trial and error. (Close your eyes and imagine a monkey with a typewriter composing haiku... that's me baby, that's me!)

A Summer Weekend

So here's how Michael and Mike spent the weekend...

and here's how Leo spent the weekend...

I spent the weekend painting kitchen cabinet doors... still! I'm getting to the final coats and hopefully there will be some "after" pictures soon.

zulustudio postcards

Most of my friends and family know that I've designed and printed four different postcards. I'm working on a couple more ideas and hoping to help two local farms make their own. I've also got ideas for stickers that I want to get printed and I'm about half-way done with a "I love Jon Stewart" T-shirt that I want to produce. This summer has been busy, but I keep pluggin' away at all the projects I've got on a back burner to the home improvement projects we've got going. (BTW we're starting construction on the new front stairs today!)

So far, my postcard are for sale at: WaterMonkey in Portsmouth, NH; Jenness Farm in Nottingham, NH; Harvey Farm in Epping, NH; and as of this week -- Dimond Hill Farm in Concord, NH.

Harvey Farm

I plan on rebuilding my website so that when I've got more merchandise I can offer it for sale on zulustudio.com -- yup, add that to my list of things to do! Woo Hoo! :o)

Wild Blueberries

'Tis the Season!

Wild Blueberry Buckle Coffee Cake. Mmm...