Kiln opening and other news

I guess everything has a steeper learning curve than you would first think.  It took about a day longer and half a cord of wood more than I expected to get the wood fired pottery kiln to temperature, but it finally got there.  Big thanks go out to Matt Gaddie who came out and did some fine tuning with timing of the stokes to help me along.  Anyways, about half the pots turned out great; 10% broke or cracked; and the rest may have to be refired or go in the seconds bin.  It takes a while to learn which slips and glazes work in the kiln.  Anyways, due to me getting fewer really good pots out of the kiln than I wanted, I am going to have to postpone the opening of the gallery for a month or two, until I can get the big kiln fired again.  I will probably aim for early December for the opening.  If any potters are reading this, please contact me- I’ll gladly trade space in the kiln for shifts stoking the fire.  I stayed up 2 nights in a row and caught some cat naps during the day during the firing- that gets old in a hurry.

Anyways, other farm news:  the baby pigs are growing great- probably already up to 30-35 pounds.  We just grilled some of the sweet italian sausage we made last weekend and it was wonderful- there will be lots more of this available in the spring. 

Marksbury farm will be butchering our chickens- probably around 175 of them in total on 10/23.  Most will weigh around 4 pounds and will be selling them for $3/pound.  I’ll freeze them on the 24th, but if you’ve never had truly fresh, pastured chicken, you should let me know and I can hold them in the fridge for a day or two until we can arrange pick-up.  You will be in for a real treat.

Jonas