Monday, April 8, 2013

Bear Encounter, Juneteenth Vendor Showcase, and Beautiful Spring!

I meant to blog about this at the end of last week but haven't had much time lately but it's something BIG...and exciting!  Last Thursday Night I was leaving my parents house around 8:30 or 9pm and in their neighbor's front yard was an Adult Black Bear!  I am borrowing this photo from Bear.Org and it looked a lot like this one.  Between what I learned in my research and what I have been told by local bear people I think this photo resembles the closest thing I saw.  If this is the case - this is a female North American Black Bear around 4 and a half years old...according to the site.  IT WAS HUGE but beautiful BUT I also was grateful to be IN my car when I saw it.  It was about 20 feet from my car.  It was standing tall and up on 2 feet.  It looked behind her - then looked at me - got down on all 4's - and started running around in 2 semi-circles in the neighbor's front yard before dodging towards their OPEN GARAGE.  I then called my mom and dad to call the neighbor's to warn them.  They weren't home.  I came back down the hill and parked in the end of their driveway with my high-beams on pointing in the direction of their garage and sat there for a good 5 minutes.  After realizing the bear wasn't in their garage - I decided to drive home and my parents waited for their neighbors to return.  In the meantime - one of the other neighbors said it darted back behind their house and took out one of their hand made 20-year old bird feeders.   I know it wasn't a cub.  I'm thinking hundreds of pounds!  When asked I said maybe 500 pounds or so - I could be way off - but still it was quite the site and I was so shocked I couldn't get to sleep that night!  This time of year they are looking for food because not much has grown yet in their habitat so they have to go out and look for it and travel a bit.  I assume that is what she was doing - especially after the neighbors told us about their bird feeder!
Saturday - my sister, my mother, and I all attended the Juneteenth Vendor Showcase in Jamestown, NY, with our Wildtree Products.  This was Part 1 of 2 events.  The actual Juneteenth Celebration is in June and is a 2-day event.

We had a wonderful time and met a bunch vendors we have never met before - mostly because we haven't done too many events in Jamestown YET.  It started off being quite cold in the morning but by the time we left it was pretty nice outside.  Thankfully the event was inside the Renaissance Center.  It was an awesome space to have an event! 

As you can see there is even an upstairs.  We didn't use the upstairs but the areas of the space we did use were great!  There were about 20 vendors there and everyone had smiles on their faces and were very excited to start up another busy events season!  The people who attended - the public - the walk-in and walk-thru traffic was light but steady and again everyone appeared to be happy because it's FINALLY Spring!  YAY!

As you can see from some of the photos here - there were all sorts of vendors!  Jewelry, Purses, Food, Tupperware, Skin Care, Fabric Crafts, Up Cycling Artsy/Crafty Items.  There were some non-profits and informational weight-loss type tables, as well!
I LOVED the windows and you can see a little bit of the stage and storefront area in this photo, too!

There was a face painter, there, and they opened the kitchen for Tea, Coffee, Snacks, and such.

I really hope they have more events in this building - I think the space is perfect!  It's within the section of Jamestown that they have put a lot of work into with renovations, parking, and street scapes.

Here you can see our table and display.  That's my mother with the red hair standing behind the table reading our Wildtree Catalog!  I doubt she knows I took this photo of her!

We didn't take all of our stock but what we did bring sold well!  Everyone enjoyed our samples.  We decided to sample the Absolutely Onion into a Dip by adding Sour Cream.  We also sampled the new Happenin' Hot Pepper Jelly which has quickly become one of our best sellers (and it's vegan!)

Then we sampled the Outrageous Orange Sauce, Honey Dijon Dipping Sauce, and 4 Oils - the Garlic & Garlic Dipping as well as the Balsamic and the Butter Flavored Oil - ALL Grapeseed Oil Based (and ALL the oils are Vegan).

I met a few people who were Gluten-Free, a few Vegetarians, and at least 1 Vegan!  YAY!

Yesterday I spent a good amount of time cleaning and I have even more cleaning to do this week!  BUT...tonight I plan on getting back in to the kitchen and making something to add here on my blog.  Another food project I have on tap is to find some foods I can make for my father who has changed his diet because he was diagnosed with Diverticulitis.  So he will no longer be consuming fruit with seeds, nuts and seeds, corn, and other foods - foods that are spicy or acidic.  He LOVES Italian Food and he loves Salads with dressings and he's a fan of nuts, seeds, fruits with seeds, and is totally missing TOMATOES the most!  But he's been told to stay away from them...so...I will be doing some research for dressings and sauces, etc. without those ingredients!

I also have many more reviews and giveaways on tap!

I'm going to state TWO mini-goals I hope to start this week, too, for myself!  ONE...I want to wake-up earlier and TWO...I want to do more Green Smoothies in the morning!  I have the GREEN Powders, the Super Food powders and mixes, etc and am ready to go I just have to start doing it!

What are some mini-goals you are setting for yourself this week!?


13 comments:

  1. It looks like you had a great time and how cool was it that you saw a Black Bear! Male Black bears can weigh in the 500 pound range while females way a bit less, the heaviest can weigh over 3oo pounds. They do have a lot of fur and it's possible it hasn't shed its winter coat (yet) so that might add to its size? Although I imagine they're slimmer because they've recently come out of hibernation.

    Juneteenth is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day and recognizes the day when it was announced that slavery was abolished. It's so nice of you to be interested in things such other cultures. It's something I've always done and wish more people would do also.

    Mini-goal for this week are to plant more honeybee friendly plants in my yard. I'll be getting them in early May. I'm not getting them for their honey, but and welcoming them to our yard for pollinating purposes in June I will try to catch my own swarm, can't wait!

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    1. I'm told that the one neighbor that identified it as a female thought that it was between 200 and 300 pounds! WOW! It looked a lot bigger than that! LOL :)

      Yes, indeed! I'm familiar with Freedom Day/Emancipation Day/Juneteenth - I attended one celebration in Sugar Grove, PA, several years ago with my sister! It was a great event! Both events were wonderful! I'm looking forward to the 2-day celebration in June this year, too! Where I used to live/where I grew up communities were VERY involved with the Underground Railroad and the fight/history of Freedom. That would be Buffalo, NY/Lockport, NY and Greater Niagara Area :) Years ago - YEARS - like maybe when I was in grade school I met a local author who lived in one of the most active and historic houses from the Underground Railroad Time.

      I'm very much interested in your Honeybee efforts with planting and growing your garden! I can't wait to learn more from you and your blog!

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    2. Here in Maryland, one of the delegates I met, Republican Ken Holt, grandfather's house (which he and his family lived in) was used as an underground railroad. Shocked a few of my family members who automatically assumed that all conservatives/Republicans are racist. Of course that's untrue, but that's a ran for another day... Great family, impressive history...

      I'm looking forward to my Honeybees, I have a lot of book knowledge and have touched them, held them, and pointed out the pollen and different parts of their body to my daughter, but that's completely different than having a few beehives. I've decided to order two bee packages (three pounds each) which is about 10,000 Honeybees per package. A side effect of having them in the yard is you normally receive more produce from your garden.

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    3. lol, that should have read..
      but that's a rant for another day...

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    4. That's quite interesting about Ken Holt!

      I seriously can't wait to see your garden this year! I know it will be awesome!

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    5. It was quite fascinating, he gave us a tour of the house. Seriously they are a nice family, he did other things that make me think highly of him to. The lady that watched him as a child, was a neighbor of my parents. She's Black just like us, she's been dead for a while. But he kept in contact with her while she was alive. She was a really nice lady.

      Yep, I'm looking forward to sharing some of my beekeeping adventures too. I might have my daughter post a few videos.

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    6. Oh! I would love to see some of your daughter's camera work!

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  2. What a weekend and so exciting about the bear, wow! And the vendor showcase looks fun. Waking up earlier is a mini-goal for me too especially since it would give me more blog reading/writing time in the morning before work. Oh, and working on our garden, it needs a lot of work!

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    1. I just dropped you a note about me posting 2 posts today! we must have posted at the same time! LOL

      Between you and Opal - I'm REALLY thinking about taking the step into gardening this year!!! NERVOUSLY tho!

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  3. I was so thrilled when Jennifer texted me about the bear! What a sight to behold! How honored and SCARED I would feel!
    Jennifer we have an underground railroad house only 1 mile from my home. It suffered a terrible fire a couple of years ago and they have been trying to get the money to refub it. If it ever reopens you need to come visit me!!

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    1. It was VERY exciting to see that bear!!!!

      How horrible for that house to be damaged in a fire - I hope they can get some Historical Monies to help them rebuild!

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  4. Wow - that's pretty cool Jennifer! Good thing you were in your car though. *phew*

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    1. Yeah! That's what my husband keeps saying! LOL :)

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