Liesl & Po

Thank you Harper & Collins, for offering a free online reading of Liesl & Po written by Lauren Oliver and illustrated by Kei Acedera, from now until January 31st. Just click here to start reading.

Little Green (and red) Apples

Had a wonderful time at MOFGA's Maine Apple Day on Sunday! I gave needle felting tutorials on how to make these little apples, and a few other things. My booth was located right across from the cider press and it was a joy to watch the children especially take turns winding the crank, and feeding apples to the machine. The very best part, of course, was a near constant supply of the very best raw apple cider I have ever had! (at least since last year's pressing!)

Barefoot Books Opportunity!

Blogging about the latest Barefoot Books opportunity (and it's a nice one!) over here on my Barefoot Books blog

Common Ground Fair

Getting ready for my appearance at the Maine Organic Farmer's Association Common Ground Fair in Unity on September 23rd. Taking to the stage again at 2:45pm Looking forward to it!

Storytelling Festival

The Western Maine Storytelling Festival (the first annual) takes place in downdown Farmington, Maine August 5th & 6th. Simply show me a copy of The Barefoot Storyteller ad from the festival program, and receive a 20% discount on any Barefoot Storyteller event booked in August!

Maine Artisan Bread Fair

Looking forward to returning to The Maine Artisan Bread Fair event this year! You'll find me there with some wood burned items (as I wrote about in my May 25th post on this blog), some of my felted veggies (a little peek seen on this blog listing) and also little felt chicken puppets to go along with my reading of "The Little Red Hen and the Grain of Wheat". You'll also find some Maine Made Jams, and a few Barefoot Books publications such as the Kids' Kitchen deck, Herb the Vegetarian Dragon, The Beeman , The Gigantic Turnip, and more.

20% of my proceeds of the day will proudly be donated to the Maine Farmland Trust again this year.

For those of you who are unable to attend this Saturday event in Skowhegan, the wood and felt art will be added to the Barefoot Storyteller etsy shop sometime after the event (if there are any of them left!) and the Barefoot Books publications can be found on-line upon my link www.BarefootBooksStoryteller.com

Though I won't be offering any Chronicle Books for sale at this event, I'd like to share a special on-line sale for them with you...just click the button below to receive 30% off cook book orders!

Events

Summer is certainly in full swing here...and I am gardening (or local farm stand purchasing), preparing for upcoming events, looking forward to my son's presentation at Pecha Kucha Night Waterville July 20th (and his performance in a Lakewood Theater's Young Performer's Production July 30th) doing some kayaking on the pond, and waiting for a cool breeze. Not the time of year for making soaps or doing too much felting, but excellent time for hanging herbs to dry.

Should soon be ready for Waterfall Arts Lawn Bazaar and Let Art and Nature Collide on July22nd in Belfast. Not sure if I'll be inspired to tell stories, but will have the "create your own story" stand up for the kids as usual. I'll be selling my wares for sure though, thinking of doing a blending of my handmade naturals and some books, and maybe a few other items. Can't decide who to give my usual event % donation to, so will be choosing four! Maine Farmland Trust, Thor-Nox Educational Garden, Camp Forest, and, the Maine Autism Society! After that is the Belfast Bound Book Festival on the 29th, and the Maine Bread Artisans Fair in Skowhegan July 30th.

Thor-Nox Educational Garden

The soil is tiled, and the garden is underway! Now I begin a photo essay to accompany and document the experience. Located adjacent to the Mount View School complex in Thorndike, the garden sits upon a piece of the historical 420 acre farm which is under conservation easement, owned by Shirley Bessey. Kelly Desrosiers, Mount View Elementary School Art Teacher and Project Based Learning Adviser, is helping to develop this educational garden on Ms. Bessey's land, with great enthusiasm from Ms. Bessey herself. The garden will be a hands-on project for students and the community, from planting, to tending, to harvesting crops for the school cafeteria. Along the way will be nature journaling and many other activities to encourage appreciation of the natural world just outside the children's proverbial back door.

To keep up to date with the going on in the garden (including when I'll be having my Afterschool Performing Arts group presenting an adaptation of "The Gigantic Turnip"!) please visit the Thor-Nox Educational Garden facebook page

Pecha Kucha Night, Waterville

My son Jakob has been selected to be a presenter at the next Pecha Kucha Night in Waterville. He'll be sharing 20 of his hand drawn sketches of charactors from the "new" BBC Doctor Who series. We are told he is the youngest artist ever the presentation would take place four nights before his 10th birthday) to submit to PKN Waterville. I am quite proud!

MSBA 2011-2012 Reading Group

I have placed the bare bones information about the Maine Student Book Award Reading Group for Mount View Elementary upon the Barefoot Storyteller web-site. And created a Maine View Elementary MSBA Readers Blog

If you are interested in purchasing the books yourself, I have provided links for them through Amazon for ease of ordering, as they are often the least expensive. Some titles are also available through the Scholastic Book Club, and if you chose to buy through them instead you will earn free books for the entire Mount View Elementary Summer Reading Program. After you and log on to the Scholastic Store, and create your parent password, use the classroom code HL23F and you will be able to view the program wish lists and recommendations relating to the MSBA. (some may appear more than once as they are in multiple catalogs) You are also free to browse and shop for any other books there, and all books can be picked up at the Summer Reading Program.

Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program

Mount View Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program members preparing for the performance of "And the Dish Ran Away with the Spoon" at the Clifford Performing Arts Center.

Wood

I love working with wood. I may never get those burl wood bowls carved, but I've done other wood carvings. Enjoy making wands with applewood, and adding bits of ribbon and felt. Birch bark is fun to work with. Any sort of small sticks are good for toad or fairy houses. And I've been known to let my creativity fly with the wood burning tool on all sorts of stuff. In preparing for the Maine Artisan Bread Fair in July I am letting that creativity fly on some bread boards, dipping bowls, and wooden spoons.

Craft Packages

These are a few little special "packages" that I put together...more information and pricing is available upon my facebook page

Performing Arts Afterschool

Working with the MSAD# 3 Elementary Afterschool Performing Arts Program on the Spring/Summer Play. Having them start "prop work" and looking forward to seeing their creative energies on giant posterboard!

Maine School Garden Network

Had a wonderful time at the Maine School Garden Network event Saturday, in Waldoboro! Brought along some of my goodies, including felted veggies: carrots, corn, & potatoes!

Chickadee Award 2011

Horray, horray! Maine author Chris Van Dusen's book The Circus Ship has won the 2011 Chickadee Award!

Here's the complete tally:

Circus Ship 3,529 votes... Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes 3,267 votes... Tsunami 2,920 votes... Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer 1,497 votes... The Imaginary Garden 1,279 votes.... Hurry Up and Slow Down 1,019 votes... Testing the Ice 991 votes... My Name is Sangoel 807 votes... An Eye for Color 541 votes... Under the Snow 480 votes

Fortune's Folly

A fellow blog's short review on a book I frequently read snippets from, "Fortune's Folly"

MSBA Book Buzz

Star Wands on Applewood

I love making these fun star wands on apple wood with ribbon! The stars and ribbons are in the colors of the rainbow, and the apple wood harvested from my own trees. Make some magic today!