Tuesday, January 31 .....

I know I shouldn’t be counting but this is my 11th post for the year. If I can average 9 or 10 each month, I’ll have more than 100 by year’s end. I’m assuming there will be a good number of posts while we are on holiday in May/June but I need to keep them going during the quiet months (and there will be many of those).

The Stallholder Application Package went up on the Craft Fair website today and we expect an influx of ‘phone calls and emails over the next few weeks as people get themselves sorted out. I’ve already had 4 or 5 emails and several calls from prospective new applicants and that can only be good. In recent years, we’ve averaged about 65% Tasmanian exhibitors and 35% from the mainland. I’d like to tweak that ratio a bit to give a bit more emphasis to local crafts people but we only have a small population and we might just have tapped into all of the good ones from the Apple Isle.

Marilyn mentioned the other day that she had seen a couple of people picking blackberries on the side of the road so I thought I should check it out. I’ve been waiting for them to come on, looking at the ones we have growing in the yard but they are still small and red. However, the ones across the road are obviously a different species and are big, black and juicy (I’m sure there’s a racist joke there but I’m not touching it). I filled a 2 litre container in no time and will do the same again later this evening and probably tomorrow as well.

I made room in the freezer today by taking out a couple of containers of chicken stock to make soup so I’ve got space to freeze some blackberries. They will be the ones left over after we’ve made lots of delights. It’s time to google for some recipes.


Tonight's the Rotary meeting but I'm giving it a miss. I thought I would take the caravan down to Deloraine tomorrow for a few days. Marilyn has gone to Wollongong to see the rellies and I'll take the chance to get some work done on the arrangements for the Craft Fair.