Old Trunks, New Leather. All from Maine.
July 14, 2010
During our Maine summers we sleep in the ‘new bedroom’ – the one that was added to the house in 1944. It’s a big room that was sort of stuck onto the back of the house, and it has a low sloping metal roof. The metal helps snow and ice to slide off in the winter, and makes a heck of a racket whenever it rains, sleets, hails, etc. When we first moved into that place it took a few good storms before we were able to sleep with all that noise, but now, take this morning for example, it’s become a nice sound that helps you sleep better. I heard the rain move in around 3am, and I just rolled over and slept for another hour, smiling to myself. I like the sound of that rain – much needed rain – and it made me smile because I, lady and gentlemen subscribers to this miserable excuse for a newsletter, am a wicked farmer.I farm a typical rural spread of about 0.02 acres of prime Maine farm land, and this year I’ve gone at it with an intensity that I’ve not applied to the growth of green leafy vegetables in quite a few years. I like farming, but it seems I’ve been too busy doing other things in recent years, so the farming chores have been moved over to Amanda’s list of things to do. I’m not sure why but when she goes out there and pokes seed in the ground in that 30 by 30 ft plot she calls it gardening. This year when that weekend in May rolled around, the weekend where we finally decided the danger of frost was behind us, Miss Mandy was off to camp if I remember correctly so I went out back and did me some farming. Laid out the lines, found the seed packs, put them where it made sense to put them.
Over the last few weeks I’ve fought the weeds, chased the deer out, and tried to figure out what manner of creature has been nibbling the arugula. This lead to the erection of a mighty fence, 6 ft high, all the way around the entire farmland acreage. No more bunnies in the lettuce. With nothing chewing them down to nubs the plants have got their feet under them and that place is really starting to look like a picture from a gardening book. We’re making salads, and I guess I may have overplanted the leafy greens because there are piles of lettuce, mesclun, spinach, arugula, and dandelion leaves all around the kitchen. Eat faster. It’s good for you. We don’t use pesticides, no herbicides, just magic garden fertilizer, which is conveniently located right underneath the pet rabbit’s cage, over there by the compost pile.
You won’t find a lot of fast food wrappers in our kitchen – thanks to Amanda’s never-ending quest to keep her family healthy. She’s taught us all to zero in on good choices when we eat, and the garden sure helps guide you down that path. We know that there are a lot of foods we should avoid, and plenty of others that we should include in our daily meals. Now that I’m solidly in my fifties, I think I get it. The farm garden gains a bit of importance with each passing year, the way I see it, as we seek to ‘eat our age.’ That's our term for it - all rights reserved.
Anyway, I hope your garden is doing well this year. Just remember to start locking your front gate sometime later this month or else your fellow farmers will start leaving bags of zucchini on your porch. Very sneaky, and almost as sneaky as the following transition from ‘Farm Report’ to ‘Sales Pitch.’
Pull-up leather has always been one of my favorites. It’s rustic looking, waterproof, and turns lighter in color when you bend/fold it. We’ve got a pile of cowhide sides in a dark brown pull-up, oily and soft, ready to make into whatever it is you’ve got in mind. We’ve got these in two sizes, small and large, so you can choose what you need.
I believe it was the last newsletter I sent out, not too long ago because we can still smell it a little bit here at Corporate HQ, that announced our elk hides. They sold like mad dogs on the rooftops, selling out of the darker brown (tobacco) color in short order. We’ve received a large, second shipment of elk, tanned by Fox Valley or Cory, in Light Tan (Buckskin), brown (Tobacco), and now in Black, and these are on the Sides & Hides page now, same price as before ($110 per hide, with shipping to all 50 United States included). Very soft hides, with a bullet hole here, an arrow hole there.
We haven’t had much sheep leather around this barn in quite some time, but we sure do have a pile of it now. We’ve got very nice, very clean black sheep hides with a haircell print (very fine grain surface) that came out of the garment industry, and a nice, natural tan color sheep that has a little texture on the surface, as these were tanned specifically for making soft gloves. Both are tough to find leathers, both pretty darned nice. These are posted on the Sides & Hides page and also on the Thin Leathers page; take your pick.
Need a 6 oz firm body leather in a nice, rich golden brown color with heavy grain on the surface? Shoot, we don’t have any. Just kidding, yes we do. Check out our new Peanut Brittle sides (Note to self: don’t let Charlie think up product names until after he’s eaten something). This is a beautiful side leather produced here in the USA – we’re using a lot of it for trunk handles and straps, with excellent results. You’ll find this one on the Sides & Hides page, but be sure you scroll down until you’re all the way down in the cellar. That page is getting a little long I guess.
Ever taken a look at our Spots and Decorations page? We’ve added a few new styles to that collection, and still have lots more to add. If you need brass, nickel, plastic, fabric, or steel doo-dads to dress up your project you may find just what you need listed there. The decorations we sell are unique – none came from typical leather craft suppliers; these were all custom-made for slipper, shoe, and handbag makers. That page, in case you’d like to take a look, is here:
http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/parts/spots.htm
To help you make up your mind about whether it’s worth it to go take a look at that page or not we’ll run a deal for you subscribers: Buy ten items from that page, get 5 more of equal or lesser value free (anything starting with the DEC item code) – your choice. Just place your order using the shopping cart, and in the final step just type us a message with the list of 5 extra items you’d like us to throw in. You can also just e-mail the list. No limit – buy 1000 items and get 500 free. You get the idea.
Been checking the Deal of the Week lately? To the 300 of you who bought the heavy duty leather sewing machines with lifetime supply of thread and auxiliary solar power panel for $49.50 we offer our thanks. Those went faster than we predicted. This week we’ve put our spools of suede leather on the DOTW. These aren’t spools of suede lace – this is suede leather that’s about 4-3/8 inches wide, over 100 ft on a spool. This is good leather for wrapping around a walking stick handle, or for insoles, or make a turban. Get a few spools and wrap your car in it – no better way to make a statement about your feelings toward the oil business than to wrap your car in suede. Look, I’m just selling the stuff – I don’t get the connection either.
DOTW: http://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/#weeklydeal
Many of our past DOTWs are still posted there too – just in case you still need some of that stuff.
That should do it for today. Stay ahead of the weeds in that garden – or just get out the rototiller, grind it all into the ground, and make a decision to give it another try next year.
Thanks-
Churchill the High Fiber Farmer
Brettuns Village
Auburn, Maine
That Dog - hard at work.