January 16, 2010

Good morning!  It is a beautiful sunny, though cold, morning in eastern Connecticut.  Yesterday John and his mom did some painting at the store.  John got materials to build a countertop with our cousin/friend/neighbor Tad.  John also got to talk to Charlie Popple, the origional owner of Popple's Farm and Garden, which was very productive and helped him get some information about buying supplies, soil, and mulch!  Last night we had a business dinner and discussed how we need to move forward and what we need to do this weekend.  We are going to paint the floor of the store today to prepare for John and Tad building the counter on Monday.  I am going to prepare our homemade signs for my mom to paint on Monday - she is a wonderful artist and not only painted my basement pottery studio, but then painted my REAL pottery studio when I did run my own business (pics are at mudware.com).  We also have plans to measure and move displays I bought for the store at the end of last year, revisit our origional order for plugs from five acre farms to change some pick up times (we have the vege plants for pic up too early), put in a seed order, order hanging baskets (I decided to do some flowers in hanging baskets - we will see how that goes!) and visit/call 2 individuals that can help us with business contacts!  Busy weekend!

Oh, and the greatest news!  My parents, who are social butterflies of the best kind, have invited a few couples who run thier own farms over for dinner at the end of the month!  They wanted to give us the opportunity to meet new people in the business and learn from them.  I'm so excited!  I am going to practice making boeuf bourguignon from Julia Child's cookbook for the party (you can make it a day in advance)  i also want to make my famous (i think its famous :)) carrot creams soup with rosemary and sage, fresh rosemary bread, and a chocolate souffle!!!! (I made that last week)

So much to tell you - ALSO, newly attached on the top of this page, you see a picture drawn of Popples Farm and Garden Center in 1988.  According to Charlie Popple, a woman came in to shop and her husband decided to sit in the car and wait.  While he was waiting, he drew this picture - enjoy!