Summary Comments on the Texas BBQ tour!

Hopefully you've read through the posts and followed along.  A few final thoughts on a fantastic trip!  First...a thank you again to a few helpful and friendly members of the Texas BBQ Posse for earlier research, advice and tips on scheduling, and a general overview of the best of the best.

We learned that personally we have a way to go on perfecting our own brisket!  We also learned that we feel we could stand in line and compete with this collection of rib smokers.  And we learned that we need to start making and smoking sausage!!  It was all fantastic.

Comparing some of these places head to head is hard.  Maybe even pointless.  We know there can be any given day, any given piece of meat, and a few extenuating circumstances.  But once we polled each other on favorites, we did seem to find a little common ground.  So here goes....

Favorite Brisket

   Mike - Black's in Lockhart

   Matt - Snow's in Lexington

   Tim  - couldn't decide...lol...tied between Blacks and La Barbecue in Austin

Favorite Ribs

    Not to cop out on this one...but frankly all were excellent.  In our opinion the ribs at this level

     Are "expected" to be fantastic, and there was not a place on the list that disappointed us!

Favorite Sausage

    Was unanimous at Snow's in Lexington!  Not necessarily that it was head and shoulders better,

     So much as we all liked the unique coarser grind and nice spice blend.  Almost everyone had

     Super sausage and it's a signature style thing not really meant to compete head to head.

So thank you Texas, for an awesome welcome,mand awesome BBQ Tour!

The Minnesota Golden Gopher BBQ Posse!

Last Day - just can't get enough!

After a great relaxing night with friends up in Round Rock, we spent the last of the evening sipping local micro whiskey, and choosing from the 60 tap craft beers at the Brass Tap in Round Rock. Holy Cow that's a cool bar, and worth a stop!

Monday put us back on the road north to DFW and a flight home, but not leaving til 6pm, so clearly there is opportunity for even MORE brisket, ribs, and sausage!!  A little more research and low and behold the discovery of highly touted Longoria's BBQ in a south suburb of Everman.

An unlikely location in the middle of sort of no where!  But a full menu of smoked choices, and famous for their 100% brisket sausage!  We had to try it.  So we ordered the Texas trifecta again of ribs, sausage, and brisket.  The build up in other reviews of the brisket sausage had eagerly on edge, and pumped up to try.  

The sausage was excellent. Nothing bad to say. But did not make the short list of "best of" on the trip. It fell into the same category as nearly all others....man, that was really good.  But we left it there.  The ribs, more or less in the same category.  If anything we thought the few bones we had were a little fatty.  A noticeably delicious dry rub that Mike commented on right away.  But not overly memorable.

The brisket beckoned to us on the plate with a gorgeous bark and smoke ring.  But I think we discovered the dis-advantage pit masters have if you're not faced with a mob lined up waiting for fresh sliced brisket.  It seemed dry.  Dry like it had maybe been sliced at noon, and it was now 2pm.  Not over cooked, not over done or bad meat.  Just not fresh off the slab of brisket that we witnessed a few times this trip.  Delicious, gorgeous, but not as fresh as we have become accustomed.

We still had a few hours, so jumped back online, and for no other reason that geographical convenience, we spotted Cousins BBQ in Ft Worth.  Full from Longoria's, we opted for brisket and sausage.  They offered two types Jalepeno and German.

Again...tasty, savory, and well made on site.  Nice kick in the jalepeno!  Both Matt and Mike thought it was a little too "bologne" like with the smooth textured fine grind.  But super delicious.

We watched the brisket get sliced off a fresh slab, which we like!  Nice bark, moist, tender and right on target.  It was the only brisket we've had done totally on hickory...a slightly different smoke taste,, and just the right amount.  The salt was more evident than any brisket we had tasted.  We all like salt, but by being so prominent, it didn't knock anyone off our previous pedestals.

But all in all, very glad we added two more stops before heading back to the frigid MN winter!

 

 

 

 

 

Into the heart of the Beast - Austin's BBQ and brisket giants

A fine evening of cocktails and people watching back in town after a day on the road to Lockhart and beyond, and the Garrison Bros Distillary tour....we tried something a little different at the West end establishment of Lamberts.  Known for its professional quality beef ribs, ribs and brisket...we decide to switch it up and try some smoked chicken and Lamberts sausage.  All we can say....is another awesome experience, mood, drinks, and smoked meat.

But it was up early the next morning to face the madness at Franklins with a plan to also get to La Barbecue, and maybe even over the black sheep of John Muellers Meats.  Our intentions were noble.  We got in line at Franklins at 8:40 am and conned our queue mates into a couple of bloody Mary's and prepared to wait it out.  After an hour or so...the pre-order Steward made her way down to our end of the parking lot and promptly informed us that we could expect to get served between 1:30 and 2:00.  Between hunger, impatience, and some might say a modicum of common sense....we decided a 5 1/2 hour wait for yet ANOTHER plate of smoked meat was not in our cards.

Apologies to Aaron Franklin and a well understood and well deserved reputation for awesome Q I'm sure...but we packed up and made our way to La Barbecue.  Sorry Franklins.  It's only meat after all.

HELLLLLLOOOO La Barbecue !!  Short lines, sunshine, and free beer while you wait in line!  Live music of country and John Prine and Johnny Cash classics made for a festive atmosphere and the anticipation was enormously rewarded by a stellar, simply gorgeous and tasty pile of barbecue!  The brisket was fleshed sliced off a freshly unwrapped slab, a set of big meaty ribs, and a new-comer of savory moist smoked turkey (sausage was gone) 

The ribs of course were everything one could expect.  We loved em!  The brisket was incredibly moist, flavorful, colored and a medium crusty bark.  It's hard to compare or contrast one master to another.  We loved it all...but there was one consensus opinion about it all...the "perfect kiss of smoke" we felt was missing.  The smoke ring was perfect in the brisket....but the smoke flavor was hiding somewhere.  Nothing not to like, nothing bad to say...just our observation.  

It must have been a busy Sunday...because by the time we found John Muellers, he was sold out.  Drifted over to Mickelthwait's for sausage and they too were left only with pulled pork.  We sought out a small trailer back downtown called Valentina's for some savory yummy brisket tacos and called it an awesome day.

 

 

 

 

Full bellies with Lockhart yet to go...bad idea

Lockhart TX has a reputation as a destination Texas Hill Country barbecue spot and rightfully so.  Even a Minnesota foodie like myself has run across the name of Kreuz market now and again.  Coupled with Smitty's and Black's, Lockhart was a must see town on the tour.

See....being the operative word.  We chose Black's to hit first based on reading, reputation, and ambiance.  We went back to brisket and sausage, and saw the bar get moved up just a bit yet again.  Comparing one of these top 10 Texas BBQ spots is really hard!  And certainly there are a lot of factors. But the perfect black bark...the perfect pink smoke ring, and the perfect moist tender savory brisket inside was just eye popping lay beautiful, and incredible to savor.

We were feeling a little weird clicking pics of all this meat wherever we go...but this was a photo op we had to share.  THIS is the appearance we were looking for...being professionals or not...it's what we expected coming to Texas, and we found it.  Incredible brisket...no sauce, no mess, just mouth watering beef bewilderment!

The sausage on the other hand while flavorful, smokey and delicious....had a distinct level of fat or grease that was too hard on the palate.  We all three felt although it tasted good, after a few bites the mouth sort of rejected it as too rich, greasy, or fatty.

Sitting in the side yard at a picnic table though, sharing a great in house beer selection and a Texas Spring day, and another awesome smoked brisket at a historic smokehouse was all pure joy.

This was the days 3rd stop for meat, and we were feeling taxed!  We had to see the historic open fire brick pits at the classic Smitty Smokehouse, but between the long lines, and our full bellies we deferred both Smittys and Kreuz to another return trip some day.  No disrespect or diminishing expectations of course...but time and physical abilities were limited! :)  but see the bottom photos of the cool historic look, smell, and feel of Smitty's.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

More of the top shelf circuit! Louie Muellers and Blacks BBQ

Saying goodbye to Tootsie at Snows, she and Kerry both suggested the monster Texas beef ribs at Louie Muellers in Taylor TX.  So advice taken...and well advised!

The sleepy town of Taylor houses a great old classic smokehouse and some true artisan pit tending.  No pit thermometers here...just know when the meat is ready!  We decided to skip another brisket, although it looked awesome....and try the huge beef ribs.  They are not offered everywhere and we were eager for one.  One.  We split a mid sized rib which weighed in almost at a pound and a quarter...throw in some smoked chipotle sausage and we had another pile of beast to face down. Judiciously trying to get better at pacing ourselves through the day, and managing stomach real estate.

The beef rib was incredible.  A huge tough often fatty piece of beef to master, but this came off like a perfectly bark crusted, pink smoke ringed, moist and tender brisket on a bone!  Meaty, moist, smokey, barked, and simply mouth watering without question.

The sausage was another sample of really good savory and mildly spicy grind.  Either we aren't schooled enough to come up with much bad to say about these sausage makers, or they all know what the hell they are doing.  We are convinced it's the latter.  All in all a great addition to the original plan, and easy to add on to a trip to Snows.

 

 

Early morning BBQ at Snows in Lexington, Tx

We heard unanimously in our research, that you can't take a Texas BBQ tour and not get to Snows BBQ in Lexington.  An hour outside Austin is a true gem.

Snows is ONLY open Saturdays, opens at 10 am, and the brisket could be gone by noon or 1pm on a weekend!  People leave Austin, and elsewhere at 7am and get in line for hours sometimes just to ensure they get some of the best brisket Texas has to offer.  So we did too!!

And we were not at all disappointed.  It immediately became Matts favorite.  A simple, friendly, open air pit place.  Pit masters Tootsie and Kerry welcomed anyone with open arms, and were generous in telling secrets, showing the pits, and talking smart smoke.  We loved them!

The brisket was perfectly tender.  An awesome pink smoke ring and that Texas post oak smoke flavor from a real fire.  It was truly wonderful.  Mike and I are a dark bark loving team, and their style is not focused on a crusty bark.  Matt is still talking about Snows brisket.

The sausage became a quick favorite as well.  Everything about it was excellent!  A coarse grind, savory spicing, an edible perfectly crispy not chewy casing.  The grind and no greasy feel and taste made it a top shelf choice!  Overall, the vibe, the hosts, and the meat make the trip essential for any BBQ purists.

(Btw....we sort of focused on sausage and brisket, rather than ribs as they are the more difficult of the two to perfect and offer personal styles and variation.  Sometimes we had the ribs too, because they are all awesome....but ocassionaly we saved the stomach real estate)

  

    

  

Friday at Freedmen's Bar

 
After leaving Millers Smokehouse we took a cab down down to a classic old brick bar for yes...more brisket, sausage, and ribs!

Although not on the classic infamous Smokehouse circuit in and around Austin, we were seriously impressed.  In a short summary...we all felt the ribs were excellent.  Moist, pleasantly rubbed, meaty and tender...perfect on the bone. And slightly smaller than the monsters at Millers.

The house sausage was a little overpowered by a bit too much black pepper.  A much coarser grind than Millers, and a bit drier.  Good flavor, good smoke, but too much black pepper.

The brisket was the best surprise.  Gorgeously crusted with a tasty savory black bark, and tender, moist, and kissed with nice oak smoke.  Maybe a generous late nite portion, but there was easily enough brisket for the three of us on this sampler platter!

Coupled with the Whiskey of the Month, $5 Makers 46, we found Freedmen's to be the perfect late nite stop for a night cap of Texas Barbecue!

 

 

 

 

Virgins in Texas.

So we pulled into Millers Smokehouse in Belton Texas for our virgin ribs, brisket, and sausage experience on the BBQ Tour.  We knew we had another stop later, but were overwhelmed with the need to eat!

We got the last rack of ribs of the day, thanks to Dustin Miller sneaking back behind his Dad Dirk to save the last rack as we arrived.

A rack turned out to be about 4 pounds of meat!  The largest meatiest pork ribs we have ever seen!  Bones the size of a small child's forearm.  Meaty, moist and kissed PERFECTLY with smoke.  A mellow nice rub,served dry no sauce as they should and they were FANTASTIC.

The jalepeno smoked sausage was next.  Again perfect!  Smooth grind, nice kick, not spicy, and very savory and smokey.  A solid win.

The brisket, albeit our first to try on the Tour...was a little disappointing.  Was moist enough, not dry...flavorful, but not really smokey.  Admittedly, we all like a little more "bark" on our brisket, and this was lacking.  Some of the flavor was missing, and the smoke was hard to detect.

With two home runs on ribs and sausage, we still left pleased and would highly recommend a visit!  The family was fun, friendly, generous, and great hosts.  The vibe and atmosphere of live music was welcome, and a sampling of a local Waco phenom Balcones Brimstone Whiskey made for a perfect virgin visit.

We left with tshirts and a lot lighter in the wallet!?  Not at all disappointed.

Quick update - Millers Smokehouse Belton Tx

Just a quick peek at roadie pics.....details coming.  Awesome introduction to Texas.  We are already out of money, and ate too much...and we haven't even started yet!!  :)

  

  

Texas Barbecue Extravaganza!

Tomorrow, Friday March 21st, Matt Abbott and Mike Cournoyer and I are taking off for a four day Texas Barbecue Brisket and Ribs personal tour!

Mike and I have fancied ourselves as qualified backyard pitmasters for a few years now tackling ribs, smoked pulled pork, even the challenging beef brisket, among other smoked and grilled fare.   But as anyone in Texas will point out, and they like to do that, you have not had smoked barbecue until you've been to Texas!  And with Franklins Barbecue getting hot national press in Food and Wine, Bon Apetite and  more...we had to see for ourselves.

Well a little research led to a lot of research!  We even discovered the Texas BBQ Posse!!!  With the help of former fellow Minnesotan Gary Jacobson, and his fellow Texas Posse member friends...they steered us to more and more information, reviews, maps, and commentary on the BEST that Texas barbecue has to offer.  See their blog at http://texasbbqposse.blogspot.com   Its amazing!!

Together with advice from the Posse, a bunch of personal research, and the fine folks at Texas Monthly Magazine with their huge review of the Best BBQ in Texas....we have a plan that will make any grown man moo.

Of course our eyes and stomachs, and eager appetites are probably outsized to begin with, but we have a plan to hit some of the finest Pitmasters in Texas for a taste test and comparison of ribs, brisket, and the famous smoked sausage of Texas.  Most of these joints are centered around Austin, Lockhart, and Lexington, Texas.  Our plan is to fly into Dallas on Friday night, pick up a car and head south!

First stop will be Millers Smokehouse, in Belton Texas.  www.wildmillers.com  This will be a quick stop on our way to Austin, and an evening of fine cocktails and smoked BBQ at Freedmen's Bar in downtown Austin Friday night!!  http://www.freedmensbar.com/

Watch and check back for live updates!  Feel free to add comments, contact us, or add your two cents worth.  But for now...we are the Minnesota Golden Gopher BBQ Posse coming to see what Texas has to offer!!

In the meantime, sit back, smell the smoke, sip a craft bourbon, and browse the gorgeous furniture at the Granary WoodShops www.granarywoodshops.com

Ever get yelled at by your sister?

OK...so I got yelled at by my sister for having no blog entries since 2009. What's with that? :)

I used to think this blogging about the farm and what I am working on would be cool...but I nobody ever read them, commented, or seemed to care. When a ground swell over whelms me, and I come to learn the general public wants to hang on my every word about what the chickens and goats are up to, and my latest cuts and bruises in the WoodShop...maybe I'll start up!

Keep them cards and letters coming!!!

Deed is done.

Well, the trap and having a heart thing did not quite work out.  At least not for the rodent.

I freshened up the greens in the trap, and walked out quietly to peek in the barn door this am.  My heart skipped a small beat when through the crack in the door, down the dark barn alley I could see the trap door clanged shut tight!

I opened the big cross buck door and walked into the dark barn.  As I approached the trap, I could see it was indeed closed but nothing...no woodchuck.  I assumed he was sniffing around the edges trying to maybe sneak a snack through the cage wall and accidentally sprung the door.  I reset it, but in my mind I was feeling defeated.  It's been 10 days and nothing.

I repeated my habit of piling the dirt back in his hole, and with frustrating regularity, he would clean it out and escape on me again.  So now it was time for war.

Just as in the battle with moles in my yard, there simply is not the same satisfaction waiting and watching an idle trap.  For moles I keep pushing down their tunnels, all during the day, until I know that there is a mole in a specific tunnel because he keeps on pushing the tunnel up.  So I wait him out with a sharp pitchfork in hand and when I see the earth moving along the tunnel road...pow!  He's mine.

So today I decided to keep filling in the hole, and keep an eye on it for activity.  And sure enough, within a half hour he was opening it back up.  Woodchucks are active around 10:00 am I have learned from seeing them around the farm.  So I filled and checked at 10:00am.  By 10:30 it was open.  I re-filled it again, and came out at 10:50 and pulled up a lawn chair in the barn about 40 feet away with a sniper's view of the hole.

I am here to report that as of 10:57am Central Standard Time, the Woodchuck living in the barn at the Granary WoodShops is no more.  May he rest in peace.  I am assuming you all are not interested in pictures of the evidence!

And may I get back work!   Gee...I wonder what's next?! :)

Lazy Hunter

OK.  I apologize.

Its been a week and no progress or update.  Its a combination of I have been out of town up in Hayward for 5 days, and the fact that my fresh broccoli carrot salad mix stinks now and the woodchuck is not interested!!

SO, tomorrow, I am going to fill in and pack down his hole.  More or less just to piss him off probably, but also just for good measure.  A fresh stock of delectables will be added to the trap and a round two of trying to lure him in will begin.

I sort of secretly hope to spot the little furry-pawed rodent just so I can justify sitting out in the barn with my .22 and waiting for him to show his face!

I'll keep you posted.

Spring is indeed for Ground Hogs, or Woodchucks as they say

We have a woodchuck in the barn.

How do I know this?  I walked into the lower ground level of the barn yesterday to check on some black walnut I needed.  A pile of dirt the size of a child's swimming pool greeted me midway down the alley!  The barn basically has a hard packed dirt, mixed concrete floor.  Along one of the posts is this huge pile of dirt.

I have seen these before and its a tell tale sign.  Damn.  I like living with and having critters around...but not so much when they move in.  Also, I went back later to scope out where to place a trap, and I saw the bugger disappear down the hole!  So now...its me against him.

If you have any good ideas...please reply, send an email or post them here!  For the time being I am placing some older salad greens, carrots and broccoli (good animal food anyway) in a Have a Heart trap and hoping to get him.  I was tempted to hang outside the barn with my .22 and wait him out since I know he's in there.  But I do have a life.

So stay tuned.....and send ideas.  And by the way...this "Have a Heart" trap idea.  I don't quite get it.  You mostly trap animals with razor sharp teeth and cleaver filled paws that can easily fly through the grating on the trap when you go to pick it up and allegedly "have a heart" to let them go....

Well...I am here to tell you...there has been more than a couple critter's that lost their heart inside my have a heart traps.  But that's a tale for another day.

The hunt is on at the Granary WoodShops!

Baby Goats and Wonder Woman

I think I may have mentioned the army of baby goats over at the neighbors...the Wiste's.  Last week Katie called and said one of the mothers was about "to kid" so Lisa and I thought we would go see the baby goats.  They are soooo adorable as 1 and 2 day olds!!

We drove up and walked over to the small calf and goat barn.  As we approached, we could hear some pretty frantic bleating of what we assumed was a Momma goat in action.  Intense, loud, painful sounding wails....we both looked at each other wide eyed and worried.

As we opened the barn door, a baby calf not more than a week old poked its head out from its pen just inside the door eagerly, and with a long pink tongue reached out to immediately taste my sleeve.  Katie and her super-Mom Sharon were 3 pens down the row intently mid-wiving the bleating goat.  We paused, a little worried and tentative at the door.  We came in and closed it behind us but did not want to spook Momma, or disrupt any of the action.

I could see Sharon had on a shoulder length rubber glove...a farmer's mid-wiving essential.  Katie had a hold of Momma-goat's collar and head.  They looked up a little worried, and said it was ok...we could come in.  The loud sorry sounding painful wailing piercing the barn, as the goat struggled with discomfort.  Sharon's hand and arm up to the elbow nearly disappeared inside the poor little goat as the wailing intensified.  Lisa and I tip toed closer, but dared not be too bold to insert our presence in the delivery pen.  Sharon's furrowed brow told it all....a tough and delicate delivery was pending.

Some murmurs between the two of them, and a struggling Momma goat, and Sharon's intense concentration on what she was feeling, doing, pulling and arranging.  Suddenly, Sharon said..."Here it comes..." and in a flash the back end of Momma opened up and Sharon's rubber-gloved hand and arm produced a slimy, wet and sticky 5 pound baby goat by the back feet!

They quickly pulled the mucus, afterbirth and wetness from its little pink nose and the little tiny goat began to cough ...a wonderful sign.  Lisa quickly grabbed the camera and handed it to Katie and a pic or two of the little wet bundle was captured!

It turned out we walked in just in time!  The poor little guy's feet were buckled under its body and it got twisted around backwards.  A perfect delivery is toes first, followed by a pink nose...and this little one was crumpled up and backwards until Sharon strapped on the rubber sleeve and took things into her own hands.  This woman is a human wonder of talent and knowledge!

We hung around and celebrated a successful birth while Momma goat licked the little one clean, and as we talked for 10 minutes she worked up the energy to drop a second little baby goat!!  All in a days visit! :)

Gathering Materials

I get a lot of people asking about where I get materials.  Do I take down my own barns, where do I get my bark, and tree roots etc.  Just in the last few days, a lot of different things have popped up and I thought I would share them as a view into my salvage material world! :)

1) At the Lake Home Show - a couple came up and had a nice set of pics of an enormous barn that is out in Montevideo near South Dakota.  A huge barn, tons of wood, and a jungle of beams.  I am thinking on this...but in reality...the days to take it down, the distance to haul it all, and the equipment it would take to do it right may make this a poor fit.  Mostly because its so far away.

2) A local woman stopped in the Bluff Country Gallery where I volunteer and we talked about me making a cool buffet like table from a 17: wide piece of wood from an aging barn on their property.  We got to talking, and they want the barn to come down soon, but have not quite emotionally separated themselves from it...but it sounds like a massive barn in my own backyard!

3) Just up the road about 1/4 mile is a classic farm dump.  A small ditch off the side of the road that a few local farmers dispose of "junk".  There has been an accumulating pile of boards, rafters and old building stuff that has grown over the years.  Some of it interesting.  I often walk by this spot and keep an eye on it.  Today I left email for my neighbor asking them if they know who to contact regarding maybe sifting through the pile and taking whats useful.  There is a lot of nice maybe 50 year old pine tongue and groove....we'll see.

4) I stopped at the local Spring Grove "brush dump" today.  A frequent stop when I am in the mood.  This is the local township spot for tree, branch, leaves, and brush disposal.  There is a massive 36" Maple log up there right now.  It would make some really cool slices for coffee tables or the like...but I doubt I will act on it.  Not a lot of call for those.  I often get some awesome Curly Willow trimmings, straight willow for trim work, and maple branches for my Adirondack work right here at the "local dump".

5) And lastly....when I was in the gallery yesterday I was noticing a great White Oak Burl table by Roger Meyer, a local artist and bowl turner.  It made me think I have not talked to him in a while and I called to see if he might sell me a slab of that awesome burl or if he had any other leads.  He gave me the name of a guy that called just yesterday about 100 miles from here that has a 40-inch!!!!! Burr Oak Burl with 5 feet of log still attached.  A 600 pound monster and an extraordinarily rare sized burl!!!  He may come to Spring Grove in a few weeks for the Bluff Country Artist Tour and may bring it with.  I agreed to maybe making him a really cool heirloom table from it in exchange for the whole thing once I see it!!

So, just about every week an assortment of opportunity from small to large presents itself for an abundance of material...all free for the taking, or available for an interesting barter!  Its amazing what we throw away, and what goes to waste...I am glad I get a chance to save some of it and move it along to its next life!

 

Trade Show Public

I just finished a successful Mpls Lake Home and Cabin Show!  I made a new bed just for the show and sure enough it was the first thing to sell....I love when that happens.

Like every human, I love talking about myself and my work.  That's pretty much what these shows are all about.  Telling my story of escaping the city life for the country life, and telling the story of the furniture.  Like my card says..."Combining nature and history to create furnishings with an individual story".  Each piece does have a fun tale to tell of the sources of the recycled wood.  Mixing a variety of 5 different reclaimed lumbers from 5 old farm buildings into a single picture frame, or a sofa table is both satisfying and fun to me. :)

People watching at shows is fun too.  I have these little cards made up describing each of the pieces of furniture, the history of the wood, and what makes it unique.  Without even stopping to read them, people would pick it up and try to peel it off the mounted cardboard...as if its the last one, and they JUST HAVE TO HAVE IT!!  I must have stopped 25 people from trying to peel off the labels and take them....I guess it tells me my stories are good and I should maybe make them into take away labels or something!

I had a good time with the kids this show.  I had my Adirondack Chess Set displayed proudly right up front.  Its amazing how many 10-12 year olds play chess!  I had a very adult price of $900.00 on the piece.  

As kids walked up and ooh and ahhed, I would make them an offer..."I will play you for it", I would say and wait for their eager reply.  Then when I had them wanting to play, I would say "You beat me, and you get the chess game for free.  You lose, you get the chess board but you have to pay for it.  Either way you get to take it home!!" and their eyes would grow wide.

Once they saw the $900.00 price tag, they of course would balk.  But I had 4 kids go find their parents and bring them back to my booth and very earnestly ask them if they would put up the $900.00 and let them play me.  No takers on that though....go figure! :)  It was fun watching them make their case on deaf ears.

I met some great potential new clients, had a handful of conversations about cool beds, and got to share pics and stories about the "Schmidt Beds" and how cool they are and about how much I like the Adirondack style of the Great Camps....I hope to be able to create a new masterpiece someday for one of the new clients I met at the show!

Art Gallery Soiree tonight!

Tonight marks the second anniversary of our wonderful little art gallery here in Spring Grove, MN.

It is a wonderful gallery that warrants a visit from any traveler to SE Minnesota.  The Bluff Country Artists Gallery is a non-profit gallery hosting some of the finest works from a plethora of fine artisans from the bluffs and coulees of the infamous Driftless Region along the river valleys down here.

It has the distinction of selling one of my finest (aka more expensive) pieces.  I have made a number of Elk Antler sofa tables and sold them from New Mexico to the bluffs of Stillwater to fine Elegant Rustic homes.  A couple of these cool tables can be seen on my website.  So just goes to show, you never know where your next client or order is going to come from!!

Lisa and I are joining in the celebration tonight of champagne and appetizers!  Fun in our small town!

My first show in a year and half!!

I had my first show last weekend in Madison at the Lake Home and Cabin show.  A 3 day affair of mingling with the Cheeseheads.  One definitely can tell you are in WI vs MN at these shows....the beer and brats come out at around 10:45 am vs in Mpls the Norwegians wait til closer to happy hour...say 3:30pm or so for the beer.

Anyway, it was a good show.  At least in terms of making some new contacts, providing some quotes and meeting new people that some day will become customers.  I sold a very, very cool framed art print that I did just last week, and that along with 4-5 of my little art boxes paid for the show, expenses and travel.  So it was a good weekend!

This coming weekend is the Mpls Lake Home and Cabin at the Convention Ctr.  I am looking forward to that too!  I have a a large 20 foot booth, and lots of cool stuff to show off!  The best contact I made last weekend was the Director/Owner of The Longbranch Gallery in Mineral Point, WI.  

A very very cool Elegant Rustic gallery in a very cool town.  If you have never been to Mineral Point, WI...take a weekend and stay in a B&B down the

re and see the town and the galleries and cool shops. Its worth the trip!

Sandy wants a whole collection of my stuff for the gallery, and is even talking about one of their Summer Soiree's being a feature and introduction of me and my work!!  That would be fun!

Other than a couple of nights in the Concrete Bunker...also known as the local Motel 6, it was a nice and successful trip.  I look forward to seeing some of you in Mpls this weekend!

Barn hunting

One of the better results from my moments of fame from the  WCCO TV segment was a handful of calls I got from people offering me barns and salvaged wood.  It is a great thing that people go out of their way to recognize my efforts to try and save what I can from these old buildings and give them new life.

Yesterday, my co-partner in crime when it comes to barn dis-mantling, Mike Cournoyer and I took a road trip up to Holdingforg, MN (near St Cloud) to  look at what we thought was going to be a very unique barn filled with 100 year old White Oak infrastructure and cedar barn siding.  I am usually reluctant to venture too far afield for barns as they are a lot of work, a lot of hauling, and they usually take a few days.  But in this instance "Randy" was so generous with his offer of the barn AND he offered to haul all the wood from his place to mine on a flatbed truck!

Well, to keep this story short and readable...basically after a 4 hour drive from the farm to pickup Mike and drive up to look at the barn...we drove in the driveway and were immediately disappointed.   It has been interesting over the years for me to realize what is useful, what is interesting, what is historic, and what I will actually use.  As opposed to just an old barn.

In fact, this year marked a transition of sorts.  Some of the first oak beams I hauled to the farm 8 years ago in a new-life bundle of excitement, I am now cutting up for firewood because I stored them under a tarp and they are now rotten.  So what started out as a pile of historic salvaged oak timbers from my first barn...has digressed to a semi-soft pile of firewood for my woodshop. Even in its last gasp, the barn is providing value to me, although not how I had envisioned it!

Well this barn we basically decided to walk away from.  Although free for the taking, this was just a recon-trip and I would have to plan on at least a 3 day weekend to come do demolition.  Why would I pass this up, you ask?  Well based on experience, the answer is:

1)  the visable side wall boards are less than 4' and not usable for tables, my biggest item

2) all of the supposed "enormous" white oak barn beams turned out to be pine, most of

     which were filled with powder post beetle holes and many beginning to soften due to rot

3) the floor boards were mostly bent and swaying from weight and water rot

So all in all, it was a generous offer; and there is a lot of "craft" wood there for someone, and I hope someone can find a use for it...but it does not quite pass muster for another trip and borrowed and cajoled labor to help me try to salvage a marginal pile of lumber.

The second stop we made, near Kimball, MN was from another call I got from a retired guy that used to salvage commercial and residential buildings for a career, and now was working at taking down a small farmstead on the edge of town in Kimball.  

This turned out to be a much more  worthwhile stop.  Stopping and seeing a yard filled with piles of wood scattered randomly around, I began to pick through the work he was doing, and a few jewels began to emerge.   A small pile of perhaps 12 boards he had covered from the rain and snow turned out to be White Oak planks from 12" to 15" wide and nealy 14 feet long.  These boards were used as flooring in the second story of the farm house he said was built in the 1890's.  Very hard to find old wood, and will make a few absolutely stunning tables!

In addition, there is a few piles of roofing and exterior sheeting boards that are White Pine, but some are as wide as 16" - 20"!!  Very hard to find, and very useful as single planked coffee table tops, or other wide plank table tops.  These boards will plane and sand beautifully, and provide a very unique look because one can simply not find lumber this wide anywhere anymore!  I look forward to making a return trip and loading up on lumber that meets my needs perfectly!  I'll try to get making a piece from one of these wide planks and tie it back to this story so you can see the trip was worthwhile afterall!