Whiskey & Wood
Everything Green
woodworker’s Artisan Festival @ A. Smith Bowman Distillery
It’s That Time Again By Anna-Katya Hvizdos de Lorenzo
By A.E.Bayne
A Large Selection Available
Tim Eggers has spent the past 20 years as a woodworker and the past ten as a wood artisan. He and fellow wood workers started the Fredericksburg Area Woodworker’s Guild, a group dedicated to promoting local craftsmanship and supply for woodwork and wood artistry. From this collaboration, The Workshop was born. The Workshop will open this fall offering memberships and classes to area woodworkers and people interested in learning more about wood craft. David Keene, Bill Scheff, and Rance Rupp join Eggers in providing a dedicated workspace with opportunities for learning and collaboration, as well as a source for equipment, premium exotic and domestic lumber, and personal studio space. Eggers says, “The best way to learn things is to associate with people who have the knowledge or skills and are willing to share them. The Workshop will evolve into a center for excellence in handcrafted artisanship, beginning with wood work initially, and eventually expanding into glass, metal and other mediums. In addition to offering space for experienced wood artisans, it will be a great environment for people who want to experience woodworking but don’t know where to start.” The guild is hosting the first Whiskey and Wood Artisan Festival this month with the help of the folks at A. Smith Bowman Distillery. Eggers says woodwork will be featured, but the festival will also highlight a few glass artists, potters, and some metal artists and blacksmiths. He notes, “The festival will expose the community to the fact that there are a large number of very fine wood craft artisans in this community, including fine furniture makers. We even have a violin maker here in town, Bill Mason. " We are hoping that the festival will be a launching pad for community awareness that fine woodworking is happening and available right here in Fredericksburg".
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Michelle Begin, Bowman Distillery’s Event Associate, adds, “We are extremely excited about the Whiskey and Wood Festival; it’s the first time we’ve ever had anything like this here. When they approached us about it, we just saw it as a win-win situation. It’s a great opportunity for local wood working artisans to showcase their products and abilities, as well as great promotion for the distillery.” Begin says that during the event the distillery will be running business as normal. Just as they do Monday through Saturday every week, the distillery will offer tours and conduct tastings. She adds, “Anyone who comes in can take a tour, get samples and purchase products, but they also get the added benefit of getting to see the local artisans here as well.” Eggers thinks that Fredericksburg is supportive of its arts community, but he says events like the Whiskey and Wood Artisan Festival help to pull the community together. He says, “There’s a sign coming into town that reads “Welcome to Historic Fredericksburg.” There needs to be one “Welcome to Artistic that says Fredericksburg.” Fredericksburg is an unknown art commodity in the region, and that’s mainly because it’s known primarily for its history and a bit for its painting and pottery, but I think there are avenues for a variety of art. Exposing the community to other mediums is what’s going to change that perception.” Join Eggers and the rest of the Fredericksburg Area Woodworkers Guild at A. Smith Bowman Distillery on Friday, October 21, 2016, where they will hold a preview reception at 5:00 p.m. and the event will open to the public at 6:00 p.m. The festival continues on Saturday, October 22nd from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and is free to the public all day. Call (540) 373-4555 for directions or information. A.E. Bayne is a writer, artist, & educator
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It’s that time again. What time is that you may ask? That time. That inestimable time when the days grow shorter, the turning colors more brilliant and there is a chill in the air. It is that special fall time in Virginia again, replete with jugs of cloudy apple cider and a brilliant display of mother nature at every turn. Not to mention the very first smell of a wood fire for the season, with visions of ripening pumpkins reflecting the moonlight in the patch. Draw that old, faithful sweater close to “keep the nip in the air off”, it’s officially Fall! Downtown Greens will celebrate this wonderful time of year with our very Tales by the Campfire for own event: Tall-T Families, on October 29, at 7pm replete with Fredericksburg's folklores by the campfire, some of which might even be a little spooky! Come join the us by the crackling fire and by the light of the full, silvery ”Hunter’s Moon" as we tell tall tales to the backdrop of nature sounds like crickets, frogs and other creatures of the night. In regards to the silvery moon, did you know that traditionally, native tribes spent the month of October preparing for the coming winter which included hunting and preserving meats for use as food. This led to October’s full moon being called the Hunter’s Moon and sometimes Blood Moon or Sanguine Moon. Allow me to return to the subject of snacks, a most important subject. What would a campfire be without S’mores? We are looking forward to our very own Herbal Arts Collective group’s offering of homemade marshmallows made from real marshmallow root (the olde-fashioned way) to add to your campfire s’mores. Marshmallow. Althaea officinalis. A gentle plant indeed, the first “marshmallows” were actually medicinal throat lozenges made of this plant’s mucilaginous root rolled in other herbs and ingested for many years before they became the “sweet treat” that we
recognize now. Below find a herbal recipe from food.com (http://fd.cm/2d0PdC1) to make your own all-natural marshmallows: Original Marshmallows 4 tablespoons diced marshmallow root* 28 tablespoons refined sugar 20 tablespoons gum tragacanth (or gum arabic- a natural product which can be bought online) 2 cups water (Water of orange flowers for aroma or instead of plain water) 1 -2 egg whites, well beaten Make sure the mallow roots aren’t moldy or too woody. Marshmallow gives off almost twice its own weight of mucilaginous gel when placed in water. Make a tea of marshmallow roots by simmering in a pint of water for twenty to thirty minutes. Add additional water if it simmers down. Strain out the roots.
Heat the gum and marshmallow decoction (water) in a double boiler until they are dissolved together. Strain with pressure. Stir in the sugar as quickly as possible. When dissolved, add the well beaten egg whites, stirring constantly, but take off the fire and continue to stir. Lay out on a flat surface. Let cool, and cut into smaller pieces. We recommend www.mountainroseherbs.com for bulk organic Althanea officinalis root
Anna-Katya Hvizdos de Lorenzo is an Herbalist and Horticultural Director at Downtown Greens where she enjoys overseeing the Herbal Arts Collective, a free monthly group that seeks to teach and empower people about the vital plant medicine around us.
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