Lamb Archives - Try Handmade

Esther's Place: For Such A Time As This

October 3, 2017 by Angela Walters 5 Comments

Please help me welcome the latest Try Handmade columnist, Angela Walters! You may already know her from Posy Moe or Pocketfulla Posy, but now you get to learn about handmade shops in and around her town through her very ambitious new column In My Town: Chicagoland, IL, USA. I’m really excited to learn more about this part of the country, so let’s get on with it!

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Erika

Elegant, cozy Victorian? Check. Comprehensive class schedule? Check. Enough gorgeous yarn and fiber to send an otherwise sane woman into a feeding frenzy? Double check.

Ok, I admit it. It was love at first sight. Esther’s Place is a vibrant, grass-roots fiber arts studio in Big Rock, Illinois. Walk in on a typical Saturday afternoon, as I did, and you’ll find that the joint is jumping. The walls are lined with baskets, boxes and heaping piles of yarn, roving, soaps, and textiles. People mill about, touching, smelling, and admiring.

The owners, Natasha and Donna Lehrer, are a mother-daughter team. Daughter Natasha runs most of the classes and Mom Donna helps customers and keeps the business side of things in tip-top shape. I asked Natasha to tell me a little about the shop, but first: Who is Esther?

“There are three Esther’s,” Natasha laughs. “One is a sheep, and sort of a metaphor for what we want to accomplish here. To keep lambs and sheep in the forefront as a reminder to people of the source of our crafts and to not take that for granted. The second Esther was a neighbor of ours who was ninety-six when she passed. Right before she died she told me she’d never seen spinning. I marveled that in ninety-six years of life, you’d think spinning fibers would have been a big part of living in a rural community. So I asked myself if in 100 years these arts and skills would still be around. We saw the importance of keeping these traditions alive. And the third Esther comes from the Bible. Esther 4:14: ‘And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?’ That verse makes me think of the things we wait our whole lives for. What dreams are we waiting to fulfill? In 2005 I’d just graduated from high school and was asking myself what I want to do with my life. I decided it was to teach and keep our community and our fiber artists connected to the farms and the sheep.”

The Lehrers also own Lamb of God Farm, but most of the wool in the shop is produced by members of the Illinois Green Pastures Fiber Co-op. Esther’s Place does not take a consignment fee from its producers, though a small portion of the sales goes toward maintaining the co-op. “We want most of the money to go back to the producers. Where it belongs,” Natasha explains. “We carry all American products and try to foster community, sustainability, lifestyle and tradition.”

Two classes are going at once. In one, a family is needle-felting baby chicks, and in another, women are learning to weave on the loom. Natasha makes it look effortless as she moves from one student to another, offering encouragement and instruction. In the parlor a couple of ladies are taking tea. They aren’t enrolled in a scheduled class, they’ve just dropped in for some knitting help and a little chitchat. Natasha and Donna are happy to oblige.

“We offer three class schedules a year. Our website has our email address, and you can email us to get on our mailing list. We have classes in knitting, weaving, spinning, dyeing, wet felting, needle-felting, shibori, nuno felting, and then there’s mixed media: jewelry, doll-making. There isn’t much in the fiber arts world that we don’t offer. We’ll even do custom classes for one or for a group of friends. And for kids we offer a one day kids’ camp with all kinds of projects. It’s just a whole day of fun. This is definitely a place for families.”

Esther’s Place also plays host to birthday parties and overnight retreats. “We’ve been a bed and breakfast from the start, but the purpose for the B&B is really to accommodate overnight guests who are here for classes and events. Groups often come and take an evening class, spend the night upstairs, and then take another morning class. We like to offer that option for our customers; a place to come and just refresh and renew, and learn something new. We’ve had guests from as far away as Norway and Israel.”

The shop is busy when other retailers are suffering empty sales floors. “I think with the economic downturn, people are holding on to hand crafts. It’s something they can control and enjoy without breaking the bank. A customer once told me, ‘I got my statement from my stocks yesterday. But I didn’t freak out. I felted.’ “

I asked if people come for a class and then just stay to feed their fiber addictions. Natasha’s response was a simple smile and a wink and then she was off to help a little girl shape her felt elephant.

Esther’s Place, 201 W. Galena Street (Route 30), Big Rock, IL, 60511, USA
Phone: +1-630-556-WOOL
Hours of Operation: Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

On the web: http://www.esthersplacefibers.com and visit their blog Friends of Esther at http://www.friendsofesther.wordpress.com

What’s In Season Now: July Edition

May 24, 2017 by Diana Prichard Leave a Comment

Before we get started with July go check out the May and June editions of our What’s In Season Now series, if you haven’t seen them already. Depending on the climate in your locale and the weather your area has experienced this year some — or many — of the suggestions in those columns may still be applicable.

In most places the strawberry season is coming to a close, but those blueberries I mentioned following close behind last month are about to spread their bounty and they will be followed by blackberries and raspberries — both domestic and wild will make an appearance this month — so, luckily, the berry season itself is far from making it’s grand exit for the year.

The tomatoes we talked about last month are now hitting full stride — mostly regardless of geography — as well. I love perusing the stands for interesting heirloom varieties I’ve never tried before. Make a note of those you most enjoy so you remember which to buy extras of — or plant in your own garden or patio pots — next year. Some of our tried and true favorites include Black Krim (my personal favorite), Mr. Stripey (my youngest will devour these by the bushel if I let her), and Green Zebra.

Beside them you’ll probably be able to find beets, carrots, peas, summer squash, zucchini, onions, peaches, plums, early apples, cherries, watermelon, cantaloupe, fresh corn on the cob and herbs of all kinds as July truly marks the height of the summer growing season in many places.

Though, these days, meats are mostly year round in their availability every type tends to have a season all its own nonetheless. Be on the lookout this month for fresh lamb to round out meals made with any of the above.

New to Farmer’s Market shopping? Our 2009 guide, How To Shop Farmer’s Markets, contains helpful tips and tricks to help make the most of your trip. From what to take to how to spot a bargain, it’s all there.

Until next time, happy local shopping, happy local eating!

Good on Gyros & With Jam

October 24, 2016 by Diana Prichard Leave a Comment

I love a good lamb gyro perhaps as much as anyone can love any food. Ever. In the world. But I also have a soft spot for lambs. I cannot resist their particular brand of cute. So much so, in fact, they are the only livestock I have been reluctant to try my hand at raising for meat myself. I simply cannot say with any sort of confidence whatsoever that processing day would be even the least bit tolerable. And since tolerable is the best any processing day can ever be, I’ve yet to take the plunge.

Luckily, others do not harbor my biases and sheep farms are anything but scarce in most of the United States. And though the traditional holiday for lamb eating may have already passed, a good rack of lamb is a celebration in and of itself fit for any time of year.

In fact, there is an often unforeseen bonus in buying lambs after the Easter holiday has passed — especially if you’re buying a whole or half lamb — ethnic markets for lamb are strongest just before Easter and demand for a smaller carcass there drives down the size of lambs sold around that time of year. After Easter has passed lambs are often grown out longer, making for a larger end product; a bonus if you’re feeding a family of four or more as am I.

In an ideal world we’d all buy our lambs — whether we’re looking for wholes, halves, racks, legs, chops, roasts or a combination of all of the above — from the farm down the road, and we literally have a sheep farm down the road here, but not everyone is so lucky. To find fresh, local lamb you can search Local Harvest for sheep farms near you, but if that fails you can also buy lamb online. Upper Dry Creek Ranch, a family owned farm in Western Oregon, offers their lamb products on Foodzie. That’s a picture of their loin chops above.

And as long as you’re at it, don’t forget the toppings, rubs and marinades. And don’t be afraid to think outside the box, the Chipotle Pepper Jam by Uncle Berch’s Foods, also via Foodzie, is reportedly a great accompaniment.