Lehman’s Country Life

In the distant undemanding past, in those trouble-free days B.C. (Before Children), unburdened as we were even by cordless telephones, car alarms or e-mail, my wife and I were given a fluffy eiderdown comforter as an anniversary present. I expect it cost a fortune as my mother, the donor, was typically generous with this kind of thing; it certainly seemed big enough, sitting there all boxed up on our porch one afternoon, like a smallish hippopotamus packed for transport. I fancied the FedEx driver must have felt grateful to get half his van freed up for the trip home.

Interestingly, the comforter after being unpacked started to expand itself even further until it assumed its full pneumatic grandeur, an impossibly soft slab almost as thick as our mattress and considerably broader.  A Colossal Comforter.  We were impressed.

I still remember the look of serenity on my wife’s face when she wrapped the thing around herself to give it a test-drive: the poor woman nearly melted with delight.  She was instantly warm - toasty, snuggly, deeply warm, maybe for the first time since we’d moved up to Northern California from balmy Los Angeles a few years previous.
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Enjoy the beauty of the Kidron area landscape thru the eyes of local artist Dennis Lipp. On July 12th, during Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival, Dennis can be found in the cafe and book area painting a scene from this area. So grab some lunch, coffee or ice cream and have a seat to enjoy seeing the creative process at work! Dennis, along with 13 other local artists will be participating in live demonstrations and offering their artwork for sale. Make a day of it and enjoy! Stop by www.kidronarts.com to read artists profiles and see a preview of artwork and demonstrations.

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In response to high gas prices this summer, we’re going local! Lehman’s wants to provide fun, educational events for families who may be staying closer to home this year and are looking for intriguing road trips and short getaways. So, we’ve got several great (free!) events lined up for Saturdays this summer and even into fall. We hope you’ll join us at our retail store in Kidron for some amazing musical performances and interactive demonstrations that let you take a step back into the past - if only for a day!

NOTE: All events are FREE (with ample free parking available), require NO advance reservations and take place at Lehman’s, on the square in Kidron (get driving directions to Kidron).
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On July 12 th you will get a chance to meet the folks from Longhedges Fiber Studio. Angela Seymour-Boss will be across from the customer service desk at the store in Kidron displaying and selling her fiber and fiber art during Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival. Angela, along with her husband Warren, own and operate a retail fiber shop as well as an alpaca and fiber animal farm. In the photo above you can see a sampling of some of her hand dyed and spun angora yarn. She offers knitting and spinning classes as well as a wide assortment of fiber from cleaned raw fiber from a wide variety of animals, to rovings, to yarn to finished products that make beautiful gifts. You can read about Angela and the other artists at www.kidronarts.com To learn more about Longhedges Fiber Studio go to www.longhedges.com

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Tim Shue, a resident, artist and musician from the Kidron area, will be at Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival filling two roles. He will be providing musical entertainment and showcasing his unique mosaic garden art. To create the pieces you see above Tim uses carvings as well as pieces of glass or tiles to make this lovely garden art. The mix between the natural materials of the rock and the colors and textures of the glass and tile, along with the nature theme make for an interesting compliment to gardens, patios or walkways. They work beautifully whether in a manicured garden or a naturalized one. Plan on stopping by to see the many creative talents of Tim Shue on July 12th along with a wide variety of other local artist. To read more about the other particpating artists go to www.kidronarts.com

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We are very pleased and excited to have two local potters participating in Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival on July 12th. Nicole Myers, of Flying Pig Clayworks will have some of her beautiful, nature inspired ceramic pitchers, platters and possibly even some animal sculptures to show and to sell! Laura Smith, of Wooster, will set up her potter’s wheel in the Buggy Barn and do pottery demonstrations through out the day.

13 artists in all will be in the store, displaying their art and looking forward to sharing with you the process in which they make their craft. Count on seeing oil painters, watercolorists, animal art and murals, fiber arts, landscape artists, mosaic art, wool rug hooking in lovely primitive styles, woodturners, painted gourds, garden art and food as art!

We have a full day planned of demonstrations by a wide variety of artists, special food, kid’s activities and music so mark your calendars and make a day of it!

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In 2004, Kristin Lorson was commissioned to design and create a mural that would depict the 50 year history of Lehman’s. Kristin, having a big appreciation of local history, was honored to take on such a unique project. “Gathering all the information in my research took half as long as painting the entire mural!” Kristin said. The total project was a nine month long stint, that Kristin was able to accomplish right in her own family’s dining room. The 4′ x 10′ piece of Luan board she painted was propped up in the busiest room in her home. “Our dining room is like Grande Central Station! There I would be in the middle of everything painting, while my husband, three kids, a dog and a cat, all ran around me. Although it was busy, it was great for me to have a project like that to work on at home. My kids were a lot younger then.”
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I met today with Peter Heath of Amish Country TV to talk about our upcoming Art Festival at Lehman’s on July 12th. Peter makes videos of events of special interest in Amish Country and then shows them on his web site as well as in hotels as a courtesy to people coming into the area. I talked to him about the wide variety of local artists who will be at Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival doing demonstrations in the store. We are fortunate to have a wealth of talented, accomplished artists from the Kidron area who are looking forward to sharing with the people at Lehman’s how they take their raw materials to create their own unique finished product. In this high tech world the value of using your hands to create and the satisfaction of the creative process is to be appreciated more than ever. Many of these crafts and skills have a long rich history which we want to preserve and share. I think you will find this event to be fun, educational and inspiring for all ages. To add to the festive atmosphere there will be special music, food and hands on activities for kids.

To read Artists Profiles of artists participating in this event go to www.kidronarts.com Stop by soon to see the video made from this interview. We will post it on Lehman’s Youtube station as it becomes available!

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With the price of gas so high, you’ve probably seen a few hundred articles on how to save it. The frugal among us have known for years that you don’t gun the engine just so you can slam on the brakes at the next stop light, and you don’t drive unnecessarily, and you don’t drive around with the car (or truck) loaded with things you’re not using or transporting from here to there. That just makes good sense.

But now it’s getting serious. The price of gas keeps… well, I was going to say “crawling,” but it’s more like leaping upwards. This upward bounding might slow down and even stop, (we can dream) but the chance of the price going back down, at least to any appreciable amount, is pretty small.

So… we’re stuck with high and higher gas prices. Is there any reasonable thing we can do to help our fuel budgets? “Reasonable” may be in the eye of the doer, but there are definitely things we can do to cut back how much we’re spending for transportation.

Try these out:
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As part of Lehman’s Local Artisan Festival on July 12th, Sue Steiner will be at the store doing a painting demonstration and offering artwork for sale. Sue’s farm animal murals can be seen at Lehman’s in the Buggy Barn as well as in the outside eating area of the cafe. You can have your picture taken by Sue’s most recent mural, Rex and Roy, the life sized team of Amish work horses that was painted this winter. She’ll also have on hand more ‘Rex and Roy’ equine art as well as an assortment of Amish, farm and farm animal art. For more information on Sue go to www.suesteiner.com as well as www.kidronarts.com to read about the other local artists who will be participating in the art festival.