Day #5 Post #1

Accomplishments

1. SMB
1. Retail vendor dropoff
2. Retail vendor demo
2. Art
1. http://www.sognvalleyartfair.com/index.html 
2. Black shirt
3. Conclusion:  Etsy, not craft shows.
3. Networking
1. Set up OCT with AEC CIO
2. Exchanged messages w/ architecture IT contact
4. Professional
1. Thought about Inkscape
2. Though about Ruby on Rails

General Activity

Following a three-hour engagement for a vendor demo my 'partner-in-demo' and I headed west out of Cannon Falls in pursuit of a sign that we read on HW52 that said something like 'Art Fair S???? Val???? 5.5 Miles.'  Arriving at a farm down in a valley...ah that's the Val???? word we saw another similar sign that explained the 'S' word as Sogn.  The art fair is a free parking, no-fee event in the rolling hillsides.  This is the 41st year.  I've never heard of it.

  We wandered about a bit and saw quite a few people that we had just seen at Ferndale Market.  The vendors included potters, jewelry artisans, a beekeeper, painters, etc.  There was a live band playing country rock from the entrance of a machine shed and a couple of food vendors vendors.  We enjoyed the visit but spend no cash in support of the arts.  I was inclined to spend but did not.  Being an artisan out under a tent in the heat and the rain and the cold is a tough gig.  Etsy seems the way to go.

Back to the cities by 4:30 PM and a little more SMB and a bite to eat and it's a wrap for the day.  Of course I did have to put this post together to meet my daily commitment.

Next Steps
Sunday it's 'up north' for a couple of nights.  This includes some bee work, some barn work, some honey work, some craft work (folk art) and some basswood tree decomposition.  The Groningen Farm property had a basswood come down and I've been getting ready to saw it into working pieces for this winter's bowl carving.

The professional blog has a single post.  That is lame.  Perhaps I'm on an intellectual/professional sabbatical and have not admitted it.