Fresh Peach Tart
Simple Fresh Peach Tart served on a Wild Bower Speckled Ceramic Platter
Peach Tart served on a Wild Bower Studio Handmade Speckled Ceramic Oval Serving Platter
What an insane summer! Typically our April is super rainy but the summer has really soaked us. So our normal exploration on the weekends have been washed out quite regularly, which means that we haven’t been “picking our own" in quite a while! Well, ask/wish and you shall receive. We happened to be at the right place at the right time to receive a beautiful bag full of freshly picked peaches just waiting to be transformed into something sweet and delicious though I could have probably eaten each peach on their own.
We did a poll on our Instagram page to see what folks thought we should make. One of the big winners was the peach tart. Simple and sunny we found our Peach Tart recipe from Food52. I didn’t follow their crust recipe because I had plans to make pies and quiches so I just made extra pie crust but I did follow the rest.
Peach Tart served on a Wild Bower Studio Handmade Speckled Ceramic Oval Serving Platter
Peach Tart served on a Wild Bower Studio Handmade Speckled Ceramic Oval Serving Platter surrounded by Sun Ray appetizer plates and textured side bowls
The Best Zucchini Bread
Recently, as I start the pile of veggies, I’ve found myself getting to a point where I say “What am I going to do with all this?” Today that question was focused on our Zucchini haul.
Zucchini Bread served on Wild Bower Studio Sun Ray Serving Platter
When you start a garden there are so many moments where you wonder what will happen and if the garden will be a success. Will we get even one tomato or one squash? Well, we’ve officially surpassed our expectations. Every few weeks a new veggie starts to ripen and thus a new question starts to unfurl…
Recently, as I start the pile of veggies, I’ve found myself getting to a point where I say “What am I going to do with all this?” Today that question was focused on our Zucchini haul. The green gourds sometimes get lost behind the big leaves so we’ve had a few unexpected “monsters”. Some have grown larger than my forearm!
I tried to go through all of the recipes that I’ve made in the past to figure out my plan of attack. So today we made Zucchini bread, which should honestly be outlawed - it’s so dang good and more like cake than bread.
Zucchini Bread served on Wild Bower Studio textured ceramic dinnerware & Sun Ray platter.
I’m a simple potter and while with cooking I can confidently ad lib, baking on the other hand I tend to find sticking to the recipes (to start) helpful for success. After a quick search I discovered Mom’s Zucchini Bread recipe. Best part it has over 9K 5 stars reviews so you know it’ll be good.
We made this recipe twice, the first following exactly and the second adding some nutmeg, ginger and allspice to the mix. Both were delicious and for sure a treat you’ll want to share with your friends and family.
Blueberry Handpies
Blueberry hand pies are super easy to make and really easy to take with you on the go.
Blueberry Hand pies served on Wild Bower Studio Sun Ray platter and dinner plates
While last year I was very focused on foraging, this year I’m all about pick your own. It’s so satisfying to fill a bucket full of delicious treats. Finally we’ve made it to blueberry season and let me tell you… blueberries are incredible right off the bush. It’s amazing how different food tastes in the store vs from the garden.
The past weekend we had some friends over with their young daughter, who loved blueberries. So we decided what better way to enjoy the day but to pick our own blueberries which we now call Bloobs. Off to Saunderskill Farm!
It was a beautiful day and a really easy ride over to the farm. We were part of a hand full of groups who had a similar idea so we all had a lot of space to really get into it. Fast forward and we’ve filled 10 quarts!!! Once we returned home it was time to start figuring out what to do with all these bloobs. Jam was obviously the first step in this process and then time to bake. We wanted to make something that our young picker could easily handle so we went with blueberry hand pies. These treats are super easy to make and really easy to take with you on the go. We used this recipe from King Arthur Flour as our general guide.
Blueberry Hand pies served on Wild Bower Studio Sun Ray platter and dinner plates with hand dyed napkins
Morning Coffee & a Rustic Cherry Tart for Breakfast
The best mornings have coffee and dessert. We make a rustic cherry tart served on our handmade ceramic serving platter for breakfast.
When we moved out to the Catskill Mountains, we dreamt of quiet moments in nature feasting on delicious treats like this Rustic Cherry Tart served on one of our White Swirl Speckled Serving Platters. They are match made in heaven.
The spring and summer out here produce some of the most amazing fruits and this week we dove into cherries. Have you ever had a fresh cherry?!? For me, it’s like a dream that transports me back to childhood. There is nothing like a perfect cherry, so we set out to bake something that elevated the sweet and delicious fruit.
My mom recently came out to spend the weekend with us and boy, was it fun to show her around and get some time to cook together. My mom has always been a wonderful cook and baker. Normally, we’re baking Christmas cookies but it’s not quite the season for that so we opted for fresh Cherries that we picked up from local Farm, Barthel’s in Ellenville, NY.
Check out the delicious recipe created by Sheila at Life Love and Good Food
We sipped our morning coffee out of our handmade Flare Mugs and ate the tart for breakfast. It was such bliss!
Once you’re out of coffee, use our ceramic Coffeepot to display all of your happy flowers (I’ve been watching a lot of Boss Ross). This flower arrangement came from local Florist, Little Pebble Flower Farm.
Welcome to our Studio in the Mountains!
Welcome to our dream - a studio in the mountains. Check out what we’ve accomplished over the last few months and get some insight into what we’re working on next.
Nicole organizing our book collection
Living Green:
We’ve got big dreams planned for this space. One of our firsts was to run as fully green as we possibly could. Our first step towards that reality came earlier this year as we converted our property to run on green energy harnessed from solar power. Our next phase will be adding plumbing that will make the collection and use of rain water much easier than just leaving buckets outside.
Nicole power washing the floors to prepare for their epoxy finish
A look at our wheel throwing area
Opening:
We had hoped to open our doors this summer but our timeline got a little jumbled because of the restrictions and uncertainty of covid-19. In order to stay safe and help reduce the spread, we will be closed to the public for the time being.
I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to inviting the community to participate in classes, workshops and other experiences with us in the future. Until then it’ll just be me working around the clock to produce work, continue to build the dream and taking you on the journey.
After months of hard work and loads of elbow grease I am so excited to share with you our new studio and how we turned this old garage into a creative sanctuary.
Converting the space into a studio wasn’t as simple as flipping a switch but after a lot of research, failures and obviously way more successes we are finally on our way to seeing a more completed space. Keep reading to see our progress and get a little insight into what is next.
Our first official day with solar energy
Elbow Grease:
What I could manage on my own, I did, which included epoxying the floor, painting and adding baseboards to the walls. Some of the things I learned along the way - I’m really bad at taping & finishing drywall, I love a power washer and gosh, all of this so very tiring.
The walls & floor are finished
Next Steps:
It feels like we’ve done so much already but there are still lots of things to work on. We’re redoing the garage doors, building a wedging table, finding a better method to collect rain water, installing gutters, adding more shelves, figuring out how to heat this space. And those are just some of the bigger projects on the list. Who knows what else will be added to the list as we move forward…
The day after all of our things were moved upstate from Brooklyn
Adventures in Narrowsburg, NY
Like every Saturday date day, we set out towards adventure! This weekend we decided on Narrowsburg, NY. Roughly 50 mins from Mountain Dale, it’s not a quick trip but it sure takes us through some beautiful turns like the historic town of Bethel (Where Woodstock really happened). During our drive we read and look up terms, ideas, history, etc that we’re curious about. This trip we spoke of the differences between falcons, hawks and eagles. We quickly stopped to forage a little bit of Chaga mushroom that we found during our foraging trip earlier this month.
We’re pretty familiar with this little big town located steps away from Pennsylvania but today we decided to explore it even more. Our focus for this trip was Captain Bludde’s Collectible’s, a toy & gaming store around the corner from main street. Filled with trains, miniatures, wooden ships and doll house parts, this store was super fun. It reminded me of a train store that was located in my hometown , Ridgefield Hobby. I was smitten.
Captain Bludde’s Collectible’s, Narrowsburg, NY
Across the street a beautiful rustic building layered in texture called to us - Maison Bergogne. How did I not visit this beautiful location before? I couldn’t quite figure out what it was - time capsule, antique store, photographer’s dream, art studio, home? There are so many beautiful oddities collected and displayed that I wanted to touch and take home.
After stopping by all of the main street shopping staples (Sunny’s Pop, Madame Fortuna, Narrowsburg Proper) we sat down at The Heron for a delicious brunch. My eggs prepared with cream cheese and scallions were amazing!
