Turtles

I got to visit mom at her cabin on Sunday afternoon. We decided to take a Sunday drive to check out the countryside and it was a turtle convention!

Only a mile from the cabin and here was turtle #1. He was a big boy - about a foot long. He was in the middle of the road, taking a leisurely stroll. I stopped the car, stood behind him and told him to get moving, so he would not be squashed. He stepped up the pace and made it across the road safely.

One mile later, and another turtle was in the road. I had a truck close behind me, so I could not stop. I drove around him, but the truck had to go over the top of him. I wonder how Mr. Turtle felt when he had a giant vehicle drive over him? He was between the wheels, so did not get hurt. I still wonder how a turtle feels when someone drives over him?

When I left the next morning to come back to Traverse City, the second turtle was not in the road, so I have to hope he crossed the road safely.

Turtles are such neat creatures! God does good work!

Farm Market Time

Michael has been at the Farm Market at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons for the past few months and has really enjoyed meeting new Creekside Grains clients.

I was at the Suttons Bay Farm Market for the past two weekends. It was great seeing my vendor friends from last year and meeting new Creekside Grains clients.

Many of the Farm Markets will be starting up in a few weeks. By mid summer, we will be at about nine markets each week. I look forward to enjoying the beautiful summer weather and dining on fresh produce from the vendors!

Speaking of fresh produce, Michael is growing a small garden this summer. He has an 8'x8' plot started. The lettuce has already peeked out from under the dirt and looks promising. I grew up on a farm with a two acre garden (8'x8' is not two acres, but it works for me), so I am ready for fresh veggies from our own backyard, just like when I was growing up!

See you at the Markets!

Spring Craft Show

If you are in the Traverse City area on Saturday, stop by and see us at the Spring Craft Show, located at First Christian Church (behind Best Buy). The crafters were setting up tonight and the show looks like it has some great items.

I will be at the Craft Show from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

Michael will be at the Village at Grand Traverse Commons from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM for the Farmers Market.

We hope to see you!

Another Great Letter

Creekside Grains donated a gift basket for Cherry Knoll Elementary School fundraiser. This is the thank you letter from one of the students. We left out his name for safety reasons.

Dear Creekside Grains,

Thank you for the baking mix basket. We appreciate your generosity. You helped Cherry Knoll raise $8,000 dollars. Now we can go on field trips.

Sincerely,
******

We love it when we receive these letters! We love it when they can go on field trips!

Great Letter

While we were in the process of moving, we received this great letter in the mail. We are using stars to protect the writer's identity. I am writing this letter exactly as she wrote to us.

To Whom it May Concern:

I am ***. I'm in 4th grade and I go to *** Elementary. I am learning how to write business letter's so I chose you to write to.

My mom loves your coffee cookies! The reason she loves them is because then she doesn't have to make coffee at 6:00 in the morning.

If you don't have any bread products, I think that you should make some banana bread mix because my whole family loves any kind of bread. I was wondering if I could have a coupon so that my family could try more of your other products.

Keep up the good work,

***

What a great letter! We will see what we can do to get a banana bread mix made. Michael has a great recipe. I will give him a little nudge to get it started!

We have lots of other new bread products. I will try to get them on the site soon, so her family can enjoy Creekside Grains breads.

Final Moving Day!

If you do not hear from us for a few more days, it is because the phone lines and computers and internet are moving to our new office.

If all goes well, we will be back in action on Friday afternoon. If the normal glitches occur, you will hear from us on Monday.

Back to final packing and moving!

Bye!

Almost Moving Day!

Next Friday, we will be officially out of this office and into a temporary office.

Lots to do and little time to move it all!

We had wonderful friends who helped move most of the office furniture
and files and shelves and lots of boxes on Saturday,
but my office is still very full.

I leave town for five days on Friday,
so poor Michael has to clean up after me.
He can do it! I know he can!

On Saturday, March 20,
I will be going to the Keepsake Collection Folk Art and Craft Show
at Saginaw Valley State University on Bay Road in Saginaw.
Hours are 10 AM to 4 PM.

I will be sampling Michael's newest invention...
Double Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cookies!
Our taste testers raved about it!
Join us and try one for yourself.

If the blog is empty for awhile,

I will fill it up when I return and unpack!

What a Story!

This was sent to me by a client who wanted to share her Creekside Grains story...Please keep the family in your prayers. Thank you.

Two years ago my friend was diagnosed with cancer, shortly after finding our she was expecting. She was unable to do the traditional treatments until after the baby was born.

Now with a healthy baby girl and an amazing husband, they started a new life of her being in remission. God had other plans for her. Just a few weeks ago, she went into emergency surgery and was unable to see her daughter for days.

When her little girl did get to visit her, Grandma had purchased a package of Princess Pancakes or Crown Cookies (not sure which mix, because I didn't get the entire story) for a "Get Better" gift. Her little girl walked into the hospital room with the mix and said, "You're still a princess to me Mom."

God's grace, mercy and love is unfailing and faithful and continues to bless my friends. Everything went great in surgery and we'll shall see what the weeks ahead hold for them.

Miss Heart, then off to Lansing

It has been over a month since I blogged? Guess why? I will tell you!

Michael is the Executive Director of Miss Heart of Michigan, which is a Miss Michigan, Miss America preliminary competition. I am the President.

Last Saturday, Miss Heart 2010 was crowned at the Leelanau Sands Showroom. Kaley Lynn Schroeder also took home a $10,000 scholarship! Miss America 2008, Kirsten Haglund was the co emcee with our Miss Heart 2009, Katie LaRoche. Kirsten and Katie did a wonderful job entertaining the crowd and helping to make the evening go smoothly.

Kaley is now preparing for Miss Michigan in June.

For the past two months, I have been planning the event, from ticket taking to Lodge room reservations, to script writing, to making sure contestants paperwork was correct, to answering over fifty emails per day, to preparing judges books, to you name it, I did it.

Whew, the pageant is done and we are starting to plan for next year.

We are also preparing for the Lansing Gift show which starts on Sunday. Michael is busy packing mixes and preparing products and I am polishing up the brochures and order forms. We heard that over 600 people attend the show, so we are looking forward to a great weekend!

Have a great weekend! I know we will!

Amazing brownies!

I just received this email...

"Hey Loretta!

This is Terri (Jenn's mom).

I don't have a facebook, so I am "borrowing" Jenn's!

Michael's brownies are AMAZING!

They didn't last very long at our house!

Tell him "Bravo!" from all of us! :)"

I love it when a client loves our brownies so much that
they have to borrow Facebook to get the message to me!

I have to agree with Terri.

The brownies are soooo good!