What an incredible and busy week at Northwest Willow. Our first massive order of White, Buff, and Noir willow from Musgrove Willows arrived and sales opened with a very positive response from weavers. It has been fantastic! That said, the duck’s feet are paddling like crazy under that smooth water: here are some of the behind the scenes details:

Summer has felt like a rush this year. We opened our online dried basketry willow sales for the first time, held our breath, and then watched the orders roll in. 10 days later? Sold out. Less than two weeks! If you were one of the lucky basketmakers who grabbed dried willow rods for your projects, thank you. If you missed out, we totally get it, things went fast! We were surprised, delighted, and have already expanded to have more available next year.

If you came and smiled with us, thank you for the laughter and the shared tangles of tools and willow. If you didn’t make it this year, you’ve got next year to look forward to - and I’m already excited.

This spring break I escaped to England to get away after a busy harvest/tool season, also because Musgrove Willows and Coates English Willow have been calling to me in my dreams. The itinerary was simple: visit two legendary willow farms, soak up growing tips, and return home before Spring Break is over. (See Bath and Stonehenge along the way)

This has been a whirlwind of a new year. Never did I imagine that a call to Jim about tools would end in me taking over the business, but I am thrilled to continue what Jim so beautifully started.

Winter harvest is one of the busiest and most exciting times of the year here. The farm feels alive even under frost, (or rain) and full of plans and promise. That said, all this cutting, sorting, and planting does leave very little time for weaving at the moment. But this is the season that makes all the weaving possible later. And for now, we’ll happily trade weaving in the studio for crisp air, good friends, and armloads of beautiful willow.

January is turning out to be quite a busy month. I’m displaying my baskets for the first time at Art Gallery 505, a cozy local co-op art gallery. This small Toledo gallery brings a surprisingly wide variety of local artisans together and features everything from fabric arts, painting, ceramics, woodworking, photography and now willow basketry!

We are approaching harvest. The willow looks beautiful, the leaves are nearly all off, and the plants are dormant.