Originally posted on Williams Design Co's website on July 2, 2023:

It’s Farmers Market season, and I have been lucky enough to be part of the Tuesday Tower Grove Market, and the Thursday Rockwell Beer Garden Market in Francis park here in St. Louis, Missouri. Being newer to the St. Louis area, I had never even been to these parks, but they are both incredible. They are big, with beautiful grass and trees, and make for a perfect spot for Farmers Markets. On Tuesday’s at Tower Grove I have a permanent spot under an awesome tree, which makes for a lovely shady spot to post up. The vendor next to me is Misty from “Hi, I’m Misty,” and she blows glass and does incredible work, and is so much fun to hang out with during the market. I really enjoy being at this market because the food is incredible. There is a Thai place that does amazing pad thai and thai tea, a sandwich place called “Fat Fox STL” that makes killer sandwiches, and then the star of the market (in my opinion) is “Damn Fine Hand Pies” who make the best donuts in the history of the world (among other things). If you haven’t tried these places, and are in the St. Louis area, do yourself a favor and change that.

Thursdays and Francis park vary in my spot and my neighbors, which is also fun to be able to meet new people. Larder and Cupboard (that makes amazing jams, jellies and curds) is there, Mylk and Hummus (who make carrot and ginger hummus to die for), Key Cakes makes incredible gooey butter cake (a St. Louis treasure) and the market is run by a woman named Dee who is so wonderful, supportive and interactive with customers and vendors. She is constantly looking for ways to improve the market for customers and vendors alike and the market is so lucky to have her. The weather has been getting hotter, and sometimes that slows the market down, but I tend to love the heat. Mainly because I hate the cold so much! Yes, even being from Colorado. And because of how much I complain about the cold in the winter, I feel like I am not allowed to complain about the heat, so I just soak it in and enjoy it. Luckily I don’t have a product that melts or struggles in the heat. OH! And I got a new chair everyone, and what sold me on it was that it has a fold up cup holder and table to be able to hold my water bottle, or cocktail, or beer and all my snacks. It has been a game changer. The chair I had before was just a fold out one from target, and at the time I didn’t fully comprehend how important it is to find a chair that you can literally sit in all day. So that’s probably the biggest bit of news thus far!

 But, in other less exciting news, I have been working on increasing my production of ceramics each day I create. This seems to have multiple factors to it. One, is simply just getting more comfortable and quicker about the actually throwing and creating. The other is finding ways to be more efficient with how I time manage, such as doing items that need handles in the morning and ones that don’t in the evening. Also, I use my garage as the studio and there is no air conditioning, which makes heat a factor, and if the pieces dry out to much it makes trimming and putting handles on difficult. I have found that using the bed of my truck as a drying station for a few items I can control drying times and be able to work on my pieces in smaller groups, it has been a game changer as well. Again,

its just learning as I go and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work. And apparently trying some out-of-the-box or back-of-truck thinking! If you are in the St. Louis area, come and check out the markets!