Changing Seasons

The end of our busy season is approaching. I'll be open regular seasonal hours this weekend, from Saturday to Tuesday, 10 AM to 5 PM. Next weekend I'll be open on Saturday and Sunday, and the I'll be closed for the season. If you are a vendor and want to pick up your things, drop me a line and I'll arrange to meet you. Thanks, everyone, for a great summer!

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday to Tuesday. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Swinging into Fall

Mist across the pumpkin fields at Greenberry House

I know I post every year about how busy October can be here in Meadows of Dan, but it's an exciting time for the little businesses in our area and we appreciate all the visitors that come to see our beautiful mountain and the glories of fall color.

Wonderful handmade kitchen accessories from Lazy R Country Crafts

Stunningly beautiful traditional Appalachian baskets made by local artisan Frances Radford

I've expanded the crafts at the shop and now have these lovely items made by local artisans, along with the lovely yarns from local handspinners and farmers. I will probably expand the crafts with a few carefully selected lines next year. There isn't a great deal of space and I want to continue to represent our talented local workers.

Romance by George Barr McCutcheon

The shelves are full of books at the shop and I've listed over 1300 books on our sales website. Cataloging, pricing and photographing books takes a lot of time but I enjoy the process and I always feel like I'm learning something nearly every day.

New girls in town

The Buff Orpingtons in my flock are getting older and with this last molt, they don't appear to be interested in egg laying anymore. A local farmer had these lovely girls for sale so I went over to Willis and picked them up. They are a mixed group but I'm enjoying the personalities. The white one in the cage is the first silkie I've ever had here.

A good dog

Knightley stays busy greeting customers and protecting the house from deer, squirrels, the lawn man and the fellows that came to pick up the old propane tank this past week. I wasn't here when they came and Knightley had quite a story to tell me when I came home!

Wild blue asters

Fall is a special time in Meadows of Dan, with Pancake Days drawing crowds, leaves tuning and crisp weather bringing in tourists, and wonderful produce available at roadside stands all along the main roads. Winter is coming and things will be quieter, so I'll be spending time spinning, knitting, and getting things ready for another year to come. The rhythm of the seasons.

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday to Tuesday. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Many new books and lots of yarn!

One of over 1100 books we have catalogued in our online shop

The fun thing about summer at the shop is delving into the many boxes of books and getting them catalogued, priced and ready for sale. Check out our online shop for many vintage and unusual titles!

We also have some beautiful new yarns from our local handspinners. I've been working on some angora singles from the rabbits that now live here at Greenberry House. Quark and Quentin are very happy in their snug bunny house.

Beautiful bulky hand spun yarns

Elegant hand spun yarn

Baby Clara likes grazing with her mama, but sometimes she wants to be a lap goat!

Little Clara is growing like a weed but still has plenty of energy to romp. She and Mama Rose don't like the rainy days we've had lately and they will enjoy the sunshine when it returns.

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday. to Tuesday. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Thoughts on a Lazy Wednesday

“In life, as in knitting, don't leave loose ends. Take the time to thank the people who matter in your life.” 
― Reba Linker

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Imagine

“Then the maiden climbed into a tree, and, seating herself in the branches, began to knit.” 
― Hamilton Wright Mabie, Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Summer Thoughts

“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.” 
― Elizabeth Zimmermann

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Big sale at Greenberry House tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday. All collectibles in the shop 70% off! (Excludes books, yarn, handmade, fiber and fiber tools) All books on the porch 10 cents each! Yard sale outside with lots of bargain items. Come see me!

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday to Tuesday. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Open for the Season!

Greenberry House 

Spring has finally arrived in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains. I've opened the shop and we have wonderful yarns, vintage and antiquarian books and unique vintage gifts filling our shelves.

Wonderfully soft, soft alpaca yarn and roving from Ocotilla's Mountainside Alpacas.

We are delighted to be working with a close neighbor, Ocotilla's Mountainside Alpacas, from just up the Parkway at 4388 Buffalo Mountain Road. Pictures cannot convey how beautifully soft and warm this roving and alpaca are. Come and visit to see for yourself!

Chickens enjoying the sun under the pear tree and quince bush.

We had a nice winter with some cold days but not much snow here on the mountain. The animals have been happy and we think we will have some little goats at the end of May. One of our hens slipped away to make a nest and the resident fox caught her, but another hen has a little chick she is keeping warm in the chicken house. I'm hoping to move the rabbits over to the shop before long and we'll have a cozy little farm atmosphere to offer around the 1850s house that shelters the shop.

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

This is Sally. Sally Knits!

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

Still Here

And staying busy! Check out my new project, a podcast about knitting and life in Meadows of Dan.

Greenberry House,
12206 Squirrel Spur Road,
Meadows of Dan, VA 24120
Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday to Tuesday
April to mid-November.
Closed except by appointment or chance.,Mid-November to End of March

Down Down the Mountain

Down Down the Mountain by Ellis Credle

This lovely illustrated book for children is my absolute favorite of all the books we have in stock here at the shop. It's a sweet story, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains and was heralded when it was first published in 1934 as "the first picturebook ever done of the Blue Ridge country." The simple tale  of Down Down the Mountain follows the fortunes of two mountain children who set to work, on the advice of their grandmother, to grow turnips so that they can each buy themselves their first pair of shoes. They then travel down the mountain to sell their product and have adventures along the way.

Ellis Credle, a native of North Carolina born in 1902, used the experiences of her childhood and stories from her time as a teacher in the Blue Ridge Mountains as well as traditional tales from North Carolina for plots for her books for children. Her first successful title, Down Down the Mountain, led to the publication of several other books with similar themes. She struggled with a few career setbacks and some of her earlier stories are criticized for their negative portrayal of African Americans but her later work is praised by some for its authentic portrayal of life in the rural South for African Americans in the 1930s.

The story is lovely in Down Down the Mountain, with an elegant moral and a fun plot twist at the end. But the artwork of this book lifts it out of the ordinary scope of books for children and makes it something special. The two-color pictures have an easy style that captures the setting and portrays the people of the mountain with dignity and respect. There is a lot of fun in the pictures and I think adults will be as enchanted as their children with this lovely work.

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

The Purple Parasol by George Barr McCutcheon

The Purple Parasol by George Barr McCutcheon

The Purple Parasol by George Barr McCutcheon, published by A. L. Burt, 1907, Reprint with the Harrison Fisher illustrations.

When an elderly millionaire marries an elegant young woman about town, scandal erupts when she falls for a fashionable play actor. She tells her husband she is going to the mountains for a rest, and it's the straw that breaks the old man's back when he discovers that the lover is heading for the heights as well. Samuel W. Rossiter, Jr., promising young lawyer, is sent to the Adirondacks to get the "evidence" on the wayward lady. Trouble is, he has never laid eyes on the woman or her lover, but the description he is given relies heavily on the fact that she carries a purple parasol. The resulting comic chase is as charming as it is antic.

George Barr McCutcheon (1866 - 1928) was an imaginative writer and considered a member of the Golden Age of Indiana literature, joining the ranks of leading Hoosier authors including Lew Wallace, Booth Tarkington, James Whitcomb Riley and Theodore Dreiser. McCutcheon invented a country in Europe he called Graustark and he wrote several popular novels set in this enchanting realm. The Graustark novels and his other works led to his identification as a romantic writer, but McCutcheon preferred to be thought of as a playwright. His best known novel, Brewster's Millions, has repeatedly been made into movies.

Although The Purple Parasol is an old-fashioned novel, it is fast paced and the writing stands the test of time. Stepping back into a world where telegraphs are the swiftest means of communication and a train to the mountains is the elegant getaway (for a month!) of the well-to-do, the story is refreshing in its simplicity, has a good plot and a fun twist before the romantic end. The novel is short; there is a second story in this volume called The Flyers. The copy available for sale at Greenberry House is handsomely bound and is illustrated with color plates by Harrison Fisher, who was a well-known artist and involved in the discovery of Clara Bow, the "It-Girl."

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Thurs. to Mon. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March

OPEN in Our New Location!

Back home at last in the little mountain cottage on the farm

It took longer than I hope but less effort than I thought but now Greenberry House is open at my sweet little cottage on the family farm on Squirrel Spur Road in Meadows of Dan. The yarn is displayed, the book shelves are filling up and there are so many unique vintage gifts and specialty crafts that I can't begin to list them. Here's hoping a picture conveys a thousand words!

Bargain book room!

On sale! Coned yarns for weaving, crocheting or knitting.

Occasionally I've thought I should change the name of the shop to the "It's probably here somewhere" bookstore!

And of course, there is yarn. Beautiful yarns created by local artisans.

Amazing wool and other fibers from local Virginia and North Carolina farmers.

Original hand made designs and wonderful vintage collectibles.

100% American cotton dishcloths and unique vintage gifts.

Delightful little toy cars, made in Italy, and still more unique collectible and hand made items.

Greenberry House, 12206 Squirrel Spur Road, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120 Hours: 10 AM to 5 PM Saturday through Tuesday. April to mid-November. Closed except by appointment or chance. Mid-November to End of March