Turtle Power

Things have been kind of slow for the Homegrown String Band lately. I've been getting in a lot of miles running the trails in the old RCA property here in Rock Hollow. It's great to be back out in the woods with the deer, turkeys, hawks, and turtles. The box turtle in the picture must have followed me home. I went outside to water the garden this morning and the little guy was lumbering across the yard less than ten feet from my back door. I think the turtle must be my new power animal—it's OK to slow down, as long as you keep moving forward.

We had a great time playing at the Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, NY. on April 16th. They have a brand new beautiful building filled with fantastic artwork and historic artifacts.

This weekend, Georgianne and I will be taking our Homegrown Two act on the road. We will be performing out on the street at The 39th Olde York Street Fair in York, PA on Mothers Day May 8th..

Next weekend, on May 15th, the full quadrupelo band will be performing at the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Conscience Bay Quaker Meeting in Setauket, NY. We will not only be the featured band, we will also be participating in the accompanying craft fair. Erica will be bringing along some of her Fiddle Knits  knitwear as well as a selection of printed patterns for knitters. Georgianne is hard at work making crocheted and woven pot holders and trivets. Annalee will be showing and selling her homemade soaps, and I will be selling my Roosterick pewter buttons, Navajo spindles, and kumihimo bookmarks and jewelry.


Photo by Rick Jackofsky

Caffe Lena

Established in 1960, Caffe Lena is the oldest continuously operating coffeehouse in the United States. It is an internationally renowned cultural center and an American treasure. Every roots music enthusiast owes it to themselves to make a pilgrimage to this world renowned folk music landmark. Upon entering the building, the history is palpable. As you climb the narrow staircase that leads to the cafe listen closely and you just might hear 50 years of folk music echoing from the walls. The history is also visible, as those same walls are adorned with photos of the legendary musicians, from Bob Dylan to Ani DiFranco, who have performed at the Lena's during the last half century. Join us next Saturday night and become part of a musical tradition as we make our fourth appearance at this legendary folk music venue. The music starts at 8pm, but come early and join the knitting circle led by Erica "Fiddleknits" Jackofsky or just hang out, have a cup of organic coffee or tea, and enjoy a homemade dessert. The knitting circle starts at 7:00. We've also got some great knitting (and non knitting) giveaways planned. All in all this promises to be a great night and a good way to lose the blues and cure your cabin fever. So come on out to Caffe Lena on Saturday January 23rd and support this wonderful non profit listening room and your favorite Homegrown String Band.

For more info on the knitting circle and giveaways  check out the post below

Homegrown Yarn Band?

Homegrown Yarn Band?

We're really looking forward to our show at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, NY, next weekend. I'll be writing more about that next week. But I want to share some of the happenings leading up to the big show. While arranging details for the show with Caffe manager Sarah Craig, Georgianne mentioned that Erica had written the cover story for the October issue of Yarn Forward magazine. When Sarah heard that Erica was a rising star in the knitting world, she suggested having a knitting circle before the show. We thought that was a great idea! To give the knitters an extra incentive to come out to the show, Georgianne and Erica came up with the idea of, at sometime during the evening, having a drawing for a knitter's basket. The basket will be filled with goodies, including a brand new, original, Fiddleknits hat pattern along with the Knit Picks yarn, and set of handcrafted pewter buttons, (made by me!) needed to complete the project. We didn't want the non-knitters to feel left out so we thought we should also give away a non-knitting basket. The second basket will include, among other things, some Homegrown String Band merchandise and a sample bag of our favorite organic fair trade coffee. A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about fair trade coffee from Dean's Beans; I can't say enough about the good people who run this great company! When we called to order the coffee, the good folks at Dean's kindly offered to donate a full pound of freshly roasted, shade grown, fair trade, organic coffee beans. We received the coffee today. So the lucky winner will get The Homegrown String Band CD "Ragged but Right" featuring our almost hit song "The Man Who Dressed in Black" and a pound of "Ring of Fire" coffee: "A dark, smokin' blend of high mountain beans from the active volcanic soils of Indonesia, Timor, and Papua-New Guinea. Eye-opening!" So come see us at Caffe Lena on Saturday, January 23rd, and enjoy a great evening of knitting and acoustic roots music at America's longest continuously operating coffeehouse.

P.S. Here's a link to Erica's latest post on her Fiddleknits blog: 

 "Help for Haiti"  

Photo by Rick Jackofsky