About Us
We live in the Heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, just a few miles from a little town called North Fork. Our home is about 22 miles from the Southern Gate into Yosemite National Park, and we are about 4 miles from beautiful Bass Lake. Where we live, we are above the horrible Tulle Fog that the San Joaquin valley gets during the winter, and just below the main snow line. Not to say we don't get the white stuff, just not enough of it to be a major problem. In others words, we live in God's Country! Our home and shop are on 15 beautiful acres where we raise iris, daylilies, roses, and any other plants that catch our eyes. We also make all of the items that you will find listed in our shop. We are allowed to live in our home as long as we maintain it for the comfort and convenience of three spoiled rotten dogs, nine assorted mongrel cats, most of which were either abandoned or were Von's Specials, meaning they were found in a box in front of the grocery store, and four horses, three of which are ours and one that is a boarder. Skunks, raccoons, opossums and deer usually show up at dinner time to see if there might be any handouts and if we leave the kitchen door open, we never know who we will find checking the place out. All in all, we live an interesting life. We don’t spend too many hours a day working in our shop, but there is always something that needs to be done around the property so there is never a dull moment.
We started making our Terra Cotta Garden pottery almost 20 years ago, since we weren't able to find the kind of things for our garden that we liked. And, if we did, it seemed that we would have to take out a second mortgage in order to be able to afford them. Once we started making some for ourselves, people would ask were we got them and when they found out that we had made them, would ask if we would make such and such for them. The next thing we knew, we had a business. For 12 years, we were mobile merchants, doing arts & crafts shows, home & garden shows and expositions all over the western states. But that life style gets old fast! We found it too hard to keep making our products, loading it into trucks, driving all night to get to a show site, setting up our display, selling on the weekend, then reloading the truck on Sunday night so we could drive home and start working in the shop to make more items to take on the road by the following weekend. Show fees kept going up, and so did the fuel costs. We finally decided that it wasn't feasible to keep going the way we were, so we modified our shop here at our house and started selling online, first on eBay, which was a great way for us to get started, and now on our own web site.
We also make and sell several different ceramic bisque items, primarily carousel animals, horses and western themed pieces, and chess sets. If you are looking for something new in the way of ceramic bisque items that are ready to paint or glaze and are tired of the same things you find in your local ceramic hobby shop, perhaps you will find what you are looking for in our store. We keep adding things all the time, both to the ceramics and to the Terra Cotta Garden line.
We hope that you like what you see in our store and if you have any questions about anything here, or even if you just want to chat, drop us a line. All of the items we make are hand made right here in the good old US of A and we use American Mined clay to make our products. If you are ever in the neighborhood, feel free to drop in for a look-see. The iris are starting to put on their spring-time show and the daylilies will be coming on in June and July. The shop is open and whatever we make is in there for sale. Besides, we have a lot of beautiful country around here to see, and you don't have to drive very far to get to many of California's scenic wonders.
Thanks for stopping by. We appreciate your taking the time to look.
We hope that you like what you see in our store and if you have any questions about anything here, or even if you just want to chat, drop us a line. All of the items we make are hand made right here in the good old US of A and we use American Mined clay to make our products. If you are ever in the neighborhood, feel free to drop in for a look-see. The iris are starting to put on their spring-time show and the daylilies will be coming on in June and July. The shop is open and whatever we make is in there for sale. Besides, we have a lot of beautiful country around here to see, and you don't have to drive very far to get to many of California's scenic wonders.
Thanks for stopping by. We appreciate your taking the time to look.