The Stillroom

It has been, as it has been in most of the country this year, a long, cold, snowy, gray, bleak, unforgiving winter.  Without a heart and with no soul. Some years and not very often, it just hangs on.  I have a few photographs from when I was a kid at Easter with huge piles of dirty snow in the background.  Yes, we would go outside in our Easter finest to have a photograph taken. There is no rule that says we have to love cold weather.  It gives us topics for conversation when all else fails.  I love cold weather.  I like preparing for the days when the weatherman says we could be getting over a foot of snow.  We prepare for the absolute worst.  We have bread, milk, cheese, eggs and soup.  The other necessities are the obvious so I won’t even type them.  We gas up the car, we keep the shovels handy and the ice melt in supply.   We wait for the snow to pile and when it does, (that would be a few inches here) we know we can stay in our most ridiculous of combinations of clothing because we know without a doubt that no one is coming to the door today.  Yay.  These days are more sacred than we give them credit  for.  At least they are for me.

Spring is coming.  Despite the icy cold dips in temperature I can feel it letting go.  We had the excitement of daylight saving time kicking in and although it is still cold, we celebrate the small victories like a beautiful sunrise and longer days for sure.  How much excitement around that extra daylight in the evenings.  I love saying “look, it’s 7:00 and it’s still light out and I feel more free as I grab the car keys at five thirty because now I can SEE the deer running down the hillsides before they tear off across any of the roads around here. 

With that daylight comes all sorts of good things!  We start perusing seed packets and clear off a windowsill to start the beginnings of our fall harvest.  The first thing I plant though, is not for consuming.  I start the beginnings of a live grass Easter Basket.  Let’s get right to it.

 Here are the directions~

Gather a wicker basket, plastic wrap or bag, pebbles and grass seed, a paper bag and water.

Line the basket with plastic up to the sides, add a layer of pebbles for drainage.  Add an inch or so of potting soil and sprinkle with seeds.  Add a light layer of soil over seeds and water gently.   Cover with a paper bag.  The seeds will germinate in a few days.  When they pop through, remove the bag and place in a sunny spot and water regularly.  Kids love this project!  When the holiday is through, patch a pothole in your yard.

Speaking of growing, take a second and pop in the shop and check out the Blooming Jasmine Tea Pods along with the Tiffany Rose Tea Pods.  These are so fun to watch as they bloom right before your eyes!  Here are the directions for the pods~

Find a glass container.  It can be as fancy as a glass tea pot or as simple as a country mason jar.  Add almost boiling water to the container, add pod, swish it around for a few seconds to dampen it, pour the water out leaving the pod in and add almost boiling water to your vessel.  About two cups, perhaps a touch more.  The fun part is watching the tea pods open and bloom to reveal a beautiful flower!  Let steep for a few minutes or until pod is completely open and strain into your favorite tea cup!  These are so fun to watch and again, children love these!  Then you can sit and share a lovely cup of jasmine or rose flavored tea.  In spite of the fact that I did have one stinker that opened weird and we concluded it looked like a brain, let me say this, these are excellent on the palate.  Really nice and light and floral. The tea pods can be ordered and shipped so give me a ring at 412-721-6357. You will most likely get my voicemail because when I’m driving, I just don’t pick up the phone.  But I can promise you I will return your call because I appreciate it.

“As sure as the spring will follow the winter, prosperity and economic growth will follow recession” ~ Bo Bennett

Now, about the shop.  Since Saxonburg has basically turned into a ghost town, the shop has unfortunately reduced the hours to only a few days a week. This is not too big a deal since tea has a very long shelf life. I have to go find a real job, lol.

Through the month of March, April and May, we will be open Thursday’s, Friday’s and Saturday’s from 11-2. Other days by chance or by appointment. I strongly encourage phone calls before you trek out to the middle of nowhere and find me closed.  If something comes up, like a work schedule that could change, call 412-721-6357 just to be sure.  Enough about me. 

Even though the town has endured almost three years of road construction due to the very long awaited Main Street Improvement Project and  we gained beautiful sidewalks, new benches, a wider street, vintage street lights and landscaping, we also lost quite a few businesses.  As a result and there are  many empty places up for rent and not many takers on Main Street, at least at the moment.  

Over a period of time, we lost a fabric and quilt shop, a bakery, a couple of gift shops and a few folks who tried to open an internet cafe sort of place in the midst of the chaos of dump trucks, concrete trucks, sidewalk closings and dust.  It diminished the experience when they left, for sure.  They will be missed.

Here is where you can still shop ~

 Pangea Street is a great little shop that carries cultural gifts from all over the globe.  724-591-6636

The Saxonburg Area Artist Co Op features beautifully handcrafted giftware from local artists.  Pretty cool place. 412-260-5779

Mimi’s Memories, (Mimi is Pam Bauman the newly elected mayor of Saxonburg).  We are hoping she can help breath some life back into this small village. Mayor Mimi has a small group of local collectors that contribute their vintage and unusual wares to her shop so it is a mix of old and new and the largest of the shops around. 724-524-1717

There is also The Gray Wolf Gallery off of Main Street.  They have great art work for your country home and rustic lifestyle and also do framing services. 724-352-9920

Now, back to me.  Maybe I should change my name to me me. lol Around the corner from Main Street at 111 State, you will find the quiet corner of our world that is The Stillroom Gift & Tea Shop. I have had a lot of people find me on tea map.com and are inquiring about high tea services.  For some reason, and I’m sure it’s me, I am having a hard time getting through to the tea map page to change some information on there.  That important information is this…Unfortunately, we do not serve tea.  The Stillroom is strictly a tea retailer.  So, for anyone that finds me on tea map and it throws you to my blog, please note that I recommend The Johnston House, in Mars, Pa. (near Cranberry)  Their number is 724-625-2636

The Stillroom Gift and Tea Shop is going on thirteen years in business and we have managed to hang on through thick and thin.  The tea shop still maintains a great selection of tea, tea accessories, fragrant herbs by the ounce including organic lavender and rose petals to the very popular organic catnip available by the ounce or sewn into a toy.  With workshops located in Saxonburg, we have a smathering of hand sewn, high quality odds and ends made from great fabrics from Loom in the Strip. From our tea wallets to cat toys, these are all designed and produced by Nimble Mitts and Co. 

Along with Nimble Mitts and Co., I would like to introduce a small line of skillfully designed, hand crafted, heavy duty backpacks made by Pennypacker Designs, also located in the burg. Pennypacker Designs also specializes in cool bread wallets and small leather goods.  All hand stamped and hand sewn with the finest of materials, you know you can’t go wrong with made in the USA.

And now, a sad/happy announcement.  We will be closing our brick and mortar location by the beginning of this summer.  We join this century as we reopen as an online retailer of fine teas, locally roasted organic coffee and dry goods produced here in our workshops.  If you are looking for cool gifts and hot tea to send out to friends and family or as corporate thank you’s from the burgh, this is a great place to start!

All is not lost.