Narramissic event

In South Bridgton there’s a place called Narramissic (that’s an Abenaki word that more or less means “hard to find”, and it is) Historic Farm. I’ve been under the impression that there’s something going on there most weekends, though Arlene thinks if that were the case we would have gone there before. There was something advertised as a woodworkers and artisans show on Sunday.

There’s a beautiful view from the field that we parked in, looking to the west all the way to the White Mountains, though it’s a little hazy.

The most interesting woodworker, to me, was a 70-something guy who makes wooden musical instruments, both woodwinds like krumhorns and recorders and wooden brass-family instruments like cornettos and serpents. I had a long talk with him about the cornettos and serpents. I sort of wanted to ask to try the serpent, but restrained myself.

There was an old buggy standing in the field, just for looking at —

Moat Mountain Farm, with handmade brooms and brushes as well as yarns, was there. Linda Whiting of Pinestar Yarns was there spinning. She was talking to another visitor explaining something of the difference between woolen and worsted yarns and showing how the crimp of wool varies between breeds of sheep, making yarn spun from Romney wool more elastic than the Blue-Faced Leicester she was spinning.

This woodworker was demonstrating making a dovetail joint, I guess. While we were there he was mostly talking about sharpening tools and the differences between natural sharpening stones and the synthetic carborundum stones. His workbench comes from a trade school. The top of the supports folds down to accomodate younger kids.

Sharon Deerfield, Black Swan Handwovens & Handspuns, was spinning in an outdoor booth with her knitting-machine handmade socks, homemade soap, and handwoven placemats. We had met her in Bridgton at the winter carnival and were glad to say hello.

And that’s not even talking about the tour of the farmhouse, built before 1800. The original owner had fought in the American Revolution and painted his mantelpiece black in mourning for George Washington when Washington died.