Where is the Cooperage?
It being re-enacting season once more, many of you have inquired why you cannot order cooperage through our website. The answer remains as it has been for some time, unfortunately: Gary still has orders in hand to complete, and stock to make, before once again opening our online store to cooperage orders.
The next question usually is: When? We wish we could give you a definite answer. All we can say is hopefully later this year.
The problem is that not only does Gary work at 50+ hour week as a mirror sub-contractor (that pays the mortgage), but has over the past three years been replacing ancient sills and windows (all 27 of them) in this old stone house (130 years), as well as pointing all the stone work as he goes along. That coupled with maintaining the grounds, undertaking other interior renovations, sleeping and – oh, say! – a little time for R&R has left him scrambling to complete his orders in hand. Wish we could say cooperage pays our way, but it doesn’t, not even close.
So the future looks like this:
Immediate goal is to complete his in-house orders.
Produce some stock which will be available through our online store on a first come, first served basis.
Open again to a modest number of orders.
Work toward retiring to being a full-time cooper in the 8-12 year time-frame.
Now you know everything we know.

New Blog Format
We’ve changed our blog over to Blogger’s site, and think it’s visually more appealing and hopefully will be more user-friendly. Let us know what you think.
In the coming months we’re hoping to add an RSS feed to the site to further enhance our information and interconnectivity.

Recipes of a Dumb Housewife News

The book launch at BookLore in Orangeville went quite well, and it was good to see familiar faces from the past.
RoaDH is now available through:
http://www.5rivers.org/
http://www.lulu.com/
BookLore, 121 First Street, Orangeville, Ontario
Online through Amazon, Borders, W.H. Smith, and Barnes and Nobel through North American and the EU.

Buzz about RoaDH
How do I let you know how I liked the salads or am I able to just say all of them were fantastic?
Margaret Trainor Howie
Caterer

(The Beef Stroganoff is) very yum! All gone, though there’s some leftover noodles … it was very well received. Exquisitely dark and rich-seeming. I’m sorry I was so parsimonious in my serving myself. Dang!
And bonus – (my husband), unsolicited, commented that he didn’t know what it (Eggs Lorina) was, but he liked it. And wanted seconds!
Vandy Simpson
Historic re-enactor, Set Producer and Costumer for Theatre Orangeville

Lorina Stephens has written the Everyman’s cookbook.
Cable 6 News

Full of great kid- and family-tested recipes!
Cheryl Weedmark
A Channel Morning

Recipes of a Dumb Housewife – catchy title, yummy dishes…. With this possible inspiration maybe families as well as individuals will try and get away from fast food and boxed food.
Matthew Uhrig
The Post

Clearance Patterns and Games
We still have a modest number of historical sewing patterns and games available through our Clearance Department, all at 75% discount.

What’s Coming up from Five Rivers?
Lorina is currently working on an anthology of speculative fiction short stories which examine the human condition in sensitive and often insightful prose and situations. Tentatively titled And the Angels Sang, the anthology is slated for release this summer through Lulu Publishing, and will be about 150 pages.

Also look for release of her historical fantasy, Shadow Song, late this year, a novel set in the 1830s of Upper Canada amid an orphaned English girl’s struggle to fit in with the Ojibwa’s Midewewin Society, and her escape from an uncle bent on vengeance and destruction.