No smoking!

It may seem strange that Pinecroft being nestled into 50 acres of white pine that we don’t use pine to fire the kiln. Some 40 years ago my cousin Brenda turned part my aunt and uncle’s log building studio into a tearoom.  The tearoom grew quickly and my aunt and uncle who refused to learn how to work a cash register moved to an old stable studio on the other side of the pond. They were more comfortable being potters than retailers. Now Pinecroft hosts over 60,000 visitors for lunches. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in the area.  People wander the premises and on a given firing we may have several dozen people dropping by to see what’s going on.  My standard line is to introduce myself as the warden and to warn them that these firers are out on day parole from the local correctional institution and they should keep their distance.

Our kiln fires almost smokeless except perhaps around 1600 F when for some reason it smokes. Pine will smoke at any time because of all the resin in the wood. We have a large flame but less smoke than a wood stove would create.

Here is the commute from the Green Frog Tearoom across the spill way to the pottery. This is my cousin Brenda and her husband Herm’s house which overlooks a stage by the pond. Herm has a jam session every Saturday where as many as 20 musicians show up. The old studio and wood kiln are right by the stage. Here is my daughter Robin and grand daughter Julia sitting on the green frog that the tearoom got its’ name from. The green frog was outside a hotel in town where people used it to get up on their horses. It is now a bit of a cult creature where people make wishes and leave money. Just too busy a place to smoke up the joint. Recollections of firing at USU where the wood kins were just outside the Admin buildings. Smoke free zone!

Oh yeah visitors aren’t allowed to smoke on the premises either.