Will's Notebook @spiderwebfarm.com

Will is waiting for his next customer – you.

The door is open and the web racks are up. We’ve moved some spiders in and now we’re waiting for things to start happening.

It’s been a long, long winter and we still hear the furnace kicking off in the morning, but spring finally arrived at the Spider Web Farm! It may be slow going for the spiders and us but we’ll be here and just waiting for the bugs to come along to keep those spiders producing.

Beginning, June 1st we will be open from 10AM to 6PM (unless there is an emergency or unexpected doctor appointment). Sometimes it’s a little hard to find me in the store because I’m either in the backyard wood pile or in the house grabbing lunch. If that’s the case, simply give me a call on your cell phone (433-5568) and I’ll come right out.

I’m looking forward to seeing you.  BTW – Sometimes I wish there were 3 of me.

Happy New Year to you all. We are now beginning our morning count of increasing daylight. From 8 hours and 52 minutes on December 22nd to 8 hours and 56 minutes on New Years Day we feel our spirits perking up each morning.

Will throws another log on the fire.

Hooray, the days are getting longer!

Although we’re not officially open, as always you can make an appointment or order from this site for that next special event in your life.  If you do come by I’ll either be tending the fire or working in the shop.

Actually the pumpkins are gone and so are most of the spiders.  With the arrival of cold days and nights most of them have crawled into their warm nooks and crannies. There are not many flying bugs or moths around so spiders know not to waste their time building or repairing webs.

With foliage season gone my work shifts from harvesting webs to getting everything put away for the winter.  Now, the first thing I do every morning is get the fire started in the wood stove out in the shop.  I have a cup of coffee back in the house and by the time I go back it’s at least somewhat warm.

Feel free to drop by even though we’re on winter hours.  If I’m there – we’re open. I like the company and we can sit by the fire for a talk. If you call ahead I’ll throw another log in and warm the place up for us.

I confess that I have a fondness for ice cream.  I’ve been known to go down to the local creemee stand (soft serve ice cream) on a summers evening.  So you can imagine my surprise when I heard a familiar ringing sound and an ice cream truck pulled into our parking lot.

The two fellows driving it were from out of state and were touring in the ice cream truck.  They had read about us and decided to make a visit here a part of their trip. I was so impressed I forgot to get their names or where they were from.  If you know them tell me who they are and I’ll add it into this post.

Anyway, after they showed me around their truck I gave them a tour of the farm.  We had a very nice visit but I also confess that I let them leave the yard without asking if they really had an ice cream in there.  You can guess where I went that evening!
Summer at the Spider Web Farm really keeps me smiling.  If you’re not in a hurry and like to chat, stop by.   We welcome all kinds of vehicles and really enjoy willing listeners – especially those bearing ice cream.

Just when I thought winter would never end, the first spider appeared in a sunny window. What a treat. Spring is finally here, and I think Vermont in spring is as pretty or prettier than fall.

Our sons and I were doing some spring cleaning when Terry snapped this photo. I wanted to be sure you knew we are open.

While I look for signs of life in our spider eggs, this is the time to get ready. Time to get all those appointments with the dentist, etc. out of the way and look forward to a fun summer. I for one am always glad to have some new folks up to hear my stories and to tell me theirs.

Although the Spider Web Farm opens officially June 15th weekend visitors have already dropped by, so if you find yourself in Vermont and want to visit, call, I may be available to show you our work and to talk.

Well there’s no rest for the wicked here at Spider Web Farm. There’s several feet of snow outside as I write this. I’m in between feeding the fire and trying to get the shop in order.

The spiders may be able to take a break each winter but the work in the wood shop goes on. We are on a ‘by appointment’ schedule these days as far as the store goes but most days I’m up here selecting wood, cutting it to length and feeding the scraps into the fire to keep the shop warm.

But don’t think you’re keeping me from my work by dropping in. If you’re here in Vermont for skiing or a visit to friends or relatives please call and come by for a look and some conversation.

– Will

Well the store is looking very Christmassy (is that a word?) these days.  A few years ago I decided to use some of our leftover pieces of wood to make some tree decorations.  I made both Santa and Mrs. Claus then put some on a little tree in the shop.

This year I also took some of the Mrs. Claus figures and spelled out “Merry Xmas” on the table at the front of the store (above).  They have gotten several favorable comments and I thought I’d share them with you our on-line friends.  To the left you’ll see the tree I was telling you about.  I think they all make the place very festive.

If you didn’t get to stop by this year we hope to see you next year.  In any case we here at Spider Web Farm just want to wish you all the best this season and into the new year.

It’s been a good year here at the Spider Web Farm and I hope it’s been the same for all of you. Our thanks to all who stopped at the Farm this year.

Visitors make my day and I’m always glad to get a chance to talk or listen. It’s fun to hear how people have about the Spider Web Farm; like the man who was cleaning out his grandfather’s home and found our web with the label (and address) on the back. There were many returning visitors as well as first timers and I hope you enjoyed the visit and will recommend us to friends.

The year has been good for mail order as well. The website yielded good results and I’m almost out of the webs mounted on black plaques. There’s still a good supply of webs mounted on very dark stained wood though.

Happy holidays to all and a happy New Year as well.

Will

What a year this has been! Terry and I took a well deserved vacation and headed out west to visit our daughter this spring. When we got back we found some of our spider eggs hatched early due to the warm spring and the spiderlings took off for greener pastures. We limped along during early summer and gave our workers some well earned vacation time too.

Now that the summer heat is gone we’re finding our “loyal employees” are getting back to work and creating some spectacular large webs. Visitors have been captivated by some of these late beauties and we’re looking forward to making these webs available to our fall foliage visitors.

Don’t forget, we’re open from 10AM to 6PM every day (including Saturday and Sunday) until the end of October. I’m usually here, but on rare occasions you may find someone else minding the store while we keep a doctor appointment or tend to family business. While you’re out looking at the fall foliage come and see us and our webs.