{"id":1752,"date":"2010-07-24T10:41:17","date_gmt":"2010-07-24T16:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/?p=1752"},"modified":"2010-07-24T10:41:17","modified_gmt":"2010-07-24T16:41:17","slug":"our-first-pot-firing-party-windy-ridge-pottery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/?p=1752","title":{"rendered":"Our First Pot Firing Party: Windy Ridge Pottery"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a>

Two weeks ago, we were invited to a pot firing party by Christy and Joe Cole\u00a0of Windy Ridge Pottery<\/a>.\u00a0 It was a perfect summer evening, warm and\u00a0slightly humid with a lazy breeze.\u00a0 The mosquitoes were biting but I didn’t mind one bit.\u00a0 I wore my swollen and itchy souvenirs happily, a sweet reminder that summer is really here.\u00a0 (You’d know what I mean if you lived in Wisconsin).\u00a0 Windy Ridge is only a few miles from the town center\u00a0of Mineral Point.\u00a0 The\u00a0property is one of the many must see\u00a0gorgeous\u00a0places in the Driftless Area so I naturally spent\u00a0a lot of\u00a0time “trigger happy” with my camera.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Windy Ridge Kiln House<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The\u00a0kiln and the kiln house were quite impressive.\u00a0\u00a0Joe and Christy\u00a0built the aforementioned as well as a house a\u00a0several meters away.\u00a0 In addition, this tireless couple grow their own vegetables, keep\u00a0some chickens, and take care of two adorable poodles, and a cat.\u00a0 Joe also somehow manages to be a competitive cyclist.\u00a0 (They make me seem so lazy!)<\/p>\n

Because wood firing is a very labor intensive process, few potters use this method.\u00a0\u00a0The firing takes about 40 hours and the temperature must reach\u00a02400 degrees\u00a0fahrenheit slowly.\u00a0 Joe, Christy, and friends take\u00a0turns\u00a0watching and stoking the kiln (about every 3 minutes).\u00a0 That night was Christy’s shift.\u00a0 After a long day at her other job she had to stay up and take care of the fire.\u00a0 Just imagine having to stir risotto for that long!\u00a0 I know I couldn’t do it.\u00a0 I guess I have to scratch out “being a potter” on my list on what to do when I grow up.\u00a0 Done.\u00a0 Well, I may take a\u00a0few classes.\u00a0 I casually mentioned to the potters that I\u00a0would like\u00a0my first project to be\u00a0a teapot and they all laughed at me.\u00a0 I was advised to start with\u00a0a simple cup.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There is a vey long<\/em> cool down stage\u00a0before\u00a0the kiln can finally be opened and unloaded.\u00a0 This is the most exciting and nerve-racking part because it’s the culmination of all the hours of planning, creating the wares,\u00a0 as well as the emotional, time,\u00a0and monetary investment.\u00a0 A bad firing could cost several thousands of dollars.\u00a0 Thankfully it was mostly successful.\u00a0 Here are some pictures of the finished\u00a0pottery<\/a>\u00a0taken by Christy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The enormous kiln and Charley dog.\u00a0 Where’s Charley?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In true Wisconsin style, we had some brats, burgers, beer, and cheese.\u00a0 We also had some cheesy puffs, hummus and pita, chewy oatmeal coconut cookies, and yummy brownies.\u00a0 I also\u00a0discovered a new favorite drink.\u00a0 The New Glarus Raspberry Tart\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>that Krista brought.\u00a0 Come to think of it,\u00a0that may have been the reason\u00a0why the mosquitoes did not bother me at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnsonville Brats<\/a><\/p>\n

Grumpy Troll Maggie Imperial<\/a> beer<\/p>\n

New Glarus Raspberry Tart\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>ale<\/p>\n

Pleasant Ridge Reserve<\/a> cheese<\/p>\n

Many thanks and best wishes to Joe and Christy \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Everyone, go buy some pots!\u00a0 Here’s the \u00a0map and address<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kiln house at twilight, a cup of raspberry tart, some food, and people<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two weeks ago, we were invited to a pot firing party by Christy and Joe Cole\u00a0of Windy Ridge Pottery.\u00a0 It was a perfect summer evening, warm and\u00a0slightly humid with a lazy breeze.\u00a0 The mosquitoes were biting but I didn’t mind one bit.\u00a0 I wore my swollen and itchy souvenirs happily, a sweet reminder that summer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[129,130],"class_list":["post-1752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-culture","tag-pottery","tag-windy-ridge-pottery","no-featured-image"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1752"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1819,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1752\/revisions\/1819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/driftlessappetite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}