If you’ve been to Harlequin’s Gardens, you know that what Mikl and I and our wonderful staff have collaborated on these past 31 years is much more than a place to purchase plants. We believe “our primary product is knowledge”, and much of our work has been to develop and support deeply knowledgeable gardeners who value sustainability. We grow many of our own plants, but truly, thanks to you, we’ve also grown a community.
Our annual, month-long Holiday Gift Market, open through October 29th, is our yearly gift to you. For the past 12 years we have been making space for a community of artists and performers to share their talents, and it’s our great pleasure to introduce the gardening community to these members of Boulder County and Colorado’s artistic community. Please be our guests this month and come take a look at the abundance of beauty available – both from the natural world and crafted by human hands.
When we put together our very first Holiday Gift Market, we relied heavily on our own talents and those of our good friends, many of whom made their creations only for our little market, like Mikl’s Dr. Brawner’s Healing Aftershave, cookies, Engrid’s Haystack Gardens Jams, Lynn Mattingly’s quilted runners and pot-holders, Clary Schmidt’s spirit dolls, and a small group of other unique offerings displayed in the front room of our store. And my awesome friends in the Boulder Irish Session came out to play on every opening weekend for years.
Now, thanks to your enthusiastic response, we have grown and taken over both rooms of our store. And as curator of our Holiday Gift Market I am always on the look-out for local talent, artisans and products that I think are special and worthy. I would like to bring several exceptional new offerings to your attention, and a few returning items you may not have noticed.
On My Way Home and other stories by Mikl Brawner
My husband tells stories, and that’s a good thing! Since we got together 25 years ago, Mikl has been entertaining me with anecdotes and recollections from his younger years, many of them from his time in the Peace Corps in India and his remarkable overland journey through Central Asia, Persia, Turkey, and eventually, London. He finally started taking one day a week off work this past winter, and used much of that time to put these true stories down on paper. Many of them tell of cultural teaching moments, many will make you laugh, some are good examples of youthful courage, folly and arrogance.
Hand-spun Yarn by Lili Christensen
I have always been drawn to the fiber arts and the yummy materials with which they are created. About 6 years ago, I finally learned to weave on a small, simple, rigid-heddle loom so that I could revel in the sensory pleasures of working with natural fiber yarns. Though there’s a vast world of temptation out there in the yarn stores, my favorites to work with are locally handspun wool, alpaca and silk yarns. Hence my big stash of Lili’s ‘Live Simply’ yarns! Her color blends are rich and artful, her skeins are always expertly spun, and they’re perfect for knitting, crochet, and weaving. One of these skeins will make a small project (like those hats or mittens you’re going to make as holiday gifts), or can add a special accent to a larger project.
Kisu Lip Balm and Soul of the Desert Trementina
Our friend Pamela, formerly a biochemist, has spent much of her life in New Mexico. There she learned to make some of the herbal healing and personal care products of the Curandera tradition. Now living in Boulder County, and in spite of major life challenges, she is able to produce small amounts of her Trementina salve and exceptional moisturizing and sun-screening Kisu lip balm, subtly scented with rare neroli essential oil. We hope you’ll give them a try!
Little Herbal Apothecary Rose & Carrot Face Cream
Located in Lafayette, LHA is a little house of herbal treasures. I can give my personal endorsement to LHA’s Rose & Carrot Face Cream, which is, for good reason, their top selling product. I was never interested in using facial products until I tried this one, which I find so pleasant to use and refreshing to my Colorado-dry, aging skin. It smells good, feels good, and I know there are no hidden or unpronounceable toxic or damaging ingredients.
Sandra Wong CD’s: Frolic & Romp and Sunny Side Up
We hope you got a chance to hear the remarkable playing of Sandra Wong on fiddle and nykelharpa at our Open House on Saturday! Great news is that she was able to bring us some copies of 2 of her fabulous albums on CD: Folic & Romp, with Ryan Drickey, and Sunny Side Up with Dominic Leslie.