VoiceMail Open Mic in Mansfield General Store

VoiceMail is on the move...
 to a new venue, for a quiet listening space with good food and country charm. VoiceMail is an open mic for storytelling ( adult venue)  held the last Monday of each month.  ( find and "Like" VoiceMail on Facebook please, and if you can help spread the word, thanks!)

                                                      Say Hello to our new home!!

You can tell  this is a well known landmark in Mansfield Center. It has been  a store serving the community for a very long time. What makes this such a special place?

 It is inviting; drawing in a wide variety of travellers off the main road through town and the Uconn campus. There are always a few cars out front!

It's the kind of place that makes you want to pull up a chair and relax a bit!

It is the place to see little girls in pigtails sitting on the front steps licking ice cream cones on a summer day.

It is the place to have your picnic ready by 12 so you can listen to the carillon play in the steeple of First Church of Christ across the street.

VoiceMail open mic for storytelling packed up and moved to the Mansfield General Store. ( find them on FaceBook) Our opening night there will be Jan. 30, 2012 at 7 p.m. The feature teller will be local favorite Gail Zeiba. There will be 5-6 open mic slots for other storytellers to take a turn sharing a tale. The soup will be on, the pastries sweet and the stories memorable. There are antiques, penny candy, cold local made soda and fresh Mountain Dairy milk products.

                                                                        
As before the donations collected during VoiceMail are split with half going to support the good works of the Connecticut Storytelling Center and the other half going to  the feature teller. Won't you come out and support us at our new venue.  Kelly and Lisa who run the store are opening special just for us! Please support their time and effort and  come for the soup bar and desserts. If this is the year of the buy local movement this is the place to see that in action!
                                                                     

other blogs of similar content:
www.carolynstearnsstoryteller.blogspot.com/2011/07mansfield-general-store-whats-story.html

www.carolynstearnsstoryteller.blogspot.com/2011/07/signs-im-not-in-downtown-mansfield.html

Artisan Breads - What's The Story Here?

Second  post in the series "What's the Story here?"


Making, baking, ovens, history and more good bread! I love the story "The Smell of Bread" a Russian folk tale in the collection by Yury Kazakov (1965).

   This blog was inspired by watching bread baker Dave Emigh at Mansfield General Store on Saturday July 16, 2011. www.MANSFIELDGENERALSTORE.com  He set up his portable bakery in the parking lot and went to work using an incredible oven the Le Panyol.

                                             A crowd quickly gathered to see the oven

Making Bread and Pizza in a Wood Fired Oven

                                                                              
                              

                                                                                 
     Watch a video short with Dave Emigh, Bread Baker

                                                  



Bead Baking Resources

www.kingarthurflour.com 

www.breadexperience.com

www.artisan-baking.com
Ovens   - colonial:
   1780-81 Lebanon, CT. played host to the French army during the winter. They had arrived with General Rochambeau to aide the rebellion which resulted in the birth of our nation. But...not without bread. Encamped at Lebanon the soldiers built ovens to have the comfort of good bread.
       read more about French Bread Ovens and see an illustration at this link:
http://superiorclay.com/oven/article-breadbuilders.phpout

To read more about the French troops and see a relic of  a camp this link will take you there:
www.skyweb.net/~channy/Roch.html

 For a really fun website on pizza/bread ovens visit: www.traditionaloven.com

For more information on the copper topped oven demonstrated by Dave Emigh at Mansfield General Store look to this website:  www.lepanyol.com  it uses the special clay Dave told me about, Terre Blanche quarried in Larnage, France. Other Le Panyol ovens are in use at King Arthur Flour, Norwich VT. and  Stone Turtle in Maine www.stoneturtlebaking.com

Mansfield General Store - What's the Story Here?

Today is the first of a series What's the Story Here? This series will highlight interesting people, places and things I run across. Stop back for  another installment every few days. Thanks

                         Mansfield General Store - good old fashioned country charm!

They sure got it right on the business card, because this is the capitol of country charm!

         I stop often for a cold drink, a wonderful cranberry chicken salad wrap or a hot cup of coffee. Today I visited with intent to see all the happenings, this summer Saturday found a tag sale of antiques and collectibles, fresh picked flowers and artisan bread baking in the neatest copper covered oven out front. ( see an upcoming post for more on the bread).     

             As you can see the store has served the community at Mansfield Center, CT. and the many who pass through for a long, long time. The store is  set just a stones throw from the cemetery of colonial stones and the field where the militia drilled for the march to Bunker Hill. It is right at the intersection of our towns historical past and busy present. On this particular morning the Saturday traffic was whooshing by only to slow at the glint of sun on the copper bread oven and the white tents harboring classic New England collectibles.

                                                                    
 When was the last time a pocketful of change meant reaching into the tin covered candy jars for just the right blend of favorites?

                  My children learned how to count money buying a few selected pieces of candy from a previous owner. This a a tradition as old as candy itself! What a great lesson for kids to learn, how to be a savvy shopper with a budget of 50 cents.

Have a cup of coffee and enjoy the photos of the Mansfield General Store then come down some Sunday for brunch and live music! Find them at the Intersection of Rtes 195 & 89

www.MANSFIELDGENERALSTORE.com

                                                                     

Carolyn Stearns Storyteller hopes you enjoy a visit to the Mansfield General Store, if you find me there maybe I'll have time to share a story!