Twenty Years!  Whew!  What happened? 

I loved that first little herb shop; Susan and I had so much fun with all of you!  Workshops, classes and lecture\luncheon programs. Potpourri to hypertufa - herbal bread to chive vinegar. What happened to the May Wine? We had a blast ! Didn't we? 

The gardening; discovering and sharing plant knowledge has always been the most rewarding for me.  I still love gardening!   In some ways we've outgrown parts of our business and some parts we are itching to recapture.

 The fragrance, foliage and taste of herbs is what triggered the chain reaction.  It explains how we became involved in gardening, selling plants, garden gifts, dried flowers, workshops, fresh flowers and weddings, overnight accommodations, our own manufactured garden markers and a restaurant. 

After three years the water fall is finished, (I call it the seven rib falls for each rib I broke moving rock) Dave Krider, our favorite stone guy came to the final rescue.  Dave also did the three 100 foot long wall behind the building in 1997.  They are awesome! 

Almost twenty years ago we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Earth Day - we vowed to conserve and protect our valuable resources then; add it together.  Earth Day has got to be pushing 40 years old and as a society we are talking green again!  We got off tract, we failed to focus. Herb N Ewe hasn't always been focused either.  

As marketing changes from local to global, economic forecasts fluctuate and gasoline along with energy prices rise we search to fulfill the needs of all of us. Seems like we are all uncertain and looking for direction in this fast changing world. 

So in our 20th year, our semi-sabbatical year, be patient with us. We welcome your input, life long customers and new alike. We know we can't always please everyone and we won't be able to always please ourselves but we are working on some changes. 

Look for change in hours - we've curtailed our restaurant lunch hours; setting aside time periods for cafe reservations for garden clubs, groups and Red Hatters.  We've eliminated products, (catch the invitational garden sale and the Historic National Road Yard Sale for bargains) and shortened our "Gingerbread Season" .

Some of the changes you will welcome; some of them, we will welcome. Some are sure to be good, some bad. As we look forward to the year ahead and to many businesses,  one thing for sure we can expect is change. 

Have a great 2008! 

Barbara