Introducing myself, the staff of Potpourri Publishing, and Springhaven Croft all at the same time! Can we multi-task?
It all started as a dream for a farm and it has mushroomed.
For years Dan and I had talked about getting a small place out in the boonies somewhere and showing our kids what a farm was like. We’d both lived on small farms ourselves as kids, but although we had bought an acre and a half, we were never able to have enough time to make it all work. We had small animals, helped in 4-H, grew gardens, but we both felt something missing.
We yearned and we dreamed and we kept busy with daily life, raising four kids, then two more, doing what we could.
Jeanette is interested in writing, spinning, and fibers. Dan likes bees and inventing. We both decided that once Dan was retired we’d see what we could do. Dan started a piano tuning business on the side; Jeanette had opened a counseling office after taking early retirement from the child protection field to go more or less full-time as a family counselor. In rapid-fire order, Jeanette’s sister, mom, and dad died of natural causes. In settling the will, Jeanette paid $25,000 she had saved up to settle her dad’s estate and in return, got the deed to his 3.5-acre homestead. Since the land adjoined our own 1.5 acres, it provided a platform for us to start working on our dream.
All dreams need a name, so we walked the land and then looked for characteristics that stood out. The first one was the artesian spring that gives water to three households and has a constant overflow into our stream. We knew it had to be part of our name. From our Scottish ancestors, we knew that a croft was a small tenant farm under five acres, that had a few animals and supported a single family. Finally, we want this land to be a haven, a refuge from the rush and haste and anger of the world, not just for us but for our family and friends, and neighbors. As Native Americans and Christians, we knew that we needed to care for each other and the land, to do what we could to pass on to the seventh generation the things we knew to be true and good. Springhaven Croft is a small, one-family operation operated as a sole proprietorship.
Dan has plans for building rocket stoves and being energy efficient. Jeanette has plans for having a fiber farm. Both had dreams of making it, if not self-sustaining, close to it. Our land butts up against the town line and it’s very odd to have five acres next to town, let alone five acres with animals on it. In all things, we remember the verse Micah 6:8 “He has shown thee, oh man, what is good; and what does the Lord desire of Thee? But to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God.” And it took two years to just clean up and repair all the outbuildings and get the little garage apartment up and rented. And who did all this work? Well…
Let me introduce the players in our little farm drama.
I, Traveler, am a cancer survivor. Living for a year wondering if you are going to be alive the next day sobers you pretty quickly to what is really important in life. Fifteen years ago I heard the diagnosis of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and found I would have to fight very hard for 11 months to live to see my grandchildren grow up. I would not wish that on my worst enemy if I had one. If you are a cancer survivor, or if you are going through chemo right now, please contact me; we can help each other to be strong and live. I have lost several family members to this disease, and I am so tired of death. If you have cancer, or someone you know has it, you are in my prayers already…send me a message if you’re going through that. Talking about it with someone who has gone through it helps.
And I am a writer. I’ve had over 400 stories published in different magazines about my family’s antics. People seem to feel stories in children’s magazines are all fiction, especially if there’s a moral or lesson to be drawn from them. Many people are shocked to find we do indeed exist, the folks in my children’s books at least. In my adult novels, they are totally amalgams of people I have known. I write fiction books about what might happen if we don’t wake up and stop it. Sometimes I think my imagination is large enough for two people, but I’m almost big enough for two so it probably balances out. To have more control over my books and what they eventually look like, I started a publishing company called
(drum roll)
Potpourri Publishing
about the time we started Springhaven Croft Farm.
My husband Dan, (we nicknamed him Burning Wires,) is a local lay pastor. After over forty-seven years of marriage, I still don’t always understand what he is talking about when he tries to explain a new invention to me, but then he doesn’t understand why anyone would carry crawdads in their pockets, like my grandsons. He worked for years in research and development building.
And our staff at the publishing company consists of more than just Dan and I:
T Bear Peltons (standing next to Dan) is a self-proclaimed dreamer; active in his home church, a storyteller and a lover of cats. He lives with his us, his grandparents, his Amazon parrot, and four Siamese on a small alpaca farm while working full time, dreaming of times when magic still existed and wishes sometimes actually came true…enjoy this fantasy with him and for just a little while, suspend daily life for a dream of dragons and wizards, beautiful ladies and knights, magic and faith. He invites you to travel then with us to another time, another place and another dimension. He is our fantasy writer.
Dan Pelton, BA. is a local home church pastor. He writes theology for beginner books, for people wanting very much to understand God and can’t quite figure out how to get that data. He translates the incomprehensible into plain language. His first book, The Majestic Spectrum of God’s Love, is a bestseller and is avaialbe on Amazon or from us. And the rainbow on the cover has nothing to do with a rock group, although the Rock of Ages swings pretty well around here.
Fawn Spencer, M.A, M.Div, LPC, loves reading, being practical, and has her own editing company called Write Useful. She is our head editor and writer of the Budget series; books designed to let you live your life inexpensively and expansively. The first two books are out, she is working on the next one. She lives in her own home with her husband Scott, 2 cats, an entire building (well, it’s 12 x 16) library of over 3500 books, several parrots, a couple of rabbits, a snake, and an incredible stash of yarn and fabric. She is also a professional counselor of mostly children who have been abused and hurt by life. She is one of the pastors at Springhaven Fellowship. She loves gourmet cooking. Scott loves eating gourmet cooking. It was a match made in heaven.
Potpourri Publishing
is a small, simply run publisher of good books in both fiction and non-fiction. Its four authors try to put out ten to twelve good books a year. We are Indie authors and proud of it.
And the last word,
Have you downloaded your free book yet? Right now we are featuring our self-help called Calm Instead of Clamor. All our books are available on Amazon-just type in J. Traveler Pelton or hop over to my Amazon author’s page:
link https://www.amazon.com/J.-Traveler-Pelton/e/B07837X14F?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000
You can also order them from this webpage if you want autographed copies for someone, in either hardback or paperback.