Morning boat chores consisted of a trip to the fuel dock and then back to our slip, which was good practice and went smoothly. We then took the 11 am shuttle that the marina offers daily to West Marine. Harris Teeter is right next door. The marina offers all kinds of services including a pump out boat, and fox (Kit) sentinels up and down the docks that are supposed to keep bird traffic down.
Decided to head to the area of the Charleston Market in hopes of seeing some sweet grass basketry and weavers. We saw some weavers. It was cold and some were not actively weaving but there was one woman, Andrea Brown, who sat under many blankets but had her hands free for weaving. She refused a picture but did talk to us about the weaving. She learned from her mother and has taught a son to weave. She is now teaching her granddaughter.
The most famous basket type in this area is the fanning basket which is a flat basket used in the rice production process to separate the rice kernels from the chafe. They would toss the rice in the air and then catch it in the basket. The chafe would blow out and rice would be captured. Fanning, winnowing and thrashing are all terms for this process.
The baskets are made from four materials : bulrush( thicker reeds) , pine needles, sweet grass, and palmetto (used as the thread that binds the other fibers together. Most of the SC sweet grass has disappeared due to urbanization. Palmetto is everywhere. Not clear how the palmetto leaf is split into thin strips for weaving.
Thought of Beate with a four block artisan market. Lots of folk art, a wonderful nature photographer father/son duo, and a man who 3D prints frogs that have a ridge on their back that makes a croaking sound when rubbed with a stick. I really wanted one…
The Fishes invited us for burger happy hour at The Big Gun Burger & Bar. Delicious. Burgers, fries, a vegan option. Played in the park after dinner and walked back to marina.
Trees of the day.
