This past Saturday, I was part of a group of Ohio bloggers that visited the Longaberger Basket Homestead in Newark for a “Baskets for Bloggers” event. When I first got the invitation, I was like, “hmm, this might be fun, but I am not sure I am a ‘basket person’.”
But lured by the fact that I would get to make my OWN basket and by the fact that several of my #bigdealmoms bloggy friends would also be in attendance, I decided to check it out. And I am so glad I did! It was a GREAT day.
First, we got to make our own basket! Longaberger baskets are hand-crafted of ONLY maple wood and metal tacks, did you know that? Each of us bloggers had our own basketmaker assisting us – mine was Joe. We immediately bonded over our love of Mountain Dew.
(Thanks Tricia for the picture!)
(Like my HAWT safety glasses? Don’t be jealous!)
Joe has been with Longaberger making baskets for 16 years!! Everyone we met at Longaberger had been there for at LEAST that long. His sister, Heidi, helped Cortney and Marcy make their baskets. A family affair!
Here’s Cortney hard at work on her basket:
(photo by Tricia)
And Amy, who had to show us all up and finish FIRST!! She is like, practically a professional!
Now, even though I was CLEARLY in remedial basketmaking due to my functional retardation, and I was the LAST one finished, and everyone MAY or MAY NOT have been waiting on ME, I absolutely *love* the basket I made:
(There’s also a detail shot of it at the top of the post.)
Here are some other baskets made by my bloggy pals:
I LOVED all the variety in color. Everyone got so creative!
After we made our baskets, we were treated to a tour of the Longaberger Factory. I learned a lot, but there were two things that really stuck with me from the tour. The first is that Longaberger makes great efforts to be as GREEN as possible. They recycle their maple scraps either by sending what they can’t use to a recycling center, OR (and I LOVE this!) by taking extra stock and making Limited Edition Longaberger products like these:
The other thing I took away from the tour is that Longaberger has an “Employee Innovation Team” and they are constantly making their equipment and processes better through the input of this group. From how equipment is desogned for employee comfort and productivity, to how much they can cut their usage of waste water – these efforts are employee-driven.
And, it’s all made and done in OHIO!!
How cool is that?
Ok, lastly some more fun pictures of our day!
We couldn’t resist getting in this big ol’ basket!
Amy, Tricia, Andrea, me, Cortney
An we couldn’t resist being big nerds about it, either:
AND, also because I am a huge nerd, I was SUPER-excited that we got our picture taken with the World’s Largest Apple Basket. Does it WOW you, like it does me, to know that this is a TRUE Longaberger basket, made only of Maple and Metal just like the basket I made?? Incredible!!
(Thanks again Tricia for the photo!)
Tricia, Andrea, me, Cortney, Amy, and Marcy
So – we had an awesome day! If you are in Ohio or anywhere nearby, this is a really great, inexpensive day activity I recommend you take advantage of! Andrea and Amy even brought their HUSBANDS and they had a great time. Thanks Longaberger for hosting us, you did a GREAT job!
