A Mango Moment

This week's Mango Moment is brought to you by Pottery Barn.


Mango is a small town that sits in a bowl. Because it sits lower than surrounding towns and cities, it's  very dry and very hot. We get far less rain than the surrounding towns and there are times in the year when Mango is actually the hottest place on earth. Today feels like one of those days.

But Mango has much to offer.  And if you'll take the time to visit us, we'll happily tour you around.  But since that isn't likely to happen, I'll bring Mango to YOU!

The downtown of Mango is made up of a central market with small boutiques on the surrounding "streets" - I put the word "streets" in quotes like that because I'm kind of afraid that you're picturing a street.  Like paved and wide and smooth and clearly marked out.  That would be the wrong thing to picture.  For example:

A street in town. Its hard to see the pot holes from this angle.

Because a lot of the boutiques don't have signs - or if they do have signs, I don't understand them, I have renamed some of the shops in town so that I can remember where they are and what they sell.  If I made a map of Mango for you, you'd see the following stores labelled on it: Home Depot, Staples, Pottery Barn etc.

Today, I'm taking you to Pottery Barn.

Pottery Barn is located just outside of town and it isn't easy to find. In fact, the first time we tried to find it, we passed it twice before we were able to locate it and also find the driveway.  We were greeted by Mr. Yacoubou.  He is an artisan. He both makes and sells the pottery. 

The entrance to Pottery Barn.
The doors on the left are his studio where he handcrafts the
pieces and the far door on the right is his boutique.

When we went the first time, his boutique had very little stock.  I asked him to make me three bowls with holes in the bottom that I could use to plant herbs.  It took me a while to explain what I wanted but once he understood, he invited us back to watch him work on his pottery wheel.

Here he is making a vase.

He measured the clay (which, by the way, he first digs out of the ground as hard rock, then soaks it for several days, then cleans it with a screen and then it's ready to be used.) He spins a large concrete wheel with his right foot and taking the lump of clay, he begins to create! The kids and I were oohing and aaahing as the bowls took shape.  He is truly a craftsman,

I've taken pottery lessons before and it's no easy thing to work on a wheel.  He created my four bowls (I asked for three but he made four, just in case one broke!) and carefully put them on that piece of plywood on his work space.  

He told us that he'd let it dry for a week and that we could return the next week to watch the next step.  We totally accepted that invitation.

He and his family carried many dried pieces and put them in this large brick oven that acts as his kiln.  Each piece was carefully placed on shelving and if you look closely,  you can see that it's loaded with different pieces.

Loading the big oven. He built this oven himself in 2012.

He said he would start a fire the next day early in the morning and keep it going for 17 hours.  We told him we'd return in a few days to pick up our finished bowls.

And here's the finished product.  Four lovely bowls, with holes in the bottom for the water to drain.  They currently sit outside, seeds planted in them, as we wait for chives, parsley, cilantro and basil to sprout.

My little planters.

And so that's your little Mango moment for the day. Tune in next time for a trip to Staples!