Creek Road Pottery LLC Newsletter – May 24, 2026
Hello from rural Pennsylvania, where the garden is finally going in, the wood kiln arch is waiting on me, and the studio is slowly becoming the thing I’ve been planning for longer than I’d like to admit. This month we covered a lot of ground. Literally and otherwise. The posts this week touched on gardens, kilns, tools, systems, and the slow work of building a life that depends a little less on things outside your control. That thread runs through all of it, whether I’m talking about tomato plants or tatami bricks.
I’ll be honest with you. The pottery has felt more like a gardening place than a pottery lately, and I’m owning that without apology. The garden and the kiln and the solar project are all part of the same plan: get more self-sufficient, cut costs where you can, and build something that holds up when the world outside gets unpredictable. That’s the work this spring, in the studio and out of it. Here’s the full report.
The Garden
My wife and I put the garden in this Memorial Day weekend after finding a great deal on plants. We still need to make one more stop at the hardware store after my shift in the morning to pick up the last few things, and then we’ll be set for the season. We doubled the size of the garden from last year, which felt like the right call given where food prices are headed. I’ve been uploading grocery receipts to Claude A.I. and letting it run month-to-month cost comparisons, group purchases by category, and flag things we could grow ourselves instead of buy at the store. The numbers are making the case for the garden better than I could on my own, and having a projected savings estimate based on what we plant makes the whole thing feel less like a hobby and more like a decision.
Fermentation pots are on the list for the studio side of this. If we’re growing cabbage, I want to be the one making the crock that ferments it. Traditional, heavy, functional pieces that do one job well for decades. That’s the kind of work I want to be making, and the garden gives me a reason to make it that goes beyond just filling shelf space. The garden feeds the table, the table feeds the idea, and the idea feeds the studio. That’s the loop I’ve been working toward, and this spring it’s starting to feel less like a plan and more like something actually happening.
The Wood Kiln
The arch is the focus this holiday weekend, and I’m hoping to get real progress made on it before the weekend is over. I watched a video by another kiln builder on laying the tatami brick roof on the firebox and want to try those techniques here on my own kiln. If time allows beyond the arch work, I’d also like to set the base for a rocket kiln that fires on small pieces of wood rather than propane. The cost of propane has been a real and recurring number in this studio budget for a long time, and two wood-fired kilns changes that math in a way that actually matters month to month.
The studio also needs a cleaning before classes start, and the bathroom situation is something I’m still working out. The only restrooms available right now are inside the house, which doesn’t work once students are coming through. I’m looking at renting a porta-john for the summer into fall and haven’t fully decided where to put it yet, which is the kind of problem that sounds small until it’s the only thing standing between you and running a class. Nobody talks about the unglamorous logistics of teaching out of a working studio, but that’s the reality of it. Once the wood kiln is finished and the rocket kiln is firing, I’ll feel good knowing the studio has made a real pivot to a better-priced fuel and a more sustainable way of working.
The Solar Project
The solar project is still moving, slower than I’d like but moving. I’m saving up for the panels and batteries so I can at least start storing energy while I continue working out the other components of the system. The plan is to get the storage in place before the electricity spike from the grid arrives, not after. Putting panels on the pottery shed roof and pairing them with storage batteries gives the studio a cushion that doesn’t depend on what the utility company decides to charge next season. It’s the same logic as the wood kiln and the garden. Take ownership of the inputs and you have more say over the outputs.
Between wood firing, solar, and reclaimed clay, this studio is working toward something I’ve been describing for a while now as self-reliant, self-sufficient, and self-sustaining. Those aren’t just words I like the sound of. They’re a real target with real steps attached. When the studio gets there, I’ll be in a better position to help other potters and small studios think through how to do the same thing. The generosity piece only works if you’ve got something solid under your own feet first. That’s what this spring has been about.
On Tools and Systems
I’ve been using Claude A.I. as a project management tool across both the pottery and the household, and it has changed how I keep things moving. I set up separate sessions for different areas, finances, the kiln build, the garden, studio inventory, and several others, all feeding into a manager session that gives me an overview and a running action list at a glance. Without that kind of structure I get lost in information overload and executive paralysis, staring at too many projects and not moving on any of them. The manager session cuts through that. It tells me what needs to happen next, in what order, and on what timeline, daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
The same structure works for the business side of things. Sessions for raw materials, inventory, energy costs, labor, and sales all reporting to a manager session with real numbers tracked over time. Better pricing decisions because the data is actually there instead of estimated. That said, A.I. makes mistakes and can be misused, leaned on for creative thinking instead of kept in its lane as a tool. I’ve stabbed my finger with a pin tool, cut myself on a thin metal rib mid-throw, and caught my hand with a hammer on a missed nail. The tool was never the problem. Using it without paying attention was. Know your tools, check the work they give you, and wear gloves when you pull weeds. Thorns don’t care how good your system is.
The Bigger Picture
The credit cards are paid off. The garden is going in. The wood kiln arch is getting closer. The solar project has a savings plan and a timeline behind it. None of these happened by waiting for a perfect moment or a complete picture. They happened by deciding and doing, one thing at a time, trusting that forward motion is better than standing still and getting the next decision right based on what the last one taught you. Doing nothing is easy. It’s also the fastest way to end up depending on everyone else for everything. Doing a little more means depending on others a little less, and that adds up over a season in ways that are starting to show up as real numbers.
The reclaimed clay is what’s on the wheel right now. It’s the clay I worked with for eight years before it was discontinued, and it throws as well as anything I’ve ever bought new. Using reclaim cuts material costs, keeps good clay out of the waste bucket, and connects the current work to a long history of working with what you have rather than waiting for what you want. Classes are coming. The studio is getting ready. If you’ve been thinking about learning to throw or wanting to come back to the wheel after some time away, now is a good time to reach out and get on the list.
Thank you for following along and supporting Creek Road Pottery. Every comment, visit, and bit of encouragement makes the long hours worth it. Be sure to keep making work that matters for the people who care.
Until next time,
Alford Wayman
Artist/ Owner
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