Local merchants offer holiday goods

Off the highway, far from the mall, in the side lots of small businesses and the tucked away studios of local artisans, Carson Valley residents can find gifts and goods for the holiday season without the stampede vanities and frenzied consumption of Black Friday.

For example, in the industrial kitchen of a Johnson Lane deli on Monday morning, Gardnerville resident Mindy Miller was spreading out a boiling, viscous, sweet-smelling substance on a large plane of tinfoil.

"It originated as gift giving. That was how it started," she said. "The fact is it's an inexpensive gift that's appreciated because it's handmade, more personal, a special treat."

Miller, 54, was referring to her homemade toffee, 40 pounds produced every week, along with other candies, that form the basis of her small business, Tahoe Toffee Candy Co.

Although she has been making toffee for 20 years during the holidays, Miller didn't make a business of it until she lost her job about two years ago, one of countless victims of the recession. And what started out as a small operation in May 2009 became even more important when Miller's husband also lost his job.

"We had to rely on it more," she said. "These days, we're pretty busy. Things are crazy right now because of the season."

Tahoe Toffee sells products wholesale to vendors around the region, from Carson Valley to Reno, and offers direct ordering from their website, www.tahoetoffee.com. The product line includes quarter-pound to half-pound packages of the namesake toffee, caramel corn, honeycomb, peppermint park and turtles. The latter consist of caramel, chocolate and almonds, shaped in little turtles.

"This is the first season we've done the caramels and turtles," Miller said. "When it comes to our toffee, people seem to like it. We don't use as much chocolate as others do. A little less chocolate and more toffee."

Miller contends that homemade candy makes a great holiday gift - sweet and affordable in an otherwise sour economic situation.

"Especially because the economy is not allowing huge gift-giving, this is a nice way to show appreciation," Miller said.

For more information about Tahoe Toffee Candy Co., call 265-5880.

A few miles north of where Miller was making toffee Monday morning, Jackie Circle resident Sharon Randall was preparing for her annual Christmas studio sale.

Framed by the Pine Nut Mountains, the 1,200-square-foot studio of Copper Kiln Pottery sits unassumingly behind Randall's primary residence. Yet inside, holiday shoppers will find shelves brimming with years' worth of work wrung from the hands of a 64-year-old woman.

Literally, there are nearly a thousand pieces of what Randall calls "functional ware" - cups, bowls, plates, platters, teapots, penholders, soap dispensers and other useful objects.

"I do mostly functional pottery with a flair," Randall said. "Slab work, extruded work, or sometimes a combination. I also have a couple of Raku pieces."

A Reno native, Randall founded Copper Kiln Pottery on the banks of Alaska's Copper River when she and her husband were living there about 15 years ago. In 2001, the couple returned to Nevada and built their house off Jackie Circle, including the pottery studio.

"We're snow birds, we go back (to Alaska) every summer," Randall said. "I'll pack up a bunch of pots and use a friend's studio up there."

Although functional, Randall's pieces are anything but ordinary. Each has personality. For example, she's created a number of exotic personal stamps from her travels: fish bones, sea shells, seed pods. Or consider her "attitude cups," slightly off-axis and spunky.

"There's something about handling pottery and cooking with it at home," Randall said. "It's art, but functional."

Located at 2876 Jackie Circle (off Vicky Lane), Copper Kiln Pottery is holding its Christmas sale 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 11-12. For more information, visit www.copperkilnpottery.com or call (775) 721-3461.

On the other side of town early Wednesday morning, motorists driving through Minden could see Santa Claus hanging out on the corner of Sixth Street and Highway 395. Although children riding with their parents might have believed otherwise, Santa was actually Robert Reynolds, construction manager of Designing With Nature.

For the last 10 years, the small landscaping company has offered live Christmas trees for the holidays. Santa, along with cookies and hot chocolate, has become part of the experience.

"Live trees are fragrant longer," said owner Casey Barnes. "The most popular is the blue spruce. They're very symmetrical and have a nice shape. This year, we're doing the Scotch pine. They have a very good shape, too, and are hardy. Really, all the trees we have are hardy. The cut trees you get in town don't do well here, the Douglas firs and Noble firs. We call cut trees dead trees. Our trees are live, and all the species are used specifically for landscaping."

Like a giant wreath, more than a hundred trees ring the small street-side office in Minden, including blue and green spruces, Austrian and Scotch pines, blue atlas cedars, and a few "Charlie Brown trees," crooked with character.

Designing With Nature's Office Manager Vicki Flam compiled a list of all the environmental benefits of live Christmas trees, ranging from the reduction of one's carbon footprint to the soil stability and wind-breaking insulation provided when later planted.

Of course, there are emotional benefits as well.

"It's the same process when you plant a tree," Flam said. "You can enjoy it for years to come."

Marketing director Sarah Krites said the company also has 10 Project Santa Claus angels available. It's all part of Designing With Nature's wish to keep the holiday season as close to home as possible. To turn Black Friday into Green Friday.

"We try to use local businesses as much as we can," Krites said. "We want to keep the town small."

Located at 1616 Highway 395, Designing With Nature is open daily from 8 a.m. to closing. For more information, call 782-4999.