Giveaway: Jonathan's Wild Cherry Spoons

Welcome to those of you coming over from the Bloggy Giveaways Carnival!

Whenever possible, I love surrounding myself with beautiful, functional, handmade objects. Whether it's a hand-thrown clay mug, a knitted afghan, or hand-blown glass salt and pepper shakers, I enjoy using items that have been crafted by a person, rather than a machine.
Cooking utensils and baking items are no exception. Somehow foods that are cooked in handmade crockery or stirred with a hand-carved spoon taste better, don't you think? Or at least the cook enjoys the process more and in turn, transfers that feeling into the food.

Since I've been showcasing things from the area around my home of late, I wanted to share with you a craftsperson who works close to where I live. Jonathan Simons, of the aptly-named Jonathan's Wild Cherry Spoons, has a studio in rural Kempton, Pennsylvania, where he and a staff of 10 carve wooden spoons, spatulas and other kitchen items from pieces of cherry wood. You may have seen his spoons sold at specialty stores or at festivals or fairs, at least in my region of the US.

I own a few of his cooking spoons, including the Cat Tail Spoon
which has a wiggly handle and some attractive flame-blackened stripes that are burned into the wood. Here's another designed by fire, the Slim Spiral Spoon.

The entire Flame Blackened Collection is amazing. Who wouldn't want this funky Spaghetti Fork to serve up noodles?

One of my favorite spoon categories from Jonathan's is the Lazy Spoon Collection. These spoons and spatulas have little notches cut into them for resting on a pot or pan.
I admit, I can sometimes be a bit lazy, I mean, pressed for time, when it comes to cooking. I can't count the number of times that I've taken the spoon somewhere else in the house while I'm checking on the baby or answering the phone. And call me obsessive-compulsive, but often I hate dirtying up my spoon rest or my stove by laying down a messy spoon. I know, that's what spoon rests are for, but it's also one more thing to clean.

Here it is in action, on applesauce duty as seen in my previous post from this past weekend.
The Lazy Spoon was great because I always knew where to find my spoon and it kept all the sticky applesauce in the pot where it belonged. The Lazy Ladle is definitely on my Christmas list (are you reading this honey?), since I make a pot of soup every week in Fall and Winter.
And speaking of gifts, they have a wonderful set of spoons, called The Spoon Bouquet, that would make a perfect wedding present.
These would last for years and years (probably longer than many marriages!).

Clearly, I'm a huge fan, but so is Rachael Ray, who picked the Flame Blackened Ladle as her May fave in her magazine. Jonathan's Spoons were also featured in O Magazine. Would you like to become a fan too?

Jonathan is generously giving away a...

(((((Lazy Spoon )))))

to one lucky K&K reader!

To enter:

1. Visit Jonathan's Wild Cherry Spoons and leave a comment on this post with your favorite product from the site. Also, if you wish, let me know if there's a store near you that sells Jonathan's spoons.
2. Make sure your email address is in the comment or is easily accessible via your blog profile or blog itself. I need a way to contact you!
3. For one extra entry, blog about this post and leave a separate comment letting me know
4. For a second extra entry, post my button (code is on my right hand sidebar) on your blog OR subscribe to my newsletter and let me know you've done this in a separate comment .

This giveaway is for US and Canadian postal addresses only.

You must do the first two things in order to enter ("I want to win, thanks!" comments will NOT be considered). You will have until Saturday November 1st at 11:59pm EST to enter. The winners will be chosen via random number generator the next day and notified by email. I'll also post the winners on my blog. If I don't hear back from the winner by Tuesday at noon, I'll pick another.

Thank you Jonathan! And please consider bookmarking Jonathan's Wild Cherry Spoons for your holiday gift-giving. They would make excellent stocking stuffers.