AUSTINTOWN — People found countless ways to deal with the upheaval and high stress and anxiety associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, but Linda O’Neill found a diamond in the rough — or, more precisely, many of them.
“I’ve been doing this since the pandemic hit. I’ve done 240, and I take orders,” O’Neill, of Liberty, said.
The 240 she referred to denotes the number of diamond-based paintings she has carefully created during the health crisis. She had a few dozen of the artwork pieces for sale during Saturday’s artisan farmers market in Austintown Township Park, 6000 Kirk Road.
Typically, the biweekly gatherings draw 24 to 30 vendors, and they will continue for several more Saturdays in August and September, Stacey Willis, event coordinator, noted.
For her works, O’Neill, who named her business Just Shenanigans, establishes numbered color codes and works row by row. Then she uses a dough cutter to run down the lines of diamonds to ensure they’re straight before adding a specialized glue to give the crystals an added glittery look then adding the frame for them to be hung.
O’Neill has crafted such works to represent all of the NFL teams, with her favorite being the Green Bay Packers. On the more sobering side, she made a piece depicting the World Trade Center with an American flag wrapped around the north and south towers. She also has made many to honor veterans and those currently serving in the military.
“All of my Cleveland Browns are gone,” O’Neill said, adding that the Ohio State Buckeyes is the only college football team for which she’s designed and framed a diamond-filled piece.
O’Neill, who works at Walmart in Liberty, also has spent about 20 years creating sports- and holiday-themed wreaths, some of which she was selling Saturday. In addition, she spent the pandemic making an estimated 400 masks.
Crafting rocks was more the calling for many children that included siblings Ryland and Reghan Koch, 10 and 13, respectively, as well as Bryce Clay, 10, and Liam Hoover, 12, all of Austintown.
They and others painted the rocks as part of an ongoing project to build a snake figure from the rocks “to see how long we can make it grow,” said Willis, who also thanked the Austintown Home Depot store for donating 12 bags of rocks.
Of course, offering healthful food choices was part and parcel of Saturday’s farmers market, and that included a tent under which Tim and Julie Klaus of Austintown were selling varieties of microgreens.
“They’re basically your pre-vegetable of a full-grown vegetable,” Tim Klaus said. He, along with his wife, runs Wholly Organic Microgreens.
An inherent value of the greens is that their small size contains a high density of nutrients — considerably greater than those found in mature vegetables such as broccoli, where nutrients are more spread out and can be somewhat depleted, Tim Klaus explained.
The couple, who are local growers, harvests the microgreens once per week. At the farmers market, they had for sale small sunflower, pea, beet and broccoli varieties, as well as a crunchy mix.
Health benefits of microgreens include boosting one’s immune system, reducing inflammation, contributing to weight loss, reducing the risk of chronic diseases and improving one’s gut health, he continued.
The husband and wife team began growing their product in March. They also use organic dirt, fertilizer and seeds with water, Tim Klaus said.
“I’m eating a lot more veggies and beans. Moderation is the key,” said Cindy Evans of Austintown, who stopped by the Klaus’ tent.
Other vendors at the farmers market included Saltlick Flower Farm in Salem, Tammy Hill Designs LLC and Fudge Jubilee.
If you go …
WHAT: Artisan farmers markets
WHERE: Austintown Township Park’s Pogany Pavilion, 6000 Kirk Road, Austintown
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 5 and 19 as well as Sept. 9, 16 and 23
ADMISSION: Free
