It seems like back-to-school time comes faster and faster every year. The summer fun has just begun, and then it’s time to pore over checklists and see what still fits in the closet. We’ve put on our thinking caps, inverted and multiplied, and come up with the least common denominator list of essentials that most anyone headed back to class will need.

Summer means enjoying more time outside playing, relaxing, and spending time with friends and family. It also means it's time for easy-breezy summer fare. With fresh fruits and veggies in abundance and loads of simple summer recipes, you'll have this backyard entertaining thing down pat. And we can help. We're sharing our favorite simple and sizzling summer recipes for your culinary delight. Trust us, these are gold! 

With our roots right here in the Tar Heel state, Mast Store has many connections to local manufacturers, artisans, and crafters. From food to footstools, and everything in between, we've curated quite the collection of homegrown goodness to fill our shelves and serve our customers. 

It's time to celebrate the birth of a nation—and we can think of no better time to call out the great selection of products we carry that are made right here in the USA, some not too far from our front doors! That's right. You'll find local items, hand-crafted, bottled, stitched, or hewn right in your area as well as quality goods from across the US. Our Made in USA collection has gotten quite extensive and continues to add more and more fabulous products that we're proud to carry-- and you'll be proud to own.  

During the month of May, Mast asks that you join us as we reach out into our communities and fill a need: shoes.

With Earth Day approaching, we are turning our attention to what we need to be looking at every day. What can I do today to lessen my impact on the earth? After all, it is the only one we have AND the only place you can find chocolate. As it turns out, there’s a lot we all can do, and there are many considerations our vendors are working into their business practices too.

No one deep-cleaned like my grandma. She would gather her good old reliables, her trusted cleaning supplies she’d used since they were invented probably, and with her patented elbow grease and will power, she’d refresh, restore, and renew the whole house in one day.

I’ve been planning my 2019 garden “grow-list” since summer. Been mulling over varieties I loved, waffling on giving poor-show plants a second chance or not, and basically mapping out 2019 in my garden-crowded head … and dreaming.  Because that’s what we gardeners do. Dream. A lot. 

Sitting on the front porch is as iconic as a white picket fence— and it’s just as much a part of the American dream too.  A dream we are lulled into by listening to the sounds of cicada and crickets, drowsily watching the night lit up by lightning bugs and filtered moonlight, and rocking back and forth to the rhythm of times gone by.

Taking a break and focusing on what makes us happy every now and then is vital to our well-being, mentally and physically. And that can look like many things, but there are a few tried and true ways we know to beat the winter blues— taking time for self-care, enjoying some comfort food, and having a little bit of fun.