Tag Archives: calendula

Little Falls Cheese Festival, Saturday July 14, 2018

Learning Adventures,

This was our first attendance at this event and we were part of the new Makers on West Main grouping. It was created to “celebrate the importance of small makers of exceptional products in New York State”. This is a direct quote from the their brochure. We were happy to attend as we are all about buying from local businesses. Even more so now that we are one of those businesses.    And I am always fascinated by the talent and skill that these people have and show us with the products they sell.

Little Falls, NY is just over an hour from Sherrill so we were heading out early for our 7 am arrival time.  We had loaded the trailer Friday night and the last minute things were stuffed into the car and Transit and we were on the road, on schedule at 6 am.  Of course,  I did have to run back in at last minute for my tea.  As I spent years driving to and from Herkimer, this was a familiar drive for me.  Our arrival was little disorganized as we had to temporarily park on the street, unload everything and then move our cars. Then it was a brisk walk back to our sites and time to get set up.  We paid for a double site as we have learned the hard way that more space always comes in handy.  After our last event, when Josi and I both got sun scorched, we decided that more shade was needed.

Being me, I wanted to obtain this by the most frugal of methods.  So buying an umbrella or awning for our tent was certainly out.  We did have a shade cloth that I bought last year to use when working in our field.  Another place where we deal with lots of sun and no shade.  We tossed the whole thing over our tent frame and started brain storming.  A bit of trial and error and we came up with plan.  Ron cut in it half and I sewed two large pockets, one on each end.  Turned out Ron is not that good at measuring and he had to send me back to the sewing machine to make one side shorter.  We had to keep the length just  under five feet for each side in order to stay within the  20 foot size limit.   A trip out to get PVC pipe and assorted pieces to hold them all together and we were set with two sides, safely shaded.  We were excited to try it out on the Cheese Festival.  Looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

And it worked a treat.  One side for our logs and the other for me and my products.    As a bonus, the rust color goes well with dark green tent.   By the time Josi arrived to help again; God Bless, great friends, only the last minute things needed to be done.  You will be shocked to hear that we did not forget anything this time.  I even had a tube of sunscreen ready for use.  Josi brought some too.  We were not going to risk more sunburn this time. Oh, wait.  I did forget to bring fingernail clippers.  A pair of those need to be added to our business/emergency supply bin.  Ron broke two nails during set up and I had a hang nail that bugged me every space minute I had.  It is always the little things, isn’t it?

Just as Ron was getting the samples started we had a surprise visit from Ron’s friend, Shelly.  She has been involved with THF since the beginning and has attended numerous work sessions.  It was nice to see her again and made a happy start to the day.   And then the day took off.   Not only with the number of people, but the heat too.   We were set up on the actual road which reflected heat back up into the tent.  With Ron cooking on the stove, he was taking the brunt of it.   Every so often we got a slight breeze which was a welcome relief.  One of the vendors few tents down from us had brought their own fans and a generator.  Serious thoughts of swiping them had to be tamped down.

With Ron cooking the shiitakes, Jo assembling the samples and Josi offering them to potential customers, I was on the other side of our tent offering my own samples of lip balm, lotion bars and body cream.  This time I had a batch of soap that I added lavender to and I was offering my own version of stuffed mushrooms.

I used wool felt, some old buttons and milkweed fluff to make them.  They were a relaxing project that I worked on while watching TV or talking with Ron.  I  suggested them to people telling them they are cuter and will last longer than the shiitakes Ron was hawking, but they would not taste as good.   People thought they were cute, loved the idea of the milkweed fluff and I even managed to sell a few.

The festival ended at 5 pm and we were more than ready for it.  Hot, sticky, exhausted and hungry but pleased  with the day.  Now all we had to do was break down everything, load it all back into the cars, drive home, unload what we absolutely had to and collapse inside the house.  Though first, I again had to drag Ron away from the other vendors.  He was fully burned out, but he really wanted to spend more time talking with them.  Showers, food and alcoholic beverages for all.  Ron and I had Sunday off, but Jo had to work the early shift.

Sunday morning; this should have been a day of semi-relaxation. That is really a joke, of course as we not only had to finish unloading everything, but we also had to check out THF.  Friday evening we had seen that there was serious pinning on our logs and knew more mushrooms were coming.  No way we were going to pick any Saturday night, but Ron and I headed out there at 8 in the morning.  After we finished harvesting, drove home, cleaned and bagged them we had 24 one pound bags in the frig.

Timing really is everything, isn’t it?  Maybe I need to invent a time machine or a special status chamber for our shiitakes.  That way we can pick them when they are ready and still have them fresh when needed.  Hmmm.  Something to think about.

This was our fourth event as a vendor and we learn more and get better at it every time we do one.  But I really do not understand how anyone can do this over a weekend or three days.  It is simply exhausting.  I guess if you are selling only non perishable products it is a bit easier but still there is so much work involved.  And so much heart too, that you put into your products.  The real fun part is talking with other vendors, when you have a space second and talking with all the people who stop by your booth.  Sharing your knowledge and learning something from those you talk with, that makes the day so worth while.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battered and bruised

Our 3 Acres, ,

Wet, exhausted, dirty. And hungry. And it turns out, bug bit. But more about that later. That is how I ended my Mother’s Day 2018.  Ron had big plans this year and the festivities started on Thursday May 10th when Jo, Ron and I headed out to THF after work.  Now that winter had finally released its grip on Upstate NY it was time  to start our lavender planting process.   Last year we laid out two extra panels of the landscape cloth.  This in prep for our 2018 planting.  First step was melting holes in the landscape cloth. As it was just the three of us, Ron had to come with up a plan for us to use the blow torch.  When we did this last year, we were six people strong.  Luckily, he is very good at finagling things.

He used his favorite thing; bungie cords to attach a propane tank to the log hauling rack we bought a few years ago.  Then he hooked up the blow torch and strapped that down.   It was amazing how well this part of the project went.  Six rows with 19 holes each and we were done in just under two hours.

Friday we headed back out again after work to drill the holes we needed.  Why are we drilling the holes, you ask?  Because we have lots of rocks on THF.  Check out the picture I posted on our Instragram  page.

Jo really loves digging out rocks.   She is just like her Uncle John, simply does not want to leave rocks were they are.    And this is where the bruising came in.  The drill we were using had a 3 inch auger attached and it was a beast to work with.  As I was not at all familiar with how strong the thing was; my knees, shins and wrists got a beating.  And we also had to deal with the auger deciding not to stay locked in.  After it fell out for about the 10th time, we took it as a sign and packed it in for the night.

That turned out to be a  mistake.  Saturday was a rainy, chilly day.  We never did make it out to THF.   I made soap in the morning, re-potted 80 of our lavender starts and got a few of the normal life things done while we waited and hoped for better weather.  Just after noon, Ron decided that he was calling it.  This day was a bust.  And then it dawned on me – the next day was Mother’s Day and he was going to do it to me again.  The tradition of hard, outside work on the day I should be pampered by him and Jo was once again going to happen.  He gets me every year.

Ron and I headed out Sunday morning.  It was a beautiful day and we hoped to get everything done in quick order.  While we were able to get the lavender planted easily in the newly drilled holes, things got harder once they were done.  We now had to re-drill the holes from last year.  Now we really wished that that we stuck it out longer on Friday night.  The day started to really drag.  It was hotter and buggier that I liked.  We slogged on determined to get it done.  We were working on the last row when, thank goodness Jo arrived just after 2 pm to help out.

Now we had to water the blasted plants.  That involved the 4 wheeler, water tank and wagon. Jo and Ron got that set up and filled while I finished planting the last few lavender.  It was a nice surprise that I had guessed just right with the number needed.

The watering process was, shall we say interesting.  There was no way to regulate the strength of the water flow.  It was full blast or nothing.  Am not sure our new plants enjoyed getting their first drink of water this way.  It was such a relief when we were finally done.  Now we just had to put everything away and head home.

It doesn’t look like much right now, but in a month or so we will have a lot more green and lots of blossoms.  Ron is looking forward to the invasion of the bumblebees too.  They really love the lavender.

I did not forget that I promised some info about my getting bug bit.  Turns out I am suddenly allergic to black fly bites.  They nailed me at least 3 times even though I had sprayed with bug spray.  They got me on each cheek and the neck.  Monday morning I woke up to my right ear being red, itchy and swollen.  By Tuesday I was so done with the burning itch that I headed to urgent care for help.  I am better now, but will take more serious precautions when working on Our 3 Acres.  Ron has even ordered us a couple of fishing hats.  Again I will be styling while on THF.  I cannot wait.

On a sad note, our farmer friend, Dick Crane has died.  Ron and he always had a great time talking together and he was fascinated by THF.  Every wild thought or idea Ron had, Dick was on board with.  He knew everyone in the area so Ron would reach out to him and ask if he knew a guy who could do this or that.  Dick was such a great help to us with his big machines, especially when we had to set up our outhouse.   He would stop by the farm anytime he had a spare moment just to see what was new.  We will really miss him.

 

 

 

Ginny’s been busy

Ginny Projects, , , ,

Learning all sorts of new things.  It is not as easy as saying; Hey I am going to make and sell natural skin care products. The number of decisions that have to be made are mindboggling. The how-to info is out there and that is the easy part. Well, easy enough once you decide what type of products you want to make. No matter what you want to make, there is a basic recipe for each item. Oils, butters, and wax are the baseline ingredients and the process is great, fun science; but there is a lot more involved. First you have to decide what kind oil you want to use. Each oil adds something different to your product. Then you have to decide if you want to try Infusing your oil choice with any number of herbs. That takes time. A month at least, though you can do this in just a few hours using a crockpot or double boiler. I prefer using the slow method and have my jars lined up alongside our wood stove.

And I had to get myself more organized too. Every jar needs a label and date. The only oil you can easily identify is coconut. And this only after it cools down and started to solidify again. I have calendula infused olive, coconut and sunflower oil. Lavender olive oil which I did use in making a batch of lavender soap. One jar of comfrey infused olive oil to try using in salves. And calendula infused coconut oil. Lots of things to play with. Ron added to the mix by having a friend at work who raises goats. Which is why we are making goat’s milk calendula soap.
And then there is the stuff you have to buy. You can find some of it in the grocery store and maybe can find something to use as a mold in your house, but there is so much out there now that you can be overwhelmed by the choices. I decided to go with simple loaf molds as I wanted to make bar soap. But even with that, I still have to decide what type/style of mold and what size. You also need molds or tins for lip balms, lotion bars and salves. You have to find sources for your supplies. Beeswax and lye are not easily found on store shelves. Ron found a guy on Ebay selling 8 pounds of beeswax for a good price and ordered it for me. It came in big chunks which were not going to be easy to work with.  So I melted it down, filtering through cheesecloth and poured it into smaller molds. Time consuming but it made it much easier for later projects.

So, you have made the soap and then have more decisions. How are you going to cut it into neat bars and where will you store it during the curing time? Which is at least 4 weeks. The longer your soap cures, the better. And you have to plan accordingly. This is not something you can decide on December 1st that you want to make soap as Christmas presents.
Ron made an executive decision and decided that I needed a fancy shmancy soap cutter, and I have to admit that it really does a great job. But I don’t feel the same happiness using it as I did with the cutter my friend Josi made me. With my longer loaf molds, I end up with 10 even slices. A good number to work with. As to the curing process, that issue was solved when Ron came home with two metal shelf sets. I combined all the shelves to make one unit, so now I have shelves to hold my soaps, lotion bars and assorted supplies. Time for a happy dance.

Another issue any soap maker has is keeping tracking of when the soap was sliced so you will know when it can be used. All of my soaps are the same so I cannot ID each batch by just looks. I stumbled across a suggestion of putting small stickers on one bar from each batch and have a list with sticker color and date. A simple solution to my problem is keeping a spread sheet with weekly weights of each bar.
Now you have your cured soap or lotion bars and you need to make yet another decision. How to package and label it. Again, the choices are endless. Ron pulled on his graphic designer hat and came up with a great design. We are going to have the same basic label for all of our products;  just changing it as needed. He also found a terrific company to make the stick-on labels for us. We highly recommend you check out Stickermule for any label needs. With our soap, we not only have a wrap-around label but we actually wrap the bar itself. It looks a bit more put together and will protect the soap from any bashing about.
All of this has been a real adventure for me as there is so much to learn. And it has been re-enforced that you really do need to read your recipe or directions. And pay attention. Last week I tackled lip balm. Ron wanted to get the labels ordered, but I told him to wait until I had done a couple of runs at it. So, I divided my recipe in half and got everything melted together. Then I discovered that the tubes I was planning to use for this batch did not fit properly with the tube tray I bought. They were longer and thinner. I did not want to use the tubes that came with the tray. They hold the same amount by weight, but they look under filled. Not a good selling point. Once the balm had hardened, I pulled one out to try. Major disaster. The thing was rock hard and I could not figure out why.  More oil was the obvious solution, but how did I get the recipe so wrong?  Driving to work the next day it hit me. I had misread the beeswax conversion from tablespoons to ounces and had doubled the amount needed. Glad I figured it out, but annoying nonetheless.
The second batch was much better, but I still need to figure out the best way to use the tray I have.

I already have a good recipe for lotion bars and those are something you can quickly whip together.  Bonus being they are ready to go within a few hours. The issue I have with those are getting the weight right.  Each bar needs to weigh at least 1.5 ounces.  I am using 12 individual molds and it is annoyingly difficult to put each one on my scale and then pour the hot mixture in to in.  Moving the just filled molds without spilling is tricky.  After I have made a few more dozen, I should have a solid routine down pat.

The most luxurious product I make is a calendula body cream.  It is also my problem child.  Because it is made with water it does not have the shelf life of items made with oils.  I have to add a preservative and then make it shortly before I am going sell it.  But people who have tried it, really like it.

We are really looking forward to seeing how well these products sell at the events we attend this year. Ron is still focused on the shiitakes, but having something non perishable to sell too could be a major game changer.  It is going to be a fun year.

Here I am using something I had around the house with my soap making.  Goat’s milk soap will darken if you keep it warm longer so I put the molds in a box and cover with a towel.  Murphy loves helping me out by adding her warmth to the process.   Who says cats can’t be helpful?