Morning Edition Coffee Soap

One of my favorite soaps!  Morning Edition Coffee Soap was originally created for our Soap of the Month Club members in Sept. 2014, but it is such a fabulous soap that we moved it to our permanent year-round soap line.  It's THAT good!  

I designed the soap recipe to provide a thick dense lather that is incredibly cleansing (a favorite of mechanics with greasy hands), but also SUPER moisturizing.  Morning Edition can be used as a shampoo bar, general body bar and also for shaving!  That dense lather is perfect for straight razor shaving.    

Morning Edition contains finely ground coffee beans for exfoliation and jojoba beads to moisturize skin.  It's a pretty soap too!

I named this soap after one of my favorite Minnesota Public Radio shows: Morning Edition.  With a blend of coffee extract and mint essential oil this soap will wake you up and get you ready to start the day!

The last time I made Morning Edition I had a little left over and I made a loaf shaped soap too.  Yum!  I wanted to eat it!  Smells sooo good!
To find Morning Edition soap is our Etsy Shop -
CLICK HERE.

Woodchipper Soap

Today I'm showing off one of my favorite soaps: Woodchipper!

It's made with beer from the Fargo Brewing Company.  They have a beer called Woodchipper.  

When I was designing this soap I though about the movie Fargo, woodchippers and the delicious scent of the Woodchipper beer.

It smells like pine and grapefruit!

So I made soap "woodchips" from a soap that included rhubarb root.  The rhubarb root lends a slightly pinky red color where it touches the white layer.  Anyone seen the movie Fargo??  Yeah, that's what I was going for ;)

I used black spruce essential oil and grapefruit essential oil to scent this soap. 

Wow!  It smells SO good!  Yum, yum!

The combination of the sugars in the beer and the olive oil in my vegan recipe creates HUGE bubbles in the shower or bath.

I love this soap!

You can find Woodchipper in our Etsy store here: Woodchipper Soap

Last Show of 2014

Wow!  What a year!  

So many exciting things happened this year that I feel like it should really be 2 years, or at least much more than only 365 days.  There's no way for me to pack the entire year into one post, but I would like to share a few pictures from my last show of the year.  This was at the Women's Art Festival in Minneapolis on Sat.

As usual, my Mom and I had a blast together!  

At 4 am when we were driving into the cities (in a thick blanket of fog) I was contemplating making this my last show ever.  But my Mom talked me out of it.  It's a lot of fun for us to spend 8 hours of uninterrupted time together.  When and where else do you get to do that?!  

So I will be applying to shows for 2015.

Maybe not quite as many shows....but we'll see what happens in 2015.  Last year I never would have guessed the leaps and bounds that my little business would make one year, so you just never know what will happen!

With every show that I did this year, I felt more prepared and it was less work and more fun.

At this last show, I added little toothpick signs to each of the soaps.  The signs helped customers to see at a (quick) glance which soaps were made with Minnesota goat milk, MN beer or vegan.  We still explained the products to the customers, but this way, if we were helping a customer, people could still shop and have some idea of which type of soaps they were looking at.

I need to remember that not everyone can look at a bar of soap and know what I put into it!  I made them all, so that's why I know each of them - like they were my babies! 

This is the first time (this year) that we brought the shelving unit to a show.  This little shelf has been hanging out in storage since 2013 when I used it at the farmer's market.  I stopped using it there, because of the wind and its propensity for tipping over!  

It was AMAZING at the show on Sat.  Worked great!  People could see all the lotions and easily access them.  My Mom loves to talk about the lotions, so she was able to stand behind the little shelf and answer any questions or offer lotion samples to anyone walking by.  

I sold out of almost all of my lotion!  I brought home a lot of empty boxes. Yay!

One of our best sales 'tricks' for the lotion is to offer a sample and tell the customer to walk around the show.  We tell them if they walk around and they think the lotion feels good, then they should come back.  Almost 100% come back to buy and they bring their friends.  Of the percentage that don't come back, some of them will message me the day after the sale and ask where they can get that wonderful lotion!  LOL!  

I really like the lotion recipe that I have created, so of course I'm a fan of my lotion, but it sure is fun to see that other people like it too :)

This year I made over 100 different type of soap.  This meant that at all the shows I did this year, I was able to bring a few new soaps to every show.  I think it's important to always be developing something new.  Not only for the customer, but I do it for myself too.  I didn't start making soap to be UN-creative.  I want to BE creative and have fun.  If I just make the same thing over and over again, I will very quickly lose my joy and interest in my products.  If you don't love your own products, how can you expect other people to love them?

So I make crazy soaps and stay happy!

This is our booth after the show.  Clean up time!

Thank you to all of the wonderful people I have met this year through my little business!!!

All my fun customers!

And all the amazing other crafts people!

Thank you for a perfect year!  

Can't wait to see what happens in 2015!

Blue Moon Wisteria

I forgot to post about my Blue Moon wisteria!  This is the first year I have ever had a flower on my wisteria vine (bush? tree?).

It's been growing for 4 years.  It is VERY hardy.  I don't protect it at all in the winter and it's in a fairly exposed area.  So Blue Moon wisteria really is hardy in Minnesota zone 4!

This is what it looked like to start out.

I wasn't sure what it was going to look like when it bloomed, because I've never seen a wisteria bloom.

It was more purple than blue, but it shows up very blue in pictures.  I bought this vine at Menard's, of all places, for about $25.  I go back every year and ask them if they have any more.  Every year they look at me like I'm crazy - "Wisteria?  What's that?"

Watch Tibby Live!

Tibby has her orientation/interview day at doggie daycare tomorrow.

You can watch her play with other dogs all day long!

I will be there around 7am to drop her off and around 3pm to pick her up, so you might see me too!

Here is the address for the web cam:

Woof dah!

I'm really nervous she will get rejected, but she loves other dogs, so I think she will have fun playing all day long.

It's too bad the daycare is so far away. It will have to be an only once every couple months and for overnight boarding when I go on vacation treat for Tibby. If anyone wants to open a Woof dah! type doggie daycare near me I will be their FIRST customer.

Amphibian Attack

A friend collected some salamanders, frogs and toads from a window well at her house.

We brought them to my garden and put them near the pond.

There were a lot of them!

"What is that?!"

"Can I eat it?"

Wonderful camouflage.

Garden Update: July 2010

At this time of year, there are so many things ready in the garden at the same time.

The peas are almost done. I will pick the final harvest today and pull out the vines.

The onions are almost ready to be pulled and cured for winter storage.

The cucumbers and tomatoes are literally hanging on the vines.

I pick a big bowlful every other day.

The peppers are just starting to ripen and turn colors - red, purple, orange and yellow.

The summer squash is also producing a bunch of nice fat squashes every day.

I didn't take a pic of them, but the eggplant is really, really producing well this year.

Yum! Lots of eggplant = lots of tasty winter meals with roasted eggplant.

The carrots, kale, lettuce and broccoli are also producing huge daily handfuls.

Kiwi and Tansy are happy about lots of fresh bunny munchies!

They are especially loving the big bunches of fresh basil I pick for them every morning.

They also like to eat flowers: pansy, rose petals, phlox and hollyhocks leaves (I like the flowers too much to share with them!).

Looking at the garden from my deck, facing south-east.




Looking at the garden, facing south-west.

In the foreground of this picture, you can see my attempt at a second crop of peas.

They produced about 1/2 a cup, but only grew 1 foot high.

The spring planting grew 3 1/2 feet high and produced about 6 cups.

6 cups is not enough peas! I always want more peas!

Unfortunately, they take up vertical space in the garden and I have trouble finding more room for them to grow where they won't be shaded by other vertical growers.

Facing west.

I let some volunteer radishes grow and go to seed in the path.

They are supposed to keep squash vine borers and other pests away.

It worked last year, but it does make the path very messy looking.

Tomatoes on the left and green beans on the right.

Everyone else seems to be picking their green beans, but mine are not ready yet.

Boo! I love green beans!

Tomatoes.

There was a wilt of some kind that attacked my tomatoes, but I sprayed them and mulched them with grass clippings and they seem to be doing better.

Cucumbers on the trellis.

I love picking a cucumber hanging eight feet up in the air.

So funny!

In this pic we have from left to right - tomatillo, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, painted lady beans, green beans, basil and more tomatoes. There is also some kale, but you can't see it from this angle.

Can I just say I'm glad that I made all my paths 3 feet wide?

All that fussy work this Spring, setting out the beds, was worth it.

Chinese 5 color peppers.

They are starting to change color!

Looking east.

Can you see Catty? She is underneath the arch on the left side.

In this pic - peas, onions, strawberries, kale, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, summer squash, sunflowers, green beans and radishes gone to seed.

That's all folks!

I hope you enjoyed the update.

If you have an update on your garden, please leave a link in the comment section, so I can check it out. :)

The Green House Plant Sale

The
Green House
Plant Sale

May 1st
8am - 2pm

1108 5th St SW
Willmar, Mn

From started plants to
garden art
Something for everyone
Rainbow colored tomatoes
Peppers
Herbs
Raspberry starts
Strawberry starts
Perennials and annuals

~

We will be selling over 18 varieties of heirloom tomatoes including: Green Grape, Pantanto Romanesco,Riesentraube, Sungold Select II, Black Cherry, Violet Jasper or Tzi Bi U, Tigerella, Isis Candy Cherry and Snowberry.
More than 9 varieties of hot and sweet peppers including: Ancho, Pasilla Bajio and Chinese 5 Color.
9 different varieties of Minnesota hardy raspberries.

I will be selling my garden art - glass flowers, mushrooms, glass bird baths and more!

We will have fresh free range eggs from the happy Ladies.

Fresh baked bread. A selection of jams and jellies including: White tomato jelly, Carrot jam, Red Currant jelly, Garlic-onion jam and Blueberry-Mint jam.

Plus - White Chocolate Macaroons!

Arrive early for the best selection.

I hope you can come!

Escape To The Twin Cities

Last weekend I took a trip to the Cities (that's what the rest of Minnesota calls Minneapolis/St. Paul/Suburbs).

After a long winter we needed to take a Spring Escape.

We went to my favorite restaurant The Good Earth at the Galleria. Well, it was my favorite. I wasn't very impressed with the service or food. It was like eating at a Perkins.

I had a coconut/mango smoothie.

Mom and Dad

Appetizer - warm artichoke dip with jicama and pita wedges.

This was very good. The pita were warm and soft. The dip was creamy and the jicama added a nice crunch.

Mom's main dish - it was over spiced with cumin.

Dad's dish - too much 5 spice.

My meal - the nut/bean burger was undercooked and mushy. The soup was good, but I can make richer broth. Sorry Good Earth!

On our way to Minneapolis to see Macbeth at the Guthrie.

Macbeth was amazing. Although the costumes were a little distracting - 1950's military?

The next day we went to the Mall of America (MOA).

It was an interesting experience.

I met a woman who took cupcakes hostage.......

So, we went to the Williams-Sonoma store. They were doing a cake/cupcake demonstration. We watched for over 1/2 an hour. I was planning on buying some things after the demonstration, but then I met the Cupcake Nazi.

She was so mean!

See the woman on the right side in the brown shirt cutting up the GIANT cake (apparently not big enough to share). First of all, she argued with the blonde woman through the entire presentation - they couldn't agree on anything. Then she went to cut up the cake and get the cupcakes ready. We watched while at least 15 people (shoppers - not people watching the presentation - like us) came up to her and she gave them a slice of cake.

Finally, she passed out pieces of cake to all the people watching the demonstration - except us.

O-kay

Then she brought out a tray of 40 cupcakes (there were about 9 people watching the demonstration). She passed out cupcakes to everyone else and said to us, "We want to make sure everyone that signed up for the demonstration gets a cupcake first." Then she took the remaining 31 cupcakes behind the counter AND continued to hand out cake to random shoppers!!!!!!!

We left and I will NEVER, EVER buy ANYTHING from Williams-Sonoma!!!

Who keeps cupcakes hostage?!?

It's not humane!

Cupcakes are for sharing.

Period.

Also, the blonde lady kept telling people they could buy the same supplies cheaper at Ikea.

Um?

We saw Jesse Venture (our former Governor - so weird and hard to imagine that it actually happened) signing his book.

Crepes - yummy!

Dinner at Ikea. I was so tired by this time. We ran into more rude people a Ikea, but that's to be expected at Ikea - they are always rude.

I LOVE the gravy on the mashed potatoes. It's vegetarian! We bought 12 packets.

Dad watching March Madness in our hotel room.

We stayed at the Residence Inn by Marriott.

It was super nice!

Mom in our room's kitchen. It was better stocked than a lot of houses that we have rented.

Yummy cheese and cocosballs that we bought at Ikea.

Those cocosballs are so good. They have a soft marshmallow cream inside them. I would make the trip to the Cities just for them.

There was a full complimentary breakfast every morning at our hotel.

It was wonderful! Lots of choices and the staff were friendly, cheerful and helpful.

The warm buffet choices: eggs 2 ways, pancakes, croissants, hash browns, fried potatoes and some other stuff.

Other side of the buffet. You could also make a fresh waffle or have 3 choices of cereal.

The next day we went to the Science Museum in St. Paul. We saw the Dead Sea Scrolls.........and everything else!

Pretty blue sculpture.

Mom and me with the Mississippi River behind us.

Dad and Mom.

Downtown St. Paul.

Riverboat.

Mississippi River.

I thought this fish in the Mississippi River display was neat.

It's made out of junk.

It was pretty.

Loon!

The Minnesota state bird.

I'm sitting in a red blood cell chair!

Slice of the human body. This person had lung disease and plaque in their aorta.

Side way - with a huge brain aneurysm.

Dad

Dad and Mom.

I thought this was pretty.

And this was pretty too!

It's plastic "junk" glued on a wall with 4 different colored bulbs in the ceiling above the wall.

You could change the color combinations and change the shadow colors and patterens.

Home again.

With a cupcake, it would have been a perfect vacation.

Just kidding! It was a great trip!