Moving Day

We returned from vacation Monday to find that something had been feasting on the flowers and herbs planted on our deck. My Italian parsley plant was reduced to bare stalks, and various flowers were deadheaded. Seems it didn’t like the rosemary or basil, though, so they were spared.

We put out our havahart trap, baited it with apple halves and waited. About 10 AM this morning the bait was taken and we had our culprit... a fat and sassy groundhog!

Poor thing was not happy with the trap and even less happy when we went to say hello. It didn’t squeak or growl, but gave us lots of teeth chattering.

He/she went for a long ride in the back of the truck to a new home in a remote park area.

Dave reports once the trap door was opened that groundhog took off like a shot and never looked back. It seems that groundhogs can really run fast when motivated!

Yesterday at the West Chester Growers Market

 It started out as a soggy, chilly morning and the weather just got more miserable as the day went on. More than once while we were setting up Dave and I turned to each other and said, “Remind me again why we’re here instead of snug and warm at home?”  Of course, we knew. We came for you, our wonderful, loyal customers.

So, thanks to our customers: the ones who told us they came to the market yesterday just to see us. The ones who said they were glad we were there because they just finished their last bar of our soap, or were down to their last bar of their favorite scent. The ones who needed a little gift, needed some lotion, wanted some more whipped monoi. The ones who stopped in just to say hi and chat a bit and the ones who smiled and waved as they hurried by. Each of you put a smile on faces and warmed our hearts. 

Hooray for you, our customers! You make dealing with rain, snow, wind, cold, heat, humidity, early mornings, heavy tents, and the never-ending packing & unpacking worth it for us. We honestly appreciate you!

A fine blogger I’m not!

I haven’t written here since April?!? Where does the time go? In my case it went into the last umpteen bazillion bars of soap. It seems that these days I’m spending 95% of my time in the workshop. Not that I’m complaining. I’m following my passion. Each batch of soap that I create comes from a joyful place. Every scent and swirl of color is an artful expression of who I am. There’s a whole lot of me in every bar. But this year there are a whole lot more bars and a whole lot less time to spend on other things like blogging and updating my woefully out of date web site. 

Oh, did I tell you that I have four new scent blends brewing? I’m thinking at least one of them is going to make a positively luscious soap. Look for new soaps sometime next month. See? This year it’s all about the soap! 

Markets

Last Saturday was the final Winter Market of the year for the West Chester Growers Market. We really loved coming to market throughout the Winter. Even the blizzard on December 9th didn't keep us away. We had quite an adventure that day what with age force winds and driving snow. Thanks to all our lovely customers who came out to see us at the Winter Markets.

The regular market season is once again approaching fast. I’ve been locked in the workshop for weeks on end now in preparation for the three farmers markets we’ll be attending this year. This year you can find us at...

West Chester Growers Market Saturdays 9AM - 1PM from May 1 until Thanksgiving

Kennett Square Farmers Market Fridays 2PM - 6PM from May 14 until October

Upper Merion Farmers Market Saturdays 9AM - PM every third Saturday of the month from May 15 until November

What’s New?

Each year on the opening days of my markets the question I get asked most is "what's new?” 

The development of a new soap begins with the scent. Recently I've been like a mad chemist, mixing drop after drop of different essential oils into tiny jars in hopes of finding just the right scent blends for my new soaps. Sometimes the first blend test is perfect but more often it's not quite right and I'll add a little more of this or a little less of that. I'll come back and sniff it the next day and keep adjusting until i'm satisfied. Once I've settled on a scent that I love the next step is to choose the colors and additives I want to use to enhance the soap.  

Then comes the only part of soap making I don't enjoy… math. Lots and lots of math. Math to compute parts and ratios of oils and butters. Math to check percentages of essential oils. Math to change pounds to ounces and ounces to grams. Math and more math. So much math it makes my head spin.  

After all the math is checked and double checked, the scent blends prepared, the oils melted, the lye solution weighed, the additives measured, the molds prepared, then I get to make the soap. Pour, stir, mix, and when everything is just the right consistency into the mold it goes. Tuck it away for a day while the chemical reaction called saponification happens. Wait 24 hours, feeling like a child waiting for Christmas morning. The next day, Finally un-mold and cut the new soap.  

If the planets are aligned in just the right way and I face the East, I'll have a bar that looks exactly as I envisioned. Or I'll have a soap that's different than I imagined it would be but kind of cool in it's own right. Either way, with a tried and true recipe that I've perfected for years I know that I'll have an earth-friendly soap with rich luxurious lather that'll I'll be proud to call label with my name.