Market Day

I made a new record this weekend, cramming 27 flower bouquets into one tiny car, and I still had room to drive!

The Stand is Open!

Ok, the corn is finally ripe so the stand is now officially open. As it's so dry (the pumpkins are actually turning orange already because they're so stressed from lack of water) and since everything is so late because it's so dry, we're only stocking the stand Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this year. And as always, it's usually not stocked much before 11:00 AM, but after that it's open till dark. Enjoy!

Olive Oil Soap

Well, I'm getting closer. This was my second try at a batch if oilve oil soap, and while it didn't exactly work out, I think I'm getting closer. I used a bar of olive oil soap once and it was one of the nicest I've ever used, and recently several people at the market have asked me if I do oilve oil soap. So, I've been working on trying to make some. I have a recipe, but I think I'm going to have to alter it. I can't seem to get it to trace following the recipe, so I'll think I'll change the recipe before I wreck another batch.

The difficult part is that I'm used to using lard in the soapmaking, whereas the olive oil recipe is a castile (no animal products). That and I use my own homemade lye, so it's a bit more unpredictable than storebought. I think I'm going to get myself some palm oil to add to the olive oil, that might help a bit. (And I only use certified, sustainably grown palm oil). A batch or two more, and I just might have some bars to take to market.

Downtown Art Show

It was the street arts festival in Canandaigua today, so after the market I parked my car (under the pavillion where I already was because I knew there wouldn't be another parking space for miles), and headed out to the sidewalks. I try to hit it every year. There're always some old favorites, as well as some new ones. I really liked the woman making shampoo bars. It was so interesting, I might have to try it myself. I already know how to make soap from scratch, so I can't imagine shampoo bars would be that different, just a change in a few ingredients.

I collected a lot of cards, I always do at this thing. Some are for inspiration, and some are for people I might want to look up later. And as always, I stopped by the tie-dye guy and the batik woman. I do a little tiedying and batiking myself, but it's time-consuming, so it's always nice to walk into a tent and see walls of it.

Of course the highlight of the sidewalk trip: Fried Dough!

Squirrel Deterrent

It happens every year, the nuts on Gramma's trees and the fruit in our are little orchard are growing beautifully. They get just about ripe, and suddenly BAM! they're gone. Where have they gone, they're taken by the squirrels of course. Between ourselves and Gramma, we've tried almost every deterring technique known to man, save one: Plastic Bags. Believe it or not, this simple solution works better than all the rest.

Just tie a few plastic bags to the trees with fruit or nut and allow them to blow in the wind. The presence of the bags (and probably the noise as well) does wonders to keep the squirrels away, which means we'll actually be able to enjoy the fruit of the trees we worked so hard to take care of. And so as not to deprive the squirrels of everything, we have a bunch of butternut and walnut trees in our yard that they're welcome to.

Simple Pleasures Project, Day 23

Well, I'm 23 days into The Simple Pleasures Project, and I'm loving it. It's amazing the way it really makes one realize just how many of the little things we take for granted. Fortunately, I now have the time to notice and enjoy those little things, things like sharing a hug with my best friend.



Dragonfly (the cow) and me.