Time Marches on...and so did March

Now that we're well into the second week of April, I think it's about time I step back and see what happened during the last month...whew.

I didn't do any markets or shows this month, so things were pretty quiet on the soap front. I worked on updating the rest of my soap labels and started re-designing the labels for the rest of my products.

March is my birthday month and we usually celebrate it with an adventure of some kind. We decided to go a little over the top this year, and instead of an overnight getaway trip in the area, we left our midwest winter that looked like this--

and traveled to Texas, as far south as we could go without a passport.

Folks, it was warm down there. Balmy, even. It felt good after a long winter.

So close! The rock on the left side of the Rio Grande River is Mexico.

This little roadrunner acted as my tour guide, leading the way down the path to the river.

"Sing ho for the open highway! Sing ho for the open road!"

We eventually came back for a little more of that snow. March definitely ended like a lion.

I also had a long clean up, clean out session in my soaping room. I'll share pictures in my next post!

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My plans for 2019...

...also known as A Loose Idea of How I Imagine the Year Will Go. (Because who actually has things go as predicted? Not this girl.) I started selling at the Monroe farmer's market way back in 2012. That first year I was at the market every Wednesday afternoon. By the next year I was going both days a week--Wednesday and Saturday--and continued to be a "full-time" vendor for several years. In 2018, I decided to slow down. I had to, actually, because I had so many "life" things that needed my attention as well as a number of family commitments that fell during market hours. For someone that once rarely missed a day in a 50+ market season, vending even once a month became hard to fit in. After a lot of recent thought, I've decided not to stretch myself as far as I've done these last few years. I know for sure I won't be vending at any of the indoor market dates through April. But beyond that, all my markets and show dates for 2019 are to be dete...

Soaping with Madder

I know that any color added to soap can morph into a surprise, but there is an added element of unknown when using botanicals to color my soap. Some people jump out of planes or ski off mountains, but this is how I live on the edge these days. Hmm. If I weren't having so much fun, I'd be embarrassed. I recently had my first go with madder. So....whatsa madder? It's a root--the root of the madder. Ahem. (I love puns...) I infused 8 oz. of olive oil with 2 t. madder root powder for almost a week. This amount worked out to be 20% of the oils in my batch. I wanted something in the way of embeds to add visual interest. I dearly love my soap balls but I don't want to over do a good thing. I've recently done square-shaped embeds, so this time I cut a bar of white soap into slices. I panicked a little that it wouldn't get dark enough--it was kind of a dusty peach--so I added 1/4 t. dried powder right before pouring. Madder powd...

Loofah--from vine to soap

If you've followed my blog for a long time, you've already seen a post on one of my favorite things to grow--loofah, but I think it's time for another one. People are often surprised when they learn that loofahs are grown. No, a loofah isn't a sea sponge, but the mature "skeleton" of a zucchini-like plant. Everyone knows they are good for the bath but they also make great natural pan scrubbers in the kitchen. They are so popular that I have to remember to tuck away any that I want to keep myself. I raise three or four plants every year. Like a zucchini or a cucumber, it likes to spread out with little regard to another plant's personal space. Here is last year's crop. Early in the summer, the loofahs remained neatly on the trellis: But then they wandered over to the basil: Cozied among the tomatillos: And hung out with the butternut squash: Harvest time was a regular treasure hunt. But I ended up with about 20 loofahs fr...

10th ave. soapworks

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