Long Overdue Photos

I gave myself a fright today. I realized that it is only 3 days till the next farmers market, and that I had not put any photos up of the latest soaps that I had made, so seeing as the boys are busy fixing my car and don't want tea yet I will make the most of the few spare minutes. So I grabbed Kaths camera and a few bars of soap and went out to our rusty old stove that is now a garden ornament.

Morrocan Spice. This is a remake, I wasn't totally happy with about half of the bars in the last batch, so the best thing to do with them is grate them up, make another batch and add the gratings. This is scented with orange and cinnamon, and has almond meal and yoghurt.

Vanilla, same again, I wasn't really happy with the previous batch of vanilla as I had used an essential oil, or in the case of vanilla it is an oleoresin, it really smelt like nothing, so I cubed it and made a batch of vanilla with a fragrant oil and added the cubes for interest.

This one is new, and it is very limited. Cranberry and Pomegranite. If you read my last post about my Aussie Soap Supplies order you will know that they gave me this as a free gift for spending so much money. As it was only a small bottle, I could only make a small batch, but it smells so yummy, just like cranberry juice. I am thinking that it will be a popular one, but I am often wrong in thinking what will be popular or not.

Rose Castile, this one was a really popular, so I had to make it again. Pure olive oil, rose geranium essential oil, and rose clay.

Summer Garden, another really popular one. Scented with rose geranium, lavender and lime essential oils. How do you like the orange colour, that was done with a paprika infused olive oil. I was so excited to see how bright the colour came out.

What a Week

 My apologies for the delay in getting this post up, the SD card with the Henty photos went missing, and I just found it this morning, on the office desk, of course!!!

As the heading says, What a Week, we started with the Corryong Vintage Machinery Rally at the Corryong Show Grounds, the rally went for the whole weekend, but we only attended the Saturday as we needed to spend Sunday packing and getting ready to head to the Henty Machinery Field days on Monday. Mark and Dan spent Sunday enclosing our stock crate on the trailer, it looked great when they were done. It was however very humbling when we turned up to the camp site at the Henty show grounds and had to park amongst new caravans and motor homes, but the first night we were thankful for the trailer as the wind blew hard all night, so we would have blown away had we opted for a tent. On Monday afternoon when we arrived we found out where we had to go and went to set up. We had been placed in a shed that the organisers decided to make a feature shed, so we were sharing the shed with the Wagga Lighting Store, Smitten, which is a family owned clothing company designing and making beautiful pure wool clothing, gecko decko which is a store that sells metallic wall art of Australian and mythical creatures, and a toy seller, I cant remember what their names were, although I did buy a few Christmas presents from them. Next came the Cudgewa Spring Fair, I had not committed to being there, but decided at the last minute that I would go, when I turned  up I found that they had given my spot to somebody else, which is what I had told them to do so I was placed out side, but right in front of the walk way, so it was a great day, not only for me but for all the other stall holders. Sorry no photos for that day as we forgot to take the camera. Will try to remember for next time.

Here are a few photos, in no particular order, of our time at Henty.

We set up the soap so that all the "cupcakes" and "lattes" were facing the crowd. It really drew people in because they thought I was selling food. Somebody asked me "why do you make it look like food if you cant eat it" I responded "because it is fun". Most people thought it was fun too, and if I can give somebody a laugh or just lighten somebodies day then that is good.

The scene from behind the tables, I have been trying a new way of labeling the soap, the bands always seemed to leech colour into the soap and the paper would look ratty very quickly so I started printing off stickers and putting each variety of soap into paper bags with the appropriate sticker.

A very small selection from Wagga lighting shop.

A pretty cool hand bag from a stall in the lifestyle tent. Could easily be a self defence handbag.

Looking past the soap to our neighbour and his giant bubble wand, when things got a bit slow he would start blowing bubbles or whistling with his bird whistles.

A small part of the crowd.

More bubbles.

Somebody lost their balloons. This was a common scene.

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looking past the trailer to the shed that we were camped in front of.

The cupcake and latte soap from behind.

I love presents

OK so it isn't really a present, I had to order it and pay for it so I guess it doesn't count as a present, but is really felt like it was to go to the post office and get the box, then come home and open it. I felt like a kid at Christmas. Well I always do when I order one of these boxes. My favourite shop at the moment is Aussie Soap Supplies, and after our big sell up at Henty and then the Cudgewa Spring Fair, I needed to do a restock of soap, which means that before I can make the soap I had run out of I had to restock the essential oils that I had run out of. Well nearly run out of, any excuse will do.

The excitement is really building, I know exactly what is under this paper, but I still get excited.

Coconut oil. This is what gives soap a really creamy lather. It also tastes great, and as this is a food grade oil, we do eat a bit of it. It is really yummy in smoothies.

2 more bee moulds. the bee shaped soap is really popular, but as I have only ever had one mould thanks to a Christmas present from my beautiful sister, I can only get 6 bars out of each batch, so now I can get 18. Or more if I do guest size soaps.

The essential oils, and a couple of fragrant oils. So we will soon have vanilla and fresh snow back in stock. The lovely people at Aussie Soap Supplies sent me a free sampler of Cranberry Pomegranate, it smells so yummy, I think we will have a new favourite. The green stuff is Olive leaf powder that will be used for green colouring, great for making camo coloured soap with bamboo charcoal.

 Also in this order was Potassium Hydroxide, or for all the chemistry buffs out there KOH. As it is dangerous stuff they are not allowed to post it, but thankfully my wonderful mother was holidaying in the same city so she was able to pick it up for me. Unfortunately I won't see her till about Christmas time. As KOH is the lye agent to make liquid soap all the people who have been after liquid soap will have to wait til some time next year. Hopefully it wont be too hard for me to learn, and the people who get chosen to test it come back with positive feed back, then we should have liquid soap for sale not too late in the new year.

Goin' to the Henty Field Days.....YAY

OK so most people probably don't know what Henty is. Well Henty is the town, and for the last 50 years or there abouts they have had a machinery field day, now it is 3 days and is one of the biggest in the country. I have gone to it since I was a child, and every year for the last 5 or so years Mark and I have said we should come back and spend 2 days here instead of 1. But as it is a 2 1/2 hour drive from our home we never do it. So I had  great idea that we should take our soap over there and be an exhibitor. I applied back in about June and had to wait till the middle of August to find out if I had been accepted, I had about given up hope when I got a phone call to say I was in. I have been so excited. In preparation for our big event I have been busy making soap, yes on top of making the 20 litres of olive oil up for the Paramore family, I now have just under 1000 bars of soap, I hope it is enough. some of the Paramores soaps I made again because they were so nice, and of course I restocked on the standard favourites of lavender, lemon myrtle, choc peppermint. I also experimented with some activated charcoal which makes a really cool looking black soap. I have been having a ball. I am sure the family thinks I have been spending more time making soap than cooking their food or washing their clothes. OH Well you get that, they are happy for me and Mark and Dan are excited about camping and spending 3 days at their favourite yearly outing.

I managed to coerce Katherine out of her sewing room this morning to come to the calf shed with me to take some photos of the soap, yes we took some of the new soaps on a walk to feed the calves so we could take photos of the soap in some nice hay. No the calves or the dog didn't get any where near the soap.

Ok, I know he isn't a bar of soap, but he is very cute so we couldn't resist including him

The basket of soaps, I forgot to rotate the photo before uploading it. Oops.

Sea Salt Scrub, coloured with blue spa minerals and scented with Spearmint, Peppermint and Euclayptus essential oils.

Aussie Bush Soap, Coloured with activated charcoal and Parsley flakes, scented with Lemon Myrtle, Eucalyptus and Kunzea essential oils.

Above and below is Goats Milk, Honey and Olive, I have kept this one simple, no fragrance except for the slight hint of honey. the only colour comes from the cocoa line in the middle, and the milk and honey. Very gentle and moisturising.

Lemon Myrtle, coloured on top with Peppermint infused olive oil and coloured on bottom with golden spa minerals. The chunks are coloured with green clay, and of course the cocoa line in the centre.

Above and below is a black and white soap, I have not come up with a name for it yet, It is a masculine scent, Cedarwood, Juniper, Thyme, Benzoin, Myrrh, Frankinsence, Ylang Ylang, Rose Geranium. The soap is pure olive oil, and of course coloured with activated charcoal.

Morrocan Spice, this soap is total luxury. Coloured with Aussie Red Clay, and Morrocan Lava Clay. Enriched with Milk, Honey, Bees Wax, Yoghurt and Almond Meal. Scented with Cinnamon and Orange Essential oils.

A worn out Djaq, or maybe not  worn out but just enjoying a comfy bed in the sunshine.

Getting Ready for a new selling season

Ok, so I have been very slack concerning this blog. I am going to try and be a bit more serious about keeping it updated, especially now our soaps are getting known far and wide. I have been super busy about making soap lately, getting ready for the spring and summer markets, we have a definite 3 local markets and I am looking at doing a big one a bit further away, starting in September, but more on that closer to the time.

One of my main soap projects has been to turn 20 litres of beautiful organic olive oil from Tim and Vivienne Paramore of Woodburn Olives at Walla Walla. The oil smelt SO yummy, when I first opened the drum my mouth started to water. We poured some into a jar and totally pigged out on fresh stoneground wholewheat bread, ( I also buy organic wheat from Tim and Vivienne) dipped in olive oil. Enough of our eating habits, this blog is about soap. I ended up making 9 batches of soap for them, some pure olive oil, or castlie, and some milk and honey and some just my standard recipe. We ended up with: Unscented Castile, Green Tea and Eucalyptus Castile, Gardeners Soap with lots of exfoliating bits, Choc Peppermint, Orange and Cinnamon with honey yoghurt and almond meal, Coffee, Lavender, Sea Salt scrub with lots of salt for a good scrub and eucalyptus peppermint and spearmint essential oils and Lemongrass and Lime Castile. I didn't get any photos of those soaps, but I am in the process of making them all again for me, as I was so happy with how they all turned out in the end. I do have some other photos of some  soap I have made for me. Some of it has almost sold out but there will be more coming.

Gardeners Soap, Milk, Oatmeal, Poppy Seeds, Peppermint, Eucalyptus, Lavender Essential Oils.

Breakfast Bar, I am thinking of changing the name to Oatmeal, Honey and Green Tea Cleanser, People seem to get a bit turned off by the name breakfast bar. The bottom layer is a muesli type bar with oatmeal, poppy seeds, bees wax, honey, yoghurt. And the top layer has green tea and pink clay, scented with grapefruit and orange essential oils.

Summer Wine. This is a fun coloured, one off soap. I was cleaning out my soap scraps and my oil store, so there is bits of lots of essential oils and dewberry and champagne fragrant oil.

Lemon Myrtle and being busy!

Hey everyone! This is Katherine here, Mum was a bit busy so I am filling in for her.

So we are going to be rushed this weekend!

The Myrtleford Festival is on this Saturday and the Upper Murray Farmer's Market is on Monday, we plan to have a stall at both although whether we will all make it to both will depend on what is happening at home and with the shed building and all.

We have a new soap up (well to be perfectly honest, that is LOTS of new soaps) but for this post I will just cover the one. Readers meet the Lemon Myrtle soap.

Lemon Myrtle, please meet our readers :).

I wont do a huge write up like Mum (mostly cos Mum hasn't given me one to give you!). So this is it. Bye!

Helping Snowy Swim School raise money for Solar Blankets

Recently my friend and milking buddy Mel, who is the owner of Snowy Swim School decided to swim Khancoban dam to raise money for solar blankets for both Khancoban and Corryong Pools. I pondered how I could donate to the cause as our finances have been extremely tight the last few months, and I came up with the idea to make soap and donate the batch to Mel to sell at the pool. I will also have some at this weeks farmers market.

Here is what she wrote on the Swim Schools facebook page:

On 16th January 2010 I am going to Swim Khancoban Dam x 6 18.3km to

raise money for Solar Blankets for Corryong and Khancoban pools.

 I have a quote for $20,000 for both pools. This includes rollers, bioniser's for

 both pool (this reduces clorine levels and eye irritation) and

 two pool testing kits. This company has ...taken $5,000 off the

 quote for sponsorship!!! WOW. I do need a bit of help to achieve this

 so I hope you all will support me. "The Big Swim" will also commemorate

 20 years since Graeme Middleton swam the Murray River.

The Solar Blanket will increase temp by 10 degress, great for all the

 kids and community. If anyone has any ideas that will help me

raise money or ideas for sponsorship please let me know.

YOURS IN WINTER SWIMMING

MEL

The soap has, as always, our local snowy mountains olive oil, and our localy grown and produced peppermint oil. I have swirled some dried peppermint in the top. Soap is for sale at the swimming pool.