Tag Archives: goat’s milk soap

Someone Else Did All The Work..Our Fiber!

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I had to share the photo I received from one of our customers. She had purchased this Alpaca yarn from us and made these gloriously warm mittens.

Don’t ya just love it when you have the opportunity to see the end result of a yarn that you’ve produced! With all of the snow and cold weather they are calling for here this weekend..these will be a welcome addition to her winter wardrobe.

I’m out of here to go buy bread & milk, cinder blocks, a clothes dyer heating element, drain cleaner and a zillion other things. Also, delivering an emergency order of soap to Gather and making a trip to the bank..jingle all the way!!

Participating in Fiber Arts Friday.

Successes

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I’m sitting here looking out the window at yet another rainy day thinking how wonderful it would be if it would rain like this in the Spring and Summer when crops are in the ground, or better yet..why isn’t it snow? Today is my birthday and over the last 53 years, it has actually snowed twice on November 23, in Virginia, maybe more but I can only remember twice. It’s been a good day. I won a contest so I’m receiving an Italian Stitch Dictionary which will be so cool. It looks like I might be doing some freelance writing but I don’t want to jinx this one by saying any more. I had to run errands so I took myself to a “to me from me because I love me” lunch (an only child will get this one first!) and I’ve spent some more time working on the website..all in all, it’s been a very good day!

The title of this post is Successes. Basically, I wanted to share with everyone how my last two events went. Last Thursday, I did a “Ladies Night Out” event hosted by Ashwood Gardens. It wasn’t super great but we did OK. Yesterday (Sunday) we did a private Holiday Open House and it was great as usual. Sales were down considerably but it was wonderful to see my once a year friends and spend time enjoying the fellowship that comes from being part of this community.

With me, success is not always about the dollars and cents earned in our business but the people that have become part of our extended farm family (wish I could put a shovel in their hands and introduce them to “mucking”). We have friends that are genuinely interested in what we do here at the farm. They enjoy the stories and share in our good times and sad times. Some of them love our works and our products, some of them are just friends that give us the emotional support. A lot of people don’t get it, they don’t realize that when they see us standing at a table full of soaps, lotions and the many handmade items, what goes into what they see. The ones that do are not only customers but friends. They want to buy from us, they want to be a part, in some small way, of what we are doing. Once that level has been accomplished..success is measured. Make no mistake about it..we brought in the bucks too but luckily we brought in so much more.

On a very sad note. One of our wholesale customers is Grayhaven Winery in Gum Spring, Virginia. Max and Dion are wonderful people and the whole family is actively involved in the Winery..including their dogs. “Mona”, one of their little “Frenchies”, who has been a member of their welcoming committee and over all good will agent, was run over by a truck yesterday and killed. Our hearts are broken for them and wish them love and hugs during what will be some hard days. Cheers little Mona!

Just Chatting!

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Every year with the excitement of getting ready for events, we are always met with some of the same questions and logistics problems while preparing. It seems like each year the truck gets smaller! We never can quite get all of the necessary display stuff, products and the handtruck in at the same time. I honestly don’t know where all of this stuff comes from (could it be that I’m working my butt off making it?)..it seems to grow over night. Luckily, most of the events that we do are local, so we can drop off and run back to the farm to pick up more if need be. Did I happen to mention, everything seems to get heavier too? I know, I know, goats milk soap and lotion are heavy but fiber arts aren’t, unless I’m carrying a sheep!  This getting older thing is definitely not for whimps!

This year, to make matters a little more tedious, my Mother is ill and has been in and out of the hospital. Being an only child seems to make it a little worse on me because I have no one to share responsibilities with, so I am spending a lot of time looking through the windshield. I am thankful that she only lives about an hour from here. She is at home now and I am recruiting her to help out with the packaging process. I though her helping might make her start to feel a bit better and I think I’m right. She normally works 8 hours a day 5 days a week and the really cool part about this..she’s 76! So being at home or in the hospital sick just about drives her crazy (and takes me right along with her!). I am hoping that this time, after almost 12 months of ups and downs, the Doctor’s have finally gotten it right.

So if you see or hear little from me over the next month you’ll know that I am running the roads, making product like crazy, taking care of Mom and doing events. If you’re driving down the road and happen to see a black F-150 that looks like it should be included in a “Pluggers” comic, blow your horn and say hi!

If you’re local, think about coming out and seeing us at some of the Events we have coming up..would love to see you! Check out the Events Page to see what’s happening between now and Christmas.

Cheers All!

Truly Sheep To Shawl

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We have several sheep that are a very light shade of gray and I love to over-dye gray wool, so I found a pattern for a shawl that I really liked (wish I could share the pattern with you but I can’t seem to find it!) and decided that I would do an honest to goodness “Sheep To Shawl” project. Armed with 3 pounds of fleece from our sheep Ivy, I set out to find the perfect color..ta da! It was Landscape’s Salmon. I dyed the entire fleece and I fell in love. The spinning process was rather lengthy because I only have time to work on my own projects when I’m not spinning for an ordered or making goats milk soaps and lotions. It took almost six months to finish spinning the yarn..once the singles were done, I had to ply all of it..another month!

Finally, after setting the twist I was ready to start knitting. It took almost a month to complete the knitting process but I have to say, I am very pleased with the result. The next step was to add the fringe and these really cool hand painted wooden beads that I found at a vintage clothing store.

Now that it’s done, I’ve decided that it really isn’t a personal project after all and have made it my feature garment of 2009 to sell as a Christmas gift and unveiled her at the Fall Festival last weekend. I had a couple of skeins of yarn left over, thinking that someone might want to make a hat or mitts to go with it. The first person that walked up to our table bought the yarn to use for a lacy border on a blanket she had just finished knitting. The shawl did not sell but it probably will before the end of the Holiday season.

Here are a couple of photos that I’d like to share.

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Participating in Fiber Arts Friday..click on the link and join in.

Ahhh! The Weekend

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Next week I will be participating in a 2 day Open House and a Harvest Festival. This time of year I like to have items other than our goats milk soaps, lotions and socks. So any yarn that hasn’t sold during the year I use to make items to sell at events like these coming up. This year I have very little yarn left over..so, it’s going to be a hats season. This box of yarn is representative of what will become those hats.

Future Hats!

Future Hats!

Several of the skeins left over are handspun and include a little mohair and silk in the blending. The others are mill spun skeins left over from the CSA shares from last year and are all wool. All of the yarn is handpainted by me and I think the colors have turned out pretty nice this year.

Remember, today is Fiber Arts Friday, so click this link and join in:

http://www.alpacafarmgirl.com/2009/10/fiber-arts-friday-using-a-drum-carder-video/comment-page-1/#co

As you can see I have added an Events tab to my Blog. Over the weekend I will be adding events, so check back often to find out where we will be and when.

Alpaca Farm Farm Tours and More

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It’s a beautiful morning. Grey, rainy and cooler temps. Love it! The late garden seems to be enjoying it too. I will probably can tomatoes this weekend. Those will be most definitely appreciated this winter.

This weekend, all over the country, is National Alpaca’s Farm Tour. Our friends, Lois & Ken Pocock of Shady Nook Alpacas here in Powhatan will be hosting farm visits. Also, our new friends Katy (you know her as Alpaca Farm Girl) & Stephen Spears in Fairhope, AL, will be participating too, so if you’re in their area, be sure to check out their farm.  If you’re looking for something to do or are thinking about starting a small farm, it’s worth the trip out to your local Alpaca farm to see what it’s all about.

I thought in honor of these farm open houses I would share this website dedicated to handspinning. The site covers all fibers for spinning and even video’s. Never hurts to expand your fiber knowledge, even if you have no desire to learn how to spin. Oh, and by the way, if you don’t spin and would like to learn how, I am available to teach you. Did you like how I did that??

Well, I’m off to work. I haven’t milked the goats yet this morning. I thought in celebration of the rain, I’d let them sleep in this morning. Once I’m done with that and have made a batch of soap, I’ll be working on the grant proposal for our new endeavor on the farm. I can’t wait to share this with everyone but not yet. Don’t want to jinx it..don’t cha know.

We Have A Winner!

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I know I told everyone in the Giveaway Blog that I would announce the winner for the 2 bars of Goats Milk Soap and the Wool/Alpaca blended socks tomorrow but I’m not going to be around to do that, so we held our drawing and we have a winner and a copy of her comment:

Diane Muska

New soap sounds wonderful and hard to beat alpaca socks with the cold winter weather we have coming up.

Congratulations Diane!

Everyone, be safe the rest of the Holiday and enjoy.

General Catching Up

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Before I get too wound up in my Blog post I want to share something with everyone that I read this morning from Alpaca Farm Girl Blog http://networkedblogs.com/p10606724?ref=nf and it oh so true of the life of the farmer. Read it and maybe you’ll understand more about what our lives are like. Be sure to leave Katy a comment with well wishes for little Pippi, that she gains strength each day and will be in the pasture with her Mom soon.

What a beautiful morning! Nice and cool, 56 degrees to be exact, sun shining bright and low humidity. Can’t believe this is Virginia the 2nd day of September. Not to worry though, by the weekend it will be 90 degrees again. Don’t know why we’ve been blessed with this couple day cool snap but I for one could not appreciate it more. The prelude to Fall always makes me happy because that means Winter is not far behind! Between all of the acorns and how quickly the sheep fleeces have grown since shearing in the Spring, we may be looking at a hard Winter this year. These two things are usually a good sign of that.

The late garden is looking fantastic! Every tomato plant is covered with tomatoes that should be ripe by the end of the months and the peppers – Wow! Aside from the typical Bell Pepper, we planted Chocolate and Orange Bells and Jimmy Nardello’s. Lat weekend at a Farmer’s Market, I bought a couple of the JN’s to try…can’t wait for our to rippen. The early garden has pretty much finished it’s thing, except for the tomatoes. With this lul in harvest, I’m taking advantage of harvesting seeds for next year.

Well, our new sheep additions are getting closer to their arrival time. I can’t wait! Adding Icelandic’s to our existing flock should make fiber harvest interesting. These new girls will be ready for their Fall shearing when they arrive, so we should get several pounds of fiber from them. This will also be a new thing for us, our sheep are only shorn annually. It’s nice to add something new.

I’ve got to get goats milk soap and lotion deliveries ready for tomorrow and as of about 20 minutes ago, we have another new retail outlet, Ashwood Gardens & Nursery in Ashland, VA, so I need to get their delivery ready too. Welcome to the Breeze Hill Farm family Charlie & Terry Blair, owners of Ashwood Gardens!

There are still a few more days to make comments on the “Giveaway” post from last Friday.

Have a great day!

Good Day, Observation & A Giveaway!

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Yesterday was a really good day. I had someone helping me make my Co-op deliveries, so I was able to visit more with my wholesale customers when I made their deliveries. We were all talking about the holiday season and wondering what it will be like this year. It really is hard to predict. While many of my customers businesses are thriving, several have closed their doors over the last few months. As I spoke with people yesterday, it seemed that there was one topic we all agreed on, everyone has had to ramp up customer service. While it’s true that folks may have less to spend, when they do spend, their expectation of how they are treated has changed. Going that extra step to keep customers happy and coming back is what it’s all about. There are so many times I wish I had a “brick & mortar” shop, but then I come back to my senses and it doesn’t take me long to realize – no I don’t. While I work steady 8-14 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week, I can get away from it, when I feel like it without posted hours being affected. I really hope we all take our numbers off the chart this season.

Speaking of business. When I promised everyone another Giveaway today, little did I know it would be another celebration of a new retail outlet! New shop, Real Goods Virginia in Mathews, Virginia has become our most recent customer. They will carry our full line of products and they should be in their shop with in the next two weeks.  So, in celebration of this new addition, we are offering another Giveaway! Are you excited, wondering what it will be? I bet there will be soap involved. OK, here it is:

1 Pair of  our Wool/Alpaca Blended Socks

2 Bars of Goats Milk Soap (winner chooses fragrance from website list)

The socks are made with a blend of our sheep wool and alpaca fiber from another local farm and are commercially made. They are one size fits all up to a size 10 (mens or womens). If a lady wins and has a tiny foot, we do have small socks too. You will love these socks and it’s a great way to sample our fibers made into a garment.

All you need to do is make a Comment to this Blog post, before the end of the day Friday, September 4, 2009. The winner* will be announced on my Blog, Tuesday, September 8, 2009 . This is a big Giveaway for us, so let’s start seeing the Comments come rolling in!!

Good Luck & Have a Great Day!

*There will be a shipping charges for any winner outside of the Continental U.S.

Another Giveaway In The Near Future

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Well, I have found now that I just need to give more time when I do the next Giveaway. Lucky for my two winners but a lot of our customers and friends want more Giveaways so they can get their names in the hat to win Goats Milk Soap and more. This week, I will announce another Giveaway so keep your eyes open for it. I will also make sure there are pictures of the product too! I love the emails I’ve gotten after the fact and have encouraged everyone to hold their comments until the next one. I like doing this because there are many people who have never used goats milk products and it’s a great way for them to try and see what they think. Not all contests will be for goats milk products though, we will also have fiber related contest too. So keep an eye out.

Over this past weekend I pulled out the dye pot and started my annual creations in color. Apparently, the new colors I’ve come up with are very desirable because one of my friends was here and she bought everything I had done. Guess what? I forgot to take pictures and she’s on her way back to Japan. As soon as she gets home, I will get her to photograph the yarns so I can post them for everyone to see. At least I wrote down the dyes I used so I can duplicate. See, when I say I’ve been crazy busy, I mean it.

Today, it’s soap making day. My girls (goats) are still giving me lots of milk so I’m not only making for sale now but stock piling for the Holiday season. Last year we rocked over the holiday buying season. If current sales are any indication, we will be rocking in double time this year. Bring it on!

Have a great day!