Celebrating Christmas Prelude

I thought it might be nice to share how we celebrate a part of this season..

Part of our holiday season will begin this evening.. our town has a 'Tree Lighting' ceremony. Though we haven't had any snow yet, but a few flurries.. thank gawd!! LOL It's very hometown.. everyone comes out for it... Santa will arrive...carols will be sung.. candles will be lit that everyone will carry..& of course the tree lighting will take place... and in our church, the sound of the lovely bellringers perform their magic.. then later a potluck dinner & xmas cookies for all! Here's a shot of of last years tree in our village.


Next week begins cookie baking for me.. 20 or so of us bake assorted xmas cookies and make up tray supon trays that we will deliver to over 200 elders, & shut-ins this year. It's a very special project for me.

Tis the Season

He's making a list.. checking it twice.. Everyone ready for Christmas yet? My list seems endless.

Kennebunkort's Christmas Prelude
Tree Lighting Ceremony
Christmas shop
Chop down Xmas tree
Decorate house
Holiday cards
Trays of cookies to bake & deliver
Squeeze in one last show of the season!

Holiday Fairs

Just a few left of the season. Our Bow Fair was a very busy one.. many shoppers, with few lookers. :+) People are beginning to get into the spirit of the holidays.
This year at the show we set up a Christmas tree with assorted gift items under it.

Rainbow Bridge Tribute

We're very sad to say, we lost our best boys this week
For my little boy... Duffy & Jackson. our Bubba boy....

Duffy 10/8/2006 Jackson 10/10/2006
If our tears could build a stairway to heaven, we'd run right up
and bring you both back home

Thank you Duffy and Jackson for years of enthusiastic wags. Losing you both in such a few shorts days is clearly a sign that you were meant to be together forever... enjoy the heavens as you enjoyed the earth.





Rest peacefully my Little boy Duff... you'll always be loved... Rest easy now Jackson.. take good care of Duff and always know Mum & Dad love you big guy.

Punkinfiddle Festival

As a member of the Wells Farmers Market, were all invited to participate in Laudholm Farm's National Estuary Day Punkinfiddle Festival this year. A marvelous event that brought thousands of visitors to the Estuary & stately historical farm.




Punkinfiddle, A National Estuaries Day Celebration, was held at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farm in Wells, Maine, on September 30th, 2006. This was the 4th annual Punkinfiddle festival. We held onto the best Punkinfiddle features - lively music, engaging artisans - handmade soaps,Border Collie sheep herding demonstrations, sheep shearing, wool spinning, stunning creatures.. oxen, turkeys, goats, sheep, scrumptious food, farm animals, old-fashioned games - and we added opportunities for hands-on learning about estuaries, the places where rivers meet the sea.




National Estuaries Day was introduced in 1988 as a way to educate the public about estuaries and the need to protect and preserve them. The event generates a new appreciation and heightened understanding of our valuable estuaries. This event also acknowledged the efforts of agencies and local communities working together to protect and restore estuaries.




To find out more about Laudholm Farm: http://www.laudholm.org/

Something's Fishy!

Something's fishy?? You bet! Our annual deep sea fishing event brought overcast drizzle weather.. and even worse.. no fish!!:+(

Nubble Light- Cape Neddick, ME



Here's a fish story for ya.. they caught Moby!



Now here's an Old Salt if I ever saw one!




But we braved the chilly air and still managed to have a great day out on the water, followed by a splendid dinner birthday celebration for daughter Shawna the same night.

Wells Farmer's Market

For the first time, this summer I was asked to join the Wells Farmer's Market and accepted! Each Wedsnesday from 2-6 you could come & purchase fresh organic veggies, homemade pastries, organic goats' cheeses,fresh venison, fresh cut flowers & what else? Oh sure! Handmade soaps & skin care specialties :+)

Sales were always good, & we met some super nice new customers and regulars of the market. I'm already looking forward to next years' market.

Read about our market and all it's vendors!

http://home.maine.rr.com/rickandmarilyn/wfma/

Summer Lineup

We've been working hard readying for our summer shows and filling orders.. whew! Here are a few of our newest products you can expect. All of these items were a big hit at our shows so far!

Soap Samplers



Gift of the Sea



Eggstraordinary Egg Yolk Soap




Naturally colored soaps

Spring soaps

With all the rain we have been having, I've been able to make tons of new soaps for the upcoming season! :+)My Garden Club show was cancelled this weekend.. hundreds of potted plants would have floated down the road!

May Day

May 1.. May Day.. my birthday.. and officially it's Spring! Here's some of the new items I've been working on.. some successfully, some not so successful LOL




Liquid soapmaking.. trials & tribulations.. worth an entire new thread :+)

And some natural colorant soaps I've been playing around with.. madder and alakanet root... so far, I'm pleased with the results.

April Fools

April is a very busy month for us here at Cricket Corner.. everything comes alive & much work to be done. Fences need mending, barn needs to be mucked, perennials need to be split and transplanted.. need to ready for the upcoming Garden Show too! With the rains.. I've been able to make more fresh goat milk soaps.. luscious Lemongrass, oatmeal lavender.. more Mr Witty bars of course :+) and three new goat milk lotions and facial creams. Our two resident kitties have been busy at work/play? too! :+)




We visited the Ballard Farm yesterday to see the newborn 'kids' What a miracle!

Singing in the Spring rain

I'm Singin' in the rain... just

singin' in the rain... What a

glorious feeling, I'm happy again!







Finally it's March. I'm saying this with

fingers crossed because all of us New

Englanders know so well, we can "march"

our way right into Spring or take an

about face into Winter for another

storm or

two...

( or more.. ! )

As I sit looking out of the window this morning I can see the first signs of season. Spotty patches of grass peek out from underneath the remains of winter snow.

Last Autumn's leaves blow aimlessly down the road. Looking out the window at everything so brown and bare... I find it difficult to believe it ever will be Spring. When I take my afternoon walk, I will hear the little brook that runs along Cricket Corner Road. It flows only when the snow is melting. I know that when I hear that sound... I will believe that Spring will indeed come... and that .... 'the croccus always Do come up'.


I will watch the first robin and ants and wiggly worms after the rain. I will feel the wind as it roars... and the calm of the morning when I run out to get the paper from the box. I will do it barefooted for the first time this year.. wishing I had waited just a bit longer.. to test the ground! :-)

As the days and weeks go by, the grass will grow, taller & tender. The air will be fresh and clean.. the Spring winds & rain will see to it. Buds will appear. I'll search for the color green that I can only see in the Spring. I look for it, as I see those first buds.. hoping that I won't miss it when it arrives. I'm wondering if you've ever noticed it too? It's a green that only appears for one magical moment during the changing seasons. It's the green that arrives in the leaves, the wind, the grasses and air. It's a shade of green that only appears in nature. NO crayola or paint can duplicate this shade. It's the green of Spring, it's God's green.

Spring lineup

We've been busy soaping our Spring herbals, making healing balms and firing up the greenhouse! Though it's still pretty chilly here, it's always fun to be seeding while the snow falls overhead. I've been playing with swirls/colorants of late with not much success, but I will plod on! :+)

Luxurious Castile Soap

There is an ongoing debate among soapmakers about how much olive oil must be used in a soap to be called 'Castile'

Some use as little as 40% olive blend while others right up to 100%.

Traditionally Castile Soap is a very white bar & usually softer than other soaps because they contain none of the other oils that can contribute to the harness of the bar. Yes, taking some liquid discounts can & will harden the bars up sooner.. but left to cure for many many weeks, will leave you with an absolutely lovely hard, extremely gentle bar of soap. Actually the gentleness of the olive oil and its ability to act as a humectant ( draws moisture from the air to your skin ) makes Castile soap absolutely wonderful to use. Most often.. the bubbles are low and plentiful.

Myself.. I make a variety.. goat milk castile, herbal castile ~~ for both their additional skin care properties that I love in a nice bar of soap. We make all of our castile bars using 95 % olive oil & will cure for a good 6 months if not better before I'll sell them. I absolutely love the creamy gentleness of these bars on my skin. While spending a month in Italy last year, I had the good fortune of visiting a large soapmaking factory with a friend.. naturally... olive oil abundance is never a problem in Italy and I was in my glory testing all the huge blocks of pure castiles while there.. and took home :+) Too bad I couldn't fit a few vats of olive oil in my suitcases too! LOL

These are some of my castile offerings.

Winter Snow

Winter being the longest at Cricket Corner Farm, it's time for rest. Many of the other seasonal chores have been put to bed under a blanket of snow.



The seed catalogs are quite the gayest blizzard afforded during the cheerless month of February. Since about half of every catalog is given to annuals, Is it any wonder that these visionary Edens are a delight of three-foot larkspur, glowing snapdragons, fragrant mignonette..... culinary herbs, Rosemary and Thymes.... and vegetables, so many delicious varieties of tomatoes, squash, peppers & every other perennial flower we've ever wished to grow to perfection?

We can sketch some tentative plans on paper, make out seed lists..and think green! About the middle of February, our growing season begins,with about as many flats of herb seedlings you can imagine..setting, all in rows in the greenhouse. And here... they will remain until early April, when they can safely be moved out of the greenhouse for hardening off.. before their final stages of growth into the garden in late May here in New Hampshire.


The snow is lightly falling,
Sparkling coming down.
The few remaining Autumn leaves
Are falling to the ground.
The wind is howling through the trees,
all the leaves must die.
One by one they've tumbled down,
buried by the snows.
The more the sparkling carries on
the more the wind does blow.
A large white blanket has covered the land.
I picked a snowflake from your wool...
it melted in my hand.

New Beginnings

2006! Wow, yet another year begins :+) After some much needed rest, and inventories behind us.. the wheels are starting to spin for some new soaps.. new design label packaging.. and fragrances!

Second to the gm soaps.. castiles are always on my hit parade, so I hope to add quite a few new ones to the line and jazz up the packaging as well. After seeing how well the new anti-aging facial care products did.. we're definitely going to focus on the Botanica12 line & ready it for Spring....

Be back soon... but first a quick trip to Florida with my daughter to visit family and catch some sunshine :+)