What's New? Dryer Sachets!

To compliment our all natural, 100% veggie laundry powder, we have created dryer sachet pillows! Our NEW Dryer Sachet Pillows provide a gentle, delicate herbal fragrance as they tumble right along with your clean laundry. Unlike chemically treated dryer sheets, our natural sachets do not impart a strong perfume onto your load. Rather, you will enjoy a subtle fragrance. No additional oils are added, to prevent harm to your clothing.

Each dryers sachet is filled with approximately a one cup blend of dried herbs and rice. Rice adds some weight to the sachet, allowing it to tumble around better in the dryer.

Dryer Sachet Facts:

You will receive 2 muslin sachets in a bundle and one slightly larger organza bag.

Each sachet can be used about a dozen times each.Reusable, long lasting & Eco-friendly.

These sachets work great as drawer/closet/camping/room sachet once they've completed their laundry life.

Each muslin sachet is approximately 3” x 4”.

On occasion, the muslin bags could open, or break open due to tumbling. This is what the extra organza bag is for. Simply place the muslin bag inside the organza bag to prevent herbs/spices from sneaking out.

These sachets will not help eliminate static cling, like the commercial laundry sheets do. If you have a static problem in your laundry, adding vinegar to your wash may help.

Offered in the following fragrance:

Lavender ~ Lovely Lavender buds

Spice ~ Cinnamon Sticks, Cloves & Cardamon

Find them here: Dryer Sachets

You can find more information about commercial dryers sheets here: Mother Nature News

Here is some eye opening information I found.

If you were to do a basic search for dryer sheets here is some of the shocking information you can find:

• Benzyl acetate: Linked to pancreatic cancer

• Benzyl alcohol: Upper respiratory tract irritant

• Ethanol: On the Environmental Protection Agency's hazardous waste list and can cause central nervous system disorders

• A-Terpineol: Can cause respiratory problems, including fatal edema, and central nervous system damage

• Ethyl acetate: A narcotic on the EPA's hazardous waste list

• Camphor: Causes central nervous system disorders

• Chloroform: Neurotoxic, anesthetic and carcinogenic

• Linalool: A narcotic that causes central nervous system disorders

And after talking with my Vegan friend Pam recently, she as alerted me to the fact that Tallow (as in beef fat) is often used in dryer sheets as well! Really? Beef fat? What do they need that for? Apparently it gives each dryer sheet that waxy sheen and softens your clothes. So tumble you clothes around with beef fat to make them smooth and soft? I don't think so. That's not for me.

We have been using these dryer sachets for about 2 months now. Those old dryer sheets that I had left over? It may be an old wives tale, but we heard that mice don't like the smell of them. Mice like to burrow into sailboat sails that are stored for the winter and make a cozy little home. We simply put our dryer sheets inside the sail bag and are hoping for a mouse free spring when it's time to shake out the sails!

Tir na nOg Farm

Here are some of the multi-colored radishes offered by Tir na nOg Farm at the Farmers Market this past summer. Holly also creates these darling tiny dolls.

My friends Holly & Sue have a 45 acre farm in Pownal, just the next town over from me, named Tir na nOg Farm. I am soo proud to know these fantastic farming women! The farm offers some most interesting vegetables as well as many heirloom varieties. They have a variety of animals that are raised for meat. I am happy to report that these animals live very happily on the farm enjoying the mushroom, acorns, grass and berries of the land and often get serenaded with authentic bag pipping! Their farm is a work in progress and they plug along working as hard as they can.

Holly sent out an email the other day to her friends of the farm letting us all know what is available from her farm during these coooold winter days and nights.

If you live local, this is for you:

Tir na nOg Farm News

Dear Farm Friends,

Happy New Year! Here at Tir na nOg, we're doing farm chores with ice cleats on our boots, ogling seed catalogues, and enjoying the wood stove. We hope you are all enjoying your own versions of meaningful work, beautiful dreams, and blessed warmth!

FARM NEWS:

1) WINTER MARKET: Come see us in Falmouth, every Wednesday from 10 AM to 2 PM at Allen,Sterling & Lothrop (on Route One). There, you can purchase our fresh eggs and handicrafts, sign up for 2010 meat shares, and enjoy the other vendors' wonderful wares: local veggies, alpaca yarn, goat cheese, soap and plenty of other home-grown and hand-made goods. Check it out!

2) AT THE FARM: We have fresh eggs and some free-range pork and grass-fed beef available

BEEF: lean ground beef, some chuck roasts and stew meat, a few top round steaks & organ meats.

PORK: pork chops, a few fresh shoulders (good for roasting), organ meats, and two smoked hams.

How to get it: call ahead or e-mail so we'll be here when you drop by. You can choose whatever you like. We'll weigh and pack it for you on the spot. This is a great way to sample some tasty local meat!

3) 2010 MEAT SHARES:

It's not too early to reserve your meat shares. Although we plan to raise ten pigs for 2010, we've already had several new inquiries, so shares may go quickly! Here is reservation information for the upcoming season.

BEEF: we are trying to gauge interest in a beef co-op or buying club. While our own animals may not be ready for slaughter in 2010, we can arrange to buy two or three animals' worth of beef from Aroostook Highlands/Orchard Hill Farm. (This is the farm from which we bought our breeding stock. Their beef is grass-fed and certified organic.) Please contact us if you might be interested in buying a quarter, half, or whole. If we have enough interest, we'll pursue this!

CHICKEN: we plan to raise at least one 25-bird batch of free-range broiler chickens, ready in midsummer. They'll be raised on a natural antibiotic-free diet. (Their grain is a natural poultry feed from Poulin Grains. We supplement it with organic veggie scraps and other organic forages.) Broilers (tender full-grown birds, excellent for roasting) may be reserved for a fee of $5 per bird. Balance will be due upon pick-up.

PORK: our free-range heritage-breed pigs enjoy a diverse all-natural diet that includes vegetables, grains, foraged nuts and gourmet restaurant scraps. They are typically butchered at the end of October. Our butcher uses a no-nitrate smoking process. Reservation fees are the same as last year: $200 to reserve a whole pig, $100 to reserve a half pig, and $50 to reserve a pork sampler box. Balance will be due upon pick-up.

Sustainably yours,

Holly Morrison ~ Tir na nOg Farm

44 Leighton Road
Pownal, ME 04069

Mainecelt@ maine.rr.com

(207) 688-4483Farm

Blog: http://mainecowgaels.blogspot.com/

P.S. Get in on all the GOOD DIRT: our farm/ecology BOOK CLUB will next meet on Feb. 14th, 4-8PM. Join us on the farm for a delicious potluck and discussion of the book ~ Listening to the Land (edited by Derrick Jensen). Gulf of Maine Books in Brunswick and abebooks.com are good sources for copies.

Thanks Holly for all the information!

My Day Job

When I am not stirring the soap kettle, I am stirring up something sweeter, deep dark chocolate. I work for Simply Divine Brownies baking the most delicious, dense, fudgy brownies you will ever have. With over 25 flavors and decorated brownies, brownie truffles and brownie ice cream sandwiches (in the summer) I am pretty busy cracking eggs, melting chocolate, measuring sugar and sprinkling on the toppings! Here is a blog post they just posted about me, their baker. They were kind enough to mention my soap business, Thank you Simply Divine Brownies!

The Blog Post : Simply Divine Brownies

Purchase online:
Simply Divine Brownies

Place an order by phone:
207-865-3961

Or stop in and shop at the factory store:
174 Lower Main St.
Freeport, ME 04032

Mince an' Tatties

Just what could I be talking about?

We had a potluck lunch at the Wednesday farmers Market recently and my fellow vendor and friend Angela is Scottish. Her offering for the potluck was a traditional Scottish dish known as Mince an' Tatties.

Delicious! Mince an' Tatties - or Tatties an' Mince as some may prefer to call it - is a very popular dish in Scotland. Made from ground beef, cooked with finely diced onion and carrot, and seasoned with salt and pepper (and Angela added leeks). Mince is traditional served on top of, or next to, buttery mashed potatoes (tatties). It is loose, like a gravy and served up with a ladle. Very very good.

We also had a West African stew. This is what is so great about Pot Luck! You just don't know what you are going to get! Our Pot Luck turned out to have a bit of an international slant to it. The West African stew recipe has been promised to be brought to me next week. Chicken, kale, sweet potato, peanuts (!) and a variety of spices included paprika make for a fantastic combination!

Interested in a recipe of Mince an' Tatties from a Scottish Lass? Check out Kitten In The Kitchen

Out In The Snow Again

After the Winter Farmers Market (Saturdays 9-12;30 @ Ft. Andross, Maine St. Brunwsick) Captain and I took the snow shoes to Winslow Park & Campground for some tromping around. What a beautiful day it was! A bit brisk, we had to bundle up, but the sun was shinning and the water was sparkling.

I ran into an acquaintance, Scott Howard very well known locally as the owner of Olivia's Garden/Maine-ly Hydroponics. He was there enjoying the day with his family and young black lab. He has a hydroponic farm a few towns over in New Gloucester and grows the most delicious tomatoes, basil, sprouts and lettuce year round. You can read a bit about him here : Olivia's Garden in The Growing Edge Magazine.

Winslow Park & Campground is just that. Both park and campground. In the summer you can pitch a tent or bring your camper (no hook ups) and camp by the waters edge. There is a small beach and a dock with boat launch. It is a popular place for locals to launch their boat (us included), kayak or canoe. There is also plenty of picnic tables and a playground for those warmer days. Dogs are allowed, on leash. During the height of the summer, the park offers live music and concerts on Thursday nights. Annually there is a Lobster Man Triathlon at the park. But summer is not the only time to enjoy this park. Captain and I regularly head over there in the fall for walks along the water, and now snow shoeing during the winter. Cross country skier were spotted as well. Wooden stairs lead down to the beach and rocky shore where you can collect shells and rocks and put your toes in the water or more, if you dare!

Soap For Leg Cramps?

This may just be be an old wives tale, but it's been around for quite a while. Simply slipping a bar of soap under the bed covers and between the sheets is suppose to be helpful in curing Leg Cramps or Restless Leg Syndrome.

Anne Landers wrote about it in one of her columns and often it was re-printed. Each time, scores of readers would write in and exclaim how it helped them. This bit of old wisdom could be worth a try for those what can't seem to find relief from their ailment.

After all these years, it has neither been proven or de-bunked you can read more about it here: SUITE 101 or here SNOPES or here MARKS DAILY APPLE

Curing Soap

If you happen to be looking for a certain soap at the market and I just happen to not have it, you may have heard me say, "it's on the shelf curing". I also wrote that statement in the post below about the Mechanics Scrub.

Homemade soap needs to slowly "cure" over time. But what is curing anyway?

Casco Bay Soap Co. soaps naturally air cure for four to six weeks. This is the ageing or drying process soap must got through. During the first two weeks of curing, the saponification process is completed (turning all those great slippery oils into something that can now clean your skin). Once the soap is cut into bars, it is stacked on the shelves, Stonehenge style. This will allow air to circulate around the bars. We turn over the bars of soap every few days. Curing is when most of the water used in the recipe evaporates. The curing process helps create a milder, hard, long lasting bar or soap with a rich lather.

Mechanics Scrub

I make a specialty soap that I call Mechanics Scrub. Since it is a specialty and not for everyone, I don't sell quite as much of it as say, Lavender or Sea Shore Scrub. Because of the demand of Lavender and Sea Shore Scrub, I inadvertently let this soap run out of stock. The Holiday rush was big, and you guys HAD TO HAVE your Lavender soap! So I made more Lavender and put Mechanics Scrub on the bottom of the list of soaps to be made.

I had a customer come by a few weeks ago. He took some time to smell and view many of the soaps. He was very soft spoken when finally he asked if I had a soap that was good at taking off grease. At first I didn't know if he meant cooking grease and almost reached for the Kitchen Scrub. But after taking a quick look at his hands, I realized he meant GREASE. Like car grease, dirty, thick in the grooves of your fingerprints and under your nails grease. I asked him what he did for a living and he told me he was a WRENCH. (This I found out later after asking my husband, a wrench is a mechanic). I told him all abut my Mechanics Scrub soap bar, how it was loaded with fine ground pumice for scrubbing dirty hands AND that it was made with great moisturizing oils to help prevent dryness when washing alot. But sadly I didn't have any at the market with me. And even worse, I knew that I was out of stock. BUT I did know that I had one smallish size bar back at the studio that I just didn't think was the proper size for sale. I promised him I would bring it the next week. And I did. Handing him the bar of soap and refusing to take payment (like I said above, it was smallish and not a proper size for sale), I told him to check back with me next week.

He came back. He loves it! His hands look soo much better! He wants more! It's on the shelf curing....

Fresh Soaps At The Vegetable Corner

Fresh soaps were just delivered to The Vegetable Corner in Harpswell Maine! While I was there I some some fantastic looking items. Stop by to pick up your morning coffee, Maine Made soda (I saw Pumpkin Pie soda!), a quart of the soup of the day, cheeses, fresh baked breads and fantastic cookies, fresh Maine scallops or talk with Ray for the perfect cut of meat for your dinner.

The Vegetable Corner

513 Harpswell Neck Road

Harpswell, ME 04079

Hours: Mon. – Sat. 7:00 – 6:00

207-729-2719

Your local source for fresh fruit, vegetables, deli items and meat cut to order. We specialize in catering and cakes for any occasion. Come in for fresh bread, pastries, or for hot soup and sandwiches.

Enjoying The Snow

Here I am, in the red jacket, with my friend Haila.

I took a break from soap making and website building today to go for a nice long snow shoe walk with some friends. We opted for nearby Wolfe Neck State Park, a beautiful park that has trials that run along the ocean side. You can walk down on the rocks and have a picnic if you are so inclined. We just received about 18" of fresh powder snow and wanted to take advantage of the "calm after the storm" beaut' of a day we were having. If you are in Freeport, be sure to check out Wolfe Neck.

Wolfe Neck State Park