Casco Bay Soap @ Freeport Historic Society Auction

I donated my soap (sort-of, read more...) to be part of the Freeport Historic Society Spring Auction.

I just love history. And I love the Historic Society. My husband and I are members and we enjoy an event or two each year. This past October, we went on a super cool haunted tour of Freeport. Complete with 2 tour guides, 1 in a flowing white costume (very ghosts of Christmas past, with flowing gauzy fabric and a pale white face) and a lantern in hand. The other tour guide was a local medium! Sent with us to contact any spirits in the old Freeport buildings. Another event we attended was Maritime music. Old style sea shanty were sung by men with big bushy beards. What fun!

I was contacted by the Historic Society to see if I would like to donate soap to their auction. After discussing with my contact the ups and downs, ins and outs of soap, we decided on something very different, that I think is very very cool.

The auction items is.....design your own soap bar! The winner would work with me to design their own soap bar. I would give them a list of fragrances, stir in's like oatmeal, poppy seeds, seaweed and they create their own signature, personal bar of soap! But they don't get just one bar, the will received 14 bars, a full 1/2 batch of soap. This signature batch of theirs will easily last them a full year. They could give it away to friends or keep it all to themselves.

This idea was such a hit and well received, I am considering offering it as an option to you! Would you like to create your own soap?

My Feathered Friends

Look at this fat little cutie that was waiting patiently for his (or her) turn at my feeder the other day! I was trying to snap a few quick pictures of the Goldfinch that have come to feed at the thistle feeder, but they were shy when I was around.

Mermaid Buttons

You may have noticed a little mermaid button on the top corner of my business card attached to the soap gift package in my last post. Maybe you didn't notice it, here it is again.

I had these great little 1" buttons made by a crafter on Esty.com She did a fantastic job! Including the best part of my logo, the beautiful dark haired mermaid and the shipwreck in the background. On the bottom rim of the button, she included Casco Bay Soap Co. ~ Maine. Made by Heather Is Crafty in just a short week, she sent me 100 of these beautiful buttons.

Thanks Heather! You did a great job!

Girls Night "In"

I made up these cute little soap gift bags for a recent event at Simply Divine Brownies. Simply Divine held a girls night of pampering complete with chair massage, tarot card reading, glasses of champagne, brownie decorating and more. Each guest also went home with a goody bag full of great local type of items. I donated my soaps as part of the gift bag. I was very happy to donate to this fun event!

Sea of Soap

A sea of soaps....awaiting their delivery date.

New Market Location In Freeport For 2010

I am very happy to announce that the Cumberland Farmers Market Association, that I am part of, has a new fantastic location for the 2010 market season in Freeport.

L.L.Bean has offered the Cumberland Farmers Market Association the use of Discovery Park and an adjacent parking lot on the L.L.Bean campus for a farmers Market this year.

Have you been to Freeport, during the summer? On a Friday night? Have you seen the space? I will paint a quick picture.....often beautiful, historically preserved (Abercrombie & Fitch is located in the old Library, for example) Main St. Freeport is backed up with traffic as folks head into town for a weekend stay at the local B&B's. Freeport is all about shopping. There are tons of outlets (over 200 upscale outlets, FREEPORT USA.com), people come to this town to shop. I'm not kidding. They are here to spend money, on stuff. Discovery Park is located right off of Main St. and smack in between the L.L.Bean Home Store, The L.L.Bean Hunting and Fishing Store and the L.L.Bean Flagship store. There is an average of 9,000 shoppers at L.L.Bean druing the summer on a Friday. Last year, Bill Murray and Dr. Oz were shopping in Freeport with their families, and those are only the celebrities that I know about, who knows who else came through. I spoke with Dr. Oz, he smelled my soap. He bought corn and blueberries at the market. It was very very cool. This new market is going to offer me an opportunity to get my soaps in the hands of all sorts of travelers from all sorts of great places.

CFMA will raise the tents for the Freeport Community Market on May 28th at 3pm, that market would run through 7pm. The season runs every Friday, 3-7, through Oct 8th.

I will be working on special soaps as well as showcase my Maine themed soaps.

Hope to see some of you there!

Casco Bay Soap Co. on Facebook

In case you forgot or didn't already know, you can become a fan of Casco Bay Soap Co. on Face Book. This will give you up to date information regarding new soaps being made, blog post updates and (sadly) last minute cancellations at Farmers Markets (which may happen if we have a rainy summer, like last year).

Click here for direct access to the Face Book page:

CASCO BAY SOAP ON FACE BOOK

Dining Out In Portland

Captain and I went out to eat the other night in Portland with some friends from out of town. They choose Street & Co. Wonderful, delicious food in a casual, cool atmosphere. Being the foodie that I am, of course I am going to try to create these dishes at home. Captain and I started with Braised Mushrooms and Gruyere. For a main dish I choose Scallops in Pernod (Anise flavored liquor, which adds just a touch of flavor) and cream, served with Grano* and sauteed broccoli. Captain choose Clams with white sauce (super light, nice and garlicky, great sauce/broth for sopping up with bread). We split the flour less chocolate cake served up warm in a ramekin with fresh whipped cream. All of it was out of this world good. Scallops cooked perfectly and the Pernod and cream sauce, so different and delicious! I loved the Grano. We did have to call over the waiter and ask what it was, as all of us had never seen/eaten this grain before. I mixed mine with my Pernod and cream sauce for a yummy combination.

Portland has some fantastic restaurants, if you get the chance, have a meal at one or two of them.

* Grano ~ Grano, which means "grain" in Italian, is made from specially selected durum wheat. Renowned for its al dente ("to the tooth" in Italian) texture when prepared, Grano has a firm, yet chewy consistency. It tastes like pasta but is more nutritious because in the minimal processing, only a small amount of the outer bran is removed. It is high in fiber, protein and minerals for this same reason.

More Grano info. here: http://sunnylandmills.com/grano_ancient_grain.shtml

Japanese Masking Tape

Wow! Super cool patterned masking tape! It's the newest cool thing in crafting. Perfect for decorating gift bags, homemade cards, scrapbooking and soo much more.

Find it here: HAPPY TAPE and their blog here: HAPPY TAPE BLOG full of ideas for crafting with the tape.

Now, what color(s) should I buy, and what am I going to do with it.....

My Soaps Are Headed To Portland!

I am very excited to announce that my soaps will now be available in a fantastic new store in the big city of Portland, MAINE!

Lisa Marie, of Lisa Marie's Made In Maine located in Bath, is opening another Made In Maine store on Exchange St. in Portland. While it hasn't opened yet, she is shooting for an opening date of April 1. She has purchased many soaps from me to fill her shelves. In addition to the soaps, she purchased some of the cute Soap Sampler packs and a new product that I introduced her to (I haven't shown it to you yet, I will soon).

This is a great opportunity for me and I am very excited to be part of it. Her store will carry all sorts of fantastic items made in Maine. She has jewelry, toys, woodwork, pottery, food items, glassware, chocolates, artwork, aprons....and so much more. The Portland location will certainly put my soap in the hands of many out of town travelers, as the city swells in the summer time with tourist.

Thank you Lisa Marie for including me in you new location.

Lisa Marie's Made In Maine
35 Exchange St.

Portland, ME

OPENING APRIL 1st

Guest Soap Delivery

Fresh guest size soaps delivered to The James Place Inn B&B here in Freeport. Guest at the Inn lather up with my mini Peppermint Oatmeal soaps. Mmmmmmm!

THE JAMES PLACE INN B&B

Gearing Up For The New Market Season....

The market that I am part of is made up of some super fantastic people. I'm not kidding....all sorts of vendors, from bakers specializing in Gluten Free baked goods, to local vegetable farmers, an Alpaca farmer (I've been to her farm, it's AWESOME), specialty food items such as Afghanistan prepared foods to my artisan handmade soaps. It's a fantastic group!

Here is what we are:

We hail from 19 towns in 6 counties Cumberland, York, Androscoggin, Sagadahoc, Lincoln and Oxford.

We will impact the lives of 125,000 Maine residents with our markets in (5) five Maine communities with on location markets in those communities.

We will indirectly impact the Maine residents in an additional 14 communities numbering another 125,000 residents giving CFMA an impact, direct or indirect of nearly 250,000 Mainer residents or approximately 1/4 the population of Maine.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

White Bean Chicken Chili

I had a hankering for some White Bean Chicken Chili. Mind you, I have never had White Bean Chicken Chili, seen it in person or even tasted it. But I really wanted some. So, I searched and read, bookmarked and pondered and found more than a few recipes. I served some up Saturday night to my folks, their generally up to trying something new (except I offered to make them Vegetarian Sushi rolls once and that wasn't received too well). I served up steaming bowls of the White Bean Chicken Chili to each of us. I also had several little bowls of toppings in the center of the table. Bowls full of shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, red salsa, wedges of lime, slices of avocado and some blue corn tortilla chips. The idea being that everyone could top their bowl of chili the way the would like. If you can, make this a day ahead, to allow the flaovrs to blend and the chili to thicken up a bit. I posted the recipe here to share it with you. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound chicken breast, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1 (16 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seed
1/4 teaspoon ground smoked chipotle chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can white beans
2 ears fresh corn (or use a small package of frozen)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste


Directions:

Heat oil, and cook onion and garlic until soft. Cook chicken breast through. Brown it up a bit.

Stir in broth, tomatoes, chilies, and spices. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.

Add corn and beans; simmer 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with these toppings for people to choose from: salsa, limes, cilantro, cheese, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla chips.

Yarmouth Clam Festival

Have you heard of the Yarmouth Clam Festival? Just the next town over from me, Yarmouth holds a super festival celebrating the Clam. For 45 years now, locals and tourist alike have gathered for 3 days of food, fun and everything clam.

I recently submitted my application to participate as a vendor at the clam festival. This is a big deal. I will have my application reviewed and my soap voted upon to receive entry to this event. If I am chosen to vend at the Clam Festival, I will be working long days selling my 100% vegetable soap to the masses. I am really looking forward to the opportunity! I do hope that they choose me. I enjoy the customer interaction that I get from the Farmers Markets and this will be 3 solid days of spreading the soap love.

The Clam Festival offers so many great things for the whole family. There is the Craft & Art show, that I have applied for and of course, lots of clam based foods (get them fried, steamed, in chowder or clam cakes and more). And also a parade, clam shucking contest, road race, fireman's muster, canoe & kayak race, bike race, battle of the bands, amusement park ~ whew! Lots and lots to do and see.

Yarmouth Clam Festival information here: YARMOUTH CLAM FESTIVAL

This year the dates are Friday, July 16, Saturday, July 17 and Sunday, July 18. Cross your fingers for dry weather!

Lemongrass Soap

I had an email correspondence with a happy customer the other day...thought I would share a cute thing she said:

"Happiness is a world full of Lemongrass"

This made me smile. I'm so pleased when I hear from you!

Find my Lemongrass soap here: LEMONGRASS

I brought some fresh Lemongrass soap to market a few months ago and it flew off the table! In general, everyone loves any of my citrus soaps. Citrus Scrub, Lemon & Eucalyptus and Rosemary & Lemon are all very popular. So adding Lemongrass to my everyday soap line was a natural fit. This yellow Lemongrass soap is a strong lemon with a bit of an earthy background to it.

An interesting tidbit for you ~ Lemongrass is one of the 10 most highly produced Essential Oils in the world.

Another Etsy.com Purchase...

I've mentioned this a few time before, I love ETSY.com. Etsy is all thing handmade. And loaded with such beautiful art / glass items / accessories / paintings / clothing / quilts / needlecraf t / knitting / EARRINGS! And soo much more. Head over there and just take a look at the front page. You will be impressed and inspired.

Last week I bought myself these beautiful sparkly earring from Almost Sunday on Esty. They are simply gorgeous! She has other colors and shapes. All soo pretty, it was very hard to choose. The earrings came packaged in a little box wrapped with a sweet ribbon and even a little Thank You note to me for purchasing. She included a bonus pair of sweet dangle purple pearl earrings! Don't forget to visit ETSY.com often for beautiful items.

Why Didn't I Think Of This Earlier?

I often have customers that come to the Farmers Market and ask questions about soap and how they can use my soap on their historically sensitive skin. I often steer them toward the unscented soaps, as often it is fragrance that can cause sensitivity and skin irritation. "Please try my soap, but unscented first", is what I suggest. Many times they come back and are pleased as punch and purchase more, more, more and many times venture on to try a soap with a fragrance.

Of those unscented soaps I offer, I have my fantastic 100% vegetable basic bar which is made with all the same ingredients as the other soaps, just no fragrance is added. I also offer Claendula soap. (Calendula is great for super sensitive skins. Known also for healing rashes, chapped skin, scratches, some insect bites, and minor burns. Calendula is know to be anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiviral).

Many customers ask questions about oatmeal and the healing properties of oatmeal. While I can offer a bit of information on oatmeal, I can not offer them a unscented bar of oatmeal soap.....until now! AH HA! Why didn't I think of this earlier? I recently stirred up a batch of my 100% veggie blend soap with the addition of oatmeal! Find my Unscented with Oatmeal ready in just a few weeks, listed on the website or for sale at the Winter Farmers Market.

A bit of Oatmeal info. from Ehow.com : Oatmeal is soothing and protection for the skin. Oatmeal soap has been known to relieve skin irritations, reduce inflammation and heal rashes.

Shelf Signs

When I delivered soaps to Farmers Fare the other day, I included these cute little shelf signs. It's hard to see all the details, but the paper was a thick card stock in cream color, and the ink was a dark brown. Casco Bay Soap Co. @ the top was a Periwinkle Blue. I usually use a dark green for my font color, but the blue just seemed to work better here. Each sign lists as bullet points, the features of each Casco Bay Soap item. Farmers Fare just loved them! I do think that they came out pretty nice. I will included these with each retail shop order for now on. I'm working on another small shelf sign that is similar, but will feature a "meet the soap maker" type of text.

Farmers Fare ~ Rockport

I delivered a good deal of soap, laundry detergent and dryer sachets to Farmers Fare in Rockport this past Saturday. I just love it there! Super bright and open, cool Maine Made items like Dilly Beans, Gelato, Cheeses, Smoked Fish, Jams, Books, Spices, lots of fresh veggies and fruits, local meats and much more.

FARMERS FARE WEBSITE ~ A bit about them: At Farmers Fare, you will find local fruits and vegetables, an authentic butcher and deli, wonderful baked goods and so much more. In addition to the market, we're building a small "model farm" to help supply the market. When you visit, you can also inquire about our year-round educational programs and fun community-gathering events.

Other Uses For Soap

A few simple other uses for soap:

Bug repellent ~ place a bar of soap in your garden to keep pests away.

Rid your house of fleas ~ place some liquid soap in a bowl mixed with water under a light and it will attract fleas and they will drowned.

Household bug repellent ~ mix soap and water and place in a spray bottle and spray around your home to rid your house of spiders and bugs.

Drawers ~ use soap to loosen and quiet dresser drawers or other household drawers by running the soap along the metal rails. We used this to quiet a few squeaky place on our sailboat too.

Freshen clothes/luggage ~ place a bar of soap in a mesh holder to keep stored clothes or luggage smelling fresh .

Car freshener ~ place slivers of left-over soap in a mesh bag and tie around your rear-view mirror, place a bar under your set etc. to keep a fresh smell in your car .

Removing Wallpaper ~ mix soap and water and sponge on old wallpaper and it will help in removing the glue.

Zippers ~ Loosen stuck or rusty zippers by sliding some bar soap up & down the zipper .

Detect gas leaks ~ mix a solution of water and soap and rub along pipes, if it bubbles, you found your leak.

Lubricate screws/nails ~ Dip a screw or nail into a bar of soap before drilling or hammering and it will move through wood more easily/also for saw blades too.

Fabric Marker ~ use those little left-overs to make fabric for hemming and it washes right away when complete

Keep bugs off plants ~ soap works as an insect repellent and can protect your plants from being eaten by bugs. Mix soap with water until it's sudsy, then put the water solution in a bottle and spray the underside of plant leaves.

Relieve itchy bug bites ~ rub the bites with a dampened bar of soap for instant itch relief. It also helps keep the bites clean.

Remove stains from fabric. Rub a damp bar of white soap over stains, then wash the clothes according to the manufacturer's instructions. For more difficult stains, use a scrub brush or old toothbrush after applying the soap. My friend June removed blueberry stain from her shirt with Casco Bay Soap!

New "Place" Opening Up Soon

I have the privilege of knowing the 2 fantastic ladies that are responsible for the structure above. They are building (and I mean it, they are building it) a place called Bessie's Farm Goods just on the other side of town. Kathy and Deede have been working on this project since the late fall and hope to open in just 2 more months! Lots of hard work and dedication has gone into bringing this idea to reality.

Bessie's Farm Goods will offer all sorts of great local goods for sale. I'm happy to say that my soap will be among them. They also will be selling seedlings and farm foods, offering classes such as spinning and knitting and so much more.

If you would like to follow their progress, they have a blog:

BESSIE'S FARM GOODS

Go Kathy and Deede! You are doing great!

Soap Samplers At White Cedar Inn

The White Cedar Inn in Freeport is putting together some gift baskets full of Maine Made (and very local) products for their guests to purchase while staying at the Inn. The idea was put together by Inn keeper extraordinaire, Monica. She wanted to have some items on hand for those guest that need a quick gift while on vacation or wanted to bring some Maine home with them. I am very happy that Monica contacted me for my soap samplers as part of her gift basket!

White Cedar Inn