Saturday, July 16, 2016

     Once a week I go down to Ionia to watch Ben.  On the way, just west of Carson City is an Amish store.  I had always thought it was just a fruit stand until I stopped one day on the way home.  I chatted for a bit with one of the owners, Sarah Imhoff and then made a few purchases - among them a 2 pound canister of lye for making soap.  The next week I stopped in with Maddie and Meghan and gave Sarah a bar of our soap.  She mentioned that she had been buying goat milk soap from someone in Lansing.  It turned out that the people she had been buying from are actually from St. Louis.  I know them - they've been competitors for a few years.  Sarah said that she wanted to buy more but hadn't heard from them and would I be interested in making soap for their store. I had heard that the other soapmakers had sold their goats, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't stepping on any toes.  I told Sarah I would check with them and get back to her.  It turns out that I had heard right.  They were no longer making soap to sell so I am free to sell to Sarah.  

Sarah has one customer who likes a plain, unscented oatmeal soap.  Not a problem.  Here is the batch I made.  It will be ready on August 13.  


                                              

I am slowly getting more organized, although it isn't obvious yet.  We had our annual pizza party/fish fry last week.  Lots of fun!!!  We added a bounce house this year.

Maddie and Ben in the bounce house

And we had the annual hay ride thanks to
Andy and Gina  Filhart

We went through 15 pizzas



Everyone had a great time - including us! We get so busy that it seems the only time we see our neighbors are at weddings or - more often than not - funerals.

I bought some graphics this week from one of my favorite graphic artists -  Mary's Montage  I used one of them on my newest candle.

It's hard to believe that I am already getting the sign-up sheets for this year's fall craft shows!

Today I had the twins.  They were way overtired, eventually fell asleep, and then woke up in a super great mood.