Busy time in the gift shop...

It's been a while since the last post. Graduation and many duties at work have kept things very busy. Yesterday all of the little things that needed tending to in the gift shop regarding trim were nearly completed. My plan this morning is to get out there and finish them. The new purses are on display! They are gorgeous! Completely lined with inside pockets and key holders in beautiful summer colors. Lilly of the Valley soy candles have been added. Many beautifully crafted thank you cards and various cards and tags will be displayed today. A new shelf will help to organize a bit better and then more products can be created. The plan is to also have pictures available here to show the new things. The website for the gift shop should also have added products and be more functional. So...it's off to work on these and many other things. Hopefully, a trip to the farmer's market as well to check it out. I hope to be selling there as well soon.

Pressed flowers and the candles....

Yesterday we were able to get the tiller and we tilled the garden last night. The corn was disappearing so I put a fence around the garden. Hopefully, the corn will remain but we're going to need to reseed a couple of rows. My dad always told me to plant 3 times what you need. One third for the animals, one third for yourself and one third for the weather. The animals have their third!

I started putting pressed flowers on the lids of the candles in the tins. They are beautiful! Now I'm going to put some in the tops of the apothecary jars. I may try some on the boxes for the soap as well. This morning we're off to get the water going at camp. As soon as we're done, I'm going to work in the shop. I need to enclose the checkout counter and measure and plan the rest of the work area. I'll be picking and drying grasses, pressing more flowers and making as many candles and soap bars as I can. Monday the purses should all be finished so I can put them on display. It's very exciting. There will be all kinds of new things arriving in the gift shop!

Pressed Flower Soap Success and the seeds are up!

Finally, I have successfully created pressed flower soap! After many tries, success. These are so pretty and very different. This particular one is done in a sweetened honey base with a green tea and cucumber scent. I think my customers will really love this new soap!

I'm including a couple of pictures of some of the hanging baskets in and around the pergola. They are so pretty! They're growing beautifully. Yesterday I potted up more planters. I hope to finish them today when I have more soil.

It's very exciting this week in the garden. This is a picture of the corn. I planted 8 rows and it's all up. I was a bit worried because there have been tons of birds in and around the garden. I was afraid they may have eaten the seeds. The beets, beans and carrots are up as well. Time to start weeding.

Today It's the Gift Shop

Most of the day today has been spent in the gift shop. Filling the shelves with things I've made is very satisfying. We now have many different types of soaps and soy candles. Everything is finally coming together! We have yet another rather dark sort of day here with more clouds than sun and intermittent rain. The birds don't seem to mind a bit. They began singing around 4 am!

There are so many different birds feeding at this time that I'm amazed. The bright red male cardinal is a regular now. The rose-breasted grosebeak is too. The tweeting of the finches is non-stop. We have both the gold finch and the purple finch. Today I noticed again that the wren is singing. I haven't seen them yet but there's no doubt that they are here. One would think someone slipped in in the night and put in a recording or something. They go non-stop!

I'm going to be working with the pressed flowers and making soap to replace what has sold. I'm hoping to make more candles as well. I'm still working on labels and building more shelves.
Here's hoping that tomorrow we can spend more time outside in better weather. All for now...it's back to work.

The Humming Birds....

I've had some technical glitches learning how to blog. I wasn't able to get in and write. Now, finally, I am. My subject is the Humming birds! We've had them for years but this year they are very active and it seems that there are more than ever. It's been so much fun watching them. There is one male that frequents the top of the umbrella. He sits on the round plastic umbrella top like he's playing king of the mountain. Yesterday, he sat preening himself and even took time out to rub his beak on the umbrella top. It's fascinating to see humming birds at rest, actually sitting still. I also had the pleasure of seeing 3 females sitting at the same feeder. They all sat on their perches and drank at the same time. In all the years I've fed them, I've never seen that!

Another very exciting experience has been how close I'm able to get to them. I can stand within inches of them. When I'm outside I always seem to move because of the sound as they approach. It seems natural to move out of the way so I've been practicing trying to stay as still as possible. Here are some pictures from inside where I am able to be still enough to get very close. Hopefully I'll get some pictures from outside as well.

The garden is finally in!

After much stress, mostly due to a faultly, yet brand new, rototiller....our garden is finally planted! The hanging plants are out and almost all the planters are planted with beautiful flowers. For a while it was touch and go. Every time we'd get started we had another frost warning and were carrying plants back under cover! Now, hopefully, we're off to a fabulous gardening season.



Guests are beginning to book and fill up the summer availability and it's slowly getting warmer.



The humming birds are in full force and diving all over the place. There are at least 3 males and 3 females frequenting the feeders now. The finches, rose-breasted grosebeak and cardinals are also plentiful now.