Last Farm Stand Day before Christmas

I know this picture does not look like Christmas but these are what we are giving any kids that show up with customers today.  There is something in each one- different thing in each.  Of interest only to young children.

I am sitting in my farm stand listening to Christmas music and catching up on my signs and labels and learning more about advertising and what I can do.

Holiday Farm Stand Emerald Aisle Farm

1 dram with dropper fragrance and essential oils.  Smell the coffee between bottles to clear your nose.

Our holiday farm stand in the travel trailer

Heidi's Bitty Beads.  She takes broken jewelry and turns them into lovely bits.

This scale gives you an idea of what a bar of soap will cost.  We sell it by the ounce.  I weigh out with a more accurate scale in your favor.  You see the large bars of Soap for the Soul, sunburn relief, and coco butter balm.

Today is a great day but...

I came here to update my blog only to find that I can't show you any pictures from this computer.  The frustrations with my laptop are not driving me crazy but close.  I hot wire it every day and then I hook up a USB keyboard so that I might type using all the letters and numbers available to me.  Today  neither keyboard works.:-(  I will play doctor on it later.

What made today such a great day that I am willing to blog even if I don't have pictures and have to sit next to a hot wood stove in the basement?  Several things.

First I did not have to set up my farm stand outside.  I just unlocked the door to the travel trailer and turned the lights on.

Next I had time to finish working on the labels to my farm made cologne and the bagged catnip.

One pair of customers shared a lot of new and innovative information with me and I hope to learn about YELP tonight after I make my laptop work!

A new customer came by and I was able to share my idea of a string of farm stands on or very near Pine Road.  It would be very cool if customers could do a "Farm Hop" and visit several cottage industries all within a few miles of each other on the same day.   She makes interesting creations too and she lives way off the road too!

And when my husband came home he brought my signs in off the road!  Awesome.

Sigh of pleasure and contentment.

Saturday Farm Stand

Heidi's trees of life still remind us of our connection with nature.
Today was a good day.  A freezing cold day but a good to be in a warm trailer with my farm stand!

First Day of my Christmas Season Farm Stand

Emerald Aisle Farm Stand

Holiday Hours

Wednesday's December 4, 11, & 18 10:00 - 3:00

Saturday's December 7, 14, & 21

Soap for the Soul

We've added a new line called Soap for the Soul.  You get a huge bar of soap (7+ oz) with a collectible inspirational affirmation card on the label.  This picture is one label.   

This is the sign you'll see on Pine Road when we are open

This is one side of the Emerald Aisle Sandwich board sign that you will see when the farm is open for business.  See the previous post for our winter hours.  Don't expect any fresh produce this time of year...only soap and stuff!

Emerald Aisle Farm December Hours

December hours for Emerald Aisle Farm Stand are: Wednesdays: December 4, 11, 18 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM   Saturdays: December 7, 14, 21  11:00 AM- 5:00 PM

Since the farm stand EZ-UP took another tumble, a permanent one this time, I will use my travel trailer for my Christmas Season Display.  The best thing about that will be heat and an indoor restroom.   

There will be several varieties of soap, lip balm, fragrance oils, and more!  Emerald Aisle soap is a luxury soap at an affordable price.  It is absolutely perfect for gifts for your entire family!

Soap Collections on Etsy

Click here to go to my ETSY listing for this collection

Last Saturday for the Season

Tomorrow October 5, 2013 is the last Saturday Emerald Aisle Farm Stand will be open for this season.  There are cornstalks and a few pumpkins.  The produce you see in the pictures are just a few things that I harvested in September!  There will be plenty of soap and Heidi's jewelry at the Stand tomorrow.  Mapquest 681 SE Pine Rd, 98367, or drive up Pine Road from Bethel on Saturday between 10 & 4.  You'll see the A frame sign marking the drive way.  Drive in 1/4 mile.

Yesterday in the storm

I didn't let the stormy weather stop me from setting up my farm stand yesterday.  I moved under cover.  The rain blew in around me and it got a lot of my stuff damp, but most of it is dry now.  I did have a customer if you are wondering! Her box was reserved for her.  She also bought baby madrona trees that she had ordered.  I gave her a life time guarantee.  I will keep digging up trees to replace the ones that don't make it.  Next Saturday will be my last Saturday to set up the farm stand until December.  I haven't decided how I will do it, but I will figure something out.  My soap makes great Christmas gifts.  As soon as I have my new batches of soap on Etsy, I will post here.                

The girls are growing!

Boston Butt and Cutlet are growing!

My Farm Stand is Back in the Upright Position!

I have the stand  back up covering the empty tables and a few of my Saturday Supplies.  The more I look at the pictures the more dirt I see.  That isn't really a bad thing since all I'm criticizing is the dirt.  This place looks better every year!  I embrace the growth and change and recognition of my own "Acres of Diamonds".  I will keep "looking" at that ground until I can see the thing that will make it be much prettier without too much upkeep.

Emerald Aisle Farm still has a lot of green in it even though the summer sun has turned much of the grass brown.  The weeds here on the farm are quite tall but the flowers are taller!

In this picture you can see a couple of the patches on the top.  There are six patches in all.  You can see the vase with flowers on the stool.  That vase was still in the upright position even though the farm stand was not.  Nature is amazing sometimes.  I found stakes that will work to hold this thing down for a while.  The holes in the feet of this "pop-up" are too small for good spikes, so I was forced to search through the junk I keep from other projects and found what I needed.  

Here's three patches!

Beautiful cherry tomatoes.  These plants haven't sold so I will be putting them in the ground somewhere fairly soon.  I learned a lot with these but need to cut my losses.  I laugh when I say that because I'm stubborn and have yet to learn to let go before there are losses.  Every day I turn my stubborn streak toward perseverance.  I spend more time thinking and looking at my "stuff" and considering the word "organization" and what that really means.  I also spend more time attracting people with positive attitudes and reasonable solutions and realizing that overly critical people are telling me they couldn't do what I'm trying to do and that they would be scared to death to try.  They would even be scared to think that somebody thought they might want to try something that might be messy, leave a mess, or look awkward.  I live in abundance and daily release my "poverty mindedness".  I am grateful for all that I have including the size of my tummy!  Good food abounds!

Larry is 13 years old.  He is still a mighty hunter!

Boston Butt Buttercup and Cutlet Myrtle are enjoying their breakfast.  Some day I will have a pig trough that pigs don't demolish.  My California sister added the extra names.  I explained that I need to name my food, food names.  I am not a vegetarian but I still having feelings about eating animals because I am an animal lover.  I cannot pretend that the way most animals are raised for food in the corporate world is okay.  I accept full responsibility for being aware of where hamburger, bacon, ham, & chicken legs come from.  I don't always have the cash to raise pigs or beef but I do have the property.  Sometimes I raise other people's food for them while they pay for the feed.  

My Emerald Aisle Farm Stand took a tumble yesterday

In the photo you can see the PVC pipe I slit with the table saw crammed over the bent parts of my pop-up stand.  One is black, the other three are white.  I will be sure to stake my stand down better once I get it back up.  I have created and ironed patches over the holes that were torn in the top.  I would have taken pics but I don't want to spread it out on the grubby dirt.  I'm sure my next photo of the stand will show them.

The canopy was impaled on the wooden structure which has been rendered useless as the rain cover for my cider  press.  The wooden structure is what tore the holes in the canopy top.

There was one casualty.  Debbie had hung this doll in the corner of the stand.  Due to the dirt, this doll will be unrecoverable.  I suppose I should think of the canopy as a casualty but it isn't dead yet!  I will keep patching it together until I can get my future farm stand built.

My Dad and Stepmom. Aren't they beautiful!

Heidi's Jewelry and my Lavender Soap

My daughter Heidi has been making and repairing jewelry.  She has a unique and lovely style. I don't display her jewelry as well as she does when she is here but I do make an effort to display it every Saturday.

The last pic is my lavender soap with a Celtic design.  

Each Saturday, I have something different from the Saturday before.

This Saturday's produce boxes will contain green beans, zucchini, and more.                                                            

I finally remembered to take more pictures!

Last Saturday was a great day! The veggies, the flowers, & the company were all great!

Fishing with John

Last Friday's Catch!  We will go fishing again in the morning!

Body Butters and Pig Pens

I've had such a full day that I just want to kick back with my feet up but it's days like this that are meant for blogging.

The pigs are extremely happy with an addition to their personal emerald aisle. I opened up a bit with a patch of grass two feet tall.

The chickens were not thrilled with the pen I opened up for them.  They continue to remind me of how low they are on the food chain and why.  I had to toss a few through the window this morning, but when I went back only one little rooster was out in the yard.  His head bobbed in cautious curiosity but not one sign of eagerness.

When it got too hot to weed any more I went in the house and made a couple of body butters and a lotion.  The lotion is extremely stiff so I've got a lot of kinks to work out of it but the cocoa butter smells divine.   

I melted cocoa butter into an ice cube tray and will have sample size cocoa butter for sale by Saturday morning.   It lends itself to my ever growing sample sized collection of oils and butters.

I want to make at least two batches of soap before I head toward South Carolina.  I'm going to visit with my youngest son Kelly, his wife Nancy, and three of my granddaughters, Patty, Katie & Amelie.

I plan to remember to take pictures of my stand this weekend.  Who knows when I'll sit down with this machine and upload them.

I started my Emerald Aisle catalog last night.  It has come to my attention that it would make a lot of my display easier.

John grilled the trout we caught yesterday after noon for dinner tonight!  YUM... see my blog carmensdinner.blogspot.com if you are interested in my expression of appreciation for the dinners my husband prepares!  

I love my Saturday Farm Stand!  I have met a new person each Saturday and enjoyed every minute of it!

It's crazy but this is the only picture of my intent that I can find!  Cameras were flashing at me right and left!  There should have been more pics!  As they surface I will post them.  We've been open for two Saturdays.

Hours are: Saturdays 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Mapquest: 681 SE Pine Rd, 98367

My Morels

Yep, they grew right here on Emerald Aisle Farm.  With the selective logging comes a little bit more light and within a couple of days came a few morels.

Very happy dogs

Both Sara and Shadow are content to wait for me while I weed the blueberry patch.  They are very happy dogs.