Soap dishes, new fragrances...and Farmer's Market!

I'm very excited to say that the wood soap dishes are now back in stock! It's been a long time without them, but I finally got ahold of more. I was holding out for these specific dishes, they're the best I've found and didn't want to settle for cheaper quality dishes just to have something available.

There are at least three new fragrances coming soon! Jasmine will be ready on April 10. If you're a floral lover, you'll want to get ahold of some of this.

I just made some Cranberry Fizz yesterday, that'll be ready May 10. And Ginger Fuji Apple too! They're both wonderful, I'm hoping the fizzyness of the scent stays like it does in the Vanilla Champagne (you can really smell the bubbles/effervescense in that one). Speaking of, Vanilla Champagne will be back in stock May 10 also.


And, I've changed my mind again on the Farmer's Market! I'm sending in my application this week for the Monticello market which is on Thursdays (this'll be my 4th year there). I think it'll be ok to just be doing one market per week, and that's a good one for me, so I'll see you there starting in May!

I'm also going to be putting together an email special, hopefully yet today. My daughter is taking a mission trip with her church, they're going to Haiti in May, and she's doing some fundraising to help finance her trip. Her church http://www.crossing-church.com/ fully supports an orphanage down there, and they're going to help do some work on the buildings. Here's her message from Facebook:

"I'm the kid's director for the The Crossing Zimmerman campus. I hang out with kids each and every week and they've had a huge impact on my life! The Crossing has supported an orphanage in Haiti for over a year now and we have the opportunity to lend a hand during May. There are about 30 children who depend on us, ages 12 and under. While there we will be repairing buildings, building shelters and hanging out with the kids.

Time is not on my side. I ask for you to donate as graciously as possible to help make this trip a huge success. My deadline is fast approaching! Anything helps, and nothing is too small!"

She's very excited to be able to help these kids, and I'm happy to help her get there. Like she says, any amount helps. If you haven't signed up to receive our email specials, go to the website http://www.realsimplesoap.com/, and sign up! I don't fill your inbox with junk, I really only do specials a few times per year, and this'll be a good deal.

As always, I appreciate your business!

I've made a decision...

Well, part of a decision anyway.

I haven't totally figured out what to do, other than I am not going to continue with the Farmers' Markets this year. It's just too much.

I've had a few other wholesale interests lately, and will continue with the wholesale accounts and online sales, and most likely still do at least my 4 most favorite craft shows this year (Lemonade Fest, Anoka Riverfest, Buffalo Art & Crafts, and Bayfield Apple Fest), but I think that's going to be it. We'll see how that goes.

I've been working on rebuilding stock, and by the middle of February I should be pretty well restocked (some will be available in January).

I really appreciate all the kind words of encouragement and even offers to help from my customers! You guys really are the best!

The Things We Go Through...

Yesterday was one of those days.

Our local Farmers' Market was set to open early because of the town celebration (River Fest), so we were to open at noon instead of 3:30. Everyone got there, got their booths set up, and wham.... look what happened! We knew storms were coming so I think most of us were pretty well prepared, but man, did it rain! With wind too. I took this shot of the booth across from me (while holding down my own tent, so it's not the greatest quality). It rained for a good long while and then finally cleared, giving us a nice cool breeze on our soaked bodies, which meant then we were cold. No problem, just continue on.

Not much later, it clouded up again and rained some more. There were some shoppers who braved the weather, some had umbrellas, some didn't! I had managed to put a tarp on my canopy ceiling, so my soap was staying pretty much dry, which is good. The sun came back out.

Not much later, it clouded up again and rained some more! Yes, it did that probably 6 or 7 times. I'd put a side up on my canopy to stop the rain because it always seemed to change directions. It would stop raining, things would dry off, I'd take the side down for customer shopping ease, and then it would rain again! Finally around 4:00 it stopped for good, things dried off and the rest of the evening was beautiful. The nice part was that everything was dry to pack up, because packing up in the rain is absolutely no fun.

Today I'm going shopping for a new canopy! My old one is not waterproof at all, and if I hadn't put the tarp in the ceiling, my day would have been ruined. One of the other vendors had a new canopy that I was eyeing all day, and I'm going to go look at that one. It would be nice to not have to worry about rain and soap mixing.

It's nice to see the "regulars" coming out to the market. It's nice to see people supporting local farmers and crafters. It's even nicer when I hear comments like this: "Last week I took a sample of Paradise, and it smells and works just as good as the Bath & Body Works stuff... without all the chemicals." That was fun to hear!

I also picked up a few "new" vegetables for our family to try. I've never tried kohlrabi, but it sounded good when the vendor was telling a customer about it, so I got some too. And fresh beets. I haven't had beets since I was a kid and had to eat the canned ones, so that'll be an adventure too. I'll most likely be the only one in the house to try them, but you never know.

If you are local and haven't ventured out to the market, it's every Thursday from 3:30-7:00 pm behind the Community Center in Monticello. You never know what you'll find there, besides veggies there are things such as fused glass pendants, photography cards and prints, kitchen towels, homemade baked goods, jams and jellies, garden plants, hanging baskets, homemade candies, homemade fruit rollups, stepping stones, salt-water taffy and lots more. Yesterday a group was selling THE best strawberry shortcake with local berries that were the sweetest I've ever tasted. So I had to taste it twice. : )

Bring your kids, your spouse, your grandma! There's something for everyone at the market.