Thursday, December 13, 2012

Slowly....

I am slowly getting busy making and selling my soap, salves and lip balm. I really have to get over this fear of rejection. The ladies were over on Tuesday and I was talking about how I felt. I would rather not try, than try and be rejected. My Hubby gets soooo irritated with me. My one girlfriend told me the number one rule is to not take the NO personally. She says they are saying NO to the product not me. My issue is the product IS me. It's made by my hands. So much love and passion goes into each product. I have a hard time even pricing the stuff! I sit and think...what if someone buys it then doesn't like it? What if I priced it too high, they will think I'm a rip off? What if... Sounds pretty pathetic doesn't it? I'm even frustrated with myself. I don't know how I even became so full of self doubt.
But I am biting the bullet. I sold several jars of salve and lip balm just from people asking for it. So today and tomorrow I am making a few more jars of salve and lip balm, digging out some aprons I have made and I'm going to set out Saturday. I am surrounded by prim shops and they are all having sales Saturday. I am right in between two of them so I thought what better way to get started. People will pass my house to get to the prim shop. I also have soap at another prim shop...but so far, no sales. I'm ok with that because I'm not there to be rejected...lol.
So I am making the healing salve and a breath ease salve(eucalyptus, rosemary, lemon)and a tea tree lip balm and maybe a cocoa mint lip balm. I finally figured out how to make my labels so I will even have our Up The Creek Homestead name on the products.
I have bottles coming from Mountain Rose Herbs for my homemade vanilla. I also ordered some herbs to make more infused oils and tubes for the lip balm. I'm hoping I can sell more so I can make more.
I really have to lock up the lip balm because my daughter keeps taking it! I told her she was going to have to work it off...the tubes cost about .50each!

I also tried a new to me idea of whipping coconut oil. I can't remember if it was a blog, pinterest, or facebook. But you whip coconut oil and it gets white and creamy. It's used as a moisturizer. I made some up and added a few drops of peppermint oil. It smells nice...I may add more more, just testing it out now. The coconut oil firms up a bit after whipping but not as hard as it is otherwise. It also melts into your skin as applying it. I think I like to use it more at night as it is pretty greasy feeling at first.
Well, I'm going to get busy.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

I'm still breathing...sometimes deeply...

The homestead has been busy. Butchered more chickens, the two pigs(714 lbs), 11 turkeys, and two deer. I think we are done unless they get another deer. I had vacuum sealed meat until my freezers were protesting. Then I switched to canning jar after jar of turkey and venison and stock. Can I just say I LOVE canned chicken stock or rather MY canned chicken stock. YUM.
I am cyber schooling my 17yr old...not an easy task as it seems I am stupid and unable to understand the world today(that's what she says) Well, from what I see of the world today...it sucks. I would rather live in my old fashioned values of working for what we have, giving what we can, taking responsibility for our actions...Even if I home schooled all my kids, unless I sheltered them in a bubble, I couldn't keep them from the worlds influence. *sigh* but I TRY!

I thought i would post some pics as they are worth a thousand words...
My brother and I cutting down chicken


the makings of chicken stock
Applesauce making
green beans galore!

Sold all but one of my goats. I kept my Saanan for milk. That's an interesting story because I sold the goats because the cost of feed and I figured I would have a little extra cash for Christmas...then I ended up in the dentist office and there went the extra cash...I'm trying hard to be thankful I had the extra cash to pay for the dentist.

Made my own soft soap...peppermint scented. I was given a 5gallon bucket of grated lye soap from someone's grandparents house...how cool is that? Anyway, I took some fresh peppermint and steeped it in 6C. of water for about 30 min. then I strained it and added a few cups of the lye soap and stirred it on low heat until it melted. then i let it cool and added a couple teaspoons of peppermint essential oil and incorporated it into the soap. It was a bit thick, so i put some in the blender with a bit of water and thinned it down. Poured it into a bottle with a pump and kept the rest in a canning jar until i needed to refill the bottle. FUN!
most of our fall was spent at the football field. i find homesteading and sports are not very compatible...that was very time consuming and fast paced days.
This is the pork from our pig raising experience...5 boxes...plus two buckets of lard! That was a family project getting it all sealed and packed in the freezer. Hubby and i sat and made 216 sausage patties. we portioned someone bagged and two others sealed.
And this is why we live the way we do...for our kids. Charlie wrote us this note in church. I keep it in my purse so I can look at it when I would rather run away from home!
Hope you all are having a great fall and a wonderful holiday season!