A Winter Day in December

What a Wonderful Winter Day!!
Cleaned the shop, with a nice
warm fire burning inside the shop!!
Reminds me of January !!

Annual Open House

A Big Thank You to all of you
that joined us for our Open House
weekend. Fun was had by all!!!
We sold out of decorated wreaths,
but we still have greens & holly
for your holiday table & home.
Enjoy the pictures!!

Christmas Open House

I have been busy, making Christmas wreaths &
swags for our Annual Open House this Friday
December 3rd, & Saturday December 4th.
If you live locally, its a great time to visit us
at our shop & farm!!

Shop Porch

Just finished decorating the front porch
of shop. Our Greens for sale will be
available the second weekend in November!!

Christmas Arrangements

Just making some arrangements up, to
decorate the shop porch. I love this
time of year and going foraging in
the woods for berries, greens and
pinecones.

Sneak Peak of Sale Area !!

Been working on our Sale Area in the
Greenhouse....lots of great deals on
old pots..... we have been really cleaning
house...Some great buys to Check out!!

Making Chickweed/Plantain Salve

Just making our Chickweed/Plantain Salve
this morning.  Organic extra virgin olive oil
infused with calendula, plantain, & chickweed.
What a healing natural salve!!!
Wildcrafted Chickweed Plantain Salve

Fresh Orange Marmalade Potpourri !!

Our Orange Marmalade Potpourri is done curing
and ready to purchase. We have been selling this
very natural smelling potpourri for 15 years. It is
definitely our best-selling potpourri, because it
blends with any decor and has such a pleasant aroma.
A must!!

Herbal Soaps

 

I wish you all could smell the wonderful scents
of our herbal soaps. We are preparing for our
up-coming season. Shop early on-line for the
best selection (they should be cured mid-October).

Lots of Soap...Curing in the Loft!!

Lots of Hand-Crafted, Herbal Soap Curing in the Loft!

Soap is made and curing in the drying rack

in the loft of the shop. We make cold-process soap
and it needs 6 to 8 weeks to cure and mellow.
We have many customers that buy from us for
their soap needs. Most customers are looking for
for an all natural gentle soap.

New Addition to the Farm

Our Newest Addition to our Farm - a registered Dexter Cow!

Granite Bowl Arrangement

Found this old granite bowl at the flea market today!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Bouquets of Summer!!!

Just enjoying the last bouquets of the season!!!

We have been very busy making candles and
picking the last flowers to dry in our shop.
We hope everyone is taking a few moments
out of each day to enjoy summers' bounty
and the simple pleasures of the season.
(like evening walks, picking fresh flowers
and watching the sun set).
God's Blessing to you!!

Lavender Harvest!!

It's that time again!! The Lavender is plentiful and
wonderfully scented!! It will used in our best selling
Herbal Soaps, Salves, Bath Salts and Potpouuri.
We are excited about producing some great
products with this awesome 2010  Harvest!!

Field of Chamomile

Our field of Chamomile is perfect for harvesting!!
We have been harvesting yellow yarrow also!!
Lavender is just about ready!!!

Summer is finally on its way!!!

We have been busy planting our herb/kitchen garden,
our potpourri garden and our healing
production garden this past week.
We thank the Lord for all the rain we just had,
things were very dry.

  A Glimpse at Our Herb Garden

                                       

                                                       

New Finds from the Attic !!

Been cleaning up the shop and the shop's attic during
all the rain we have been having, found some great
things. Check them out !! at www.CountryCottagePrimitives.com

Sheep Shearing Day at the Farm

What a beautiful day for shearing our Icelandic Sheep!!
Icelandic Sheep are sheared twice a year.
Their Fall fleece is much fuller than their
Spring fleece. They are all so happy to get
that wool off before the warm weather sets in.

We are shipping all their beautiful fleece to a fiber mill
to have turned into yarn.  See our web site for available
100% Icelandic Wool Yarn.

Lavender Collection

We have been working on our Lavender Collection.

Bath Salts, Natural Potpourri, Salves, Soy Candles

and Soy Tarts are in the works. We also will

be adding a creamy Goat Milk Lavender Lotion to

this collection this May (stay tuned). We are

so excited about this collection. Lavender is so

calming and relaxing, we all need a little more

of that in our lives.

Rosemary Pruning

When we use to open our Greenhouse in the Spring, the

number one question we would be asked is how to prune

rosemary. As you can tell from the above picture. 

The rosemary on the left was prune last winter the 

one on the right was not pruned.  As you can see pruning

makes the plant much more bushier and healthy looking, plus it

gives you wonderful clippings of rosemary to use

in cooking, bath products and potpourri.

Old Antique Potting Cupboard

Turned this old antique into a potting cupboard. It 

works great for storing extra pots. While cleaning

out our greenhouse we found some cute garden 

picks and some miniature wheelbarrows and

watering cans. Check them out on our web-site

German Chamomile

Chamomile is a mild, soothing and calming herb,
with small, sweet-smelling, daisy-like flowers.
Make yourself a cup of chamomile tea (from
the dried flowers) for its many therapeutic
properties including nervous digestion, insomnia
and as a wash for minor wounds.
Its scent gives pleasure to both the mind and
body either as a tea or for use in bath herbs.
Chamomile is quite easy to grow from seed,
it germinates quite readily (as seen in the above
picture). At our farm, we grow German
Chamomile 'Bodegold' which is know for
its large blossoms and high yielding plants.
This season include this herb for your garden!!

The Promise of Spring !!!

Pansies and Violas are the first flowers that can be planted

in the Spring. Both flowers are edible and can be added

to salads for color and flavor. The flowers of both plants

can be dried, pressed and added to spring potpourris.

Spring Violas!!!

We love these little violas!!! The greenhouse is blooming!!
Anytime you are having a bad day, simply whisper a prayer
and marvel at God's beautiful design of a viola (johnny jump-up)
and your sure to feel better. What a wonderful sunny day here
in Michigan. Bee Skeps are selling fast. Shop early !!!
Germinated Morning Glories today!!!

Scented Geraniums

We potted up our rooted cuttings of scented geraniums today.
We have always loved growing scented geraniums. They
are available with so many different and unique leaf shapes.
Some good uses of scented geraniums can be found in a
little booklet we carry from the International Herb Assoc. IHA
entitled: "Scented Geraniums (Herb of the Year 2006)".
We dry the leaves for their fragrance, scents like rose, lemon,
and spice. They enhance our blends of potpourri and bath herbs.
They are very easy to grow and make nice houseplants,
which can add a pleasant aroma to your home. We
encourage you to try a scented geranium this season.
(Most herb farms/greenhouses carry them).

What's sprouting in the Greenhouse

With all the wonderful sunshine, seeds are definitely
sprouting in the greenhouse. This flat of the herb
lemon balm will be used in making our herbal salves
this summer.

Bee Skeps Back in Stock!!!

Just getting ready for Spring!!! Every Herb Garden
deserves a Bee Skep. We have carried these vine
bee skeps for 15 years.  We just re-stocked our
inventory.  They go fast so order early.
And keep thinking Spring !!!

Cold Therapy Bags (Recipe)

Today we created some Cold-Therapy Bags.
We would like to share this recipe with
you to try at your home. These bags are
great to tuck in a pillow at night to help
relieve congestion from a cold. Or toss
the whole bag directly into your bath
whenever you feel run down or need an instant
pick me up.

 There are 5 main ingredients in this recipe.
(As you can see from the above picture).
Use equal parts of crush spearmint,
peppermint, coltsfoot, comfrey and
eucalyptus. Blend all ingredients well.
Take this mixture and fill plain muslin
bags. Add a few drops of eucalyptus
and peppermint essential oils into each bag.
I like smelling these bags throughout the day
for instant clarity and focus. You can
also tuck them throughout your house
to aid in freshening the air within your
home. Both Eucalyptus and Peppermint
essential oils are antiseptic, refreshing and
uplifting. If you don't have time to make
your own, we will be adding this product
soon to our website. Stay tuned.
Blessings

Colonial Kitchen - Apothecary Jar Candles

Today we completed our last product in our
Colonial Kitchen Collection.
These are our Apothecary Jar Candles.
They come in 3 sizes, 10 oz., 16 oz. and 26 oz.
and are available with 2 different lid
styles, a plain black lid or a glass lid
with a wire holder. We love the smell
of these candles...a blend of oranges & clove.
These candles make a house warm and cozy.
We found that if the wicks are trimmed
regularly to 1/4", the candles last
longer and burn better.