Its been awhile...

Because I've been very busy.

I've vended at three shows in the past three weeks, and in between I've been scrambling around, unpacking, sorting, organizing, making stuff, labelling and repacking, among other things.

I'm totally behind on my books, my soap stock is running low, I'm clean out of some of my bath bombs....

But now I have four weeks till the next show. Three glorious weekends free. Then I vend at Cabbagetown (my last outdoor show of the year), and then I have about two months before the Christmas shows start.

I've been going back and forth about whether or not I should go to market these three weekends home, and I'll tell ya, the jury is still out. Part of me would love to have a few Saturdays all to myself, no show, no market, nothing. But another part of me really loves going to market. So far, I have definitely decided that I will not be attending this Saturdays market. Instead, Ahren and I will leave early to Gravenhurt, to go to a cottage for three nights with his parents. I'm very happy about that decision. We'll see what happens the other two weekends.

So I've just been to Hillside, Kempenfest and the Celtic Roots Festival, in that order. We just got home from the celtic fest, and I have to say that its been my favourite show all year. Its a wonderful festival, and if you ever get a chance to go, do. Its totally worth it. If I don't get in as a vendor next year, we will definitely be going as patrons.

A celtic fest booth shot:



I forgot to bring the camera to the other two shows, but it was basically the same. I'm liking it.

Now that I'm home for awhile, I'll be playing catch up with all the other things to do, both business and otherwise.

This morning, I made these:



Comfrey, plantain and calendula oils, set in the sun for six weeks, to eventually be made into body balms. (The comfrey and plantain were grown and harvested by us.)

On the right is one jar out of three that I strained and bottled this morning--beautiful st. john's wort flower oil. Ahren harvested the flowers for me from plants growing wild at the black shire. The flowers have to be used fresh, so as soon as he got home, I packed them in jars and poured extra virgin olive oil over them. About a month or so later, they are finished, having turned a gorgeous red colour. Definitely my favourite oil to make, because it is just so beautiful.

I'm going to spend the rest of the day painting the trim in our new office, so we can move up there and start our living room reno (we need to get the wood stove in before winter).

Enjoy this beautiful summer--its going to be gone before we know it!

Aimee