Patchouli Lavender goat milk soap

It's here! All natural goat milk soap, with patchouli essential oil and lavender essential oil, an enticing combination! Made with high quality vegetable oils and shea butter, and of course milk from my wonderful dairy goats! I colored this soap with aquamarine violet, which turns it a grayish purple. Each bar is approx. 3.5 oz and each has $1 worth of patchouli oil! Limited quantity. They sell for $4 each on my website: www.maplehillsoap.com
Happy Holidays!

Fall Festival Wine Market

Wow, I've been busy getting ready for the holiday season! I've made lots of great seasonal soap. It's already in Linds and Local Grown, and will be in Island Drug soon too. My next upcoming market is:

Nov 15-16
Festive Fall Wine Market
Greenbank Farm
Fall is in the air and the holidays are just around the corner. Taste and select local and regional wines for your holiday celebrations from North Puget Sound wineries. We have created a gourmet gift market that will entice the senses. Shop for special items, unique gifts, all while tasting your favorite wines. This is a weekend you don't want to miss!

This market is held annually on Veteran's Day weekend, coinciding with the Winery Loop Association's fall wine tour. The market features local artists and craftspeople in a pre-holiday season gift market. Taste late-season wine varieties and stroll this indoor heated market as part of an adventurous weekend getaway.
Information contact 360/678-7710 or http://www.greenbankfarm.com

Whidbey Island Farm Tour

This year I will be participating in the Farm To Home Fair at Greenbank Farm during the Whidbey Island Farm Tour. A FREE self-guided tour of 18 working farms on beautiful Whidbey Island featuring locally grown food and products.

Saturday & Sunday, October 4th & 5th, 2008

eBay ART AUCTION

Lavender Lunch On Whidbey

An original painting by Stacey Neumiller will be auctioned on-line on eBay beginning Saturday, October 4th at 8:00 pm. The auction will run for 7 days.

Come visit the farms on our beautiful island!

end of summer happenings

Wow, it's been a busy end of summer! We spent ten days cruisin' up to Banff, which was amazing! We saw an incredible array of wildlife (grizzly, black bear, elk, big horn sheep, beaver) It's going to be hard to top that place... unless we go to Alaska, or Thailand, or Pluto.

We got back, and I made up for lost time at the farmers markets. Both Coupeville and Greenbank had such a great crowd of visitors. Now I'm at work making Christmas soap (Can you believe it???) We need to get the holiday soap into the stores the day after Halloween. It's creeping up on us!

So, end of summer vacation, kids back in school... what do I do? I get a new PUPPY! "Nicey" is so awesome! She's a smart little border collie, just two months old, and from a socialized family. We took her to soccer practice today, over a hundred kids, balls, other dogs... she wasn't even fazed, she loved all the attention! Our other dogs are actually OK with her (they get lots of love.) Nicey's favorite thing, among many, is the kids TUNNEL! She runs through it and rolls it like a hamster wheel, it's hilarious! Agility anyone?

more soap delivered to Linds & Local Grown

Linds just stocked up, as did Local Grown.

So, since I will be taking a vacation for a couple weeks (Canadian Rockies, eh?)... you can still get some nice and fresh goat-milk soap, locally.

Coupeville is having the Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend: http://www.coupevilleartsandcraftsfestival.org/
Should be beautiful!

Orca Network is having the annual Penn Cove Orca Capture Commemoration Friday, in Coupeville. I donated a couple orca-soap gift packs for the silent auction. They have a GREAT website: http://orcanetwork.org/

I'll be back for Labor Day wknd.

In the meantime, here's a pic of Cookie doing her thang:

maplehillsoap.com updated

I have some new pics of my summer selection of soap on my website: www.maplehillsoap.com

The new cucumber melon is ready, it's beautiful! And here's my latest favorite, Blackberry Sage, just in time for late summer:


And here's my Berry Verbena:


Plus more on the site!
I'll be at Coupeville Farmers Market next Sat. Aug 2, and Greenbank Market Sun. Aug 3.

the painted pig

This is what we've been up to lately. No soap. Just crazy "pig" fun. Actually the boys are responsible for most of this, I just wielded the knife. You get bonus points if you make it through the nose. Yes, you can see the artistic blood running through our veins.

Maple Hill Soap now at Island Drug (Oak Harbor) & La Conner Drug!

I'm excited to announce TWO more stores that will be carrying my Maple Hill Soap!

Island Drug in Oak Harbor, on Pioneer Ave.
La Conner Drug, in La Conner!

It feels good to have stores coming to ME now!
You can still buy my goat-milk soap online at:
www.maplehillsoap.com

Pics of little doeling goats

Thunder on left... Easter on right

...this is Jellybean

Look how big the doelings are getting! 2 1/2 months old and already eating everything in sight!
The plan right now is to keep them and have them CAE tested at 6 months.

Cooking Up A Story

Check out the incredible stories/videos that my cousin produces:

http://cookingupastory.com/

No on-air talent, no scripted programming, no studio environments, just authentic stories filmed in their native surroundings.

How many online videos tell a good story? How many good stories are told without the use of a celebrity, or a written script?

We think that’s what makes Cooking Up A Story, and Cooking Up A Story audiences, so unique. Our viewers appreciate a good story, and they want to experience a deeper truth, even those containing shades of gray. Many, care deeply about the environment, and believe that we must work to produce fundamental change in how America (and other countries in the world) conduct business. The funny thing about the subject of sustainable food, it doesn’t fall neatly into specific categories. It crosses over into every aspect of our society: social; political; economic; and environmental concerns.

In fact, Cooking Up A Story is unique for another reason. It’s really 3 different shows under the umbrella of one main title. First, Cooking Up A Story contains short documentaries about real people and their passionate connections to food and sustainable living. Many of these personal stories (along with our other shows) extend beyond the boundary of place, and are as interesting, and relevant today, as the first stories we produced almost two years ago.

Cooking Up A Story: FOOD NEWS contains interviews and talks with experts on a wide range of topics relating to the science, politics, and culture of food. Following the ideas expressed in these videos, ask yourself this question: are these ideas mainly limited to the area of food? We think not. Closely following Michael Pollan, and you will observe how universal healthcare coverage would likely impact current government policies that favor large mega-farms and the growing of non-specialty crops (crops not intended for human consumption!). Listen to the Dan Imhoff series that talks about the federal Farm Bill, and see how the epidemic of obesity and early onset diabetes is fueled by government subsidies that enables unhealthy foods to be more affordable than healthy foods. Or, Carlo Petrini’s talk, where in part, he outlines how Americans spend less on food (based on per capita income) than most other citizens of the world, and why we need to spend more for better quality food.

Third, our other main segment is Cooking Up A Story: Cooking, a no-nonsense, step by step demonstration how to prepare fresh foods, and desserts from people with wide ranging backgrounds and interests. In addition, there are recipes from each subject of our main stories, and also recipes from some of the How-To cooking videos.

Last, the most important aspect of our work, is YOU. We need your active support. If you like our show, share our stories on your site. Tell your friends about us, and subscribe to our feeds. If you agree that our content is important and unique, help us through your active participation to make it even more successful by commenting on our site, and on sites that display our videos.

Cascade Camping

Camping at Klipchuck Campground... Hwy 20... Early Winters Creek... Okanogan Forest.

Ahhh, home away from home. Let's forget about everything and just relax!
This place was almost all to ourselves!

We traveled up and over the pass to get some warmer weather... 15 degrees warmer than the west side of the Cascades.

Early Winters Creek, just east of Washington Pass.

Little Ducky, you're the one...

Look what I found yesterday! This little Mallard duckling just about walked right in front of my lawnmower... Are you my mother? It was all alone, we're assuming it's mother was the injured duck our dog chased away earlier in the afternoon. Well, we're all in love with it, and we'll get her(?) a friend next week.

Coupeville Market regular

I had another GREAT day at the Coupeville Farmers' Market yesterday. I've decided to make it my new favorite, every Saturday 10-2. Well, I won't be there every Sat, I do need to go camping here and there! But I WILL be there the next TWO Saturdays: May 17 (Penn Cove Water Festival) and May 24 (Memorial Wknd.) Come by and say "HI!"

Huge Cattleya orchid blooms

This Cattleya orchid is special to me: The hybrid is named after my grandfather, Carl Hausermann, from orchidsbyhausermann.com. My mom grew up at "The Largest and Oldest Orchid Grower in the Midwest. Family Owned and Operated since 1935. Our 3 ½ acre orchid range is home to the Largest Collection of Cattleya Orchid Plants in the USA."

If only you could smell over the internet!

My Cattleyas grow alongside two types of Dendrobium, Phalaenopsis, Oncidium and Miltonia. All bloom nicely in the east-facing bay window around our soaking tub. They get the shower's daily humidity (well, at least Steve takes a daily shower :-) I have two baby Paphiopedilum, looking forward to those blooms hopefully someday! My cymbidiums are blooming on the front porch.

Stainless steel milk buckets are heavy...

... and REALLY HURT A LOT when you drop them on your big toe!!! OUCH! It's very ugly. Running is now on hold.

Coupeville market Sat.

It's supposed to be a nice, "warmer" weekend, so I'll be at the Coupeville Market tomorrow, Sat. April 26. I have a bit of exceptional feta... if you ask early!

latest soap production

I got busy this last week:

Top: BerryWine
Lavender; Summer Breeze
Bottom: Red Clover Tea

"Local Grown" coffee/gifts in Coupeville

A great new espresso stand / gift shop is just opening up at the end of the wharf in Coupeville. It's called LOCAL GROWN. Besides selling coffee drinks, it has all local products and gift baskets... also including Maple Hill goat-milk Soap! So, if you find yourself touring the Coupeville waterfront on Penn Cove, make sure you go to the end of the pier and check out William's new store.

She's OK... and she LOVES Heineken!

Close call for Easter

Well, we lost our new buckling on Sunday... Floppy Kid Syndrome. :-( I felt so bad - it happened so quick. Too little too late, I got Penicillin and baking soda.

So when I went out early this morning, I was shocked to notice Easter with the same wobbly, stand-offish demeanor. It sucks that I had to learn from experience, but if I hadn't just gone through it, I probably wouldn't have been able to save my Easter. I immediately gave her a shot of Penicillin and tried to get her to drink some baking soda. Sawyer & I then went to the feed store, got some electrolytes and B vitamins. I gave her a shot of the B complex. She didn't want to drink, so I got up the nerve to use a stomach tube. It was surprisingly easy, and it made all the difference. By this afternoon, so had a little spring to her step. Then this evening she drank the electrolytes from a bottle (good girl.) Hopefully she'll be OK when I go out in the morning.

Personally, I've never encountered Floppy Kids before. I know of two other farms that had this in the last couple weeks. One kid made it (with Penicillin) the other didn't.

Thank you Beth for all your help. Thank you also for offering to replace the sweet little buck.

Coupeville Market, Sat. 4/12

I made a last minute decision to be at the Coupeville Farmer's Market tomorrow: Sat. April 12. It's going to be a beautiful day, so come see me and my new goat-milk soaps. Yes - I'll have cheese!!!

chevre

I made a big batch of fresh chevre goat cheese, so if you're interested, give me a call or email, and you can come by to pick it up! The garlic & onion is yummy. I'm going to try to have some available every Friday afternoon, so come get some for the weekend!

Yet another doe... way to go Ripto!

Five-out-of-five kids are does! How unbelievable! Flashy had a single kid today, a very healthy and big doe (good thing just one... she is still small.) Ripto (our buck) threw 100% female. We were also fortunate that all three births happened during the day, so I could dry them off and bottlefeed them all pasteurized milk. Busy, busy!

4 kids in a corner

How cute are these guys? Notice the size difference of Jellybean (runt) and Easter (tank.) Cookie's kids in the back have been named Mocha & Coca (it was supposed to be Cocoa, but that just doesn't roll off Sean's tongue very easily, he just keeps saying Coca :-)

I got almost a gallon of milk from Cookie & Cupcake this morning! We're still waiting for Flashy to have her kids, I can feel them, so they're getting close!

As for the soap world: I'll be taking another order over to Linds today, so they will be restocked in Freeland for the weekend, then Langley next week.

frosty morning

The grass was crunchy this morning, as I went out to milk the goats before the boys got up. The kids were doing fine, all huddled up together in the corner. After Sean was off to school, Sawyer and I went out and bottlefed the babies, they really are super cute. You know they'll be OK when they take to the bottle and survive a chilly first night. Cookie & Cupcake are getting used to the new milking machine, which is such a dream.

Wow - another set of does!!

We named them Easter and Jellybean. Cupcake took advantage of the break in the storm and delivered them outside. They've joined their cousins in the kid barn. What Joy!

Twin does!

Happy Easter!
Cookie beat out Cupcake and had twin little girls on Good Friday... YAY! We were all thrilled to witness and photo the whole event. Both does are healthy and happy to be a part of our herd. They both have taken to the bottle, and they're being fed pasteurized milk, to prevent the CAE virus. Birth pics are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/smilesonwhidbey/CookiesKidsTwinDoes

Happy Spring!

Well, still waiting for the goat kids to arrive. In the meantime, I made another batch of Oatmeal Soap. Nice fine, powdery oatmeal this time, more soothing, less scratchy. Half is unscented, the other half is LICORICE (sweet fennel oil and alkanet root color.) Both versions are all natural and will be available at www.maplehillsoap.com around April 5.

Greenbank Farmer's Market will start up in April

Yes, I WILL be at the Greenbank Farmer's Market (off & on) this spring and summer, starting first Sunday in May. Check this blog for dates.

The goats are scheduled to kid next week! Come back for pics. That means the milk will be flowin' and the CHEESE will be available in a couple weeks. Yes, I will have fresh chevre goat cheese for purchase at the market... but you have to ask, as it's for friends only :-)

Spring soaps now in Freeland LINDS and Linds Langley Drug

Great new spring soaps, all stocked up. Please stop by Linds and check them out! Thanks!