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| This little guy greeted me on my way out the door to Market early yesterday morning. I was surprised to see a sticky frog still hanging around. |
In Vermont, leaves are falling after a beautiful show of color. Stick season is almost here--that dreary period when there's no leaves, and no snow, just lots and lots of brown and gray--and winter is already knocking with snow forecast for the mountains tonight. Today, though, I'm enjoying the last of the color and will make one more visit to Hackett's, my favorite local apple orchard in the Champlain Islands. Fresh apples and warm apple cider doughnuts. Yum. And, tonight, my new favorite autumn cocktail: warmed apple cider, a shot of Barenjager's Honey and Bourbon Whiskey, and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Might be time to make a fire in the wood stove!
We are finally caught up on most of our farm chores. The hay is in, the goats and sheep have been shorn, and the chicken house is buttoned up for the cooler days ahead. At the Studio, we've been working for the past couple of months at an almost frenetic pace to finish the winter and holiday seasonal soaps so that they will have ample time to cure. Now it's time to take a breath and regroup for the holiday season ahead.
We have lots of news to share--
- We're growing, and are really excited to welcome our newest retailers: Firefly Moon in Arlington, MA (just outside of Boston); Hunger Mountain Cooperative in Montpelier, VT; Truly Unique Gift Shop in Rutland, VT; and Gina Allen at J. Michaels in Chicago, IL. If you are in their area, please stop in and say hello. If you know of a store near you that might be a good fit for our products, please let us know! Referrals from our customers are always helpful and appreciated.
- The Burlington Farmer's Market will be outdoors one more week at City Hall Park-- this coming Saturday, October 25th-- and then will move indoors to Memorial Auditorium. The market generally runs every other week, with three markets in December. Please see our events page for dates and times. There's lots of amazing produce still available from the farmers, along with seasonal fruits, cheeses, chocolates, spirits, jellies, and Cinnamon Pumpkin SOAP! Please join us!
- Our holiday products will be ready for sale in early November. This year we will offer five seasonal bar soaps, including an updated Frankincense & Myrrh in a gorgeous, brand new wrapper painted by VT artist, Meta Stick. (More on that later!) We'll also have our holiday seasonal liquid soaps, Candy Cane lip balms, our new foaming bath salts packaged in glass jars, and, if we are able to stay on schedule, some fun fizzy bath bombs.
- We are working on finalizing the details of our annual Holiday Open House. This year, along with our online specials, we will also host an Open House at our Studio in downtown St. Albans with extended hours for our local customers. More details will be available soon.
- Look for us in the gift guide of the November issue of Vermont Life Magazine!
- And, last, Craft Vermont is just around the corner, November 21-23, at the Sheraton Conference Center in Burlington. This annual fine craft and art show features an eclectic mix of juried artists and artisans from all over Vermont. It's really a fantastic show with lots of terrific gift options for everyone on your list. Please see our events page for the details.
For those of you who have visited our farm or are interested in our animals, we also wanted to share some sad news. We lost Sally, one of our Leiceter Longwool sheep, a few weeks ago to a stroke. Sally was a big 'ol sweet sheep, well over 200 lbs. and almost waist high, and as I was struggling to find pictures of her to include in this post, I realized she was the brown blur at the bottom of most of my images that usually got cropped out.
Sally was quite affectionate, and loved a good snuggle or getting her back scratched. Whenever we went into the barn or pasture with the animals, Sally would put that head down, head over, and damn near knock us down as she'd swing her hips around to get in the best position for a scratch. She'd stand there as long as we'd scratch, moving her body around so that we hit the right spot, licking the air in pleasure. At night we could usually hear her coming before we saw her. Clomp, clomp, clomp. So, back to the photos, I don't have many of Sally because she was usually by my side and not in the middle of the action. The barnyard seems a little subdued lately. Farewell, Sweet Sally.
Enjoy these last days of autumn color, and thanks for your continued support of our little farm!
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| This is a lousy photo, but Sally is in the front (right), heading towards the camera. |
