foots ease balm

i listed our foots ease balm on etsy last night.

you could be the lucky recipient of a jar, if you decide its your favourite thing in our etsy shop!! by entering our Down Under Eostre giveaway, just have browse in our shop, then leave a comment here telling us what your favourite item is and why! easy! (open to australian residents only :( sorry ! until April 15)

dont know about anybody else but my feet have been suffering this summer especially since its slip on shoes only for me this time of year and its so dry anyway, here in the west. i remember the weather man said it was only 20% humidity a few weeks back. but of course foot balm helps.

........especially after standing in the 'Big Kitchen' (6m x 3m) all day, the commercial one where we create all our lovely natural concoctions!

...........slaving over a hot stove

cetti nearly fills the 'Small Kitchen' (2.5m x 2m) our domestic one, where we create all our lovely food to feed ourselves with.

and while i do enjoy making skincare...its the many large pots, some of them are 30 litres, needing to be washed i object to! i suppose thats what happens when you are a 2 person + dog (he doesnt help out, in the 'Big Kitchen')....operation, you get to do it ALL yourself!?

wiccked buttons

buttons by wiccked

tunisian stitch cardi for larger niece by me.......almost finished....? adapted this pattern to tunisian stitch. have promised it finished when i visit this weekend... better pull my socks up and get buttons sewn on! this niece who is now 4, was the crash test dummie for our balm for baby bottoms. her small sister is using it too, she is not quite 1.

photo on niece soon??!....if shes not too shy?

detail of top of hat i made last winter and tunisian hooks i made shaped with sharp stanley from 8mm + 6mm dowel. they are about 400mm long to hold lots of stitches. there are no craft shops here, only a co-op farm supply shop, so if you want a tool you have to make one!


some other felted tunisian bags made last winter sitting by the fire....must be autumn...thinking about knitting things, sharpening the axe and getting more firewood

op shop ginger jar in the bathroom just for looking at

down under Ēostre giveaway

we are having a down under Ēostre giveaway!
(sorry! only open to entrants in australia !)
just go here and browse about to find your favourite item!
follow us! then...........
leave a comment below telling us why it is your favourite item
and why you would like to win it!
you will go into the draw to be chosen at random we promise!
from the persian shoe after the 15 april
we will let you know who wins,
and we will let the winner know too of course!

the maremma, the fox and the tiger snake

the solar powered 'hut' we rent from friends, so we have somewhere to sleep when we do markets in the margaret river area, most weekends.

the lights last for ages at this time of year with all this sunshine, but i will have to adjust my brain for the middle of winter when batteries wont keep the lights going till late.

its been great to have a place we can stay with cetti the maremma without having to worry about intruding on friends, (he is quite large......think, miniature pony), about other dogs, or keeping him cooped up in the car. he had an unfortunate interlude with one of the many short eared rabbits that roam around the owners house about 500 metres away. he thought he'd done good, when i turned up in a panic to retrieve him from the scene of the crime!!!! we have always encouraged catching of rabbits, mice etc............ luckily he was the just latest in a long line of short eared rabbit catching visitors and they were philosophical about it.
he has flushed out a feral cat from the timber stack, and he likes to keep the area immediately around the hut free from roos. Its fascinating to watch the interactions between him and the roos changing as they get used to each other. Its hilarious to see him 'just pretending' to be asleep.....surrounded by them lined up in rows at dawn, ears up, about 20 metres away, like statues, watching him intently.....................they scatter when i appear.

and is working on getting rid of the resident fox, we went up the hill sunday late afternoon to see if we could find the fox, but cetti accidentally found a tiger snake instead. i was 90% sure he didnt get bitten, but all i saw was him jumping sideways suddenly and looking down at where he had been, i looked where he was looking and there was the snake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! where cettis feet had been a nano second before!!

the nearby vet i phoned, told me what to look for, but said that by the time i saw any signs it would probably be all over in minutes........and he didnt have any antivenom? ($1500??) so he suggested we go off to the vet in busselton 50 kms away to have a blood test done so i could relax about the 10% doubt..........luckily all clear..........but had to watch him closely for next 24 hrs!

so hopefully next weekend at markets wont be so traumatising for me......!

the 'lab'

the glamourous bit

what i should have been doing instead of etsy
catching up with making stock and orders..... today made:
56 rose geranium lotions
83 rose hip creams
30 litres castile hand and shower gel
30 litres bulk hair conditioner
57 blue chamomile lotions

the essential oil stash

the cooking of the castile......
usually 6-10 hours in a double boiler

the product at everest base camp with a customer...gasp!!
....what a thrill to see this !!
they thought to do this for me ???
when they were at mt everest ?????
made me feel i was there too when they gave me this photo

the vinegar label against my green kitchen wall
yes...i do like green

the buttons i bought from mr wiccked
will have to knit something this winter
to put them on...

maybe something green...?
the same colour as this hat i made last winter?

thanks to innerearthsoaps for my first sale on etsy!

the week i discovered etsy !

and here i am again after 7 months....feels like years!!
though boyup is definitely not as exotic as being in italy
(see posts from may and june 08)

its seven days a week around here..........what with making all the 'stuff' during the week and then driving driving driving all around the south west to markets, to markets, to markets!!! on the weekends..................and then discovering etsy and doing photos and listings.......it feels like ive been staring at this screen for 2 weeks......hang on!.........i have been staring at the screen for 2 weeks!!!..... must get away..........no more excuses to not do the housework!............and work on a new product for a client......(theyve accepted!!) and try to develop a mayonnaise for our food range with the new blender i got for my birthday!!! theres not much free time apart from into the early hours, i am hoping to be able to post here every week................?? ha ha ha

and here are boxes thanks ikea ( i ) we made for carting stock around in ........why didnt ( i ) we do this years ago....they make life so much easier....cuts set up time by half and pack up time by three quarters......though we still need to try and avoid travelling on gravel roads, trouble is they usually get us to market much quicker.................?