Cornish Christmas: A Grass Valley Tradition

I don't know how it went from October to end of November so quickly! But here we are, the holiday season is officially upon us. I just wanted to take a moment to remind folks of a really fun event that happens every year in Grass Valley. Cornish Christmas, I believe it's in it's 40-something year. It's a vintage Christmas themed street fair, with food, kids activities, local arts and crafts, and music!

This year marks our 5th year in attendance, our booth is in it's usual spot at the exact corner of Mill and Main Streets (right in front of Dave's Shoes).

This is a real special event for us. Nothing is more heart warming than hearing how someone's daughter put our goat milk soap boxed set on her wish list, or how a family is heading out of town for the holidays and they want to take "a piece of Grass Valley" back home for the relatives. And the general good mood of all the shoppers, really puts us in that special holiday spirit.

So we hope you'll join us, come early because parking is limited and the streets do get crowded. Oh, and be sure you bundle up, it gets down in the 30's-40's here at night.

Cornish Christmas

Friday nights, 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

November 26, December 3, 10, & 17, 2010

Historic downtown Grass Valley

http://www.historicgrassvalley.com/Cornish.html

Fall Home & Garden Show, Oct 16 & 17

Anyone coming to our soap making demos this weekend? Unfortunately we have to miss our regular Saturday market at the North Star house in Grass Valley, but you can find us all weekend long at the Nevada County Fair Grounds.

We'll have our soap display there for purchases and we'll also be doing one demo each day. Check out today's paper (The Union) for the special insert with all the details.

Here's a photo from last years demo, all chairs filled and folks standing in the back! Who knew so many people were interested in soap making?? I think it's great. Soap is like any other product, if you use it you should know what's in it. This year, I'm going to talk a little bit about why you'd want to make your own soap. I only get 20 minutes per demo, so I'll have to talk fast. I'm always available after the demo to answer any of your questions.

Should be way fun, see you there!!

Fall Finally!

I don't know about you, but I have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of fall. After braving temps in the upper 90's to low 100's, I think it's finally come! Cloudy and cool weather, my mind turns to thoughts of soft alpaca scarves, peppermint mochas, red, gold, and orange leaves, and something yummy (preferably with apples or pumpkin) baking in the oven.

This time of year with my business means that everything pumpkin turns up on the "to do" chalkboard in the workshop. Pumpkin soap and pumpkin sugar scrub...made with real organic pumpkin, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon essential oils.

Why pumpkin? Well, not only is pumpkin the quintessential vegetable for this time of year, but it's also good for you. It contains lots of anti-oxidant vitamins A and C, as well as zinc and beneficial alpha-hydroxy acids. So lather up with pumpkin soap, slough off dry skin with our frosting like sugar scrub, end up smelling slightly sweet/spicy, and enjoy softer, healthier skin. A great way to start the season!

An Event for Your Calendar

Here's an event you don't want to miss! October 16 and 17 at the Nevada County Fairgrounds is the Fall Home & Garden show.

Even if you don't have any plans for home improvement projects, come for the "Back to Basics" section of the show. Demos and workshops will be going on all weekend, here are some of the subjects you can learn more about:

• Weaving
• Quilting
• Soap Making
• Canning
• Sustainable Living
• Jam Making
• Composting
• Gold Panning
• Raising Livestock
• Organic Gardening

I don't know about you, but ALL of these subjects sound super interesting to me. For the soap making demo part, well, I'll be your instructor. I'm on the schedule to do two demos, one each day. Here's the schedule:

Saturday, October 16, 1:15 - 1:45
Sunday, October 17, 2:00 - 2:30

Thirty minutes doesn't leave much time for question and answer, so if you have something specific you want to me to talk about, please post it on our facebook fan page and I'll be sure to address it during the demos.

The event is free (might have to pay for parking, I'm not sure about that). I'll also have my full line of soap (etc.) for sale at the event. So if you need to start your holiday shopping, we'll be there to help you out.

We had lots of fun at this event last year, hope you'll come on out and learn how soap is made...among other cool topics.

New Soap!

Summer has been busy for us! We acquired a couple more stores (A.P.P.L.E. in Nevada City, Eco Centric in Graeagle, and Davis Food Co-op in Davis) so I've been quite busy keeping things in stock.

However, I was able to carve out some time to create a new soap. I've been getting requests for a patchouli soap, just patchouli. If you are a customer of ours, you know I like blending essential oils and I don't use any single notes in my soap. However, I listen to my customers because they know best! So here is "Granite", steam distilled dark patchouli from Indonesia mixed with real (and it's beautiful stuff) Dead Sea mud from Israel. My inspiration for this soap came during a leisurely swim in the Yuba river this summer. If you're a local, you know that granite is sprinkled all over the river bed, it's just gorgeous. Anyway, I cut the soap today and it should be available in a couple weeks.

I'm mixing it up with my goat milk box set. I'll be keeping three of my original soaps: "Chilled Lavender", "Lemon!", and "Sweetheart". But the two other slots in the box will be filled with two new soaps! Not announcing them until they're ready, but they'll be nice compliments to the existing three.

In September we're launching a new product. It's been in development and test phase for over a year now, and I believe it's ready to meet the world. The clue is to "think outside the tube".

Summer cleaning

We did summer cleaning today in the workshop...since I missed spring cleaning. Average temps of 95 degrees, hubby and I were out there doing our twice yearly clean up. Wiped down counters, scrubbed the floor, installed a big new fan, put down an anti-slip mat (yeah!), and consolidation of supplies. It feels great to be organized and I cannot wait to get out there later tonight and make soap!

You'd hardly think I'd have the energy, I mean it was HOT today and we were both getting pretty sweaty and very dirty. But I've got a clean and organized workshop. I cannot express how happy and energized that makes me!

I have a long list of things to make this week. Starting with 'Pacific Blue' and 'Lemon Bouquet', then moving on to 'Yuba Wild' and 'Garden Mint'. Our shaving soap is coming back as I've had quite the demand for it lately. Pretty low on goat milk soap, all flavors. And I'd like to make a couple new ones...something with coffee oil and something with almond. This may not seem like a very big list to some, but for a one-woman-operation like mine, that's a pretty tall order.

I may be absent for several days, as it appears my schedule is fairly full.

Eco friendly packaging

I've been thinking about product packaging and shipping material a lot lately. Once you start down the road of all things eco-friendly, there really is no end. Once you find one solution, you want more!

I make a pretty good soap that meets my idea of sustainability, and a few years ago, I decided to change my soap wrappers to paper that was made with 75% post consumer waste and 25% hemp fibers. Awesome! But I wasn't satisfied to stop there. When I ship orders to my out of state customers, I used to use recycled packing peanuts (non dissolving kind). Not good enough. So recently I found this new packing product that I can get behind with a clear conscience. It's called "paper nuts". According to the manufacturer, they are:

"PaperNuts® are made from 100% recycled materials - old corrugated cartons (post consumer) and paper processing production waste (post industrial). PaperNuts® will begin to degrade when exposed to moisture."

So next time you mail order from Frontier Angel, you will find paper nuts in your box. Please recycle, reuse, or put them in your compost. I will still recycle traditional packing peanuts that I receive from supply vendors. A local shipping company takes these off my hands and puts them to use.

What's next in my journey down the path to sustainable packaging? My goal is to get rid of as much HDPE plastic packaging as I can. I am confident that I will find solutions for my eco-friendly packaging needs, I'm a pretty good problem solver.