For the past week or so I’ve spent at least a portion of every day either making soap or canning pasta sauce. I’ve been becoming reacquainted with my kitchen as the tomatoes have been ripening at a quick pace, and I also realize that the holiday shopping will be getting in full swing in November about the same time as the soap that I am making now will be ready to sell.

Canning the pasta sauce is always a joy for me because it is a family favorite, and because in a good growing year all of the ingredients, except for salt, sugar and a bay leaf, come from our garden. This was a good growing year, although since our tomatoes were slow to ripen I did buy some, and I’m still not sure that I have as much sauce as I would like to get us through the year.

The soaps that I have been making are some that I feel are my better sellers. Last week I made a batch of the Soap and Shampoo bar and also a batch of my Breakfast Bar soap. When tested by my myself, my husband and my sister, this soap recipe gets very positive reviews. The last batch I made is a split batch. Half is Chamomile/Lavender, and because I just can’t help myself when it comes to trying new things, the other half is soap with aloe in it. I was looking at the aloe plant in the living room the other day and decided that since the plant is healthy and has even reproduced (cute little baby aloe plants), that I could afford to use a few of the leaves for soap. If the plant was small and struggling I would not have done this as I think it is most important to have this plant for first aide treatment for burns. In fact I think everyone should have an aloe plant in the house just for this reason. To treat a burn with aloe leaf simply break off a leaf, split the leaf open and rub the inside of the leaf on the burn. It is very soothing and in my experience healing.

Aloe is suppose to be healing and moisturizing to the skin and is being used as an ingredient in by many commercial soap and skin care companies. I can’t make any claims as to the effects that aloe in my soap will have on the skin. I question whether the benefits that may be in fresh aloe are lost during the processing of the soap. Because of this I added the aloe to the soap, late in the process, after the oils and lye were combined and had come to a trace, just  before it was poured into the mold. This soap will not be ready for trial for about 6 weeks.

In addition to making sauce and soap, I have been cleaning bees wax, and have made a batch of Ruth’s Favorite Face, Hand and Body Balm using bees wax from our hives, and I will be making lip balm later today or tomorrow as well.

While I’m thinking of it I also want to mention that the clover blossom soap that I made a while back will not be added to my store. It did not pass our testing phase, even though it lathered nicely and felt good on the skin, it made an unsightly mess in the shower as the clover blossoms came out of the soap, and this is unacceptable. Although clover blossoms, in our opinion, do not belong in a bar of soap, I will continue to experiment with infusing them into oil to perhaps add to some of my recipes.

If you are a lip balm user who has never had to search for your lip balm when you needed it, then you are of a rare breed indeed. Usually the lip balm has fallen to the bottom of the purse or backpack and is buried under God knows what, or it has gone through the washer and perhaps even made a mess of the entire load of laundry while tumbling around the dryer, because it was left in a pocket. Oops!

These keychain lip balm holders are one of the handiest things I sell, and while I would like to take the credit when you say “wow, that really is a great idea,” the truth is I am neither the master mind nor the master crafter of these. All credit goes to my clever and crafty sister Kathy. I can however testify to the value of them, because I have been using them since she started making them. I have two attached to the handle of my purse one which contains my lip balm and the other contains my bug bite balm. Now I always know where to find my balms.

The photo above shows the styles I currently have available (click on the picture to enlarge it). Check out my store to see the varieties of lip balms that I have available.

We have been setting up the farm wagon at the farm (8650 Crawford Road) everyday this week since the weather has been nice. We are selling soap and skin care products, honey, garlic, pumpkins and other vegetables. We are not always there to tend the wagon, as there is a lot of work that still needs to be done on the farm and around the house, so we use an honor system with prices marked on items and a money can for people to pay for items. I am happy to say that this is working out well. The people who are making purchases are indeed honorable, placing their money in the can. One morning when we arrived to set up the stand my husband found $2.00 tucked under a pumpkin. Apparently, someone stopped to purchase a pumpkin or two (which we had left out overnight) before we arrived to set up. The money can was not out yet, so this honest person left the money for us to find.

We have met only a few of our customers, but they are very encouraging, saying that they like what we are doing. Some have become repeat customers after only a few weeks. Yesterday we were closing up the stand, and as I looked in the money can I found a small piece of paper, it said “Awesome stuff, so glad I stopped!”  I just wanted to say “thank you” and that we think that you (our customers) are awesome and we are also glad you stopped.

It’s that time of year. Fall is fast approaching (it arrives this Wednesday in fact) and the harvest is in full force. In fact some of the early crops, like summer squash and green beans might be finished producing, but the late crops like pumpkin and winter squash are just getting ready to be picked. While pumpkins are popularly grown for their use as fall decorations, and people often buy them to make jack-o-lanterns for Halloween, I’m afraid many are missing the true value of pumpkins.

On our morning local news channel last week, there was a segment where a heart doctor was interviewed and he spoke about the health benefits of pumpkin. He touted the large amounts of vitamin A and fiber as the main reasons to eat this heart healthy food but check out this link for more detailed reasons. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/04/pumpkin-health-benefits_n_1936919.html

This link also describes benefits of using pumpkin as a treatment for the skin. http://www.livestrong.com/article/193307-benefits-of-pumpkin-skin-care-products/

Although my pumpkin spice soap does contain real, home grown, pumpkin I would not consider adding pumpkin to other products that I make, because in doing so I would also have to add some type of preservative, as the water of content of pumpkin allows for bacteria growth. Therefore in order to use pumpkin as a skin care product I would advise you to make your own.

If you have never cooked a pumpkin before it is very simple. Usually the small pumpkins are use for cooking, but larger ones are just as edible. While there are other ways to cook pumpkin, this is the way I do it. Cut the pumpkin in half,  scoop out all the seeds and gunk? goo? slimy stuff? You probably know what I’m talking about. Put the pumpkin halves in a baking dish with a small amount of water in the pan and cover it with foil. Bake at 350 degrees until it is soft probably 60-90 minutes. Allow it to cool, then scoop the pumpkin out of the shell. Your pumpkin is now ready to eat, but at this point I like to put it in a food processor to puree it before using it in other recipes. Here are a few recipes you might try.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

2  cups pumpkin pure

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ginger

1 unbaked deep-dish pie shell (I usually buy these but you certainly can make your own)

Mix first 7 ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 35-40 minutes.

Pumpkin Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

Preheat over to 350. Grease 9×13 pan. Mix together flour, baking powder. baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix together sugar and oil until well blended then add eggs and mix well. Mix in pumpkin. Add flour mixture and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 30-35 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched.  I love this cake and it pares well with a cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

If you have baked more pumpkin than you need for a specific recipe this puree freezes well. I usually measure it out, (2 cups for pie) then put it in plastic freezer containers.

Now I hope you didn’t throw away those seeds that you scraped out of the pumpkin, because roasted pumpkin seeds are also a great snack. While I have only made the regular salted variety this link has several different ways to try them.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/pumpkin-seeds-recipe.html

Lastly if you would like to try pumpkin on your skin you could make a pumpkin facial mask by blending together 1/4 to 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1 egg, 1 tsp. honey and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Apply to face and allow to sit and dry for 15 minutes before rinsing off with warm water. If you have any left over dispose of it. This product should be used immediately after it is prepared and it will not keep.

While you could certainly use canned pumpkin for any of these recipes (except seeds)  I believe that there is great value in buying a whole pumpkin, not only for the freshness of the food, but there is price value as well. I just checked the price of Libby’s canned pumpkin at Walmart, and it was selling for $1.88 for a15 oz. can (which leaves you a little short of the two cups called for in my pumpkin pie recipe). Now the two pie pumpkins that I baked Saturday yielded enough to make two pies (4 cups) plus I put two (2 cup) containers in  the freezer, so each yielded approximately 4 cups, or more than double what one can contains, plus the seeds. We are currently selling our pie pumpkins for $1 each at our farm wagon so if you are in the area stop buy and pick up a couple.

First I must confess. This entry was originally written as I sat outside, tending our farm wagon, which we had set up this afternoon, on Gratiot, by Treeside Market. (selling fresh fruits and vegetables, garlic, honey and Don’t Eat It! products) Yes, I was multi-tasking. It was a beautiful day to be sitting outside, and I took a notebook (I mean the actual paper kind and a pen) and wrote it out by hand. I actually prefer pen and paper when writing, but it just doesn’t get online that way, and you probably wouldn’t be able to read my chicken scratch.

So now about leftovers.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to make for dinner last night, but I knew it was going to include the leftover beef ribs and boiled potatoes from the night before. I cut up the meat and potatoes and put them in the frying pan with some butter, thinking it was just going to be some hash. Then I cut up a green pepper that needed to be used and cut and seeded a few cherry tomatoes that were sitting on the counter. I added these to the frying pan with the potatoes and meat, thinking this would make a pretty good omelet. As I cut up a few cloves of garlic, I decided this omelet would be easier if I cooked it in the oven. I put all of the ingredient in a glass casserole dish, beat about 6 eggs, added about 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese and poured that over the rest of the ingredients. I then topped it with shredded Colby jack cheese and popped it in the oven set  to 350. I baked it until the eggs were done – about 30 minutes.

I have to admit, it turned out really good. My husband really liked it as well, and  he asked me if I was going to share the recipe. I had to laugh because there really isn’t one. You could use pretty much use any left over meat, potato and vegetable combination. Add the eggs and cheese and bake it until the eggs are cooked.

This reminded me of the salad my sister brought to our harvest party. It was made with white beans, tomatoes, I think it had yellow squash and zucchini in it, and it had Italian salad dressing on it. When I told her I liked it she said “do you want the recipe. It’s easy, mix together whatever vegetables you want and put Italian dressing on it.”

I just love my sister. Probably because she is so much like me. 🙂