Hello and a big welcome. If you had noticed my flipflopsandpoptarts.com website was down for several days and OH MY GARSH what a MESS! None of it was simple Bruce and I both spent days on the phone everyone we talked with sending us from one provider to the next....from Google, to Icann, to all the providers of the website......finally there was this one guy named Brian and He IS a SHINING STAR! He and another assistant were able to fix the problem that more than 10+ people and hours on the phone couldn't do. So Bravo Brian! If you didn't see it down then no biggie you didn't miss anything...We went to the Smithfield Farmers Vendor Appreciation dinner last night and it was very nice, super awesome to see the other vendors and chit chat for a bit. See the numbers for the year which improved nicely from he year before at our motto of the year "steady as she goes" Everyone seemed to be doing well and we picked up our new applications for the 2020 year. The first market is one on March 14 which will also be the same day as the St. Patricks Day Parade. So get your green out and ready to see all our smiling faces at the March 14 Smithfield Farmers Market behind the BSV Bank on Main Street in Smithfield Virginia. Then Grand Opening day will be April 04, 2020 we will not be there that day as we have the Daffodil Festival in Gloucester Virginia. The times will be 9-12 Saturdays for the Smithfield Farmers Market.
My neighbor brought over the Girl Scout cookie sheet and of course the boys wanted me to order one of each and some more than one of each. We did Girl Scouts for 15 years and our troop took some amazing trips from selling cookies one year when Colby was born Alexis was one of the Councils top sales girls. I was even the Service Unit Cookie Chair for many years and the counties cookie cupboard too. So PLEASE do remember the girls this year when you are out and about or they come to your jobs, community centers etc. I have also been working on getting some of the other shows ready for the year. That is a job in itself for sure. Like when I make posts it takes days to get them done....I can only sit for so long for one I got to keep busy. Plus as you know so much work here.
We were checking on all the bees yesterday midday and I pulled out one frame o honey just to see where they were in the middle of winter. Look at that beautiful sight. It looks so wonderful.....of course in the process I got a few fiends to land and help me with that frame.
A video on some of our bees in the bee yard up by the high tunnel
Yum Yum! The sweet taste of honey.........Love
One of my handmade beeswax candles. Look at the bee getting ready to land on the beeswax candle. Note the white on the candle that is the beeswax "bloom" a note that its pure beeswax.
The elderberry bushes are starting to bloom already yay!
I love pouring my Buddha candle and it sells right regular, which in turn makes me so happy.
So our market manager wants pics of everything we do and those of you who know me, know this is all the real deal....we make our soaps, we make our pickles, our jams, we make all our products except the essential oils...and I said to my customers I went that route before and there is no way I can do that.
you can watch my video in my certified kitchen of the pickle making
cinnamon pickles which are always a HUGE hit
bread and butter
The are the Polish Dills with yummy garlic
Bread and butter out of the canners
They are always so pretty and taste like candy oh so yummy
These are the owl soaps so when we are pouring we always have a tad bit more so instead of wasting which I am a firm believer of NOT wasting anything we pour it in these little adorable owl molds.
Selling some of th bracelets I make at the market, I sit in the bed at night and set goals to what I need to get done that night. So if I say I am going to finish up five bracelets then that is what I do.
A YouTube video of us cutting the soap and how we do it
More soap drying on the racks.
Which I was also happy to receive the request from the Georgia Peanut Institute again this year yet another commission to make the peanut butter soap for them again, YAY!!! So happy to make it and makes me so HAPPY they asked me! #HappyDance
So I worked and worked on the rest of the post and it didn't save it...oh wow I literally typed and typed for an hour...now to start over.......head hung low!
Rats!!! Now I am finally back to the post its now Saturday...ok so like a week of working on this and still no post.
Yesterday on Friday I made two jams the strawberry rhubarb and strawberry jalapeƱo as I had sold out and had to make more. As you know all the rhubarb comes from Wisconsin from my daughter Alexis, who has some in her yard and Garrett's grandma Charmaine has a lot in her yard that has some of the biggest leaves ever....it grows well up north however not so well here due to the extreme heat.
Well I am back again and now it is Tuesday morning....yesterday was super busy we made our order deliveries in Suffolk but not any further as I had to take one of our dogs to her check up appt. in Greenbrier so we made two trips to Virginia and did the normal stuff here so it didn't leave us much time to parade around town with more orders. We have this show this weekend in Fayetteville North Carolina so that will be quite a ride. On Sunday I made Strawberry Pinot Noir Jam for the Valentine's Day Uncorked Event.
Go HERE for the Link. You will see the sponsors and vendors and look at some of those other folks we will be selling with. I am so excited.!!!!
okay LOL now its Wednesday...it seems it is so hard for to actually finish somethings as I am always doing something other than sitting down.
So every day and night I am cooking something so I shared how I cook all these yummy sweet potatoes and trust me it is so easy!!
I have been hooked for awhile on the Instant Pot so much so I have THREE a 6qt. I got when they came out, then an 8qt. I watched and watched till it went on sale and I bought that one, then I thought well I cooked so much I could use that 3qt. and one day it was on an Amazon special so I got it. Bruce says all the time WOW these things are the greatest!! He used to say the Crock Pot was (and it still is) the greatest invention ever!!! LOL Now he keeps saying those Instant Pots are the best!! No objections there!!
Here is the rice I cook in my Instant Pot and how it is so easy and like every night I cook rice...the boys love it and there are never any leftovers.
Making rice in the Instant pot.
Colten and Dusty have been having fires in the pit for a. while now, enjoying the evenings outdoors and one night Colten actually cooked some chicken and venison burgers on the fire. He overcooked them a bit but everyone still ate them.....
When Ledger goes to Target he is quite a shopper, it was warm that Sunday in Wisconsin despite al the snow on the ground.
for Christmas the boys received these awesome golf clubs with these adorable bags. Alexis said she found them at Target. What a great find!! These boys have played with their clubs and bags, and the balls. Everyday since they got them. Riggs even slept with his putter. Adorable! ledger laughed and laughed "you slept with your club" LOL
That much warmer Sunday with snow on the ground. I would of still been frozen...lol.
I was so GLAD to know that Punxsutawney Phil did NOT see his shadow so we are expecting an early spring! YES!!
2020 so lets HOPE for early spring this year.
This is where we will be the day after Valentine's Day ......<3 EXCITING!! If you go to this page you can see all the venue and sponsors and vendors. It is in Fayetteville NC so we are very much looking forward to this. We are so very thankful for Holley and Amanda for that they did to get us into this really big event!!! We will be selling our Mead there and we can't wait. You can see the post here of when we got our ABC License. Just look at the line of Vendors that will be there!
Thanks again for stopping by.....
HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND
HUGS,
DAWN
Also Note I added in the current up to date shows as of now some further out I know we will be at but too early to list
On February 22, 2020 we will be at the Grassfield High School Spring Craft Show in Chesapeake Virginia
Our following show after that will be the Smithfield Farmers for the Shamrock Parade on March 14, 2020 which we are super excited to see everyone!!!!!!!
