i, um…

So I’m thinking the dad might have been a Maine coon…or like, a bobcat.  Maybe a moose.

Filed under: animals on July 26th, 2010 | 3 Comments »

So, a couple weeks ago, our kitten had kittens.  Our indoor-only, about to be spayed kitten, found herself a stray tom.  Had five kittens.  Daisy was an amazing mother for the first week, and then came down with a nasty case of mastitis.  For those who don’t know (I knew because I had it, which was gross) mastitis happens when a milk duct gets backed up, inflamed, and infected.  The duct was completely plugged, so no amount of milking did any good, and a couple hours after she stopped purring, I had to rush her to the emergency vet with a fever that should have killed her.  It was 1am, the emergency vet is an hour away.  Abscesses formed below the gland, which had to be lanced and drained for a week (that was possibly the most disgusting thing I’ve seen yet) but she’s good as new, minus a nipple and a uterus.  And she’s back to mothering, sort of.  I’m bottle feeding the kittens, she’s cleaning up the results.  Team work makes the dream work, right?

This is Nori, the one with triple thumbs, and one of the two we’re keeping (the other one’s Chester Webfoot)

In other news, we attended our first market day of the season!  It was a great success, outside of the fact that we forgot the table cloth and got rained out halfway through…

Joe salesman

the chocolate almond soap cake which drew them in, but which nobody wanted to split up

the balm display Joe built, and the perfume display that isn’t big enough

Filed under: animals, craftiness, local, soap on July 22nd, 2010 | 4 Comments »

Wedding season has officially infested my brain.  All day long I’m either labeling favors or designing labels for favors or pouring favors or talking to brides about favors or shipping favors off to their joyous events, so of course that leaves the spare moments for thinking about imaginary weddings.  Not my own of course, because I’m in love with a congenital bachelor and I’m not that big of a masochist.  But whose ever it is, it’s kind of awesome.  Enjoy the following figments.

Wedding Favor Cozy by Blackbirddesignhouse, $18

Set of 20 Custom Wedding Matchboxes by lilmissi, $20

Calla Lilly by LondonDemimonde, $500

Hydrangea and Feather Bobbies by gardenofwhimsy, $20

vintage blue ball jars from ricksrelics, $35

wood place card holders by thisfineday, $10

chocolate diamond ring by bloomstudios, $600 (drool.)

Ticket Save the Date by Cheerupcherup, $1.50

recycled hearts garland by bookity, $28

one dozen edible butterflies by SugarRobot, $8.95

hemp flower girl dress by consciousclothing, $82

pair of vintage milk glass candlesticks from havenvintage, $28

Custom Spread the Love labels for preserves favors by misspicklespress, $15

Filed under: gift guides on June 29th, 2010 | 4 Comments »

And we were mixing creams, cutting soap, and labeling lip balm!  By candlelight.  Candles are a big huge part of off grid yurt life, and I actually prefer them to bulbs.  Which is fortunate.  Plus it gives me an excuse to buy old FTD containers and milk glass bud vases.  That’s enough reason to live off grid and depend on tea lights right there.  Zoe, by the way, is becoming an expert lip balm capper.

Filed under: kids, yurt stuff on June 27th, 2010 | 1 Comment »

It’s nearing market season again, and we’re trying our best to be ready for it this time.  This means building displays, finding an e-z up tent, trying to be organized for once, and soaping like nobody’s business.  This is where I wish I had a big enough oven to CPOP a 10-lb loaf mold.  Soapers, you’ll know what I’m talking about.  We’re really hoping to be a part of Picnic Portland this August, and if we’re accepted as a vendor, it would be really nice to not embarrass ourselves aesthetically.  Not a bad goal, right?

So far?  I put stickers on our lip balm point of sale boxes.  Seems like a lazy task until I say we have 60 flavors…

Some of our summer scents dropping a little water weight before sale.  From left to right, pink grapefruit, grass stain, currant sandalwood, and tomato leaf.

Filed under: local, soap on June 18th, 2010 | 4 Comments »