Spabox and More

Whooo, it's been some time since I've updated my blog. One reason, well, Mercury retrograde. This is a very Santa Fe "excuse"--and it goes something like this: When Mercury is in retrograde, the lore goes, mechanical, technical stuff just goes all wrong. Normally I ignore this and think nothing of it. But here is what happened to me, and now I am a true believer.

1) I decided to clean my beautiful, 1-year-old, just-paid-off Macbook. I lovingly did so, and thereafter three or four different keys on the keyboard stopped working. Stopped working. That's like a $200 repair job now. But my keyboard is really really clean.

2) Turned on the toaster oven, and all the lights in our house suddenly dimmed. Then they came back up again. Then they dimmed again. And so on. Called the electric company. No, of course it wasn't happening on their end. So now we are renting a Ditch-witch, digging a new trench and laying an entirely new electrical line (250 ft) from the pole to our house. Yeehaw.

3) Well, I'm going to be a single woman again. This is hard, but actually good news, as my husband and I go off to fully pursue our life and dreams while still staying a family with our sweet and perfect children.
Oh and it was a full moon, and the solstice. . .

Ok, back to soap stuff.

One of the great things to come out of the great publicity from the Localflavor article is several wonderful women-run businesses around New Mexico are going to be carrying my products.

The first one is Spabox Organic Apothecary, owned by Cherilyn Swenson. Those of you out in cyberspace can experience her lovely gift-oriented, luxurious store through her website, spabox.com, or if you're lucky enough to live in Santa Fe, visit her cozy little boutique downtown at at 211 Galisteo St. See the photos for a glimpse of her shop.

Gaia Garments in Corrales, NM is in the process of placing their first order with me. Founders Pamela Bauer and Darci Knobel have just opened this organic/sustainable clothing and shoe store and I’m excited to be a part of it. I’ve never been to Corrales, so this may be my motivation to go!

In the meantime, the bees are making honey, and the goats are always hungry.
I was comparing beekeeping notes with my nextdoor neighbor who has a hive as well, and he agreed that the bees seem much calmer this season than last. Maybe they’re looking forward to having presumptive-President Obama at the helm, looking out for their interests with some serious action on alternative energy and environmental protections. . .

Till next time. . .

How Green Are We?

Left: view of our home from the goats’ perspective.

There was a story on NPR last night about LEED Certification—a high standard of environment-friendly features for buildings ranging from solar cells to water catchment. Different levels of LEED certification are determined through a point system—certain points for certain features, which then add up to a score, which then determines the level of certification. Anyhow, our new Farmers Market building will comply with the highest LEED Certification. While we were listening to the NPR story, my daughter asked me what the heck they were talking about. I started describing the point system, and used our own home as an example. Then it occurred to me that you all, my customers and those interested in my business, might like to know that when they support my business, they are also supporting an operation that is working on being as “green” as can be—and this might inspire some of you to make some changes to your own home and work place as well. So, although I don’t know how many points I’d accumulate under LEED standards, here are some of the green practices in place at Milk and Honey:
• Our home is passive solar. This means it is angled and designed via large windows, to gain heat when the winter sun is low in the sky, and avoid the sun in summer, when it is higher—this means certain roof angles, windows, and materials that either capture and hold the heat (winter), or maintain cool temperatures in summer. Basically in winter, we hardly heat our home during a sunny day time.
• Straw bale construction. We built a straw bale addition to our home several years ago. Our straw bale addition provides super-insulation—read more about this as a building method if you don’t know about it.
• We employ permaculture principles in our landscaping. This includes “berms and swales” to help capture water where our plants need it, and slows erosion. We pair plants together so they can provide mutual benefit—in the picture you can see the green comfrey starting to come up around the base of our fruit trees. Comfrey is a “living mulch” that keeps the tree roots cool and retains moisture, it feeds the soil with by fixing nitrogen, and it is a medicinal herb for people. This leads to another key principle of permaculture design that we try to employ—which is to choose plantings that have multiple purposes. Our plantings are watered using a drip irrigation system, as well as--
• Use of grey water irrigation. Our shower and washing machine empty into our yard—cuts down on a little long-shower guilt.
• Water catchment—horse troughs at the gutters.
• Keeping bees, is, of course, good for our environment, especially now that commercial bees are disappearing mysteriously. Bees pollinate not only food for us, but food for birds, bats, etc—they are a major part of our food chain.
• Various efficient appliances: front-loading washing machine (and a clothes line when it’s warm), low-flow toilet (actually we have a very cool toilet with two buttons to choose your water flow depending on your “deposit”), dish washer, compact fluorescent light bulbs, etc
• Low-impact, sustainably-manufactured kitchen cabinets, natural flooring (cork, Pergo, wool berber).
• In winter we heat with a charming woodstove (again, only using it in the evenings or on overcast days), and have quilted window shades on many of our windows.
• And, on order, a new Prius, hybrid car to cut down on our carbon emissions and fuel consumption as we commute to Santa Fe almost every day.

Now, there are many, many more improvements we would love to make, solar cells on the roof, and a windmill out back being just a few. We have stretched to make most of the above happen, despite the increased expense that many of these choices costs up front (the Prius being the biggest so far!!!). But of course, we feel it has been worth it. One of the biggest lifestyle/quality of life issues we are currently struggling with is our distance from Santa Fe, our time spent in the car, and the incredible waste this is creating—both in terms of time, as well as fuel. This summer we are seriously exploring a move back into Santa Fe—back to town life, where we can bike places again, and take advantage of the green benefits of living in a congested area. Goats in the city limits? I know of some goats already living there, and certainly many chickens. . . stay tuned!

Cover Girl!

EEEEEE! I’m on the COVER of the May issue of Localflavor (localflavormagazine.com)! Wow—they said such nice things about me (Editor’s Letter, p 7), featured a cute picture of goat Sula (contents page, p4), and just did an incredible spread (“Land of Milk and Honey” p10-12). Although I would dispute that my life really is a “romantic tapestry”, I’m very flattered anyway. Gail Snyder, the author of the article did a great job describing my childhood influences on my present-day lifestyle. I think I’ll elaborate and pay tribute to those mentioned in passing in the article.

Without a doubt, the most influential experience of my childhood was growing up living at the Exchange Place, in Kingsport, Tennessee—see picture postcard, above (www.exchangeplace.info --hurrah for the web!). Gail very accurately described it as a “living museum” of 1850’s life—log cabins, barns, a sweet pasture behind the homestead with a creek running through it and magical woods. My mother was (still is) a craftsperson; back then she was weaving and spinning and designing textiles. (As an adult, I now completely appreciate my early exposure to fiber arts through my knitting—I knit the wool sweater in that cover shot.) Sheep were a big part of growing up, although we didn’t have any living with us back then. (Now the Exchange place has a very sweet flock.) I was surrounded by people making things by hand—some who did it for historical reasons, to learn traditional methods (coverlet weaving, quilting, tool-making, etc—think the “Foxfire” books), and some who did it for artistic reasons, learning the traditional skills in order to enhance their modern artistic visions. Vegetable-dyeing wool, spinning, basket weaving, woodworking and pottery were constantly in my surroundings and practiced by my mother’s artist friends. As an only child, I spent a lot of time hanging out with the various adults who came to work at the Exchange Place, including Jim and Tom, builders who specialized in restorative construction, rebuilding, after extensive research (in this case), the old log cabins, by using the traditional building methods and materials.

Not only did I get to know so many interesting and creative people, but I developed a deep appreciation of things created by hand—things that were made for everyday use, and yet were works of art by highly skilled people. I learned to value the old way of doing things—not only do you make something by hand, but you gather or raise or grow the materials it is made from, and you process it by hand—in weaving terms, “from sheep to shawl.” Animals are often involved, giving the end product the history of a sweet personality, and creating things in this vein connects you not only to local history, but to the history of humans creating things out of necessity and love and artistic impulse all over the world.

Oh, and to top it all off? My little hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, is about 45 minutes (if I remember right) from The Carter Family Fold (www.carterfamilyfold.org --wow, the web), also known as the home of the legendary Carter Family, only those very folks credited with “giving birth to country music.” Talk about tradition! So I was also steeped in old-timey mountain music—I mean it was everywhere, and I grew up loving it.

So there’s a little of my history, and although I never raised goats (had one only briefly as a child), and never made soap (kind of surprising), there is no doubt that what I do now can be traced right back to these beginnings. Obviously the “sheep to shawl” concept, as well as looking back to traditional lifestyles, has given way to the Farmers Market movement of local, sustainable, organic—doing things the old way, it turns out, has a lot of wisdom to it.

Today was the first day of the outdoor market—the official beginning of the 2008 Farmers Market season! We are at a very interesting temporary location that actually feels like a little European street fair to me—see picture. It is not big enough to accommodate our full market, nor all the parking needed for our customers, but it is great for one more week until we move to the parking lot by the PERA building across from the state capitol. This will be an ideal location for our visitors, and is actually a pretty parking lot with big trees and very spacious. That will be our last temporary home until we move into our beautiful new location, where we will stay for the next 80 years (at least).

It was so great to see my regular customers again, and meet so many new ones. There is such excitement when people enter my booth—I always forget how this fuels me. One customer bought enough Mother and Baby soaps in gift bags to give as favors at a baby shower—it’s such an honor to be part of a new baby/new mama celebration that way.

And, starting this week, I am rolling out a new feature to my blog: CELEBRITY CUSTOMER/CITING OF THE WEEK. Hopefully it will always be celebrity CUSTOMER of the week, but alas, sometimes those famous folks in Santa Fe don’t come into my booth. Past celebrities who have been my customers include the actors Marsha Mason and Alan Arkin (both locals), and a citing of the modern dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones.

This week’s CELEBRITY CUSTOMER OF THE WEEK IS . . . (drum roll please): Democracy NOW host Amy Goodman!

She is in town with her brother David, promoting their new book, “Standing Up to the Madness.” You can learn more about her at www.democracynow.org. Thanks for coming by, Amy, and enjoy your lotion bars and soap!

Jackie Higginson, my saleswoman, was star-struck, as were her granddaughters. Her granddaughters readily told Amy that they were fans, but then when asked what they liked about her show said, “Ummmmmmm.” Very cute. I missed her, sadly. Wish I had a picture of her in my booth to share.

I also have to say that Jackie’s homeschooled granddaughters were working away with her in the booth today. Her eldest, Maya, was our right-hand woman, beautifully arranging my soaps and lotions, keeping the table stocked, sticking labels on bags and tins, and taking good care of customers. She’s a welcome addition to my business.

Come see us next weekend at the Market!

Getting Ready for Market

It's that time of year--Spring in Santa Fe. Warm and sunny one day, harshly windy the next, freezing and snowy the day after that. Yes, freezing and snowy. Poor daffodils. Luckily for me, in Glorieta our trees haven't even started blooming yet. But I'm busily getting ready for market. Packing up beautiful soaps, making new signs for my baskets, shopping for a new tent. The Market has had some difficulty finding an outdoor home for this season before our building is done, but wherever the Market is, people will come. And I've been amazed at how the Market can transform a mall parking lot into an inviting, warm festival. I look forward to seeing everyone again starting next Saturday.

And my new-business plans continue! It's so fun to meet with different folks, share my ideas, and then catch their enthusiasm. They start to think about my business too, and it just multiplies the energy--it's a great feeling to inspire others, and to be inspired by their creativity as well.

More soon. . .

Cradle to Cradle

Ah Spring. Isn't it wonderful? Suddenly the light changes, the chickens start laying, buds appear on the fruit trees, and new ideas for my business start to emerge. In almost any business that markets a product, there is great pressure for constant innovation. I feel this acutely, especially every April at the first day of the Farmers Market when my loyal customers greet me with "Anything new?" This is always a little terrifying to me. Where are all the new ideas? Yikes!

Well, I've made a big discovery. Fellow small business owners, here comes my big piece of sage advice, the latest lesson I've learned going into my fourth year in business (Gee, I think I’ll even try to generalize): Follow your passion in your business, even as it changes! Interest in business has a flow, like a liquid—it starts in one area, then it flows to another, then sloshes to another, bringing new life to different areas of the business. And it’s your job to follow the flow—oh, “go with the flow”!

Ok, let me elaborate (I'll have to refine the language if I'm going to write a bestseller).

When I first started my business, of course I was excited about the soap itself. Then I started selling at the Farmers Market and I was so excited about the Market, and about selling and meeting all my customers. Then I hired Jackie to sell for me, and got excited about the growth of my business and everything involved in having an employee, and maybe in the future, more employees. Then there’s been designing and marketing my website. Etc. Etc. Then I got stuck and felt guilty for not feeling as excited about the things that used to make me excited. Does this mean I've run out of steam on this business, and should just quit? The truth is, I've had some ideas gnawing at me, but kept telling those ideas that they weren't rational for my business--too expensive, too involved, stay simple etc. But then I finally, I gave voice to those ideas, and lo and behold, an entire plan took shape almost instantly and almost in it's entirety! Suddenly my business was exciting again, had a new life! Oh! I get it!

So here is one piece of my new plan, for preview here on the Blog: It’s time to design/create custom packaging for my soap, that will not only convey the greatness and irresistibility of my products, but will also meet my ecological/good person standards in terms of materials, and enable me to wholesale my products all over the planet.

As you know from my website, I want to use my business to make the world a better place—not only by philanthropy, but also in terms of how I run my business and what I market. There is an incredible concept pioneered by William McDonough called “Cradle to Cradle.” I’ll quote from a great article (http://www.earthcycle.com/ec-pdf/PackagingWorld_%C9e_to_Cradle.pdf):

“How’s this for an environmental packaging strategy?
• Use more packaging material, not less.
• Instead of designing with the cheapest materials,
design the best package possible, without worrying
about per-package cost.
• “Littering” can help the environment.
Sound politically incorrect, and financially suicidal?
Take a closer look. What if that ice cream wrapper lying
on the side of the road were designed to “melt” into a
biosafe liquid in a matter of hours at ambient temperatures?
What if the foam food container was not only
biodegradable, but incorporated essential nutrients to replenish
the topsoil?”

Great, right? Perfect for Milk and Honey Soap, right?

Ok, stay tuned. I have some more great ideas, but they’re still a secret!

(By the way, go ahead and Google “Cradle to Cradle”—and put these ideas to work!)

Spring is Here--Our Building is Growing!

It's funny, but I don't actually pass by the site of our new permanent Farmers Market home very often--so when I have passed by in the last month or so, I've experienced a complete thrill at seeing our beautiful building coming together so quickly! Last year, I was on the Santa Fe Farmers Market building committee for several months. I had the privilege of viewing various blueprints and color renderings of potential designs, and being part of discussions about finish colors, LEED Certification, vendor spaces, and the dreams of the Farmers Market for the next 80 years. Yes, 80 years. The Farmers Market has an 80 year lease with the City of Santa Fe for the land, and we own the building. The commitment of the City, and the prominence of our permanent home in the heart of the growing Railyard District is a moving acknowledgment of the value our community places on our farmers, local fresh food, preserving our land and the family farms that steward it and community.  If the kitchen is the heart of the home--look! Our Farmers Market is the heart of Santa Fe!  Also enriching this area will be the new leg of the Rail Runner train service from Albuquerque.  Our governor who wanted to be president, is doing a pretty good job of realizing the dream of a sustainable, future based on local agriculture, food security, deep community, and public transportation right here in New Mexico!