Just a little bit of our world the last few weeks.....ice on the trees and a blue iowa sky. :)

Long time no blog, I know! Well, what can I say. We were busy making products and packing orders. PLUS, the weather has been absolutely gross! The first weekend in December we got a BIG ice storm that turned our driveway, parking lot, and walkway to the shop into a solid, 1-2 inch thick sheet of ice. Since then, we've had a winter storm EVERY WEEKEND, just adding layers of ice and snow. It's pretty exciting. We did have some brave souls come out and shop (thankfully everyone was really careful and there were no accidents or falls), but overall this weather is really crazy for December! I wonder what the rest of the winter is going to be like?

Yep, it's December. And while recent weather events (stupid ice storm! stupid snow!) have kept our retail folks from getting to our shop....well, folks have certainly been shoppin' online. Here is the load we took to the post office today!


Also, i don't think I've ever posted a picture of our cash register? It's really cool - big, old and heavy, and people coming into our shop often comment on it. So here it is, for you folks in the rest of the world! :)

Is that not the HANDSOMEST goose you have ever seen? He recently celebrated his first snow with a nice swim in the pond. The cool weather does not seem to bother him one bit!

Beaker is currently without fowl-friends....Unfortunately, the neighbor's dogs came down to our farm (we live in the country....no fences), and killed Beaker's duck friends. They actually tried to get Beaker too, and he was slightly injured on one of his wings, but he is fine now. Now we have to keep Beaker in a safe, roomy pen when we're not around to watch out for him.



This is or cat Tilly - Donna's cat, really. She lives in Donna's house but occasionally comes out to the shop to "supervise". The other day she positioned herself on top of our antique cash register and spent quite a bit of time there, just watching the world go by!



We have a new soap - Just Plain Goatmilk! We do get a fair number of requests for unscented products so do try to have a nice selection of fragrace-free handmade goods!



John is making candles like a crazy man, and also working on a new, floral essential oil candle. Makign a new candle takes a lot of time! First, he tries out various essential oil blends and mixtures, to get something that smells wonderful. Then, the various blends must be made into candles and thoroughly burn-tested. Here's some of the blends he was working on the past few days....when our new floral candle is ready, we'll be sure to let you know about it!

Um, yeah. ICE. soooooo much ice! Maggie stayed home yesterday, due to this ice storm, and this morning Donna reports a solid inch or more of ice on our driveway, parking lot, and walkway. PLEASE, folks - if you were thinking about driving out to do some shopping - don't! It's not safe until we get this ice cleared off!!

In other news - I'm updating the website here in a few minutes with our $5 Flat Rate shipping for the month of Dec! So stay home and warm and safe and shop online, k?

More blogging, with pics, coming soon!

Stay AWAY from the malls - you know you want to!

Anyway, we're having 20% off all our pre-made gift sets, from now until next Wednesday morning. Shop at home in your jammies; it's much more fun. :)

We made several cool new gift sets for guys too!

New fantastic recipe, to be archived on our recipes page:

Triple Orange Double Chocolate Biscotti

1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
juice of one orange
zest of one orange
10 drops orange essential oil
3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 12/ tsp. baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325; grease a baking sheet. Combine butter, sugar, and eggs; stir well. Add the juice and orange zest, and essential oil. Stir in flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder until very well blended. Add chocolate chips. You may need to add more flour, depending on the size/juiciness of your orange. You want a soft dough that is easy to handle but not too sticky. Divide dough in half; shape each half into 5 by 10 inch logs. Place on baking sheet, and bake for about 25-30 minutes. Removed from oven and let cool thoroughly. When dough is cool, cut logs on the diagonal into 1/2 inch slices. Lay slices on baking sheet and bake about 8 minutes, then turn them over and bake the other side. You want them to be dry and lightly toasted, but not overdone! Remove from the oven, and cool. Enjoy!

It's the holiday season, so we're doing BIG batches of everything! Here is a triple batch of lip balms. It is ALOT Of work to pour, label, then shrinkwrap every tube. Donna is the queen of shrinkwrapping (a title she would gracefully give up - if anyone else wanted it!)



We had now yesterday! An unexpected inch or two of snow, the day before Thanksgiving. Stay tuned for pictures of Beaker the goose enjoying his first snowstorm...

We were reviewed (well, our baby stuff) by Wickedly Chic! Cool site. :)


In other news - John has been making candles like a Madman, and now we have 2 new kinds of travel candles - Citrus, and Fir Needle, and a new Soy Wax Melt (breathe easy). It's a great time for candles...i love warm candles in the fall!



October is Fair Trade Month, and we are delighted, as always, to help promote Fair Trade pracitices and principles. We use Fair Trade cocoa butter, coconut oil, and shea butter produced by a women's co-op on Togo, Africa, and we like to give them as MUCH business as we can. So we're running a wicked good SALE on our Whipped Shea Butters and Shea Butter Body Balms - stock up now, 'cuz dry winter skin is NOT your friend!!!

So, in case you wonder what we've been doing lately, THIS is what we've been doing lately.

Our shop was nearly empty after filling several largeish wholesale order, then this BIG order came in, and we spent a week making everythign to fill it. In case you ever wondered, this is what $2400 of prairieland herbs merchandise looks like. I packed it in five very large, very heavy boxes!




In other news: the only members of the PLH family that actually *like* the rain we've been having every day (for almost a week straigh) are Beaker (shown enjoying the now-full pond), and the ducks. Normally the ducks are pretty boring but they are funny when they come out in the middle of a downpour and quack their way around the yard, just enjoying a little walk in the rain....

We are swamped with big wholesale orders. Why do they all come at the same time?

Yesterday, Donna planted a bunch of hazelnut bushes. We're so excited! We'll have our own hazelnuts in a few years! In the last few weeks we also planted 2 pear trees, and another apple and another cherry. Our orchard is shaping up nicely! Yesterday I planted some black tulips (for use in natural dyeing), and some saffron crocus - our own saffron too, how exciting! Now I need to find time to plant some garlic and shallots....

Meanwhile, at the shop, I've made 500 perfumes in the last few days- amonng other things. John has made some 350+ candles INCLUDING new scents (which will be on the website soon).


And Tori (pictured above) still needs a home - she is the only kitten left, and she is sooooo sweet and adorable!

In a shameless fit of advertising, I will tell you also that I listed some new botancially dyed bandannas in my etsy store, as well as some of my handspun yarns.....

Is this the most gorgeous salad you've ever seen?
This was one of the fabulous foods submitted to our recipe contest at the Iowa State fair this year. Sally Kilkenny, of Granger, IA (one of the nicest ladies AND one of the best cooks on the planet) submitted these "kitchen garden bouquets". And you know what? it tasted at LEAST as good as it looks!

It was VERY rainy the other day, and Beaker LOVED it! He spend hours out in the pouring rain, just enjoying himself. Then he found a mud puddle to splash in - ohhhh boy did he love that!



We have 4 kittens that need homes. This is Tori, cuddled up in Maggie's bag. Yes, they are all this cute. YES, they need to go live with you!!! But seriously - just email or call if you are interested in adopting one of them. They are used to kids, cats and dogs, are litterbox trained, and ready to go home!


Yesterday was a busy day! Donna did her annual impersonation of a swamp monster - she always crawls into the pond to get it cleaned out before the winter. It's a stinky, slimy job but this year she had "help" - Beaker thought it was a FABULOUS game! As you can see, he is thoroughly enjoying himself. He kept diving down into the muck to nibble on mom's toes! He even picked off her toenail polish in the process. Living with a goose is *quite* an experience, I'll have you know!



Meanwhile, some of the rest of the gang did some organizing in the shop. Even though we ship out about 75% of our business, we didn't have a very good shipping area. So with some reorganizing and cleaning, we managed to concoct (we think) a more organize d area for shipping your products. We'll be packing up some orders this afternoon, so we'll see how it works!



Then we cleaned up and raced off to teach our "Lovin' Lavender" class last night through the Des Moines Adult Ed program - always fun! So fabulous to share herbs with others!



Last but not least, we're starting a new thing. A friend of ours in New York makes fabulous, luxurious bars of soap, so we're going to be offering a Luxury Soap of the Month! We'll post it around the first of every month, and keep it online until they're gone. We'll only get 20-40 bars of each kind, so when it's gone, it's gone! They will rotate with the seasons, and all be different and wonderful! This month its "Golden Orient", made with shea butter, organic goat's milk, silk, calendula and clays! MMMMM.......

SO, the other week we hosted a tour group of 4th graders. We don't usually do too many tours with kids, but these guys were great. They were studying the Iowa farm economy, and got to visit our farm, Northern Prairie Chevre, and Picket fence creamery. Note the dogs, cat and goose....they are never far from the action!



Duncan and Ollie think we should have 4th graders visit every day!!!!



Our naturally-dyed scarves are for sale in the shop....



...and don't forget to take a gander at our handspun yarns! (sorry, couldn't resist...)

And yes, Beaker (the goose) is still here, and doing just fine! He's getting big and fat, and LOVES to eat herbs. Parsley, thyme, and sweetgrass seems to be among his favorites. We've been warning against getting *too* fat and savory...we don't want anyone getting ideas about having a hand-raised Christmas goose!!

Save the Date! Sunday, Oct 7th - our farm neighbors to the south are hosting a fabulous Farm Crawl! Guaranteed to be a fabulous time for all....we plan to be there for sure.

In other news - Maggie posted a few new botanically dyed silk scarves to her etsy store....

Sample Sunday was SOOO Fun! Here is a pic of Michael from Templeton Rye, chilling under our shade trees! I can't wait for this stuff to be on the shelves again ( just a few more weeks! )


We are getting to be quite the little fibershop. We somehow (when did this happen??) aquired handspun yarns, beautiful silk and wool roving from High Prairie Fibers, gorgeous naturally colored rovings from Hedgeapple Farm, and new as of this weekened, 100% alpaca batts, both naturally colored and dyed, from Spring Valley alpacas. oh and dont' forget the spinner's tools from Iowa parrot Rescue!


Also, the little barn babies are getting bigger, and oh so adorable! They are used to kids, other cats (as you can see here), and dogs of all sizes. They'll be ready for adoption in a few weeks!


Oh, and in actual business news? We have a sale going on, in honor of our 9th Birthday! 9 items are on sale for 9% off. And in other big news - our soap prices are going to have to go up Oct. 1 (i know, in know...but it's the way of the world, unfortunately!) - so stock up on your favorite soaps and shampoos now!

And our Fall Class Schedule is online - All kinds of wonderful stuff to do and learn!

Last but most CERTAINLY not least, Donna is finally feeling better! Still coughing a little, but really much much better. :) Thanks to all who sent good wishes and other help for her recovery!!

WOW! I just got the info from Kathy, at Northern Prairie Chevre - they sure are going all out for this birthday bash! Here is the info about what is going with our neighbors to the north this Sunday, Sept 16th - come on out and see all 3 farms, it's going to be a fabulous weekend!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


• Relax to the music of Des Moines’s own Free Style - performing from 1:00 – 4:00 on the front lawn. They will be playing a combination of jazz, classic rock, big band, etc. Pull up a chair, enjoy some cheese, snacks and a bottle of wine!



• Matt from Prairie Moon Winery in Ames as well as Deb from Tassel Ridge Winery will be on hand to sample their delicious wines. Take a bottle home with you!

• Milton from Sheeder Farms will be grilling and selling sandwiches.

• Lois from Larson Maple Syrups in Stratford will sample their syrup and offer recipes.

• It’s still planting season! Quilted Garden’s Nursery from DSM will have hostas, prairie grasses and much more.

• Browse the iron creations of Anthofer Family Farms. Planters, holiday decorations, GOAT FACES!!! and much more to choose from – special orders are accepted.

• Pat from Randol Honey will be sampling her delicious creamed honeys in many flavors.

• We have steaks, chops, elk, lamb & more from local Iowa producers. LOTS and LOTS of samples to enjoy!!!

• Bring your 2-legged kids to visit our 4-legged kids and girls. Gary will show either a kidding or milking video in the parlor.

• Kids – swing, play in the sand box or decorate our sidewalk! Enter our “best goat picture” contest and win a free stuffed plush goat!!

• To celebrate our anniversary, we’re offering 10% off all non-food items in the store! AND check out our new cheese flavor!

STOP THE PRESSES!!!!!!!!!


We have just gotten word that TEMPLETON RYE will be back on our farm for this Sample Sunday! Sampling their FABULOUS whiskey, and selling t-shirts, stickers, and perhaps their wonderful BBQ sauce! Oh, we are so VERY excited!

In other events:
*For our 9th birthday - if you purchase any 9 items you get 9% off your whole bill!

*New Soap! Exclusive "Mountain Mint" soap made with mountain mint hydrosol and dried moutnain mint herb from our farm!

*Fabulous selection of naturally dyed silk scarves (see below)! Dyed with herbs, flowers, or rusty "found" objects from our farm!

*Delicious Pulled Pork sandwiches available for lunch!

*New roving and fiber - fabulous fall colors

*New Class Schedule - learn to make soap, explore Reiki, and so much more!

Come visit us on the farm this weekend!

OKAY! Wedding is over - whew! Now we just have bus tours and an open house to worry about this week. Piece of cake, haha!!!

SO! We have a 9th birthday bash and open house this weekend, in conjunction with Norther Prairie Chevre and Picket Fence Creamery. I'll be blogging the details of this all week - starting with the going-on at Picket Fence Creamery, right here and now!

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Celebrate the beauty of fall in the country at our...
Three-Farm Anniversary Tour and
SAMPLE SUNDAY
Sept. 16 Noon to 5 p.m.
Free admission!

Picket Fence Copy:
4th Anniversary SAMPLE SUNDAE!
Super Special! Grilled burger, ice cream sundae and a glass of milk...only $4!!!!!
Free local food & wine samples galore, guest vendors, music, hay maze, see the cows and calves, free kittens, posters and pencils for the kids!
Super Deal! Fresh peach, apple or berry crisp and quart of ice cream - $10
Browse through our store featuring the foods of 85 families - many more $4 bargains to celebrate our fourth year at the Creamery!

14583 S Ave. - Woodward - 515-438-2697
http://www.picketfencecreamery.net
We accept MC, VISA, EBT

the baby kitties are so cute!!!

They will be ready for adoption in a few weeks! :)

In other news: My sister has a wedding this weekend, and wedding craziness has commenced. We do plan on running the shop as much as possible this weekend, but, we will be closing early on Saturday.

Best. Bread. EVER.

I made this bread last night and I'm so impressed with myself. ENJOY!

Sage and Shallot Foccaccia bread

1 cup warm water
1 1/2 tsp. dry yeast
2 tsp. sugar
2 tbsp. good olive oil
2 tsp. salt
about 12 shallots, roughly chopped
3 tbsp. chopped fresh sage leaves (or 3 tsp. dried crushed sage leaves)
1/2 cup grated asiago cheese
1 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper
3 1/2 cups flour (I used a mixture of white and wheat)

Combine water, yeast, and sugar into a large bowl, and let sit while you grate the cheese and chop the shallots, grate the cheese, and chop the sage.

Add oil, salt, shallots, sage, pepper, cheese and 1 cup flour to the yeast mixture, and stir until completely blended. Gradually add the rest of the flour until dough gathers into a ball. Knead for 4 or 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Coat dough with olive oil, and let rise until double. Punch down, then place on a greased cookie sheet or pizza pan - pat dough down into whatever shape you like, as long as it's about 1/2 inch thick. Let rise again, for about half an hour or 45 minutes.

Dimple the dough very deelpy with your fingers. Sprinkle the top of the bread with coarse sea salt. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

SO GOOD!

It's that time of year....in the last few days, I've noticed that the sunlight has taken on a particular golden hue, that signifies that fall is coming. That light kicks me into some sort of super-harvester mode, and I start stocking up for winter (am I part squirrel or bear, do you think? :) ). I've made a few gallons of herbal vinegar for personal use, and to give as holiday gifts. This particular batch is just a mixed herb blend: I used fresh savory, thyme, parsley, dill, basil, sage, oregano, and a few hot peppers! Let it sit for 2 weeks, then strained it out and packaged it in these cute little bottles I found on clearance - and added a small sprig of fresh herb to each. Aren't they lovely? You should all be doing this too, folks - makes wonderful holiday gifts. :)

We grew african blue basil this year too - just a few plants. I haven't ever grown that basil before, and i'm entranced by it's beauty and interesting scent. A member of the des moines herbs study group told me last week that it makes her most favorite of all herbal vinegars! So I will be making some of that, for sure. I'll let you know how it is....

Guess what we found in the barn today? 4 beautiful little baby kitties! all our pets are, of course, spayed or neutered, but this IS a farm, and we get feral farm cats that wander in and have litters of kittens. We *especially* worry about them in the fall, becuase even though we have a warm barn and feed them, it IS cold in Iowa, and it's hard for fall kittens to survive. So we're glad we caught these little guys. They're doing well and will be ready for adoption in a few weeks. We have 4, so if anyone is interested in an adorable kitten in a few weeks...let us know!

In other news: Donna isn't well. near-pneumonia! she is hacking and wheezing and generally feeling awful. Maggie is doing her best to keep Donna indoors on bed rest, but it is NOT easy. Please wish her a speedy recovery!

We served these cookies at our "Herb Overload" class a week and a half ago. I love super-easy things that you can make in a hurry - perfect for classes. Beucase I procrastinate. (I know. you're all surprised!)

So these were made with tube sugar cookie dough, the readymade stuff, and some rose petal jelly I had made earlier in the spring. (Follow my recipe for dandelion jelly, but substitute rose petals instead. Delicious and beautiful!) I made teensy balls of dough, then pressed my fingerprint in them to create an indentation. Baked the cookies, then let the cool and put a tiny bit of rose petal jelly in the indentation. Decorate plate and cookies with edible flower bits (in this case I used borage flowers, lavender flowers and rose petals) and listen to the ooh's and aah's as you serve these pretty little cookies!

If you have a bit of extra tiem and want to be even fancier, you can add some chopped rose petals directly to the dough. YUM!

Maggie has an etsy store now! and is selling pretty, naturally dyed scarves and hankies...check it out! (PS for those of you that don't know, Etsy is sorta like ebay but for handmade cool stuff!)

Look what we found just outside our shop yesterday!! The doggies treed it (we removed the dogs, and the critter toddled off, unharmed). Anybody know what it is? A groundhog? Woodchuck? We *do* think we have a woodchuck that lives on the edge of our property, or maybe just across the road....this fella was roughly cat-sized.
Any wildlife experts want to let us know what this fellow is?

Sample Sunday News! John Whitson, or neighbor and organic farmer, has got a BUMPER crop of basil and tomatoes - all certified organic!!! He will have basil and tomatoes for sale at our farm this weekend, at VERY good prices. If you wanted to freeze/can tomatoes, or make oodles of pesto (I personally cannot get through the winter with out a few quarts of frozen pesto...and I'm very serious about that!), come on out and we'll get you fixed up. Oh, he has delicious and wonderful organic garlic for sale too!

Now. I'm off to make a big 'ol mess doing some batiking with natural dyes (see post below). I'll take pics and let you know how it goes!

oh.

My.


GOODNESS!


Just back from our annual judging at the State fair - we host and judge a herbal cooking contest every year, and every year the entries were PHENOMENAL!!! This year, some highlights include: super-deliciously garlicky herb bread (one loaf contained SIX CLOVES of garlic!!!!!!!!!!), a most amazing and delicious lavender-chocolate torte, fabulous lemon balm pound cake, a delicious pecan/mint tea bread (it tastes much better than it sounded!), and a fantastic bread containing an interesting mix of herbs such as juniper berries, mustard, thyme, peppercorns and allspice - paired with a dark beer and some sharp cheddar...oh my!!!

A good friend/customer of ours always enters oodles of contests at the state fair and she sent us home with one of the seven (!!!!) cakes she had entered in the fair today...I'm including a picture so you can see the caliber of stuff I'm talking about. Is this cake gorgeous, or what? And, I assure you - it tastes even better than it looks!!!!!!!!



in other news! We stil have space in our Batik With Natural Dyes class this Saturday, August 11th - come learn to batik with natural dyes and make and take home a gorgeous window charmer such as this:



or this:





in FURTHER news (gosh, aren't we busy this week??) We have a SAMPLE SUNDAY this weekened, Sunday, August 12th, from 12-5 PM - all three farms are involved, here's what's going on!

At Prairieland Herbs:
LIVE MUSIC! Super-talened Sarah Johnson of Adel, Iowa will be playing beautiful music for us!!

Samples of our Fiesta Dip and Garlic Herb butter - perfect for summer veggies and corn on the cob! Body powders will be on sale, and we'll be giving out samples of soaps and whatever else we have time to make up and throw in the sample basket. :)

Northern Prairie Chevre will have:
* Professional Tribal-Style dancers, Benu Dance Company from Lincoln, Nebraska will entertain at 1:00 and 3:00 and have items for sale.
* Jasper Winery will be sampling their award winning wines.
* Anthofer Family Farms ironworks decorations and The Atlantean ethnic jewelry.
* Milton from Sheeder Farms will be sampling his free-range meats.
* Lots of meats for grilling season.
* NEW! Kramer's Gourmet Salsas.
* Tour the barn, visit the kids and girls and view either a milking or kidding video.
* Lots of kid-friendly activities.
* Lots of samples and much more to see and do!

Picket Fence Creamery will have:

ICE CREAM SUNDAES ONLY $2! That's right...we'll be making sundaes with our famous vanilla ice cream and your favorite toppings! Choose from caramel, chocolate, or crushed cookies...ONLY $2! We'll have a kids' size available for the children too!

TRY LOCAL FOOD SAMPLES GALORE! Our own fresh white cheddar cheese curds (regular, dill, garlic, hot pepper, and a garden herb blend (created by our friends at Prairieland Herbs), cream cheese ball, elk sticks, creamery butter, local honey, and of course..."the best chocolate milk this side of the Milky Way!"

TRY OUR FRESH GRILLED MEAT! Jeff will once again be grilling some of our delicious beef and pork, raised right here at the farm without the use of artificial hormones or chemicals. Burgers off the grill - $2! Hotdogs for the kids - $1.

TRY OUR PICKET FENCE ALL-PURPOSE SAUCE! Dip your meat sample in some of our Picket Fence All-Purpose Sauce - great for beef, pork, chicken, and your other favorite meats, and for dipping. Wonderful! Only $4 a bottle.

FROM JENNA'S ORGANIC GARDEN- Fresh radishes! We'll also have fresh organic garlic from our neighbor, John! Radishes: $1/bag. Garlic: 75 cents/bulb. Feel free to browse around our garden. And get ready for tomatoes - Jenna has 120 tomato plants!

FRESH FROM VANDERPLOEG BAKERY IN PELLA- Dutch letters and apple cinnamon pecan bread! Also Pella bologna, beef jerky, and beef sticks.

SUPER DEAL! A fresh cherry, berry, or cherry-berry fruit crisp (made from scratch with REAL fruit), and a quart of iced cream...ONLY $10. Enjoy dessert!

OTHER GOODIES- Sour cream cinnamon rolls (made with our cream!), $3.90 for plate of four; single serve berry crisps, $1.49; fresh Lillie Mae caramels from Marshalltown (made with our cream!), $5.99/bag; your favorite Iowa wines; and a nice selection of certified organic foods.

FOR THE GRILL- Look over our selection of beef, pork, lamb, elk, buffalo, chicken and goat meat. All local meats from animals NOT injected with artificial hormones. We have fresh farm eggs, too...brown and green!

KIDS! See the calves, pigs, & kittens, hay maze, 00100355

and run through the sprinkler to stay cool! Free pencils and posters, too!

FREE KITTENS! We have about 16 kittens. We will be giving them away FREE on Sunday, July 15! Pick any size, shape, or color that you want! (We have three black Halloween cats!)

Music will be provided by HB Productions, Altoona, Iowa.

Whew. with all that suff, why *wouldn't* you come see us on Sunday??

Hey gang! We still have 3 spots open in our Soapmaking 101 Class this Saturday, August 4th - if you're interested, please do sign up!!

And, here is a wonderful summer recipe for all that zucchini I know you have in your garden...Enjoy! I will get it posted on the website pretty soon!

You need:
zucchini or summer squash
cheese (whatever kind you want)
herbs (whatever kind you want)
salt and pepper (if you want).

I made this last saturday for 10 people, for a dyeing class we had at
our shop. I made a huge 9x13 pan and they ate it all and I thought
there might be a fight over who got to lick the pan.

Slice zucchini or summer squash into 1/4 inch thick slices or rounds.
I like to do it longways, so the slices are kind of like lasagna
noodles, but the rounds work too. Place one layer of sliced zucchini
in the bottom of a pan. Sprinkle with salt and/or pepper (if you
like), a generous sprinkling of whatever chopped fresh or dried herbs
you have, and a layer of cheese. Repeat, until you are out of zucchini
or cheese or your pan is full - but end with a layer of cheese. Cover
with foil and cook at 375 until cheese is melted and zucchini is al
dente. If you want to be fancy, remove the foil for a few minutes and
broil the cheese on top.

My best rendition of this recipe, to date, used green zucchini, a
combo of sharp cheddar, mozzarella and feta cheeses, seasoned sea
salt, freshly cracked black pepper, plenty of dried toasted minced
onion, a bit of granulated garlic, and lots of thyme.

The good thing about having regular classes held in our classroom is that it regularly forces us to clean our classroom. Because otherwise it tends to be come the catch-all place where all manner of boxes, supplies, herbs, and other random strange things get dumped. So Friday, before our dyeing class, we spent ALL DAY cleaning the classroom! it's still not perfect, but we did clean and install the new fridge and stove we just got. We now have 2 full sized fridges and one large dorm fridge, and they're all 100% chock-full of oils, essential oils, and dried herbs. We had an orgaizing spree with the EO's and dried herbs, shown off in these pictures. Dried herbs are all on the top freezers - herbs starting with A through L are in the left freezer, and the rest in the right freezer. You can't see it, but on the front of each fridge/freezer door is a list of what herbs, eo's and hydrosols are in it, and what quantity. the thought being that if someone removed, say, a pound dried lavender or two lbs. of tea tree eo, then that person would mark it off the list on the front of the fridge/freezer, and that will help us keep better track of of all our stock. Instead of saying (as we do now) - "Hey! where is the dried lavender? are we out? did i have some in the back corner over there?" followed by much muttering, rummaging, swearing, hair-pulling, and frantic phonecalls to Ameriherb......

Also...you can now find a selection of our herbal wares at Morning Light Books, on 73rd St. in Windsor Heights. We're pleased and proud to be affiliated with this wonderful store!! They have a really great selection of classes too - be sure to check them out!

DYEING WOOL WITH JACQUARD ACID DYES - this Saturday, July 29th!
This is a pic of all the roving, yarn, fleece and fabric I dyed and took home after last year's Dyeing With Jacquard Acid Dyes class. it was a BLAST! We played all day, and splashed color willy-nilly, hither and yon!


This is what John took home from the same class last year. We are holding the class again, this Saturday July 28th - we still have room for a very few students! If you're interested please register online!