Violet would like to remind you all that it is SAMPLE SUNDAY tomorrow!
12-5 PM at Prairieland Herbs and Picket Fence Creamery

At Prairieland Herbs, Lynn Marie Parkey will be offering free mini-reiki treatments - they're WONDERFUL, you should come try one!


Melodie Proffitt, of Mind and Body Connection Massage Therapy will be offering a foot soak/reflexology combo treatment for only $20 (normally $45). These are a WONDERFUL way to get your body rejuvinated and ready for spring!

Blue Gate Farm will be here with FRESH ORGANIC Tapestry Salad Mix, spinach, eggs, and jams. Yes, you read that right - the first organic greens of the season! We are REALLY excited!!

And, our Body Scrubs are still on sale, and we still have some of our March Luxury Soaps - Relaxation!

Our fantastic neighbors at Picket Fence Creamery are offering:

Free local food samples: Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream, Iowa wines, Neva's cheeseball, elk sticks, creamed honey, fresh almond and peanut butters, cheese curds, hulless popcorn, roasted and salted peas, buffalo summer sausage, and more!

Check out these great local foods: elk sticks, buffalo summer sausage, beef jerky, Neva's cheeseball, cheese curds, salsa and chips, popcorn, Iowa wines, smoked turkey, chèvre, and twenty flavours of ice cream!

Kids: You are welcome to see the bottle calves and pigs, and walk up to the barn to see our milk cows. Inside the store, get free pencils, fun sheets, and enjoy the food sampling!

* Other Special Offers: Fire up the grill! Any steak $8.99/lb
* All Iowa wines - 2 for $22!
* 90% lean ground beef, $2.99/lb. with 10 lb. purchase (Regular $3.99/lb.)
* Pella's VanderPloeg Bakery pie and quart ice cream -$10!

Printable map to the farms can be found here. See you Sunday!

I'm posting a link here to the wonderful DIY Mustard tutorial (per request), because it is so fabulous. :)

And, to delicious amazing homemade mayonnaise. Make this. It is SO good! I like to make it with chive -infused vinegar and 1/2 crushed garlic clove.

And, one of our fantastic customers emailed us with these wise words:

"You may want to let your readers know this tip from page 137 of the cookbook “Nourishing Traditions” by Sally Fallon:

 

With the mayonnaise recipe given, if you add 1 tablespoon of whey (easily on hand if you make homemade yogurt (as I do with Picket Fence milk-yum!)) when you add the lemon juice, “let the mayonnaise sit at room temperature, well covered, for seven (7) hours before refrigerating.  With whey added, mayonnaise will keep several months and will become firmer with time. Without whey, mayonnaise will keep for about two weeks.”  Also in this cookbook, she recommends that the whole egg and egg yolk be at room temperature."

Thanks for the tips, DeAnn! :) 

Love love love your Prairieland Herbs lip balm? This cute crafty tutorial shows how you can sew your own lip balm cozy. :)

Random acts of kindness and beauty! The world needs more of them.

Here is one fun way to make someone smile - card drops! Kind over Matter has these beautiful, free PDF files you can print on your home printer, cut out, and put in your purse or pocket.  Make a gardener's day but leaving these tucked quietly on a flower or plant.

Print a big stack of these inspirational quotes to leave ANYWHERE! In a magazine at a doctor's office, with your tip at a restaurant, in a note or letter, at a coffeeshop......

And I can't wait for dandelion season (yes, really), because - how cute are these?!?

Take a bit of time and browse the Kind over Matter site, there are many wonderful things to see and do!

Sharing a tip from customer Sandra J. today!

" I wanted to tell you a use I found for your hair conditioning oilhttp://prairielandherbs.com/hair.htm.  I found a new way to  use it.  I took the empty sage/cedar/sweetgrass blue spray bottle and rinsed it well.  I filled it with water almost to the top and then poured some of the hair oil in to float on the top.  I shake it really well and then spray it on my hair when
it gets very dry and static filled.  Then I just comb it.  I noticed it was nice to spray that way on my face as well.  I have very, very, dry fly away hair and dry skin, so it does a great job of moisturizing both.  I keep it on my desk at work and give myself a spray when I need it.  Keeps the static down.  I like this so much, that I am going to bring it with me when I travel back to the desert this June.  Hey, maybe you can market this
as a new product!  Call it "Dry Hair Spray."  Just a little oil floating on the top is all you need and it works great!"

Thanks for the tip, Sandra!  

This blog is about random things we love.

You know how, when you go to a store you've never been, or you're in a library and you don't know what to read, and so you ask the shopkeeper or librarian - "what do YOU like?". The theory being that someone that is around the goods all day, every day, knows the cream of the crop? Well, I believe that theory is sound and rely on it alot, when I'm in places where I'm feeling curious, yet overhwelmed. (Most recently, in fantastic asian food stores!)

So this post is about a few random things we love, vaugely herb-related.

BOOKS! There are a million bajillion herb books on the market. Narrowing it down to just one is literally impossible.  If I could only have ONE book about essential oils, this would be it: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, by Julia Lawless. I have an older copy.  There are plenty of other good ones. This would just be my first pick, if allowed only one. 

 

If allowed ONLY one general book about herbs, I'd have to go with Under The Sun, a fantastic collection of articles written by passionate herbalists. It's a wonderful overview of the many aspects of herbs - dyeing, crafting, potpourri, perfumery, soapmaking, gardening, harvesting, eating, drinking, medicinal...yep. great book :)

We buy nearly all our herbs from one source: Ameriherb. For bulk herbs, price and quality, they simply cannot be beat! Their website stinks, admittedly!  But, I do appreciate a business that puts their energy into good products, and these folks do.  No flashy websites or color catalogs, just bare-bones newsprint and plain catalog. We shopped around alot in the early days, purchasing from all the big-name supppliers from across the nation, and then happily chose the one in our own backyard (they are about 30 miles away, I can go pick up stuff if needed).

 

If you're delving into the world of herb tea drinking and blending your own herbs, you're dealing with loose tea, which is a bit more hassle than just throwing a teabag into a hot cup of water. I personally think a french press is the ONLY way to deal with loose tea. I have never found a tea strainer or tea ball that really was worth fussing with. And let's face it. If it's a big hassle, we're probably not going to do it. So, invest in a french press. They're not expensive, and you won't be sorry. :)

So, what are your "desert island" herb tools, suppliers, books or gadgets? Inquiring minds want to know!