As promised - pictures of the storm damage from last weeks 80-100 MPH straight line winds. This is donna's deck, which basically just disconnected from her house, because of the horrible winds. It was leaning WAY more, but as you can see was propped up on poles, and is in the process of being fixed.

We spent most of Tuesday cutting up huge branches that were downed, and hauling away branches of all sizes into this huge brush pile. it's hard to see the size of it, but it's about 6 feet tall. We'll have a heck of a bonfire when it all dries out.

The neighbors trampoline blew about a half mile away. We found their slide, lawn chairs, and a few kids toys caught in various trees and bushes. Crazy weather!



Sassy adores spending time outdoors. isn't he handsome?
And, now Violet thinks she is a candle, I guess. She is a goofy girl.

Folks have been walking in the store lately going "hmm. why are the shelves so empty"? Well THIS is why. we've just been quite busy. This is today's haul to the post office - ONE DAY. 52 packages. 5 going overseas (Singapore, Australia, France and 2 to the UK). So, yeah. that's what we've been doing.


So, it was raining this morning. And mom's mini-herd is used to getting twice-daily outside romps - they get to get out of their pen, and wander around the farm, eating grass and being happy mini horses. But because it was raining this morning, she didn't let them out. And we kept hearing these LOUD, IRRITATED, DEMANDING mini-horse whinnys. They were MAD! So they got to spend extra time outside in the afternoon. This is Baron, and he has discovered that iris leaves are yummy.

This is Delafino, the tiniest new baby. isn't he just ADORABLE? And so tiny!!


For a size comparison, the one on the left is Delilah, the oldest baby, and Delafino is on the right.
Here Donna oversees her herd. The babies just run around in a hysterical little mini-gang, neighing and bucking and eating and playing really having the time of their mini-horse lives.

In sad news, we lost Pal today, our Jack Russel Terrier puppy. He will be missed.

Another great hydrosol article! Courtesy of the Aromatic Plant Project.

Hydrosols and 101 ways to use them

Check out this great article on using eucalyptus hydrosol to soothe the symptoms of hay fever.

We distill our eucalyptus hydrosol from fresh eucalyptus grown on our farm. :)

We had some interesting weather last night - not tornadoes, but "near-tornadic activity". (For those of you that don't live in tornado-zones, that means bitchin nasty winds that can do a hell of alot of damage.) She is fine, her house is fine, the shop is fine, things are just a bit messy - limbs down, branches broken, the barn door blown off. Tomorrow will be lots of cleanup, some chainsaw work. AND, of course, we have a bus tour tomorrow! Ah well, they came to see life on the farm - they'll see it.

2 of the babies! Baron on the left, and Delilah on the right. They're a few months apart in age.


Random grasses


Purple coneflower in the rain garden just outside our shop.


Our first tomato of the season! our veggies look so pathetic, but, hey. we at least have one tomato.


The veggies may look pathetic but the fruit looks AMAZING. Is this tiny pear just the cutest thing ever?


why do people call these weeds and mow them down? i think they're gorgeous. this is the ditch on our farm.

Oh, gads. We're going to be at the Downtown Des Moines farmer's market tomorrow - and the weather forecast is a predicted 70% chance of heavy rains.

Sounds like we're gonna get wet!

Anyway, we'll be there, so if anyone wants to pick up any items in particular, please call or email us before 5PM today, and we'll bring them along!!!

More new pictures, for our new picture project. I really love this picture of our body scrubs.

Also, I really love our salt scrubs. Both Donna and I are a huge fan of the salt scrubs (LOVE that extra scrubby action), but my sister prefers the salt scrubs. It's just personal preference.

*swoon*

We distilled the fresh lavender (see post below). Can i just say - WOW?! We used fresh, locally grown lavender - "fat spike" variety. I cut off all the stems, and just put the flowering tops in the still. It is AMAZING hydrosol!! Really strong, with lots of essential oil, and a fantastic scent.

We got about a third of a gallon of this amazing hydrosol. I have put it on our website; if you're interested in ordering some, go to our hydrosols page. Lavender hydrosol is good for just about everything! It would make a fantastic facial toner, sheet spray, or disinfecting wash for scrapes and cuts. It helps repel insects, and would be great on pet bedding.

and you KNOW i'm gonna try some in an aloholic beverage. I'll let you know what I come up with. :)

Sample sunday yesterday was FANTASTIC! Thanks to all of you that showed up. I hope you had as much fun as we did!!

We are in the process (it will take a while; please be patient) of updating all our product photos. Last year we spent a lot of time redesigning and re-doing all our labels, and a few containers, to streamline the process for us, and to make things more identifiable to you (hopefully). We have not yet gotten our website photos to reflect our new "look", and are working on that now! The above picture, of our body powders (which are now on sale, by the way) is one of the new photos. What do you think?

There is a lady in Ames, IA that grows great lavender. We at Prairieland herbs do NOT grow great lavender. If we are lucky, we have a few spindly plants that survive year to year. Our soil is too clay-ey, and our farm is not in a sheltered location, so it gets very cold, windy, and snowy. Lavender does not like this. It is something we have just accepted.

So, we are always delighted when Linda shows up with her great lavender! You can see her fantastic dried lavender bunches in the picture, above. We do have some for sale in our store.Also, she brought this lovely huge box of fresh lavender!! It is going in the still tomorrow. Fresh lavender hydrosol, anyone??

Got Mint?

Fresh mint abounds this time of year, so I thought this would be a great time to post my favorite mojito recipe. Peppermint is the "classic" mint for this cocktail, but if you have other types of mint (spearmint, orange mint, applemint, etc), feel free to experiment. It's also delicious with other herbs - try lemon verbena or lemon balm, for example.


Sugar (superfine, if you have it)
Fresh Lime Juice
Rum (white)
Soda

In the bottom of a tallish glass, muddle together (smush) 5-6 fresh
mint leaves, 2 tsp. sugar, and the freshly squeezed juice of one
small lime. Fill the glass with ice, and add 2 oz. (or to taste) rum.
Top the glass with soda, stir well, and serve with a slice of lime
and some fresh mint for garnish.

YUM!

You these are delicious "virgin" too - just leave out the rum.

This is our little drying shed. It was an old farm building that we cleaned, re-roofed, and hung cattle panels from the ceiling (to attach dried bunches of herbs to).This the inside of our drying shed. i think this picture was taken about a year or two ago - the shed is not quite so tidy now. i think it it time to tidy it, as we are starting to fill it! Just yesterday we hung tidy little bunches of mountain mint, sweetgrass, lavender, and anise hyssop (destined to become smudge sticks).

Cuteness alert!

you have been warned.

This is Contessa with her brand new little colt! He is TINY. we think he may have been born prematurely, but, so far he and momma are both doing well. We're watching them very closely and giving them extra feeding and care as necessary.


Is this not the most handsome goose you have ever seen in your life? he's peeking through an old wooden fence.

We're furiously packing orders from our recent enewsletter/sale. Which necessitates lots of boxes, which we brought in, and put on the counter, and then were unable to use for SEVERAL HOURS while both Mo (left) and Violet (right) took a nap on them. sheesh. don't they know how their cat food gets paid for?

last but not least, can you guess which one of these items is NOT a gift set?

Market pictures, as promsied! Here's a picture of our booth, maybe 10 AM or so. The Des Moines farmer's market is a BIG market. They close off several blocks in the downtown Des Moines area for about 7 hours, and the entire area is turned over to the market. Hundreds of vendors and thousands of people come each week, rain or shine.
a view from our booth this past week. (Our booth changes locations, we may not be at the same spot in the market every week).


I love the market. There's amazing food, and fantastic people-watching. It's a great event for families - there are always tons of kids and oodles of dogs.

We hung some of my scarves, clothesline-style. i think it was really pretty. :)
Just a random shot of a pretty girl selling beautiful flowers. (not our booth)

and some gorgeous produce (again, not our booth).

Contessa, our 3rd miniature horse, had her baby yesterday! A little cream-colored colt. Pictures will be forthcoming! We think he was a little premature, so we're watching mom and baby very carefully, but we think everything will be fine.

Luxury soap of the month is back!!! Here's how it goes. This is a special batch, made by our friend Geri at New York Attitude. Each Luxury Soap of the Month is loaded with shea butter, organic goat's milk, herbally infused oils, kaolin clay, silk fibers, and an exquisite blend of pure, 100% natural essential oils. We have ONE BATCH of this soap, and when it's gone, it's gone. So get it while it lasts!

This month's soap is "Green Earth". It's a fresh, green, clean, earthy, and slightly spicy. It's wonderfully unisex, and perfect for hot summer days.

The other day, my 7 year old nephew asked if he could borrow my digital camera. He said he wanted to show his friends "what it looks like at Prairieland Herbs". So i showed him how to take pictures and sent him on his merry way. When i looked at the pictures later, I was absolutely delighted. it's a joy to see what he sees! So, here are some of my favorite pictures of Prairieland Herbs, from a 7 year old's point of view. The first one (above) is of Harry, his faithful sidekick.


This one is just pure art. :)

(This is a little area just outside the shop where we sit and relax or maybe eat lunch. )


And this is probably one of my favorite pictures of the farm, EVER. You can see our trusty copper still and a herb gathering basket. A beautiful bit of creeping thyme and some hollyhocks, and Donna's house.

An interior shot of the shop.


A child's honesty! This shot pretty much shows how busy we've been - normally these shelves are full of nicely organized and alphabetized bath salts. Now it looks as though a troop of drunk gnomes ransacked them.

Donna's little garage, used for storing tools, lawn mowers, etc.


I think I might have to hire him on a regular basis. :)

we started our farmer's market season last week; the weather was amazing! we had a great time. Enjoyed a java joe's breve, and some amazing fruit/chocolate tarts. (our ususal favorite - chocolate croissants - had already sold out by the time we wandered over the La Mie's stand). Here are 2 pictures of our market stall.


a random shot of some beautiful pepper jelly


and another random shot of some pretty veggies.

We'll be at the market again tomorrow, and will probably have some more pictures to post. :)

one of our very cool customers posted a lovely review of our healing wands!

Our healing salves and wands (same formula, different packaging) do work REALLY well on just about everything. this time of year we're using our on garden-induced rashes, mosquito bites, and sunburn.

I'm just posting some older pictures I didn't have a chance to post while my computer was kablooey. I LOVE this picture of Toby (Donna's grandson), in his pj's, raincoat, and sneakers, proudly walking his Delilah.
And, we have a new puppy on the farm. This is Pal, a 3 month old Jack Russel Terrier puppy. My grandpa saw him at Picket Fence Creamery and fell in love, so he came to live on the farm with the rest of the gang. He's super cute, ALL puppy, and probably smarter than the rest of us put together. He can certainly run faster than us....

WE HAVE A NEW BABY MINI-HORSE!!

Christened "Baron" by my grandpa, here he is! Born late Friday June 27th or early Saturday, June 28th.


His mom, Dutchess, is a wonderful and protective mother. She has just now started to let him wander away from her a bit, and we can finally scratch and pet him. He's sooo soft!


And now all of a sudden Deliliah, the bigger baby, looks HUGE. here she is in one of her favorite poses. a true beauty queen, she adores basking in the sunlight.....

Farmer's Market Dates!

Finally, we are able to announce the dates we will be at the Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market.

July 5th
July 19th
August 2nd
August 16th
Sept 13th
Sept 27th
October 4th

We are "occasional vendors", which means we don't necessarily get the same spot every time we show up, so you just sort of have to wander the market until you find us. If you want to purchase something specific from us, PLEASE call or email ahead of time so we can make sure to have it for you! And last but not least - the store is still open while we are at the market, so don't worry about that, if you prefer to visit the farm.