Sunday, September 21st, 12-5 PM 10th BIRTHDAY BASH!

It's been TEN YEARS since we opened our doors. Help us celebrate with a FANTASTIC and action-packed 10 th Birthday Sample Sunday!

10% OFF ALL PURCHASES!!!

Guest Vendors:

Funkie Organics – funky hemp and stone jewelry (funkieorganics.com)

Kristi Poole – handmade paper beads

Nikki's Designs – handmade sterling silver jewelry

Sally Kilkenny – handmade jams & jellies

Mary DouBrava – Reiki sessions

Jill Beebout will be having free, 15 minute STORYTELLING at the top of every hour, beginning at 1 PM! Fun for the entire family.

HERBAL COOKING CONTEST

Are you a great cook? Bring your best dish and join us for a cooking contest and potluck on Sunday, Sept 21! Judging begins at 4 PM.

3 Categories: Herbal Breads, Herbal Desserts, Herbal Dish or Beverage.

Prizes given in each category:

1 st Place - $25.00 Prairieland Herbs Gift Certificate

2 nd Place - $15.00 Prairieland Herbs Gift Certificate

3 rd Place - $10.00 Prairieland Herbs Gift Certificate

Stay afterwards to share and sample the herbal delights!

Last week we had a group of 80 (!!!!!!) homeschool kids/parents visit our farm. it was a MADHOUSE for about and hour, then...whoosh.....they were gone. Mostly, the kids liked the dogs. I tried to get a picture of the mass pandemonium. :)


I don't recall there being a calico cat for sale on our website, but someone must have ordered one. :) Here is Violet being extremely cute, in a flat-rate priority mailbox. ;)

Here is our beloved "Crazy", aka Karla the Crazy Soapmaker, who makes the majority of soaps here at Prairieland Herbs. She's been making soaps professionally for 8 or 9 years, and is REALLY knowledgeable about what she does. A few times a year, she teaches really rockin soapmaking classes on our farm, and we're lucky she's going to teach not one but TWO soapmaking classes this fall!
Students make and take home their own 2 lb. batch of real, cold-process handmade soap. Soapmaking is amazing - it's art, science, and alchemy all in one procedure. You take fats, oils, and lye, and end up with this amazing bar of bubbly wonderful handmade soap! Magic!Students work in pairs, and class size is strictly limited to six participants, so Karla can ensure the best learning experience for everyone. Lye safety is emphasized. The recipe you use is easy to duplicate at home - no hard-to-find or expensive oils or ingredients are used.

The first class is already halfway full, so Karla's offering a second class in November. These classes truly do fill up quickly so please register soon! (We do not charge your card until the day of the class, just FYI.)

Our friend Fae at Faerie Made Soaps has some great pictures of the soapmaking process on her blog - check it out!

And now, for the listing of events happening this Sample Sunday (Sept. 21st, from 12-5) at Picket Fence Creamery!

They will be sampling: Caramel apple ice cream, cheese ball, elk sticks, fresh peanut butter, Two Sisters breads and salads, fresh local salsa, caramel apple pecan butter, fresh cheese curds, Iowa wines, and of course, "the best chocolate milk this side of the Milky Way!".

*5th Anniversary $5 lunch! Brats, fixin's, chips, milk or water, and ice cream! (Kids' meal is $3.)

*For the kids - pony rides in the pasture, see the calves, hay maze, FREE kittens, pencils, and posters!

*FREE! Picket Fence Creamery 5th Anniversary commemorative gift with your
purchase!

*Guest vendors - Penoach Winery, Prairie Moon Winery, Russ 'n' Franks BBQ, Watkins, and handmade snuggle blankets and wool scarves!


Super Deals: Fresh cheese curds, $3 a bag; 90% lean ground beef $3.49 lb. with 10 lb.
purchase; any large Pasquale's pizza, $4.99; fresh 1 1/2 lb. ham loaf, $5.99; fresh apple crisp and
quart ice cream, $10; 5 lb. bag local McIntosh apples for $5; and more in-store bargains!

Browse our store full of local foods from 90 Iowa families! Chemical free onions, tomatoes, garlic, pears, peaches,apples, zucchini and more!

It's our 10th BIRTHDAY in just one week. Can we say - WOW??

So, of course, we are having a fantastic all-out party, in conjunction with our September Sample Sunday, Sept. 21st from 12-5. Northern Praire Chevre and Picket Fence Creamery, our 2 neighboring farms, are also joining us, so this week several of myblog posts will detail what is going on for this great event. Today, we'll talk about what is happening at Northern Prairie Chevre.
Dance Arabesque from Des Moines and Benu Dance Troupe will perform in the front yard.

The Atlantean from Des Moines will have a variety of ethnic merchandise for sale.

Snus Hill Winery, Tassel Ridge Winery, La Vida Loca Winery and
Olde Main Brewery will give out samples of their wonderful wines and beers.

Relax with Shannon, Massage Therapist, is offering chair massages - $10/10 min.

Milton from Sheeder Farms will be grilling steak sandwiches for just $6!!

Mary Boyvey, Hoopnotica Certified instructor will be offering free classes on the hour, and have hoops available for all ages to try and/or purchase.

Pat from Randol Honey will be sampling hercreamed honey.

SALE: Creamy goat milk and honey soaps 2/$6! NEW- Dog Shampoo Bars and Canus – excellent for dry coats & flees!!

NEW – Just arrived – jewelry from Sun Creek Jewelry; beautiful and affordable. Delicious baked goods from Corn Crib Catering in Madrid. Stock up Sheeder Farms meats and eggs & variouscuts
of elk from Skeeter Creek Elk. Salad dressings, Vinaigrettes, Honey Mustard, Cape Cod Caviar, Chipotle Bleu Cheese dip from Appalachian Naturals. New products have arrived! Kids – enjoy the swings and sand box in the front yard.

Not many babies left, but they’re looking for your loving and hugs!! Tours of the barn to visit the girls thatmake this whole business possible! (Don’t forget the best guard dogs in the whole state too!!!)Come on into Miss Tillie’s for samples of our cheese and MUCH MORE!

Sorry gang - we won't be able to go to the Downtown Farmer's Market tomorrow - there is just TOO much rain predicted! :( See you there on the 27th!

Quiet day here. Humid - storms coming in tonight.

Doing a bit more painting - which really means: Move displays (involving grunting, swearing, and sometimes dropping things and breaking them. whoops). Stand a goggle and how DUSTY it is behind displays, and count how many lip balms have, over the years, rolled underneath them. (answer: many more than you would believe). Clean up dust, throw away old lip balms, wipe cobwebs off walls. Get ready to paint. Paint. Let dry. Paint again. Let dry. Clean off entire display, mop floor. Move display back (more swearing and grunting).

As you can see, it's a fairly involved process.

This afternoon, I'm bottling hair vinegars. I've made samples of the Red Rose and Lemon Balm, and the Rosemary and Lavender. If you're ordering in the next day or two, and want to try one of those, just let us know; we'll add it to your order, no charge. :)

There are 4 dogs alseep here in the shop, on the floor (each on their own blankie), and 3 cats.

Last Saturday, Donna and Maggie hosted a bus tour of 52 folks from Oskaloosa, IA. We actually did lots of these tours throughout the summer - I'm not sure how many, but at least a dozen.
The huge tour buses always look a little surreal, parked out in the middle of the country!!!


Donna usually leads the groups on a garden tour, then Maggie helps them in the shop and answers questions. Corralling 50 people is pretty much impossible, so basically they end up doing what they want. They're nearly always kind and polite, and enjoy the dogs (you can see in these pictures that the dogs sure enjoy all the company). Then they all get back on the bus and head off to the next farm to visit!

NEW SOAPS! We have a new soapmaker, the wonderful Terri, owner of "Biscuit's Boutique Soaps". (Biscuit is her cat's name - isn't that cute?). She is from Des Moines, and makes wonderful essential-oil blend soaps. Now, nobody panic - Karla is not going anywhere! She's still making her amazing soaps and shampoo bars for us. She's just being kept very, VERY busy keeping you all in soap! So Terri is going to make a few new varities for us as well. I promise you'll love her soaps. They smell great, have cute labels, and have huge lather!

Speaking of cuteness. Here is the view from the front door of the shop, taken the other day. Donna lets her mini horses out to graze every morning for a few hours. They pretty much wander anywhere they want, and don't *usually* go too far. This day they decided the grass right outside the front door of the shop was pretty tasty. In this picture we see Contessa (the white one), Baron (the smaller brown with white markings), and Dutchess (Baron's mom).

Delilah is the oldest baby, she is a RIOT. She is SO inquisitive - she loves to investigate everything, and often does so by tasting things. (She loves to nibble - EVERYTHING). She has been known to pick up tools or items and just...carry them off. Why? We don't know. I think she is part puppy. Anyway, all the rest of the herd calmly grazed near the shop, paying no attention to the open door. Not Delilah. She looked up, saw the door, and walked right on in. What a funny girl! (She didn't stay long, just long enough for me to get this quick picture).

A few snapshots from last Saturday. Donna and Zach, our faithful summer minion, um, er.....slaveboy, no wait.....WORKER, that's it....anyway, Donna and Zach are painting the walls of our shop! For those of you that have never visited - our shop is awful tiny. It's 20 feet by 30 feet, and Donna and I built it ourselves (with help from a retired electrician/handyman friend). It holds our office, kitchen, and entire retail area. So...there's alot of stuff in a very small space, which makes painting really interesting. We move things from a section of the wall, paint, wait for it to dry, paint again, wait for it to dry again, then move everything back. Repeat.

Zach was, I believe, mildly horrified to have to paint walls PINK, but he did the job with enthusiasm and gusto.


John was constructing a manger for the mini-horses (six of them sharing the one existing one we had was just tooooooo many!).

Which ended up looking a bit like a coffin!!!
And last but not least....meet our new puppy, a rat terrier mix, named Monk! He loooooove the other doggies and kitties, and was terrified of Beaker until yesterday, when the 2 of them started this new game where they sort of harass each other. He goes up to Beaker and barks, Beaker lowers his head and sort of "fake" chases him off. Repeat.

(To be clear - Beaker is FULLY CAPABLE of chasing this little guy down and pinching the dickens out of him if he wants. He's a goose that's large and in charge. This truly is a game the 2 of them have devised).

Let's put aside the fact, for a moment, that it is 8:00 on a Saturday night and I am on my computer, updating our website and blogging. (I'm sipping Templeton Rye, a fantastic locally-produced whiskey, while I'm doing it, which I am pretty sure adds at least 10 "cool points" to my mojo-meter....)

ANYWAY. We have so many amazing things going on this month for our 10th birthday bash. I just gotta get 'em online. So, we're starting with this fantastic, LIMITED EDITION natural perfume, made by our friend Tina at Faerie Made Soaps. This girl is rockin' with the natural perfumery. (Also she is celebrating her sixth year of business. YAY!!!!!!!!!!!) This perfume is called "Soleil" - we have 30 of these in stock, and when they're gone, they're gone. So, if you're into a sexy, sultry blend of coriander, citruses, vanilla, jasmine and more...welllll.....stock up on this fantastic perfume. You won't be sorry.

Fall 2008 Prairieland Herbs Class Schedule is NOW ONLINE! We're accepting signups now.
We've got a GREAT selection of classes. You can learn to make soap, use exotic dyestuffs to dye silk scarves (like the ones above), learn how to make your own natural non-toxic home cleansers, or make your own fantastic customized shea butter moisturizers. Class space is limited on most, so....sign up now!

Luxury Soap of the Month has arrived! This month's selection - a sunny, bright, lemon-verbena-based soap that is sooooo citrus-ey it makes your mouth pucker. We have about 50 bars on hand and when they're gone, they're gone! ENJOY!

Stay tuned....big news ahead. Did you realize that Prairieland Herbs turns TEN this month?! We have all kinds of surprises and specials planned......

Yesterday at noon, we were ROASTING. Hot sun, nearly 100% humidity, just.....HOT. Today it's about 65 degrees, overcast,with a breeze,and we are wearing jeans and long sleeves. Ah, it must be nearing fall!


Anyway - we wanted to share this great recipe with you. It was given to us by our friend Jen -she uses it as a treatment for psoraisis on her scalp, and says it works beautifully! We know many of our customers have skin conditions, so we thought we'd share the recipe with you. And wasn't it kind of Jen to share her recipe?? We sure think so!

here goes:

Jen's Hair Oil (treatment for psoriasis)

1 oz jojoba oil
5-7 drops each juniper, tea tree, rosemary, and thyme essential oils

Combine ingredients; apply as necessary to scalp.

We do have all the essential oils that you need for this recipe, on our website. Her recipe specifies jojoba oil, but i do suspect you could use olive oil as the base as well....

This recipe will be permanently archived on our website - here.

Another hard day's lounging at Prairieland herbs.....mmmm laptops are warm, says Sassy!

Want FREE prairieland herbs products....AND to visit a super-cool and really interesting blog??

Check out our friend Sara's blog - Walk Slowly, Live Wildly. We've had the pleasure of meeting her in person, and I really DO love her blog. informative, well-written, thought-provoking....yep, great stuff.

She's (lucky for us!) a fan of our products, and so she's doing a little give-away of the items seen above. Check out her blog, click around, bookmark it so you can come back and visit it again later, then enter yourself in the product giveaway. How cool is that?

I just made a fresh batch of Magic Mud (our fantastic luxurious facial masque/cleanser that's loaded with green clay, ground herbs, jojoba microdermabrasion beads and pure essential oils of carrot seed, sandalwood, palmarosa and jasmine absolute), and.....we made at least 30 little mini-jars to give out as free samples. We have them in the sample basket at the shop, so if you're in the area and want to try it, come on it. Internet customers, if you are placing an order in the next few days and want to get one of these little freebies with your order, simply make a note of it in the "customer comments" section of the shopping cart. Offer good until the muds run out :)

5:02 PM - Just leaving work...we have EIGHT Moroccan Rose soaps left!!!!

It's elderberry season! I'm about to gather elderberries and make my yearly batches of elderberry jam and syrup, yum yum!! Check out this great recipe for elderberry mead on our website.

And here's some great information about how healthy elderberries are for you!

and check out this great site about nothing but elderberries. fantastic information, great photos, and the recipes! wow!

$5 shipping sale!!!! Head on over to our website. Any size order shipped for only $5! (In the US only. sorry, international folks....)