Happy Freebie Friday! Last weeks' winners are as follows:
2 oz. Green Thumb Salve - dazedpuckbunny
1/2 oz. Green Thumb Salve - 1 each to DoulaSara and Carolinamomma! Please, everyone, email us at shop at prairielandherbs dot com with your mailing addresses and we will get these sent right out!


This week we are offering our Black Gel Soap! We purchased some true, handmade African Black Soap from our favorite Fair Trade shea butter supplier (Agbanga Karite) and then added our own hydrosols to create a lovely, thick all-natural gel soap that is delighful as a face, hand, or body cleanser. This cleanser has thick, rich lather and is unscented - smells pleasantly of, well, soap! It's mild and very gentle. If you'd like it scented, feel free to add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. If you'd like to win a bottle of our Black Gel Soap, simply leave a comment on today's blog post.

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.

Well! Maggie's computer is on the fritz....and I can't change the website until it's fixed, so, you folks get to enjoy the $5 shipping sale until it's fixed!!! haha!!! happy shopping! :)

A few pics from around the farm, last Friday afternoon.

St. John's wort is starting to bloom!

Here you can see St. John's wort (closest), prairie sage (tall and grey) and mountain mint (behind the prairie sage).

Happy Freebie Friday!!!

Last week's winner of our awesome Natural Laundry Gift Set is Melissa aka LbFool! Melissa, drop us an email at shop at prairielandherbs dot com and let us know what scent you'd like!

This week - a little gift for all the hardworking gardeners. We're offering 1 - 2 oz. jar and 2 - 1/2 oz jars of our "Green Thumb Gardener's Salve". Perfect for soothing garden-rough hands and feet, and healing any little nicks and scrapes (or massive scratches like we get when pruning the roses). Also? the scent of this stuff keeps the bugs away. You really can't go wrong.

If you'd like to win one of these, simply leave a comment on this blog post!

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.

We have an AMAZING Sample Sunday lined up this Sunday, June 14th!

Spa Sample Sunday at Prairieland Herbs!
Get ready to relax with:

• FREE Gauranga Reiki
• FREE yoga demonstrations from Firehouse Yoga
• FREE henna tattooing
• FREE ear candling
• Reflexology sessions
• Free bath salts, soap and shampoo bar samples

And the finest selection of handmade natural bath and body products available ANYWHERE!

Sally Kilkenny will have her usual selection of amazing gourmet jams for sale, and she'll also be selling miniature roses.

At Northern Prarie Chevre you can enjoy:

Brat lunch

FREE concert “Sweet Tater” Matt TeRonde 1:00 – 4:30
FREE hula-hooping lessons on the hour
Soothing chair massages available
Free samples from Snus Hill & Tassel Ridge Wineries
Loads of delicious local food samples!

Come in to Miss Tillie’s for samples of our cheese and MUCH MORE!

at Picket Fence Creamery:

Pony rides for the kids!

Free food samples galore: Orange-pineapple ice cream, Buffalo Summer Sausage, Neva's Cheeseballs, Fresh Cheese Curds, Chocolate Milk, Iowa Wines, Creamed Honey, Elk Sticks
and much more!

"2'fers Deals": 2 bags cheese curds for $6; 2 jars local cherry jam for $9; 2 bottles any Iowa wine for $20!!!

Fresh Iowa Strawberries, lettuce, and rhubarb crisp!

and at Donna Jean's Flowers:

Join us in our renovated 1800s Building, complete with restored tin ceilings and wood floors. Browse over 3000 sq. feet of Period & Shabby Chic furniture.

Antiques & Collectibles

Beautiful Garden Art

Large Selection of Willow Tree Angels

Blue & White Pottery, Green & Blooming Plants Featuring local artists......

Native American Lakota art work by Michael "White Feather"

Moon Dance Jewelry by Kelly Moore

Hand Blown glass by Art Ciccott, and others.

We will be handing out a Flower to the Ladies and Free popcorn for the Kids.

Visit Centraliowasmallfarms.com for a full listing of events and printable map!

We've FINALLY distilling again! Oh, how I miss our still during the wintertime. It really excites the alchemist in me to turn fresh water and herbs into gorgeous lush yummy hydrosols. So we'll be updating the website regularly as hydrosols come back in stock!

Comfrey Hydrosol is back in stock - it's wonderful for sunburn, as a facial toner for dry, irritated or mature skin,rashes or skin irritations of any sort, and we find it invaluable for pet care (wound care, ear cleaning etc).

ALSO! For the next 5 days, enjoy $5 flat rate shipping on all US and Canadian orders! (Orders over $100 ship for free, as always!) Flat Rate Shipping good through June 15th.

Happy Shopping!

Yay! We have our market location! We will be vending at the Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market tomorrow on 4th and Court, in front of Dos Rios. See you there!!

Happy Freebie Friday!

Last week's winner of the 5 lip balm set is Abby G! Drop me an email, Abby, and we'll send your gift right out! :)I'm feeling rather generous today, so our Freebie Friday for this week is an entire Natural Laundry Gift Set (retail value $39.00). Set contains a full pound of laundry soap, a dryer sachet, an 8 oz. bottle of body and linens mist, and a 1/3 oz bottle of essential oil. If you haven't tried all-natural laundry products, this is a real treat! Your clothes smell and feel wonderful. :)

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.

Good luck!

Finally finished planting all my tomatoes and peppers in the straw bale garden. This pic is from last Saturday, I think. It rained on them off and on all weekend so I haven't had to water them (yay). So far, they are looking okay. The straw bales are starting to grown, well, straw! Looks just like green grass sprouting on them. I'll get pics of that soon, too. :)

Sharing 2 cool blog links with you today.

First, a great tutorial on making your own salves and balms, posted by the fabulous ladies at The Essential Herbal!

Second, a great tutorial on making dandelion syrup from Larskspur Funny Farm! Flower/herb syrups are just so magical and yummy.


Enjoy!!

Happy Freebie Friday! (yes, I know it's Tuesday - but the entire weekend was totally crazy - see post below - so we'll just pretend for a few minutes, okay?)

Last week's winner was YOGAGIRL! Please email shop at prairielandherbs dot com with your mailing address and we'll send your hands and heels scrubby soap right out! (or , if you're going to be at the farmer's market this Saturday we can give it to you there).

This week's giveaway - a 5 lip balm gift set! One of the first products we ever made, and still one of the best. Folks worldwide are addicted to these! We are proud to use organic soybean, sunflower and olive oils in these balms, as well as locally produced beeswax.

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.

Holy cow! You guys actually pay attention to our ramblings!!! we've been getting email after email about how we haven't blogged for days (and I missed Friday Freebie - so sorry! Will rectify that shortly...). Here's what happened. My grandpa lives on the farm here with my mother. He celebrated his 90th birthday this past weekend, and we had a big family party planned - folks coming in from Washington and Colorado and staying for days. BUT then my grandpa "decided" to celebrate his 90th with a hospital visit for blood clots! He's okay now, but it was a kerfuffle for a while...loads of family camped out here at the PLH farm visits to the hospital, etc. Because this is a family business with only two employees, when family emergencies happen it tends to make us cut out on our "normal" business activities.

(my mom and grandpa by our copper still)

Grandpa is home now, celebrated his 90th in style, and is looking forward to years and years of good health. We're getting back into our regular work routine. Thanks so much, everyone, for all the emails asking about us. We'll be better about keeping you posted in the future!

a few photos of the straw bale/lasagna garden experiment. Planted tomatoes in the lasagna part, and will be planting in the rest of the straw bales (peppers and tomatoes) early next week.

Just got word from the Downtown Des Moines Farmer's Market folks re: our stall location. We will be on Court Avenue, in front of Dos Rios - same as our last 2 markets. Look forward to seeing you there!

Happy Freebie Friday!

Last week's Buzz Off Wand winners are: Darb, Jennifer VM, and Michelle! ! Please email us at shop at prairielandherbs dot com with your full name and mailing address and we'll send those right out to you!

Today's giveaway - a bar of Hands and Heels Scrubby soap. Because it is the only think that keeps our hands and feet in any sort of reasonable condition during this gardening season. :) It's got loads of pumice and walnut hulls in it, to exofoliate and scrub. Feels so good!


If you'd like to win a hands and heels scrubby soap, leave a comment on this week's post.

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.

I have no idea where the phrase "working like a dog" comes from.

(top photo - Lexi, with her new spring haircut, and Jake is shown at the bottom photo).

So. After a couple of weeks of super-shop-busyness, we finally managed to get out in the garden and get some stuff planted. On May 14th. Frost-free date for our area is May 15th. May 16th - yeah. Almost had frost. Mother Nature has a wacky sense of humor....fortunately all the plants survived the cold temps. What's MORE of a problem now is the massive gusting winds we have had for a few days. That's really hard on the new little plants, especially combined with temps in the mid 80's. All we can do is keep them watered, and wait.....


We're trying some new things in the PLH garden this year. My mom's house needs a new septic system (groan) and it's going to have to go right in our biggest, oldest, main herb bed. *sigh* at first we were majorly freaking out about this. But then, after thinking and looking, we decided that it was a good thing. The bed had gotten weedy and really needed to be totally overhauled anyway. So we decide to simply tranpslant the few plants we really wanted, and have a much smaller, more compact, and hopefully easier-to-care-for herb bed this year. That's the plan, so....let's hope it works out that way!

So here we have, left, a beginning of a straw bale garden. This is six bales...I have 20 more being delivered today. I'm going to grow all my veggies (tomatoes, peppers, spinach and swiss chard) in it. They are just for personal use, so if the whole experiment is a failure, I'll just rely on the farmer's market and our local CSA. Right next to the straw bales is the beginning of a lasagna garden. It sounds really easy in the books. Just put down a layer of old newspapers or flattened cardboard boxes, then pile layers and layers of compost, mulch, wood ash, peat moss, etc. up, and plant your garden right in the layers. However, hauling wheelbarrowload after wheelbarrowload of all that stuff gets old...so I'm hoping the results are worth it. I have more pictures of the bed in progress - I'll try to post them all after it's finished.



Yesterday we employed the Automatic Lawn Mowers. They're very happy to be hard at work. :)

We also fenced off a large portion of the PLH acreage - the section behind and to the south of our shop. Donna's six mini horses need alot more pasture than they had, so we're trying to accomadae their needs. While cutting down on mowing at the same time - awesome!

And here's your gratuitous cute kitty pic. Violet LOVES this weather - she is naturally shy and cautious by nature, but when the weather allows us to leave the shop door open she gets brave and wanders outside to see what's happening in the big wide farm world.

Violets are still gorgeous and lush here - time to make some violet syrup!! Here's my favorite recipe and method , and an awesome variation that my friend Tina from The Essential Herbal makes. That's what I love about making herbie stuff. There's really no one right way, and, you can always experiment with ingredients and methods!

Sorry to inundate you with blog posts today - just wanted to post this neat article the Des Moines Register did on our market booth.

We're looking forward to being at the farmer's market tomorrow - if anyone wants us to bring anything in particular please let us know!

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone!!!


Last week's winner is Linda D! Linda, drop us an email at shop at prairielandherbs dot com and let us know what type of hair vinegar you'd like (we have three kinds) and your mailing address, and we'll get it shipped right out!

This week we'd like to give away THREE Buzz Off Wands. Because, frankly, they're just great. :) Our Buzz Off Wand comes in a convenient, pocket-sized tube and is easy to apply. It contains a blend of essential oils to help repel bugs. Safe for use on kids and pets. I couldn't get through summertime without one!

If you'd like to win a hair vinegar, leave a comment on this week's post.

Rules:
1) One entry per person.
2) You must have a registered ID to post - if your post shows up under "anonymous", we don't know who you are, and therefore you can't win.
3) You have until the next Thursday at midnight, CST, to enter your comment.
4) Winner will be announced the following Friday - you must check back to see if it's you!
5) International folks are welcome. We ship Prairieland Herbs items all over the world, so we'll ship our "Friday freebie" anywhere too!
6) Each eligible post will be assigned a number, and we'll use a free online random number generator to determine the winner.