Not a sight you see on the farm everyday....a group of 10 old Buicks, from across the country and beyond (one came all the way from Canada!)

Donna found this in the yard; she thinks aliens are leaving us secret messages via sticks in the ground. What do you think? What's the message??

Please, folks, consider writing your congressperson about the many concerns of the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010. To find out how to contact your congressperson, go here. If you'd like some "talking points", see the last post, or visit this wonderful blog by the Soap Queen.

Here is the letter I sent today.

Congressman Latham,

I am writing to you to express my concern about the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010' (H.R. 5786). I run a small, natural-bodycare business with my mother. We have been in business for 12 years, and are proud to support our rural economy by using local herbs, grains, honey and beeswax to create our safe, natural, handmade herbal bodycare products. We support ourselves from this business; we built it from the ground up, on a shoestring budget, and now have a dedicated and devoted client base from Iowa, and around the world. People regularly send us thank you letters for making such pure, natural, bodycare products that keep them healthy and provide them with natural, affordable, locally-made alternatives to mass-produced bodycare products. But we are concerned that this Safe Cosmetics Act, while sounding good, has many fundamental flaws.

We use time-tested, basic ingredients to craft our simple products. We do not use complex chemicals or anything unsafe. Our ingredients are similar to what you would find in your kitchen: vinegar, raw sugar, oatmeal, herbs, oils. We FULLY AGREE that cosmetics should be produced safely, labeled correctly, and sold with the utmost concern for consumer health. But we believe this bill will NOT help these things, but rather, simply force small businesspeople such as ourselves out of business.

We believe this law is unnecessary. There are already laws in place to ensure that products such as ours are properly produced and labeled. The further labeling requirements stated in this bill would only make labels harder for consumers to read and understand, not easier.

We are also concerned that there is no full exemption for small businesses such as ours. We would be subject to the same (and unnessary, in the case of small businesses), paperwork and testing laws as large corporations such as Estee Lauder or Clinique.

I have worked in this industry for 12 years, and have a very good working knowledge of how small businesses such as mine operate. As a whole, we in this industry are ethical, and PROUD of our outstandingly good products. We are supporting our local economy, and ourselves, by producing extremely high quality natural bodycare products, and want nothing more than to continue to do so. I urge you to read this bill in it's entirety, and please, do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I assure you that while this bill sounds good, it really will do nothing to ensure consumer safety, and simply make it hard for small, ethical businesses to compete in today's already-tough marketplace.

Thank you for your time.

Maggie Howe
co-owner, Prairieland Herbs
prairielandherbs.com

The Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010 - sounds good, right? I mean who doesn't want good, safe, natural bodycare products? The problem is - this bill, as written would make it extremely difficult for small bodycare product producers, such as US, to continue to do what we do best - provide small batch natural artisan bodycare products.

If you would like to continue to have the freedom to purchase affordable bodycare products from businesses such as ours, please consider signing the petition AGAINST the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2010, and encourage others to do so as well!

We have no problem complying with labelling and testing laws, but this bill is badly written and lacking scientific validity.

Here are a couple of great articles about this bill.

http://personalcaretruth.com/2010/07/1602/
http://sagescript.blogspot.com/2010/07/how-safe-cosmetics-bill-will-affect.html
http://essentialu.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/07/comments-concerns-regarding-the-safe-cosmetics-act-of-2010.html

Thinking about some "wild" jellies today! I love wildcrafting. Who doesn't love free, interesting food?

First recipe to share - Queen Anne's Lace jelly. I haven't made this in years, but I recently stumbled across a recipe for it, and now I want to make it again!

I will also be dyeing some silk and maybe wool with Queen Anne's lace, as soon as I get some more alum. (Alum is a mordant - makes the color stay).

And I like this recipe for Spearmint-infused crabapple jelly. Although I do love rosemary, or sage, with crabapples...our crabapple tree at the shop is starting to drop fruit, that's when I know they are ready to pick!

Sample Sunday perks!

Donna enjoying her pretty sparkly toes, courtesty of Michelle at Organic People salon (who offered $10 mini manicures and pedicures at Sample Sunday).

and Maggie's pretty henna tattoo from Dawn Suarez of Morning Rain Massage (black one is a real tattoo - the brown is henna).

We also got hair sparkles, a Becky Bag from AKC Creations, (Maggie), handmade coffee cups from Willow Avenue Pottery (Donna) and some birthday gifts. Sample Sunday ROCKS.

Just some pictures from our Freezer Jams class on Saturday. It was a really fun class, I'd do it again next year! (or in the winter, if there is enough interest...). We made Ginger-grape jelly, Blueberry jam (with option of adding sage or lemon balm), and minted white peach black raspberry jam...using all local fruit and herbs :)

Saturday, July 31 we're going to have a a WONDERFUL class on making Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes. it is not to be missed! Sign up now if you are interested!

Sample Sunday! July 18, 12-5!

Rebecca Brandow, of Willow Avenue Pottery, will have her gorgeous pottery for sale, including her new CORN DISHES!



Lynn Marie Parkey of Gauranga Reiki will offer free 5 minute guided meditation in the anti-gravity chair, $25 necklaces and $2 blended oils. $20 off reiki gift certificates purchased on Sample Sunday.


Melodie Proffitt, of Mind and Body Massage Therapy will be offering $30 reflexology sessions, and has beautiful new art to showcase.

Sally Kilkenny wil have a wide selection of gourmet homemade jams for sampling and sale, including her newest seasonal offering: Peach Jam!

Angie of Recycks will bring her wonderful hand-crafted recycled/upcycled goods, including the "Becky Bag" and the "Maggie Bag" - come see what they are!!


Randi Stone of Lovin' Oven will have fantastic, homemade baked goods for sale.

Tracy Barton-Rouse of Compassionate Creations will have beautiful, yoga-inspired jewelry for sale!



Dawn Suarez of Morning Rain Massage will have chair massages, ear candling and henna tattoos, PLUS offering free organic face/arm airbrush tans.

Laura Hess will be offering SHIMMERLITES, fun, washable, semi-permanent sparkling hair highights!



We have THREE new guest vendors!!

Kay Black & Family will be showcasing their beautiful assortment of custom-made, quilt-inspired handmade purses, bags, blankets/quilts, baby accessories, and dog toys.

Michelle White of Beautiful People Organic Salon will be offering free hair consultations and doing mini manicures for $10. (She uses wonderful Prairieland Herbs products in her full, in-salon pedicures...and is our official "prairieland herbs pedicurist" - do make an appointment with her, you won't be sorry!)


Young entrepreneur Ila Heins, owner of River's Ropes, will have her handmade, upcycled dog toys for sale!



New at Prairieland Herbs - "Juicy Mint" July luxury soap of the month, scads of gorgeous handspun yarns, KITTIES for adoption from Panora P.E.T.S, and lovely dried bunches of herbs - lavender, "kitchen bouquets" of dried culinary herbs, and "tea bouquets" of dried tea herbs.




And of COURSE our wonderful farm neighbors, Picket Fence Creamery and Northern Prairie Chevre, as well as our "Town" neighbor, Flowers By Donna Jean, have fantastic events, specials and samples as well. Bring the family, make a day of it!

More Sample Sunday news! This is what is happening this Sunday, July 18, at Picket Fence Creamery!

Celebrate summer at our 3- Farm Tour &
SAMPLE SUNDAY
July 18 Noon to 5 p.m.
Admission is FREE!


*Free local food samples: Root beer float ice cream, buffalo summer sausage, fresh nut butters, Iowa wines, snack mixes, chocolate milk, Neva's cheese ball, barbecue sauce, salsa, and more! Visit with several guest vendors outside!

*Lunch - GRILLED ELK BURGERS, brats, hot dogs, beverages, and chips!

Super Deals:
Our own 90% lean ground beef...$2.99/lb. with a 10 lb. purchase
Any steak...$8.99/lb.
2 dozen farm fresh eggs... $5
Iowa Wines... 2 for $22
Pella bakery pie and quart of ice cream - only $10

Kids: See the calves, face painting, spin art, temporary tattoos, FREE pencils!
Free half pint of ice cream with $25.00 purchase.
Free coolers while they last!
Silent auction of handmade patriotic quilt

Sample Sunday is coming up, this Sunday, July 18! Here's what is happening at Northern Prairie Chevre:

Second Annual Flea Market!



* Stroll through the front yard and browse at the items for sale at NPC’s second annual flea market. Items include artwork, shabby sheik, antiques, vintage and more.
* After browsing, sit back in your lawn chairs and rock to the oldies of RBJ Trio while enjoying a delicious BBQ Beef sandwich provided by Sheeder Farms!
* Snus Hill Winery will sample several of their award-winning wines.
* Delicious baked goods from Country Lane Bakery
* Sample creamed honey from Randol Honey Farm.
* Many brand new items in the store. Make this your stop for gourmet foods that go well with goat cheese, wine and more.
* Dreesman Buffalo meat in a variety of cuts – very healthy!! Several cuts of Sheeder Farms meats (Great for grilling - T-Bones, Iowa Chops, Ribeye, to name a few) and Skeeter Creek Elk.
* New designs of jewelry by Sun Creek Jewelry just in.
* Spruce up your favorite dog with Iowa made collars, leashes and harnesses – great designs and very well made! All are 50% off!! Also pick up some Iowa made dog treats!
* KIDS: Decorate our giant chalk board, enjoy the swing set and sand box! Don’t forget to come into Miss Tillie’s and get your free freeze pop!
* The kids are getting big – they’re 4 and 5 months old already!!! Tours of the barn! Don’t forget Honeybump!
* Check out our 50% off table.
* Come in to Miss Tillie’s for samples of our cheese and MUCH MORE!

Whoo! I can finally post again! Blogger was being dumb and I finaly had time (read: patience) to sit down and figure out how to fix it. Whoo!

So first I'd like to remind you that this Saturday is our FREEZER JAMS class! If you are interested, please register ASAP as I need to know how many people will be attending!
:)

Child labor laws - who needs 'em?

Iowa Rain Gauge.

So I go to clean out the drying shed yesterday, and find a crowd of interested equines.



A customer arrives, adn I go to tend to them, and come back, and look what happened. The Minis are SOOOOOOO curious!!

I also started harvesting stuff to dry yetserday - some mixed flower and herb bouquets, and LAVENDER! This is our entire lavender crop - which is much bigger than it usually is. It smells divine!

some friends brought us black raspberries, which are HUGE and extra-delicious this year!

We also finally got the still up and running - distilled catnip - and did a ton of mowing and some planting. It's nice to finally have a lovely sunny day at the farm!!

So, we have been having rain, rain, storms, rain, more rain, and still more storms and rain....for weeks. The ditches are full of water, the rivers are high, there are flash flood warnings galore, and I found algae growing in my back yard (no joke). Donna is starting to twitch and has developed a nervous tic (and mayyyyyyyyyyyy be getting a titch grumpy although I will deny saying that to my dying day) because she can't garden and weed. However we are still much luckier than our farmers in Southern Iowa who have had even more rain than we have. Like, crops molding/dying in the field bad. :( And when the sun does come out - HOLY HUMIDITY! Yesterday (after our morning storm), the sun came out and we had temps at about 100 with a heat index of 106. NOT PRETTY. We Iowans are getting a little grumpy!!!

In other news.

 it is mulberry season!!! I hope to get out and pick some today. Do you have  mulberries in your bit of the world??

Mulberry pie (this makes me wish I could make a decent pie crust!)

Mulberry liqueur (or spice it, perhaps?)

Mulberry Jelly

Mulberry Wine (sweet or dry)

and I think Mulberry Vinegar would be a really fun and interesting treat; it would be great in an old-fashioned switchel recipe (I always wonder why health-conscious exercise type people drink artifically colored, high-fructose-corn-syrup-sweetened drinks such as gatorade? Switchel or lemonade is my idea of a drink, if I need something other than water!). But I didn't find any recipes I liked online, so, here is how you make mulberry vinegar.

Take a clean class jar (pint or quart mason jars are my container of choice), and loosely fill with mulberries. Cover with vinegar. You can use any kind, but I prefer an organic apple cider vinegar, as it's less harsh than regular white vinegar and has extra good stuff for ya. Cover, and let sit in the sun (or wherever..) for a week or two. Longer is fine. You can tell when the vinegar is "done", because it will be a rich berry color and the berries will look kind of colorless and sad. Strain out the berries and compost them; rebottle the vinegar and label. Yum!

Soooooooooo the lemon balm is going insane, yeah? It's that time of year. If you have lemon balm in your garden,  you know what I mean. So, what to do with it? Drink it as tea, hot or cold - delicious! You can use it fresh, or dry it for later. Add a few springs to your jar of sun tea, yum! 

Or how about making a delicious lemon balm pesto? This freezes beautifully; you will welcome having a few jars of this in your freezer over the winter. (A wintertime staple "fast food" at my house is pasta tossed with pesto from the freezer, then you can add any other ingredients you like - leftover veggies or meats, some cream or cheese, sundried tomatoes or a jar of home-canned tomatoes...you get the idea, right? A glass of wine and dinner is served. Add some bread and salad if you want to be fancy, but.... really, the pasta usually plenty for me).

I have a recipe that I found online years ago, for a lemon balm liqueur - I don't even know where, but I copied it to my files. Why haven't i made it yet? I don't know, but I'm going to remedy that RIGHT. NOW.

Liquore Di Erba Cedrina (melissa liqueur)

1 kg. grain alcohol
140 g Lemon balm leaves (fresh)
1 kg. white sugar
1 kg water

Cut fresh lemon balm leaves and put in a glass jar. Cover with alcohol and leave 20 days in a cool dark place; shake every other day. Strain out herbs and  place infused alcohol in a big bowl. Meanwhile, prepare the sugar syrup by mixing the sugar and water and boiling for 10 minutes or until all the sugar has dissolved into the water. Let cool to room temperature, then mix sugar syrup and alcohol. Bottle, and store in a cool dark place for 2 months. This allows all the ingredients to combine together, at perfection.

The elderflowers are blooming! They are DELICIOUS. Elderflower syrup is one of my favorite summertime treats, mixed with a bit of sparkling water, it is indescribably delicious.  You can also many many other yummy treats from elderflowers, such as:


Elderflower sorbet

Elderflower champagne


Elderflower Fritters and Elderflower Cordial

Why are you still reading this? go gather some elderflowers.....

Aren't these gorgeous? These are hand-loomed 100% cotton dishwtowels. We at Prairieland herbs are blessed to be surrounded by talented people who make interesting things! Our friend Traci Leff is a wonderful weaver, and she has been bringing us these gorgeous handtowels to sell. They are only $15, and are WONDERFUL! Beautiful and durable. She also makes WONDERFUL 100% cotton bath sets (body towel, hand towel and washcloth), as well as scarves, rugs, table runners and more. Come see her stuff at our store :)

Sample Sunday! July 13, 12-5!

Rebecca Brandow, of Willow Avenue Pottery, will have her gorgeous pottery for sale.

Lynn Marie Parkey of Gauranga Reiki will have aromatherapy charm necklaces for $25, and offer free 2 minute guided relaxation meditation in her chair.

Jill Brown Photography is a new guest vendor! She will have photography cards $7 ea or 2/$12, 3/$15, and small matted
prints $20 ea or 2/$35 and 3/$45. Affordable, beautiful, local art! Barters and trades considered!

Dawn Suarez, of Candy Hoops and Morning Rain massage will be offering tarot readings ($10) , henna tattoos ($5), chair massage ($1/minute) ear
candles $25 or 3 for $60 , and hula hoops $15-$25 (some diva & karma hoops $35).  Barters and trades considered!

Randi Stone of Lovin' Oven will have fantastic, homemade baked goods for sale! She will be bringing gingersnaps, chocolate cheesecake muffins and a variety of brownies as well as a few other tasty treats!

Tracy Barton-Rouse of Compassionate Creations will have beautiful, yoga-inspired jewelry for sale!

Melodie Proffitt, of Mind and Body Massage Therapy will be offering reflexology sessions, and her beautiful artwork will be for sale.





Sally Kilkenny wil have a wide selection of gourmet homemade jams for sampling and sale, including her newest creation: Strawberry Gooseberry Jam!




New at Prairieland Herbs - "Ambiance" June luxury soap of the month, scads of gorgeous handspun yarns, KITTIES for adoption from Panora P.E.T.S, and they're only $25 during the month of June, in celebration of national "Adopt a Cat" month! Plus of course all our usual fantastic herbal bodycare prdoucts.

And of COURSE our wonderful farm neighbors, Picket Fence Creamery and Northern Prairie Chevre, as well as our "Town" neighbor, Flowers By Donna Jean, have fantastic events, specials and samples as well. Bring the family, make a day of it!

It's Sample Sunday time ! Here's what's happening at Picket Fence Creamery this Sunday, June 13. (stay tuned for more info!)

 

Join us for our "June is Dairy Month" 3-Farm Tour &

SAMPLE SUNDAY

Sunday, June 13    Noon to 5 p.m.

Admission is FREE!

 

Picket Fence Ad Copy:

Free local food samples: Key lime pie ice cream, elk sticks, fresh nut butters, Iowa wines, snack mixes, chocolate milk, Neva's cheese ball, barbecue sauce, salsa, and more! Visit with several guest vendors outside!

 

Lunch is served!

GRILLED BUFFALO BURGERS, brats, hot dogs, drinks and chips!

 

Super Deals!

Our own 90% lean ground beef..$2.99/lb. w/ 10 lb. purchase

Any steak..$8.99/lb

2 dozen farm fresh eggs for $5

Iowa Wines...2 for $22

Pella bakery pie & quart of ice cream - only $10

 

Kids:

SEE THE BUFFALO BOTTLE CALF, dairy calves and pigs, pony rides in the pasture and FREE pencils! 

 

Free 1/2 pint ice cream with $25 purchase

Free coolers while they last!