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From Soup-to-Nuts in Fox Point

After weeks of cold and snow (winter), rain and more cold (spring), sun-shining-through-the-chill and more rain (what passes for summer), an opportunity to be outdoors in warm sunshine is a very welcome thing.  Today was such a day (all day!) and we celebrated it by starting a new market season at the Fox Point Farmers' Market.  The Market opened last week to record crowds - we were in Barrington, IL - and our schedule has us at the Fox Point Market every other week beginning this weekend. 

Mary LaCharite, Fox Point Farmers' Market Coordinator, mentioned that there are 21 vendors at the Market, and several are new this year.  Among them are Thymely Herbals of Grafton, Tall Oaks Farm of Sheboygan, Wisconsin Soup Company of Wauwatosa, and MMB Barbeque of Milwaukee.  The Market is open on Saturdays from mid-June to mid-October from 8 AM - Noon, with entertainment from 10 AM - Noon - next week the Mambo Surfers are playing.  Just a note, we'll be doing a soap making demo on July 23 incorporating ingredients from each vendor.  Watch for more on that!

It was pretty busy today, but I did have the opportunity to mingle with a few neighbors and I'd like to introduce you to them!

Steven Wenhardt of the Wisconsin Soup Company is proud of the scrumptious handcrafted soups he creates using local produce in season.  The soups are created in the company's kitchen in Wauwatosa, and are sold at farmers' markets in the Milwaukee area and online. 

I can tell you that the aromas coming from their bright orange soup pots were enticing (they were right next door!) and customers were eagerly tasting samples all morning.  Steven told me that they are in the process of creating a four-season menu of soups. 

 

If that photo of BBQ pork could emanate a scent, it would be a smoky-meaty-yummy scent that makes your mouth water!  MMB's Barbeque & Catering Service uses "All Mama's Secrets" to bring authentic Southern BBQ to Milwaukee.  Sisters Mary & Betty learned everything from their mother Mildred about Southern BBQ - Mildred even taught them about barbequeing a pig in a pit - how much more authentic can you get?  Mary & Betty use their portable BBQ to bring that authentic taste to the Market.  By the way, can you figure out where the name MMB comes from? Contact MMB's: 414.614.2406

That fresh asparagus was joined by a crunchy green salad bar of lettuces, arugula, and sunflower sprouts, hydroponic tomatoes, and other fabulous, organically grown vegetables at Growing Power's tables, products of Will Allen's urban garden project of Milwaukee.  Growing Power's chickens also produced amazing, farm-fresh brown eggs for the market - perfect ingredients for luscious, organic, vegetable-laden omelets.

By the way, Growing Power is the only place that carries our soaps in Milwaukee at this time.   Stop in at their Milwaukee headquarters on Silver Spring Drive, see the vegetables grow, learn about aquaculture, vermiculture, and composting, pet the goats, tease the chickens, and pick up a soap or two! 

Hands of Hope, again

 

Hands of Hope

It has been a few days since the French Market at the Hands of Hope Barrington Antique & Garden Faire.  If you read the blog post of June 16, you'll know a little bit about Hands of Hope and the wonderful work this foundation does for women and children in crisis in Africa.

The gardens featured at the event aren't just groomed for the crowds right now.  They are kept up all year 'round and are stunningly beautiful.  We had the opportunity to chat with one of the gardeners and we learned a lot.  Here is a view of the gazebo near the pool at garden number three: 
When we are at an event such as this, it is fun to take a bit of time to explore and meet new people.  This time we shopped.  After all, there were antiques!  Besides picking up a glass display vase for our shows, I did decide to buy that chandelier pictured with the chair in the last post.  The chandelier is designed to hold candles or votives, and I'm looking forward to using it at events and in the studio.  It is pretty big, and quite interesting!

There were three artists in the French Market that I wanted to mention in addition to the wonderful vendors named in the last post.  One of them has the most delicious chocolate sauce! 
Don Strandell and Constance Wastcoat invited us to dip strawberries into their original and Grand Marnier sauces.  And who could resist?  Grown Up Kid Stuff is The Best Chocolate Sauce You'll Ever Have.  Yum!  We all just had to have a taste!!

Imagine butterflies and flowers in the colors and swirls of hand-painted silk scarves by Meg Seier-Hood.  Meg's business, Meg Fine Arts, Inc. of Chicago, specializes in paint finishes, murals, gilding, and custom designs, and these lovely scarves are proof that she is talented.  The scarves are painted with techniques that Meg has developed herself. 

Every garden needs a fairy!  April Graves, the owner of Light Drawn Studios in Chicago creates beautifully rendered unique photographs of children and their families - and in this case amazing fairies are captured in photographs.  April is offering portrait sessions for the Beautiful Things with WINGS 2012 calendar at various gardens in the Barrington, IL area July 11 - 14.  The sitting fee of $150 is donated to WINGS.

How beautiful the gardens are at the Hands of Hope event! 

 

 

Hands of Hope

Barrington, IL is the home of Hands of Hope, a grassroots organization founded in the late 1990s by Vicky Wauterlek.  Today it is a thriving foundation made up of Chicago women who, through hard work and dedication, raise funds to provide ongoing support to women and children who are in crisis.  Their current focus is on the women and children of SubSaharan Africa, and the focus of our weekend is participation in their annual fundraiser, The Barrington Country Garden and Antique Faire.

While the event involves tours of three beautiful gardens, food, music, and antiques shopping in the farmhouse and stables of Vicky's property, there is also a French Market at which artists, designers, and area shops display and sell a wide variety of upscale and unique merchandise - donating a portion of their sales to Hands of Hope.  We are honored to be part of the French Market - and delighted to be able to participate in such a lovely event.

Here is a glimpse of some of the French Market items - at least some of our favorites!

Penny & Jan of Finishing Touches, Algonquin, IL are displaying unique antique and contemporary home decor, including our favorite, the sword chair. 

This piece probably dates to around the American Civil War period and would have been used by soldiers wearing swords.  How would they have sat, if not on a chair without obstruction on their sword side???  (Note that chandelier...it is designed for candles and would look great hanging from the oak tree in my backyard!)

 

  
Jodi Wachman, owner of Jolie Chicago, has created Limited Edition handbags especially for this event.  They are constructed of beautiful, one of a kind fabrics, and have leather bottoms and leather trim.  My favorite color is bright!!

 

 Victoria Fischetti creates unique handmade decoupage on glass.  Her plates, bowls, domes, vases, lamps, tables, and more glow in the light.   

 

 

 

 

 

 
Finally, fun in the form of re-born handbags!  Hands of Hope resells handbags - some vintage, some very vintage - and the entire proceeds benefit Hands of Hope.  Every type of handbag you can imagine, including zippered makeup cases from the 1960s, evening bags, leather and vinyl bags, and even gloves, and scarves are part of this display. 

Take the time on Saturday, June 18 - even if it is raining - to visit the Country Garden Faire.  If you don't live near Barrington, take the time to visit the Hands of Hope website and learn more about their work.

 

Farmers' Market finds

Saturdays are not my own anymore.  Saturdays belong to the Market; the Market at which many people eat their way from one end to the other.  The Market at which people listen to music at several streetcorners along the way, and smell the fine, chilly morning air and the scent of food cooking under canopies.  They admire the flowers, dodge the raindrops, squeeze the tomatoes (not too hard!), and they buy soap.  The West Bend Farmers' Market is open for the 2011 season!

The Market was very busy this past Saturday, and I was unable to get away for more than a minute or two to see what my neighbors had to sell.  Here is a sneak peek at their lovely products:

E&S Greenhouses grows lovely flowers throughout the season.  The pink of these geraniums almost vibrates, it is so intense!  Beautiful!

 

 

Some of the best fudge you've ever tasted is made by Julie - she and her husband make fabulous fudge, yummy popcorn, and great specialty candies. 

 

Where can you get really tasty, yummy, scrumptious, deep red tomatoes at this time of year? 

 

 

The Flyte Family Farm produces hydroponic and fresh market vegetables - and if you care to visit them and pick your own blueberries in season, you can fill up on pesticide-free berries.  Yum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nino Ridway grows gorgeous herbs and everlastings at Barthel Fruit Farm in Mequon, WI.  Later in the season Nino will bring Barthel's pears, tomatoes, apples.........a treat!!

 







Our local farmers' market is a party every weekend!  Join us - or stop in at your local farmers' market for wonderful, fresh veggies and fruit and baked treats, and meats, and soap!

Master Gardeners' Field Trip!

Tonight the studio was filled with gardeners who took the time to learn about natural, handcrafted soap.  Century Farmhouse is now officially a field trip destination! 

Welcome to the Washington County Master Gardener Association - it was delightful to have you in the studio.  You had the first sneak peek at the new equipment. You had the opportunity to feel the self-generated warmth of a newly-curing batch of soap.  You had the opportunity to feel the heft of the curing soap through the parchment - it'll be ready to cut late tomorrow! 

And the part that was most fun....interactive soap making - you cut Peppermint Fireworks soap into guest soaps to take home and finish drying! 

You are welcome any time!

The Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse

Tomorrow (Thursday) is the day we take the Rain into Roses soap to the Breast Cancer Showhouse in Milwaukee.  Our lovely rainwater soap, designed just for the Showhouse can be found in the Boutique of this year's beautiful home on Marietta Avenue in Milwaukee from June 4 until June 19.

We've been making Rain into Roses for the Showhouse for more than five years, and it seems that every year I'm not satisfied with the packaging, or our packaging in general has evolved.  Sometimes even the soaps have changed a bit.  I thought you'd enjoy seeing the evolution of our Breast Cancer Showhouse soap:

The earliest batches of Rain into Roses (2006) were done exclusively in handcrafted snowball shapes.  The soap is symbolic of the celebration of life, and the first soaps were also celebrating the circle of life: rain into roses symbolizing tears into hope.
We also used the pyramid-shaped box as a symbol of the rays of the sun shining onto the earth, creating life and with the rain, causing the roses to bloom.  Each snowball was packaged in the clear pyramid box with dried pink rosebuds and tied with the symbolic pink ribbon.  The hangtag provided the labeling and told the story of the soap.

You'll notice that the peonies behind the soaps are in better focus and lighting than the soap.  I had a lot to learn about working with light and glare.  If you look closely, you'll notice that the hangtag has a picture of a rose that fills the front of the tag. 

By 2007 / 2008 the hangtag design became more refined with a delicate pink rosebud photo.  Many thanks to Ann Graf of Milwaukee for this clever and beautiful photograph of Rain into Roses atop the antique scale in my kitchen.  See more fabulous photos on Ann's blog.

In 2009, I decided that the snowball shape was not selling as well as it could - really, most people chose the bar shape over the snowball shape - and it was important to sell as many soaps as possible as proceeds from the sales were to benefit cancer research.  So we began making the soaps in the bar shape.  We needed to redo the packaging once again, as the bars did not fit into the pyramid boxes.  Shimmering pink soap boxes became the packaging of choice, and our new logo stickers decorated the tops of the boxes.  Inserts contained the information about the soaps and their story.  The delicate pink rosebud photo used on the 2008 tag was used again on the insert.

By 2010 the image of the soap as an elegant symbol of hope was pretty secure.  We still used the shimmering pink box, but the labeling was done on one folded card inside the box rather than two.  This particular photograph was a delight to style and shoot as I was getting more confident with using light and shadow.  We did a poster of this photo in black and white with the ribbon and roses in pink. 

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Rain into Roses

2011

In 2011, Rain into Roses is still a lovely, rainwater soap; delicately scented with rose and spearmint and dotted with organically grown pink rose petals.  The story remains the same:

Rain into Roses :: Tears into Hope.

This year the look is completely different.  The shimmering pink box is now white.  The label, although a little less formal, has the look of porcelain and invites you to pick up a very feminine soap.  Inside, the soap is accented with the pink ribbon of hope, and the insert tells the story. 

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If you have the opportunity, visit the Showhouse.  See the beautiful work of many designers come together in a fascinating home which even boasts a ballroom.  If you're nowhere near Milwaukee, you can read about the history of the home and find out more about the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse and the funding it secures for breast and prostate cancer research at the Medical College of Wisconsin at breastcancershowhouse.org.

Warm regards,

~ Ann Marie