Fern & Berry

2012-01-31T13:45:00.001-08:00

Working on how to expand the workshop within its tiny space. More counter space, storage shelving & supplies. Nice feeling for the new year!

2012-01-27T22:36:00.001-08:00

New Sugar Scrubs in Feb. Essential oil blends to make you smile. I'm using an Orange/Lavender that feels like some kind of 'happy' scrub.

2012-01-11T18:53:00.001-08:00

Checking off one TODO list & moving to the next (body sprays, perfumes, colognes). Contemplating packaging/labelling options in WA or OR.

2012-01-11T18:48:00.001-08:00

New soaps hit the curing rack. Alpine Mint, Black Pepper/Bergamot & v-v-v-ery Vetiver blend (more stunning w/ a touch of vanilla => wow!).

2012-01-11T12:20:00.001-08:00

Tangerine Grapefruit shea butter soap is curing. Sherbet orange color & a cheery uplifting blend. I practically whistled while I worked :).

2012-01-11T00:28:00.001-08:00

Thanks for your requests for the Fern & Berry article published in our local coop newsletter. Pg 5 of the pdf, Enjoy! http://ping.fm/TRTGk

2012-01-10T17:26:00.001-08:00

Creamy, velvety patchouli soap is curing. I'll be very interested in opinions. Lots of dark patch & dabs of this & that to keep it fresh.

2012-01-09T20:43:00.001-08:00

Black Spruce Spice shea butter soap is curing. Inviting, alluring & welcoming. FYI, friends may hug you longer & love you a bit more :)

2012-01-07T12:04:00.001-08:00

New shea butter soaps curing up nicely w/ excellent EOs from local suppliers. Rosemary/Lemongrass, Spearmint/Lime & super Eucalyptus/Myrtle.

2011-12-29T11:20:00.001-08:00

Drafted 2012 goals - BEST wood scented soaps, good clean fun for GUYS, BLEND organic perfumes, package SHAMPOO, keep on keepin' it local.

2011-12-14T12:40:00.001-08:00

I loved this performance/installation piece. http://ping.fm/OJABq

2011-12-09T15:33:00.001-08:00

Wearing a new alcohol free, all natural perfume I'm working on. Rosey base w/ hints of sweet fruit, spice, mint. Need testers in jan or feb.

2011-12-08T17:55:00.001-08:00

Our local Coop published an article about Fern & Berry in the newsletter! Kim & Jenn did awesome translating my serious-ness into a fun read

2011-12-07T20:46:00.001-08:00

Got my great uncle's hhscot amplifier hooked up to his old speakers. Glowing tubes still going strong after all this time. Miss ya Robbie!

2011-12-06T20:55:00.001-08:00

Been enjoying roasted veggies for dinner. I've gotten hooked on cauliflower with a bit of olive oil, pepper and salt.

2011-11-26T11:41:00.001-08:00

Hanging at the Lincoln School holiday market in Olympia. Busy, full of great booths. If you're in the area stop by!

2011-11-22T13:44:00.001-08:00

I'm baking brussel sprouts, tempeh & garlic (whole cloves) w/a touch of black pepper, agave, tamari & olive oil. Browning the tops now. yum!

2011-11-16T11:48:00.001-08:00

Olympia's Westside Coop will soon carry our scrubs & face washes (the new Rose & Pomegranate face clay cleanser => lovely for winter skin).

2011-11-06T13:12:00.001-08:00

Back in the NW. Been catching up on paperwork, dreaming up new blends & organizing in the shop. Had a nice morning volunteering at the coop.

2011-10-22T11:27:00.001-07:00

Working w/ Black Dogs Molds in Albuquerque NM designing new soap shapes. They usually do bronze, but they'll bend the rules for some soap!

2011-10-07T23:54:00.001-07:00

Fun was had in my Artswalk booth today. Its a treat to meet people who boldly sniff soaps & spritz body sprays to discover what they like.

2011-10-07T12:38:00.001-07:00

Today is the start of Olympia's Fall Artswalk. We will be at the street market on 100 block of Washington. Lots of fun!

2011-09-20T22:57:00.001-07:00

Lines of colorful cut soaps are curing in the workshop. I swear the colorful clays make the soaps smell even better.

2011-09-17T11:29:00.001-07:00

we're hanging out and staying dry in downtown olympia at the Make Olympia street market. you'll find us next to w.ink & Lithium Love.

2011-09-15T21:16:00.001-07:00

New essential oils arrived. After many requests, I've decided to indulge in blending perfumes for fun. addictedtopeoplewhosmellgood

2011-09-15T10:48:00.001-07:00

Working on aroma blends for the Fall, one of my favorite seasons to blend for. Cinnamon, Ginger & Clove, Cedar, Fir & Pine essential oils.

2011-09-13T23:33:00.001-07:00

Picked a whole lot of blueberries this morning. I sampled each bush & was surprised by how they differed. Came away with 12 sweet, juicy LBS

2011-09-04T21:07:00.001-07:00

Volunteered at the local coop. I recommend CORN, Gobblin pluots & the early crop of WA Stanz apples. Going blueberry picking this week too!

2011-08-31T20:19:00.001-07:00

We're eating cherry tomatoes from the garden w/ every meal. Figs from the fig tree for breakfast, snack and dessert. It's a dream come true.

2011-08-26T14:04:00.001-07:00

New vegan soaps=> Sept 17 market with Fern & Berry's original essential oil blends: orangey, minty & a black pepper spicey shea organic

2011-08-24T18:15:00.001-07:00

The last Make Olympia Summer Market is Sept 17. F-B will have free vegan organic samples. Next is the Artswalk market! Visit www.makeolympia.com

2011-08-23T16:18:00.001-07:00

Decided to cool off and perk up w/ the Rose & Mint hydrosol I make for market. Super nice Mint Creme aroma.

2011-08-21T12:45:00.001-07:00

Lost the saucy link. http://ping.fm/ybYQ6

2011-08-21T12:39:00.001-07:00

Lunching on rice pasta salad & Chipotle Salsa from Saucy Goodness. Discovered them at the Make Olympia market yesterday. So delicious! http://ping.fm/gqgzf

2011-08-19T15:15:00.001-07:00

Make Olympia street market tomorrow, 10am-5pm! Going to be hot, stop by for a cooling spritz of our new vegan organic mint & rose waters.

2011-08-16T14:43:00.001-07:00

See our new organic vegan products at the Make Olympia outdoor market: Aug 20 on 4th & WA st. Soap, body scrubs, face cleansers, masques..

2011-08-11T20:35:00.001-07:00

Frozen dessert is...freezing. Whipped up cocoa, almond butter, soy milk, rice protein, banana, pecans, maple syrup. Then Newman-O's on top.

2011-08-06T17:29:00.001-07:00

Still hopeful, I browsed the strawberry patch today. I was rewarded with 2 of the sweetest, juiciest, tastiest berries remaining.

2011-08-01T10:05:00.001-07:00

Great weekend camping & indulging in a creamy Clay Facial Cleanser. Formulated w/ fine clays & organic EOs. Destination-->artfire shop, Aug.

2011-07-27T11:45:00.001-07:00

An allspice test batch of shea butter soap is a success. I think I'll round it out with some clove and call it done!

2011-07-23T19:55:00.001-07:00

My computer is putting out heat on a hot day :( but I am happily spritzing myself w/ chilled organic rosewater to cool off. Peppermint next?

2011-07-22T13:15:00.001-07:00

Back from sunny days in Roslyn, WA. Helped a friend w/a kiddy print workshop, did some short hikes, dozed in the sun, sipped WA wines.

2011-07-06T13:06:00.001-07:00

"Planet B-Boy" I streamed it on Netflix and give it 5 stars. It's a gem among them all.

2011-07-05T13:18:00.001-07:00

Looking for organic terry cloth yardage and see this robe: http://ping.fm/6miJU Quite specific!

2011-07-01T13:59:00.001-07:00

201 1 New Year's Resolution (Eat as many fresh organic cherries as i want) is ON! The market runeth over w/ rainier & bings. I ate alot.

2011-06-29T16:23:00.001-07:00

I'll have Organic Bulgarian Rose Hydrosol at the Make Olympia July 16 market. A superb facial spray, lite cleanser & aromatic freshen-up'er!

2011-06-26T22:35:00.001-07:00

I'll have Western Cedar & Orange vegan soap at the July 16 Make Olympia market. It should be a shampoo too, I love how it smells in my hair.

2011-06-22T12:04:00.001-07:00

Tangerine & Pink Grapefruit soap will be at the July 16th Make Olympia market. Sweet, tart, uplifting and juicy. It's a total upper bar.

2011-06-18T20:39:00.001-07:00

A good day making soap. Almost done prepping new recipes and blends for tomorrow. They'll be part of the new line of 'classic' soap scents.

2011-06-15T22:27:00.001-07:00

A lovely afternoon run w/ " A Discovery of Witches" audiocd. Got home & picked a handful of ripe strawberries. Waited a YEAR for this moment

2011-06-14T22:45:00.001-07:00

The July 16th market with MAKE OLYMPIA promises to be one of the best so far. Just the name itself has me jotting down all kinds of ideas.

2011-06-10T21:56:00.001-07:00

Tasty catchup w/ an old friend (no, not ketchup). Youthful reminiscences intertwined w/ real business advice & a hummus plate. Yummy!

2011-06-08T20:54:00.001-07:00

Steamed yellow chard w/ sweet red peppers is covered in red chile/peanut sauce....Having a premonition of a juicy grapefruit for dessert.

2011-06-04T22:01:00.001-07:00

My sister cooked up the best darn lima beans ever. Huge, soft & creamy. Now that I know how awesome she makes them...she's gonna be busy.

2011-06-02T19:11:00.001-07:00

You know that saying "Stop and smell the flowers?" Well today I didn't have to stop, I was surrounded by green/blooming sweet forest aromas.

New Soaps at the Olympia Westside Coop

2011-05-27T15:26:00.000-07:00

New vegan soaps at the West side Coop in Olympia.

Traditional cold-process soap, handmade with organic oils, scented with essential oils and containing any of my favorite fine clays and organic/wildcrafted herbs.

Clove & Oats
Fine Oats & Clove & Clay

Clove Bud essential oil can kick out fatigue and low moods. Its anti-inflammatory and antiseptic qualities blend nicely with the Oats as they provide a gentle exfoliation. The natural silicic acid in Oats is soothing to the skin.

Clove & Oats vegan soap is handmade with moisturizing **shea butter and fine essential oils in small batches. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging.

Pinky Sage
Grapefruit, Clary & Sage

Energizing Pink Grapefruit and stimulating Sage are useful additions to bath and body care for oily skin and hair. Grapefruit has toning and astringent qualities while Clary Sage and Palmarosa are pleasant and balancing.

Pinky Sage vegan soap is handmade with moisturizing **shea butter and fine essential oils in small batches. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging.

French Fields
Lavender & Lemongrass

French Lavender has a soothing, foral aroma that is relaxing. Lemongrass is an effective skin toner for tightening pores. It is stimulating and invigorating and can help clear the head and relieve fatigue.

French Fields vegan soap is handmade in small batches with creamy *shea butter and fine essential oils. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging.

Afternoon Wind
Lavender & Grapefruit

The aromas of soothing Lavender, uplifting Grapefruit and fresh Rosemary are softly balanced in this bar. Often used in applications for their strong anti-bacterial and anti-fungal qualities, here they just quietly coax you into action.

Afternoon Wind vegan soap is handmade in small batches with creamy *shea butter and fine essential oils. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging.

- - -

**organic, fair trade

100% vegan . all natural
No fragrances or artificial colors . No parabens or petrochemicals

2011-05-26T15:20:00.001-07:00

I was feeling good about 'life' and waxed on about my volunteer shift at the Olympia Westside Coop. http://ping.fm/yF7EE

2011-05-26T15:19:00.001-07:00

A little blog about Fern & Berry's two new vegan soaps. http://ping.fm/TBMqw

Keeping up with seasonal foods

2011-05-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

EATING ON A SCHEDULE
I was never one to eat on a schedule. Actually, I had no idea that I should be eating on one, until I started volunteering at my local coop in the produce department. I went from knowing about growing seasons (intellectually understanding that they exist and mean something to someone) to being physically hooked on them. I now know when my long awaited favorites are about to peak.

In two years of working with the produce, I have earned the memories of the seasons. I eat more variety and I eat more of it. The memories of favorite flavors drives me to know when they will be back (or delayed or even unavailable, gasp!). I check the seasonal calendar to know what is coming up next. I stalk the coop cooler to see what is in or out.

For Washington State, a searchable database of seasonally available foods.

HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
Why does volunteering at the Olympia coop make such a difference to me?
Why does getting up early on a Sunday morning to drag my butt to the coop so I can wash, stock, trim, peel the newly arrived produce to reveal it's natural beauty, put me in such an unnaturally good mood?

Why does spending 4 hours hanging out in a chilly cooler, under the mist nozzles of the produce rack, while my hands are wet and numb from pulling the snow & ice out of the packed boxes make me believe in a schedule?
Because the whole time I'm thinking about what I'm going to take home to eat!

You might laugh, but...
Volunteering with the produce is giving me the opportunity to eat some of the freshest, most perfectly ripe and dead-on seasonal produce around. It changes every week, so I know some veggies may not be back for a couple of weeks, if I don't try them now.

For example...
The Susan Moser greens are from a particular farm and are simply the best looking and tasting greens to eat. The valencia oranges we recently had were a mix of heirloom and hybrid and the heirloom were stellar. We pulled a few to sample out, a rare treat for everyone. Who knows if we will get more. Crops like that might be small or weather sensitive and may never come again.

FANTASIES FULFILLED
The fantasies I have about eating as many cherries as I wanted? Fulfilled. Eating pink grapefruit with spinach and avocado until I want something else? Fulfilled. If all I want is a tomato salad with cucumber, that's what I get, until I begin to crave salad greens, then I give myself that too.

It's so easy to fall in love...
Doing it right means I choose and eat the foods I want. Oh my, I am in love with the produce now.

CONSEQUENCES
Eating off the produce rack means you're eating alot, it's healthy, and you're getting a huge variety of proteins, minerals and vitamins. You'll be regular, you'll have energy, you'll be happy and you'll feel great.

The beauty of fruits and veggies is I don't have to puzzle out the ingredients, no choosing between canola oil or palm oil in a cookie, no tracking of the sugars or corn syrups. All I have to do is pick them and eat them. This is my world. Eating from the produce rack has freed me from literacy, in this one small way.

I have yet to leave my volunteer shift with candy or dessert. But I do always have at least one new fruit and a veggie in hand.
Those are the consequences.

KEEPING UP WITH THE CRAVINGS
My snacks have gotten crazy good. The rack is always changing. There might be a new variety of apple one week, a cherimoya the next, then lime kumquats one day (sold out so fast!), morel mushrooms the next.

By the time I've finished at the produce rack, there's no room or desire for the perpetually on sale junk foods. I keep the junk food out of the house by keeping a variety of finger food fruits and vegetables ready for snacking. A ripe red banana and a bowl of grapes. A handful of snow peas and a kiwi. It all appeals to me now.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE FOR REAL
Food doesn't have to be cooked to be good, it doesn't have to be chopped up nice to be good. It just has to be there when I'm hungry. It should taste amazing and clean up easy. I select the ones that look as good as they will taste, smell as irresistible as they look and feel as ripe as I want. Volunteering at the produce rack saves me from a hundred pots and pans for each meal.

For eating out see Cook Local.
If you want to drool over some pictures and recipes, Finding Vegan.

Light Spirit & Orange Velvet vegan soaps

2011-05-25T22:41:00.000-07:00

These two vegan soaps are full of bubbly lather, and have distinctive citrus aromas. The subtle scents smell delicious, linger lightly, and will leave your skin feeling soft and well-treated.

Light Spirit: organic, vegan soap w/ shea & essential oils

Available in the artfire Shop.

The aromas of Lemon and Balsam Fir are complimentary and stimulating. Lemon can help increase mental alertness and focus with Balsam Fir to ground it. Lemon has a good toning effect on oily skin and hair.

Italian Lemon has a softer lemon aroma that is not quite as sweet and candy like as the USA versions. I prefer the Italian Lemon whenever I can get it, and this bar is full of it; light, subtle, friendly.

Orange Velvet: organic, vegan soap w/ shea & essential oils

Available in the artfire Shop.

Sweet Orange is a bright uplifting scent. It is paired here with the cheery, but soothing notes of Mandarin. Sweet orange and Mandarin are natural toners for the skin and are said to help tone and tighten pores.

Orangey essential oils tend to be cheering and uplifting, a good wiff of this bar will certainly do that, no effort required.

Light Spirit & Orange Velvet vegan soaps are handmade in small batches with moisturizing **shea butter and fine essential oils. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging. **organic

100% vegan . all natural
No fragrances or artificial colors . No parabens or petrochemicals

2011-05-25T21:14:00.001-07:00

Orange Velvet: vegan soap with Sweet Orange & Mandarin essential oils, just listed http://ping.fm/5Jbqp

2011-05-25T21:12:00.001-07:00

Light Spirit: vegan soap w/ Lemon & Balsam Fir essential oils, listed. http://ping.fm/VloL2

Alpine Mint & Uplift vegan soaps

2011-05-23T18:33:00.000-07:00

Alpine Mint: organic, vegan soap w/ shea & essential oils

The aromas of peppermint and lime are said to help clear the mind, aid in concentration and chase away mental fatigue. Their application to the skin may have a pleasant toning effect.

This Alpine Mint soap features the Yakima, WA grown peppermint. One of the best if not the best in the US, according to my nose. Extremely high, minty and sweet without being candy-like, this mint blends amazingly well with every citrus and will anchor for eternity with a bit of rosemary.

Tingling skin, wide-eyes and majorly awake in the early mornings, this bar contains a small amount of rice powder for a very gentle exfoliation. Start the morning and the day off right with a cheery attitude and without dry skin!

Uplift: organic, vegan soap w/ shea & essential oils

The energizing and cleansing aroma of Eucalyptus clears the mind, the chest and the nose with each sniff. A good dose of Balsam Fir, blown in on the wind, lifts this blend from the seashore to the mountains in spring.

Australia is the source of all good, pure, unrivalled eucalyptus essential oils. Some are sweet, some are floral, some are menthol and some are minty. Uplift contains eucalyptus globulas which blends like a high mountain tree with canadian balsam fir.

This bar is softened with grapefruit essential oil and then given a lovely note with cypress that reminds me of being a kid, high on the swing, being swept up by a fresh breeze.

This is Alpine Mint's rival in my shower when it comes to an early morning rise. I'll choose one or the other depending on the day, but they always get me going.

- - -

Alpine Mint & Uplift vegan soaps are handmade in small batches with moisturizing **shea butter and fine essential oils. Each bar is hand cut, and wrapped in custom packaging.

*certified organic, **organic
100% vegan . all natural
No fragrances or artificial colors . No parabens or petrochemicals

2011-05-06T00:12:00.000-07:00

These shea butter soaps are energizing blends & an aromatic spring ride, launching you into summer. There's sun to catch & mountains to explore!

I've been wrapping and writing up some new soaps that are just about ready to come off the curing rack. I made them when spring was in it's early days and spring was in the air all around us here in Olympia. I'm posting pictures of a few of the ones that haven't been wrapped yet. The others are already wrapped and labeled.

I live by the coast, the bay is about 6 blocks away, and early mornings have a place in my nose. The following soaps were inspired by this and the key notes in the following blends are uplifting, invigorating, optimistic and above all very pleasant. I worked a lot with organic herbs and spices for color, and some amazing french and australian clays too. I think the clays have taken these up a notch, producing an elegant, great smelling, clean and skin attentive bar soap. I've included some of the names and the top notes/top essential oils in each. This is only a partial list! And there isn't a single one that I don't like. It was a very successful Spring blending spree.

* French Lavender & May Chang
* Bergamot & Sage
* Blue Eucalyptus & Red Mandarin
* Lemongrass & Fresh Ginger
* Lime, Lavender & Rosemary
* Pinky Sage - Pink Grapefruit & Clary Sage
* Lavender Fields - Lavender & Lemongrass
* Soul Searcher - Bergamot & Black Pepper
* Orange Velvet - Sweet Orange, Palmarosa, Lavender
* Alpine Mint - Peppermint, Lime & Lavender

Next, here are a few that are more spicy, woodsy, deep and warm. These blends are potent enough to linger on your skin and are a delight to smell on one another. The following blends are ones that I associate more with long summer hikes in the upper altitudes (although not too high) where the pine and cedar and dry grass mingle in the air.

* Great Heart - Patchouli, Rosewood & Cedarwood
* Orange & Cedar - Bitter Orange & 3 Cedarwoods
* Cabin - Grapefruit & Cistus
* Black Spruce & Spice - Black Spruce, Cinnamon, Allspice
* Clove & Oats
* Black Spruce & Grand Fir

I know I rarely carry the same blend twice, but there are many in this new set that I so want to be regulars. I love them and others seem to too. I also have a few new ideas to add, one of which is a Bay soap for all the gents who request it and a vegan version of Oats, Milk & Honey for the women who ask me for it.

The west side Olympia coop will be carrying 3 soaps, and I haven't decided if they will be the same every time or if they will vary. I'll have to get some feedback on that. I'll be asking around at the summer markets.

2010-07-21T23:49:00.001-07:00

postholing my way through css on the fab site. m.a.k.i.n.g. s.l.o.w. progress, but i've got some very nice blends curing up in soaps right now and have a bit of time to fuss with. keep mixing art with business on the site design and have to reign in my ideas a bit. can't wait to have real studio time again though.

current favorite bar is a complex woods blend with no patchouli, i know some people love patch and i get requests for straight patch or patch/sandalwood, but it sticks to me too strong and i have a hard time making them because it is sooo clingy.

this new bar is strong, dry, woody, musky with vanilla and a lingering floral fruit note. cedarwood, cypress, spruce and a few others as anchors to a subtle citrus blend. wow, it's good. cedarwood can be musky, but the cypress really dries it up and the spruce give it a tiny green tree boost. neither of those essential oils are as rudely overbearing as patch can be, they dry down (linger and fade) much more gracefully and make a nicer after shower/bath experience, IMHO.

my favorite grapefruit essential oil is nearly out and i just know i'll have to go the sample route to find another as good.

Getting in the mood for Spring

2010-03-21T16:27:00.000-07:00

Spring. It means the sun will be here soon. I've got dandelions blossoming, the camellia, grape hyacinths, the heather and so many more with buds on them. The frogs across the way are out in the hundreds and yesterday a bumble bee made its way around the yard.

While basking in a bit of sun and having lunch, I got the urge to work on some simple citrus blends. Lemon, Bergamot, Sweet Orange, Mandarin, Tangerine, Lime, Lemongrass all became utterly perfect, each on their own. I don't want to mask their citrusy notes in a musk or a floral. I only want them, as pure as possible to fill my nose, my shower, my life.

A new Lemon bar test batch uses a sweet, tart, juicy smelling Italian Lemon essential oil. The right combination of shea butter and hemp oils gives this bar my favorite kind of lather, tons of bubbles and creaminess.

Then there is Lavender. I enjoy Lavender blends, and the French or Bulgarian Lavender types are so lovely. They blend smoothly with the citruses and most woods. But they are also just perfect on their own.

Finally the woods, Patchouli, Cedarwood, Rosewood, Sandalwood and Vetiver. Does Patchouli make you think of spring? It might to those who are near you.

With a market in the near future I can hardly wait to show off the simplicity of citruses, the purity of lavenders and because I can't resist, perfect blends of both. Of all the wood essential oils, I prefer Patchouli and Rosewood in their own bars. Others must be blended, but blended with other woods and there's a special heaven for you.

Getting some of the details 'nailed'

2010-01-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

This is my month for expanding and re-arranging the work area. As soap production has increased, the need for space is in high demand and I find myself drooling abit over the storage and display ideas at The Container Store (online). I'm drawn to style, color and mood. But I'm limited by the distance you can throw a dollar these days. So, I've got nice plywood, I have a garage with some tools setup (circular saw, joiner, router etc etc) that are about to earn their keep. I'm near several paint stores and I have time. I am also anxious to finalize a couple of products that are in a slow, patient development phase, with a staggered spring and summer release schedule, so shelving, enclosed storage and a new longer table surface is absolutely necessary.

My list:
One long table, 6x3 1" plywood and 1/4" hardboard topper.
2x4x6 shelving unit, thick plywood, with a dozen coats of hard paint
2x4x6 cabinet, curing rack with room for a dehumidifier (damp humid northwest winter means soaps take a minimum of 4+ weeks to cure, but a dehumidifier can make that a bit less).

That's not all I want/need, but it is the miminum I can add to my current shop to speed up the processes and improve my available spaces.

Now for the office/workshop.
Tools and supplies for single tasks must be more efficiently grouped together. And there must always be enough work area for the task at hand. To help organise my soap wrapping and storage station I'll have to invest in more lidded/hinged storage boxes. Because I will be presenting my soaps to potential clients in those boxes it is important for them to be well-sized, decorated and easy to view. Thus The Container Store gives me ideas, oh, and I can actually drive to one to see items or pick them up.

I've been prepping labels, logos, wrapping bands and shipping boxes, and most supplies are already at hand but not all of them have a 'put-away-place' when I am done with them. Most do, but not all. And so it begins, the bitter sweet process of arranging supplies and tools more tightly and efficiently, where they can be got to easily (and even more importantly put away quickly). Getting rid of the items that don't see much use.

My computer, which does everything, also serves as the entertainment center and the cajoler. With a bit of pleasant or raucous noise, most tasks are undertaken without too much complaint. I've got some great Mongolian Classical music and some Irish Ballads throw in some beethoven, some banjo, some good audio collage and trancy stuff.... and i'm good to go for hours.

Pictures don't smell.

2009-11-29T00:25:00.000-08:00

I've been taking pictures of soap. Every bar looks delicious and the nose agrees that they smell divine, but the camera is an unimaginative tool. It sees without smell and is woefully limited to the nearest light on hand.

Sweet Orange, Mandarin, Lavender, Rosemary, Cinnamon and Patchouli, Grapefruit, Petitgrain and Lime are all waiting on the photo platform. So, this weekend is DEVOTED to pictures of soap.

My eyes can capture the creamy tones of patchouli, the warm yellows and oranges of the citruses and the cool pale green of the rosemary and lavenders. How will the camera see it?

Fall Soaps are curing, I can't stop sniffing them.

2009-11-10T11:01:00.000-08:00

November is busy.
I have several holiday and seasonal blends curing on the rack. A scrumptious cocoa absolute is on it's way to me and will be blended with a sweet organically grown Washington State Peppermint essential oil. Washington State has some of THE best peppermint around. This is one of my personal all-time favorite scents and I may be hoarding it all for myself. We'll see how generous I feel at the end of the month.

Until then, my delicious Patchouli-Citrus has been disappearing rapidly. It's a real sniffer. Juicey, honey, sweet and spicey, swirled with sandalwood bark powder. I'm trying to find time to get it up on FernandBerry at Artfire.

A brand new batch of soap is curing on the rack right now. This latest blend is a keeper with cinnamon, patchouli, and sandalwood essential oils at the heart of it. It is becoming a deep, sweet and spicey scent. This is a bar of soap that you will return to over and over again to sniff.

I'm making soap in small batches scented with essential oils. Each batch contains organic and wildcrafted, oils and herbs, my small way of supporting and promoting environmentally responsible farming and harvesting practises. I have many favorite organic oils for soaps, but it's Shea Butter and Hemp that make soap a real pleasure to use. Not only does your skin and hair love them, they make a creamy lather like nobody's business. There is no doubt, they'll be at the heart of my body butter and lip balms too because they treat your skin like royalty. My favorite herbs are also included, lending their color, texture and general good nature to each bar. At the top of my list? Well, it's actually a long list, but you'll see them in the soap I make.

I choose my ingredients conscientiously. I feel good about what I make, and what I make is darn good for you too!

Soy wax candles, jars, tins, found containers? or the pillars/tapers?

2009-10-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

What kind of container should I use for my candles? Jars, tins, tumblers, cups. There is a baffling variety of shapes, sizes and prices. Prices translate into retail cost. Can the containers be recycled? Well, sure they can. Do you mean can you put them in your recycling bin or can I reuse them. Probably both.

It is unlikely and impractical to have customers mail containers back. The shipping, the cost of gas far outweighs the actual cost of the jar. Local customers can bring them back for a refill, and the remaining wax will be cleared from the container, no real biggie. The savings could be considerable, depending on the type of container, or it might also be less than $1. Is that an enticing savings?

This leads me to wonder if the stand alone candles, pillars and tapers, aren't a better solution. A stand alone candle requires more setup, time and equipment to make, but the packaging is significantly reduced. They have to sit on a stabilizing dish that will capture any wax drippings. The pillar and taper candles don't have the scent punch and throw that the container ones do, but there is nothing quite like the flickering flame of a taper candle in the evening. On the other hand, container candles have awesome scent throw (how far away the scent spreads from the candle). As it burns, a melt pool forms on it's surface and your room will be filled with the delicious scent. Pillar and taper waxes are harder than container candle wax. Standing tall, they burn longer and slower, dripping the melted wax down their sides. Although the scent isn't nearly as strong, pillar and taper candles take on their own decorative qualities, with each burn they become more sculptural and have an everchanging form.

What's a small business to do? Fern & Berry has a dilemna. Which one to start with? I'm testing the containers, but I miss the elegance of pillars and tapers. Can a container candle be elegant? I hope so.

Essential Oils in Diffusers?

2009-10-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

Diffusers are a great way to bring fun scents into a room without flame or heat or smoke. They rely on bamboo reeds to wick up a scent in a bottle, and thus diffuse that scent into the air. It is common practice to use fragrance oils and not essential oils.
In conversations, I've learned that there is considerable confusion about scents, perpetuated in part, because many of the names given to diffusers are those of essential oils, and can lead the unknowing into believing that they are essential oils when they are almost always not.
There are some very good reasons why essential oils aren't used, and some compelling ones for why they are used.

Why it is nice to have essential oils in a diffuser:

Fragrance oils cannot replicate the smell of most essential oils, at best they simulate and sometimes they just offend.
Essential oils are often inhaled for aromatherapy purposes and fragrance oils cannot be substituted for those purposes.
It is possible, in theory, that the environmental impact is less, but there are a lot of factors involved and I haven't seen any studies on this.

Why it's not easy to find essential oils in a diffuser:

Essential oils are prohibitively expensive in the quantities necessary to be sufficiently strong in a diffuser.
Essential oils can have aromatherapy effects that should only be experienced for a limited duration of time, so as not to desensitize you to it's beneficial effects.
Essential oils aren't designed to have the "throw" that fragrance oils have, that is, their scents do not spread far from their source.

Fern & Berry will be offering 4 essential oil diffusers in December 2009. We're working pretty hard to come up with an affordable range of delicious essential oil blends that have a great throw in a medium sized room. If your rooms are larger, just put a couple of them in it, spaced apart.
The essential oil blends have at their heart:
    1.    Patchouli, Citrus eos
    2.    Ginger, Grapefruit, Herbal eos
    3.    Lavender
    4.    Cedarwood, Wood eos

All of our other diffusers are made from Pthalate free fragrance oils. Our diffuser scents range all over the available range of fragrance oils, from food and dessert, to floral, cozy, airy, dreamy and perfumey. Our custom blends are so this season, they have me inhaling deeply in every corner of the house. And maybe it's the time of year, but the spicy, woody scents keep me from working. I curl up with a book or a movie and inhale the delicious scents of the fall holidays.

Herbal Infusions for color, fun and feel.

2009-10-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

I've just spent the last week making a range of natural colors for Fern & Berry's upcoming line of organic and vegan soaps. Each color is the result of steeping an herb in extra virgin olive oil for several hours over low heat. Such herbal infusions make a wide range of natural colors, colors that are unique to each plant and will vary from batch to batch of herbs used. I've discovered (but NOT in the "no one has done it before" way) that some herbs feel especially nice on my skin, and seem to add something to the soap that wasn't there before. A something wonderful.

An oil infusion is far more simple than it sounds. We use only dried herbs, rather than fresh picked ones. This is to avoid moisture from becoming trapped in our oils. For each infusion we start with extra virgin olive oil warmed gently and slowly in a temperature and time controlled pot. Then we add our dried herbs. The color and possible benefits desired will dictate the herb to oil ratio. Then we allow the herbs to steep in the oil for anywhere from 4-8 hours, on a very low heat. It is important not to overheat the oils or the herbs.

Infusions for soap take a beating. Once they are added to the soap mixture they are vulnerable to the hydroxide potassium, aka lye, used to saponify the oils (lye really is THE only way to make soap, melt and pour bases with glycerin have all benefited from the saponification process somewhere along the way, because glycerin comes from the saponification of oils!). Reputed benefits of certain herbs are likely greatly reduced after their exposure to the soapmaking process, but I know how great a soap feels with some of my favorite infusions and I'll continue using them for that reason alone.

Fern & Berry has one favorite supplier that we trust to help us fullful our two primary goals when sourcing herbs for our herbal infusions. Our goals focus on quality, environmental responsibility and supporting conscientious producers.

They are dried, fresh and preferably certified organic, herbs. Otherwise we will choose wildcrafted or organically grown. Our supplier is extremely reliable because of their due diligence.
They are local or locally supplied. By local we mean, from our state and the immediate ones nearby (Oregon, Idaho), by locally supplied we mean the supplier may carry herbs that are local to them, but not so local to us. And if we use herbs that aren't native to our area or even this country, we know they acquire them in a socially responsible way. With that in mind, most of the herbs we use are from West Coast producers and our primary supplier is less than a 4 hours drive from us.

We like our supplier and we trust them. They are diligent about what herbs they carry, and they understand what organic means and who is following it. They also understand, as do we, that USDA certified organic is not always enough. The certification is too costly for many producers and certification does not guarantee that clearcutting won't happen for crops, or that a wild grown plant population won't be decimated for profit. We love this approach. We also love that they let us know what plants are endangered, informing buyers to use certain plants conscientiously.

Fern & Berry's Bar and Liquid Soaps will sport the natural colors from our very own infusions of herbs, barks, roots, spices and clays.

Recycle your packaging.

2009-03-05T23:26:00.000-08:00

This is important. Recycling. Either reusing packaging or putting it in the appropriate recycling receptacle.

But what about just eliminating packaging?
Can't. It is required by law that products be labelled, and that those labels have a lot of pertinent and important information printed on them for the buyer. Those labels have to accompany the product being sold, they have to be readable and legible. That means Fern & Berry will always have to include some kind of packaging with it's products. That kind of sucks when you know it will just get tossed in the garbage.

In an effort to 'deal' with this problem, Fern & Berry has a goal of offering refills for certain products like shampoos, liquid soaps and more. It will be possible to buy a 'log' of bar soap as well. Although the refill items will also be packaged, the packaging will be reduced overall.

These are simple steps to take. If we were operating out of a store front it would be possible to take in used packaging and make sure it it properly recycled. It might even be possible to allow people to bring in their own containers to refill. But so long as shopping it done over the internet, there are some things that cannot change.

Someday I want to talk about green. Green power, green ink, green with envy, green paper, soylent green, the Green Movement, what it means when we say we are green or going green or supporting green or green shopping.

Later, though.

-- Fern & Berry started as leapofbliss, but I fell in love with this new name and will be doing business as Fern & Berry. Woohooo! It's a business!

Is Amber vegan?

2009-03-03T14:09:00.000-08:00

But wait. What is Amber?

There is no single plant origin for the substance that is amber. Amber is the fossilized resin produced by a variety of trees.

Technically? The "resin is the semi-solid amorphous organic substance secreted in pockets and canals through epithelial cells of the plant" wikipedia.

How does tree resin become amber?

the resin is subjected to pressure and heat to become copal.
The copal is then transformed into Amber as the turpenes evaporate.

So, what is this amber resin, amber crystallized essence, amber oil you see for sale?
These are the fragrant products created from tree resin blends and used in perfumery. Not the fossilized amber resin that is used in jewelry, for carving of objects, or as a collectible. Amber resin is how formulaters refer to their own proprietary blends. Thus, all amber resins are NOT alike.

Amber resins vary widely in scent, they may contain precious essentail oils, a mix of tree resins, gums and beeswax. Other ingredients might be musk (animal, possibly synthetic), plant absolutes or powders. This is most certainly an overly simplified list of possible ingredients.

And my answer is:

Resin is vegan,
Amber is vegan,
Amber Resin could be vegan but is probably not.

This post is part of an ongoing pursuit.

An update - March 04 2009.
One of my suppliers replied to my inquiry about a vegan amber. Their amber is not vegan, although they stressed that it is in a 1:100 ratio. This is .01% beeswax to 99.9% resins, essential oils, and other important ingredients.

Another supplier, who has been importing since 1985 from a fourth generation family recipe, has informed me that their amber has beeswax in it and they cannot point me to any other possible sources.

I'm getting worried. Their amber is delicious smelling, what if a vegan amber does NOT exist?!

-- Fern & Berry started as leapofbliss, but I fell in love with this new name and will be doing business as Fern & Berry. Woohooo! It's a business!

Vegan body care, a lifestyle opportunity

2009-03-01T23:23:00.000-08:00

To be a Vegan, there is a basic philosophy to follow. It is a way of eating and living that excludes the use of animal products in food or other products. It can also be extended to include the products of insects such as honey or carmine dye (just two examples). I won't go into great detail here, there are hundreds of fine websites that provide the basics and the nitty gritty behind a vegan lifestyle and philosophy.

Traditionally, animal products were themselves used directly as body care (butter on chapped hands, lard soap, deer fat as hair care, etc). The use of animal ingredients in body care products has resulted in many reliable recipes with great benefits to the skin. Plant oils and plant butters also have a very long history of use in body care among communities throughout the world. Some more familiar examples of regionally produced and used plant oils are olive oil, shea butter, kukui nut oil, palm kernel oil, coconut oil (these are but a few in a very long list of amazing oils commonly available now).

The ready availability of a huge variety of plant oils has been a great boon to the vegan community (and the fast food industry and the medical industry...) in the US. It is no great feat to make a simple vegan recipe that will not contain milk products, lard or lanolin, honey, silk, eggs, etc. It is an awesome feat to make a great vegan recipe. That recipe requires knowledge of the many plant oils available today and how they may be combined. It requires the dedication of months (years) of time and testing to create a reliable recipe with it's own unique (and often much more remarkeable) benefits to the skin. Another sign of a great recipe is the use of essential oils, herbal additives and colorants, and beneficial minerals and clays. But perhaps one of the most important steps in formulating a vegan recipe is the need for trustworthy suppliers who are passionate about what they carry. Passionate enough to monitor the quality, providence and reliability of their own products. Such a supplier is a crucial ingredient in product formulation, it's one you can trust.

A primary goal for Fern & Berry is to create great vegan products. Products that will prove themselves with repeated use, through time and history (and across the known galaxy!), to be one of THE most contemporary, healthy and safe lifestyle opportunities for everyone.