A few more things from the garden

Trying to stay on top of the garden harvesting while maintaining product for the weekend market...

Love these baskets!! So Red Riding Hood

Radish from the greenhouse

Beet greens

Green Onions from the side of the house

You may recall that I had a few extra of each bulb after the first onion planting so I put them just off the deck on the side of the house close to a part of the side garden which won't grow anything... voila! 

 I ran out of Pickled Beets (among others) at the market and when refilling my market container I realized I'm almost out completely... so I contacted the woman who made them last year... she won't be doing them again this year.....

So rather than sod about - I am switching them out. I have Rhubarb in Betty as I type and expect that to finish in the next hour or so as well as a batch of sliced Oranges waiting to go in this am because I also want to replace the Tomatoes w/ Italian Seasoning as they don't sell very well. 

Great day at the local market's first day

I had a great day at the market yesterday, the island's north end farmer's market runs from 10-2 on Saturdays with most of the custom done in the first 2 hours. Throughout the 4 hours I sold 20 items and actually had to have Brad bring me more stock. For reference that means I earned over half the price of the stall spot for the entire summer in 1 day, so I am thrilled with that.

Freeze Dried Foodie stand

If you recall during the winter I was doing the pop up market on the corner by the local grocers. The woman who runs the island's south end market approached me to go there today (its only Sundays). Drop ins are $20 but the south market is much more vibrant than the north... The north is very quiet while the south has music playing, a food truck and a much more vibrant vibe. I will see how today goes and I may pay for the summer down there also. 

I do have to be careful though because I don't want this to become overwhelming. As it is I only have 2 liver (dog treats) left so I'll be spending the week doing up more liver, strawberry and banana and I haven't done the south end yet. I don't want to over burden myself and/or make this a fulltime job.

In any event, I'm very pleased with how the north end market went for a first time showing. I had a few 'regular' customers from the local online market pop by which was nice and I suspect more of them will be in the south end too.

Stacey came by and sat with me yesterday for a couple of hours, bless her pointy little head (its not really pointy - for the record) and that helped ease the nerves and helped pass the time for sure. She may come today also but I suspect she'll be worn out since she biked up to the market yesterday.

I have not purchased a canopy yet, I wanted to see if people would buy the stuff first, so one of the guys brought me a spare which was much appreciated. Highly doubt I shall be so lucky at today's market so my cutie patutie hat will have to do. I'll pack an umbrella too - just in case that'll help somehow.

This past week

I have now begun a powder line for smoothies, soups, dessert toppings, etc.. So far I have apple and asparagus completed. We are calling the line Dust.

Apple Dust

Asparagus Dust

Brad made another batch of Beef Stroganoff to feed Betty

We were invited for a walk along the waterfront with Stacey and her husband Jon

(she knows about the coat, we've all told her. LOL)

On our walk we came across our friend Jim (left) 

My favourite part about this island is this: Often times when it is dark and gloomy everywhere, this island - Entrance Island, is lit up brightly by the sun illuminating the sharp white buildings with their red roofs.

This past Saturday I was invited to join the popup market again and I was able to use my new banner, although I need a larger table, for sure.

My two favourite boys looking for a noise Robbie was sure he heard, Daddy is being supportive.

We took Robbie to the vet again yesterday (Tuesday) for his 2nd in a series of 4 arthritis shots. He is noticeably feeling better, she will not weigh him again until the month is up because she says weekly weighing can be depressing. I hear that.

Tomorrow (Thursday) I am off to Nanaimo for MY massage - I know, right?!. So excited for that although my back is so tight I'm not sure she'll even be able to touch it but we'll see how it goes.

...And the New Year begins.

Nothing has really been happening here so far this year. Other than Pickleball has returned from the holidays. We are only allowed to play singles which means one person per side of the court instead of the usual 2 per side. We are all happy to make that work but I think I speak for all of us when I say we want 'normal' back.

The local online market shop reopened on New Years Eve and I received 2 orders that night. I've been averaging an order a day since then so I'm happy with that since I was sure Jan/Feb would be a wash after Christmas but it seems word of my product is spreading. Asparagus and Brussels are still the hot ticket items with Rainbow Chunks (salt water taffy) coming in 3rd but only because there is a woman on the island who is addicted - she buys so many I have created a special discount for her so if she gets 5 she gets 1 free. 

We've finally begun making powders, which we call Dust. So far I have made Apple Dust and Asparagus Dust with Kale coming online shortly. These are powder for use in soups, on deserts, smoothies and the like. Most people will use the vegetable powders for smoothies I assume but then I wasn't expecting Asparagus and Brussel Sprouts to be such a hit so you never can tell.

I've been online sorting through seed options for our garden and have a load waiting in my 'shopping cart' that I need to review and purchase. We also want to get a hot house (greenhouse) and I've chosen one on Amazon but I think we'll take a look at Costco because I hate buying expensive stuff on Amazon although I have done that without any trouble in the past..

Robbie has been having some issues with his hind legs so we are off to the puppy Dr this morning to have him checked out.

What happened to December?

My Mother-in-law rang yesterday and noted that she keeps checking the blog for an update but I haven't posted anything for a week. Having had my hand slapped - here I am, posting.

In looking back at pics to see where I left off I realized I haven't posted any for all of December! My Dec picture folder is (was) empty... I have taken plenty of pics but haven't uploaded them to the laptop so I have now corrected that and here is December in short form.

I asked my Daughter-in-law what the kids favourite cereals are. I thought they would find it cool to get their morning cereal in FD form.

One Granddaughter likes Fruit Loops, the other Granddaughter and our Grandson both like Krave which I had never heard of before, but its tasty (I tried a few pieces) with chocolate in the center.

Lined up on the trays and ready to freeze

'

Once frozen it was off to Betty's belly

Freeze Dried Krave cereal

Packaged up and ready for Santa's bag

I did up some Xmas advertising photos

Made a Candy Gift Basket (3 -all sold)

A few times I have seen a few people flogging their wares on the corner by the grocers, so I popped by to say hi and ask if I could join them. I was invited to come that very day, so I did. A very quick grab of whatever I might need and off I went. Today (yes, its every Saturday without rain or other bad weather) I have a banner which will change the look of things quite dramatically I think. I haven't tried it yet but I guess I will have to do that before I go and make a fool of myself on the street corner ;)

My quickie setup at the pop-up market last week

There are about 6 turkeys that live wild around the market, they are treasured island birds.

My new pop-up friend Megan trying to sneak up and take a picture of them.

One night we decided to try some of our FD'd Beef Stroganoff, I enjoyed it which is weird because I do not like Beef Stroganoff usually. Brad is a good cook, let me tell ya.

Brad had given some of his Beef Stroganoff to his massage therapist to try as her husband is a hunter and is familiar with FD food (Mountain House and the like). So they made both and compared the two. Apparently, there was no contest. Brad's was far superior to the commercial version, as one might expect.

Fruits, yes Tomatoes are a fruit so I put them there with the Banana and Apple since I only have those 2 fruits ready ;) Although Strawberries are in there now.

Asparagus, Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Pickled Beets

Rainbow Chunks, Unicorn Poop and Reindeer Poop

I've been crazy busy just trying to keep up with orders. I am currently at the point of making mass amounts of 1 thing each time instead of a bit of this and a bit of that so I guess that is progress.

I created a FaceBook ad yesterday on a Salt Spring page - of Candy- and 1 person enquired about Strawberries, I said they were in the machine currently and now have 3 people who are waiting for Strawberries, one also wants a few candies too. So it looks like I'll be on the hunt for some more Strawberries and taking a trip down to Salt Spring again very soon.

Well that is December in pictures. Mostly just making product, selling product, eating product.... 

I may have to stop advertising as I can see it has potential to soon be too much and I'm not (right now, anyway) interested in it becoming a 'thing'... although Brad did try to order a second machine a couple of weeks ago - I stopped him, at least for now but we shall see. They hold their value anyway, so if we were to get one and not need it later on, we won't lose anything. I just think we need to build it a bit first, its actually only been 2 weeks as a 'live' business..... although it seems like forever.

Here is the banner on the table, a bit wonky but I'll work on it.

I bought a stand for the shower yesterday but the shower floor has too much slope - so I shall use it on the table so I can add more product as it's a small table and I ran out of room last time.

Most likely will post again Boxing Day, unless something good happens in the meantime.

Still trying to find the right dosage

Since it has been 3 months since my last bloodletting, I dropped by the vampires on Thursday on my way to the ferry as I had a Dentist appt that day as well.

It only took literally 2 minutes (small island, small lab) and I was able to head to the ferry line to await the next ferry, except somehow I was in the line within the 'current load' parameters, I wasn't quite sure if I'd make it on -- but I did, 2nd last. Now I had an extra hour on top of my already extra hour before my Dentist appt. What to do?.... Spend money, of course.

I decided that since we're so close to Xmas, this would be a good opportunity to get my shopping done for His Lordship and Robbie. So I headed off to make the pennies scream... 

I also picked up a few things for gift baskets as I've sold a couple already (someone in Ontario even ordered one as well as a banana bag and spent twice as much shipping it - no it isn't anyone I know).

Friday morning just as Brad was walking out the door to get the ferry to his massage, our Doctor called. Well, that wasn't right since my follow up with him was booked for Monday... 

I knew right away something was off. Sure enough my TSH which should be between 2-5 is reading .001 still. This is the same reason that I was reduced 3 months ago from 125g to 112g, and now he has reduced me again to 100g. I'm thinking I won't wait the full 3 months next time... 2 should suffice to have my body regulate to the new medication level before I get it checked again.

Just a side note here: I write about this stuff more for me than for you guys. I have a terrible memory since my stroke in 2002 and so this is a great way to keep those memories and details easily accessible and it could help someone else who is completely unaware that the thyroid problem is so serious, as it regulates every organ and without it -- well, you die, like I almost did in April.

Enough of that....

So about business... Well, its going great guns. In my first week (Thursday to this past Thursday), I sold about $250 which is pretty good since items are $7-$9 each. And, of all the things I sell I would have thought the candy would be the hot ticket item at Xmas but what has been selling like crazy ---- BRUSSEL SPROUTS! Can you believe that?! I'm out of them already. I have to go to town today and get some more, it was just an item that was in the discount bin as it was expiring so I picked it up thinking it would be something unusual just to have on the list for the odd person... turns out Brussel Sprouts ( and Asparagus) are a popular thing. Who knew.?!

Today, I am trading 4 Unicorn Poop with a local woman who makes Chocolate Bombs and I get 5 of those in the trade... I'd never heard of them but damn do they look good. 

I'm actually thinking about cutting back because my Corporate brain has done it again. I have the Etsy shop, I'm on the local online market and the Salt Spring online market and I also opened a FaceBook site and paid to promote it. So now I'm monitoring to see which one I can close because I refuse to get overwhelmed by this. It is supposed to be something fun I can do as a hobby, not a full blown business. And I ordered a banner so I can set up a table and sell on the road by the shopping area where I have seen others selling their wares - I expect this to arrive early next week.

I am not going to open to the U.S. market, simply because it will just become too much. Should anyone I know wish to purchase, I can make those arrangements. Just contact me through the Etsy Shop

I was contacted by the woman who created the Salt Spring Online Market and asked to participate, I had decided not to participate as it wasn't functional to be going down there on 4 ferries (return trip) to sell 1 $7 item. But then she offered that I could bring a bunch of stuff down to her and she would dole them out as they sell. How could I refuse that? I couldn't. So I drove a bunch of stuff down to her several days ago. Also, another woman there had ordered 2 Unicorn Poop and 2 Reindeer Poop so I delivered that and she took a 3rd Unicorn Poop when she saw them because they looked soooo good. And a friend bought a Brussel Sprout while I was there, so it was a productive trip.

The local market here opens every Thursday and already I have 5 items sold in this weeks rotation, so things are definitely going well on the business front. When it closes late Monday night, I should have several purchases lined up. 

The system is that items are purchased Thursday morning - Monday night. On Tuesday sellers package up the orders and on Wednesday they are delivered to a central location where the market then takes them out for delivery to the buyers. Good system, I must say. Some people have contacted me directly to buy, either because they want the item before the delivery day or they don't want to pay the delivery fee.

Skittles to Unicorn Poop

I thought this was priceless, so...

I give to you

John in Bibs

Etsy shop up and running

I'm still waiting to hear from the local market... sent an email to inquire for status update.... meanwhile... Nevermind, just heard and we're all set up on the local online market too. Yay.

Without a commercial kitchen we are limited to basic foods although I will be inquiring about this because I'd really like to do EggNog bites but it's technically a dairy and homebased are not allowed to do dairy -- except that people sell eggs all the time and that's dairy, so..... it's not like I'm making the EggNog, it will be Dairyland brand or whatever.... but... also we are considering buying a 2nd machine but we'll wait and see how things go first.

We have our Etsy shop set up, it still needs tweaking with the usual foofoo stuff but until then the basic site is operating with items I have ready for sale. There will be plenty more options added in the coming days and weeks so check back often to see what's in store...

Of course, I have a special promo code for my favourite blog readers.... just click here --->>TRLT20 for 20% off.   **Canada Only at the moment, I'm afraid.

Click image to see more

Christmas comes early 2020

In her last blog my friend and distant neighbour Deb from Kastle's Journey posted about filling their home with Christmas cheer early because-- well, it's 2020 and we all need a little extra cheer this year. This post inspired me to do ours as well.. traditionally, I put up Xmas on Dec 1st every year but I think Deb is absolutely right - we all need a little extra cheer this year.

Having moved to this house from living in our RV for 2.5 years, because I made the decorations last year, we needed some stuff so off to Canadian Tire we went and I bought a bunch of decorations and because we had tied the shopping to Brad's massage, I was doing it on Black Friday.... yup, that Friday. I managed -- but someone almost lost a kneecap... ;)

This is the tree we picked up for $10 off of the exchange on Salt Spring Island 1.5 years ago, we used it outdoors last Christmas as you may recall... so it needed a good wash first off. Then a good shake and finally left to drip dry in the corner with the fire on to dry it out. Once dry, I set to work putting it together... turns out, we didn't need more stuff after all and now I have to take some back. I did use the tinsel and garland and I am keeping the nutcrackers and acorns for product pictures but the massive box of ornaments I spent $80 on is going back next massage day (Monday)...

Having purchased a 200 light string to run along the pathway outside I noticed as I was setting them out that they were indoor... yup, it was black friday alright... so crazy I bought the wrong lights, so I strung them up around the windows instead. I think it looks pretty good but this picture doesn't really do it justice.

Back to normal life now:

Pickled beet challenge

I am in the process of making a deal with a local woman famous for her pickled beets to use her product for selling freeze dried, I put her quart of beets on 1 tray and mine on another ( I only processed the one but made 2 several weeks ago). I must say I much prefer the flavour of mine but we shall see what they taste like once they are processed in betty as that can make a big difference.

I am making pictures to use for my online store.

I have submitted the paperwork for the local online shopping store but have yet to hear anything back. I will finish setting up my etsy store in the meantime because as we all know bureaucracy rushes for no one.

I have a decent amount of the candied items prepared now and have begun the vegetables and fruits. I now have 3 different size bags: Small for the Unicorn Poop, Large for Asparagus and Astronaut Ice Cream Bars and Medium for everything else. Naturally, I will have a large option for fruits and veg as well.

Prepping for sales

I haven't had a chance to post anything as I've been super busy getting everything sorted for my foray into the local market scene.

The rules say you have to list the items you wish to sell and provide all ingredients. Well, I didn't know what items I wanted to sell so I have spent the last couple of weeks feeding bits of this and that to Betty to see what I would submit... they tell you to include anything you may do eventually so you do not need to apply later.

And here's me creating samples of tomatoes with seasoning on them to determine which seasoning I will be using so I can provide the ingredient list of same....

After getting a bit cheesed off with it all, I rang the woman in charge today and discovered that NO, in fact, I do not need to do all that. Just to say that I will be doing fruits and vegetables, candy and powders, dog treats and providing the FD as a service- should anyone have a favourite Grandma recipe they want to preserve... or, whatever...

So now having sent that paperwork off to the 'authorities', I now await their verdict of whether or not I shall be accepted in to the local market club. Fingers crossed.

Meanwhile, I have been making batches. I have a good stock now of Unicorn Poop and Rainbow Chunks and now that my list has been finalized (so to speak) I can begin doing the fruits/veg/powders and dog treats.

I had ordered bags which arrived rather small and I then ordered larger bags which arrived rather large so Goldilocks has finally ordered what she hopes will be just right bags and they are expected in the next couple of days. Meanwhile, the small bags are great for 'unicorn poop' and the large ones will be good for 'asparagus' and 'astronaut ice cream', everything else will go into the medium bags. 

Next, I need more labels... hopefully I can get ones that are big enough I can put all the required information on one instead of how the unicorn poop ones turned out and I had to put a second label on the back with the ingredients.

Most of what I will be doing will be just product ie apples with no additional items, but ingredients of pickled beets, seasonings and candies will need to be noted on the packaging.

So this is what I've been doing lately... going rogue but with food.