Obviously, I have not been blogging. I enjoy blogging but I have not had time. Between school starting, trying to make products, running the B&B and about fifty million other things, let’s just say that life has gotten in the way!

The kitchen renovation has taken up a great deal of time. I honestly thought that you took out the old cabinets and then just put in the new ones. Well, not in this old house! The wall had to be rebuilt so the cabinets would hang properly. The electrical had to be redone. The flooring has yet to be fixed and the penninsula (sp) has to be taken out and reinstalled because it’s not plum and level. It works but not correctly. The mixer lift doesn’t work at all because nothing is level! So, on it goes. It’s wreath season so I’ve been working on those orders too. Something had to give and blogging was just one of several things that had to change. The kitchen is coming along but it’s going to be a slow process. But I figure if I can make breakfast with a blue tarp for a wall and no counters, I can certainly manage at this point.

Anyway, I have 2 shows coming up in the next 2 weekends. It’s all fun and very exciting but it all takes time. I did want to at least make an attempt at doing something, which is better than nothing. I’m also struggling to help my husband by building his new website. Yup, it’s a lot. For the most part, I really love all of it too.  I’m putting some pictures in so you can see what has been going on.

So, it’s been several weeks of seek and find! Now most of the things have a place. It’s still going to take more time to finish everything. It’s very exciting to have a new kitchen. I just had no idea the length of time it would take or what kinds of things were going to happen in the process. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss and this would be one of those!

We have a couple of new handmade coffee tote bags that we’ve added to our shop. I’m going to show a few extra pictures here so that if you’d like to purchase them you’ll have a few more details to look at. Both sides of each of our bags are different and each has a different lining.

The second bag has a calico lining and navy blue straps. As you can see, each side is different. These bagas measure 14×16 and have a 6 inch side panel.

There will be more bags coming as soon as there is enough time to make more.  Right now we have 3 available in our store. There are 5 or 6 at Nature’s Storehouse in Canton as well.

We are taking orders for our Balsam Wreaths and will begin shipping November 25th. We’ll take orders until Dec. 10th. We ship our wreaths and we can include a gift card for you if you let us know when you place your order that you’d like one.

I began making wreaths nearly 30 years ago. It was just a few weeks before Christmas when my children were small and I found out that I had overdrawn my checking account quite by accident. I was a stay at home mom and taught piano lessons but there was no way to make up that mistake AND be able to purchase Christmas gifts so….I went down to the local floral place and purchased some tree bows, wire,wire rounds and ribbon. I found some old pieces of ply wood and propped them up against the mail box on either side and wrote ” For Sale”. I banged 2 nails in each side of the plywood and began wrapping greens on the front porch while the kids were napping. I vowed that if I could somehow manage to get through I would always make wreaths. And, here I am,still making wreaths. Needless to say, I sold the wreaths and I sold so many that I had to keep running back for more greens. That year I began to establish what would be my customer base.

Since then, I became a teacher, moved from Connecticut to New York, began teaching and eventually opened the bed and breakfast  and started the gift shop. My children are grown and on their own but each year I continue to make wreaths. I look forward to making them each year. I just love how excited my customers are when they get they get their wreaths. I love the smell of the balsam, the time in the woods gathering greens and just being outside.

Our wreaths and our wreath page will be coming soon and we’ll begin taking orders so check back in a few days. We look forward to another wreath season and more happy customers!

We are going to have free shipping on all of our soaps through the holiday season. If this works well, we will continue having free shipping on all soaps.

Turkey Guest Soap

Green Tea and Cucumber Olive Oil Soap

More soaps being loaded onto our website daily. Check back to see what new

soaps we have added to our site. All at free shipping!

We are introducing our new specialty candle tins. Each tin is made with a specailly designed cover so when you’ve used the candle, you can upcycle the container. These are the first we’ve made and we have more coming soon! These are Very Merry Cranberry.

These are two of our new covers. In the Very Merry Cranberry, there are 4 different covers. We also have four different covers in our Autumn Wreath Scented Candle. Check back, when the internet is working again and I can upload pictures, I’ll happily put all of them into this blog. Right now, nothing is working correctly and I’m not able to put any more photos here. As soon as the problem is solved, I will post the rest of the pictures. You can see them in our online store in the candle section.

I thought it would be a good idea if I shared some of the new soaps I’m making. Very exciting stuff! I just love working on them. Later today I’ll be trying some totally new stuff which I will share, whether they work or not. Right now I’d like to just show you some of the things I’ve been working on.

Moose Soap on a Wooden Soap Holder

This soap is all natural goat milk. The colors are natural as well. The fragrance is warm vanilla sugar. The background has sparkle in it. I’m thinking for some it may be too much sparkle. This is what happens when you put too much brown in your soap and have to try to lighten it up without wasting it. It is very pretty but I’m not so sure that it’s the best way to do this.  All of my first animal or wildlife soaps are this way.

Bear Soap

Buffalo Soap

This could also be a bison depending on your point of view. At any rate, these are what I’m calling my animal wildlife soaps. I have made more of them and have decided that using oatmeal soap makes a nice background color.

Here are some of the others with more new soaps coming up soon.

Turkey Guest Soap

So these are some of the things I’ve been working on. I hope you’ve enjoyed seeing them. Some are in my online shop and some aren’t there yet. Gradually, all of them will be in the online shop.

I have not been blogging. Blogging is something I really enjoy but time has not been my friend at all lately. August was extremely busy with the B&B which I’m very happy about. School has begun and the start is always draining. It takes a while to adjust to the schedule etc.

I did want to take a moment to let everyone know that I’m introducing organic soaps to our soap line and that they will be made with organic essential oils for fragrances. I’m very excited about these and will be posting pictures and more information in the very near future.

We have several new soaps to introduce as well, just in time for the fall and upcoming holiday season so look for these in the very near future.

Handmade Coffee Tote Bag

Handmade Coffee Tote Bag

Handmade Coffee Tote Bag

I’ve been making these coffee bags from the burlap bags that the green coffee beans come in. Each one is different in some way. The lining, the handles, the bag, are all unique in one way or another. The listings in my online shop won’t show all of the details of the bags so I decided to put them in my blog. I currently have eight different bags for sale in my online shop. Most of them are listed. If you see something you’d like but need more detail you can check my blog or send me an email and I’ll be happy to give more details and pictures.  In the meantime, I’m going to continue to feature the different bags in my blog so my customers can see the inside and outside of each bag. This bag has plain burlap side panels. These bags are great at the grocery store, farmer’s market, for work, to carry books or any time you need to carry a lot of stuff! I use mine constantly. 14″H,16″W with a 6″ side panel.

The Breakfast Bistro

This is what we fondly call the breakfast bistro. Although we don’t usually serve guests here, we like to enjoy breakfast outside from time to time. The bistro has a new umbrella! This morning we’ll have our breakfast there. Our guests will have theirs in the dining room watching the humming birds. Outside breakfast is an option but usually our guests sit in the adirondack chairs in the pergola or have afternoon coffee at the bistro. There isn’t a lot of seating or extra room for food but both are in our future plans.

While enjoying dinner at the bistro last night, we couldn’t help but notice the humming birds. Fiesty little characters! No matter how many feeders or how much food, they fight over both. Amazingly fierce little birds and very territorial. We never tire from watching there acrobatics as they interact with eachother and feed at the feeders and various flowers here at North Fork B&B.

Humming Birds

Humming Birds in the early morning at North Fork B&B

This time of year is also a great time for the gardens. Our memory garden has really taken off and is looking very nice. We plan to be working on a new garden at the front of the house this week. We’ve been under construction as we’ve taken off the front porch. This has kept us pretty busy. Hopefully this week we’ll complete the new garden. It will be a while before we can stain the new siding but we’re hoping to get the done by early September.

The Memory Garden

New Coffee Tote Bags in the gift shop

I’ve been pretty busy with the B&B but in between times I made nine new tote bags from authentic burlap coffee bags making a unique tote bag, shown hanging in my gift shop. These tote bags can be carried over the shoulder or just by their handles. They are great for work because they hold so much. Each is lined with fabric. These are eco friendly as they are upcycled. They are also “one of a kind” which makes a unique handmade item. We have lots of soy votive candles, locally made fudge sauces, local maple syrup and maple candy, placemats, handmade soap, lotions, sugar scrubs and even strawberry jam! We make a variety of gift baskets and our customers can create their own basket if they wish. We also have Jonathan’s Spoons which I hope to get into the shop online for purchase through our online store.

Tonight I’m hoping to get out to the shop to finish the bath teas. I’ll be putting together some bath tea sets in the near future so be sure to check back. There are some completely new items I’m working on as well but they are a surprise.

Today most of my time was spent working in the yard, mowing. I’m also gearing up for the second week of August when I plan to transplant perennials and day lilys. Today I went over to my mom’s and we marked all of the day lily’s I’d like to transplant. I’ve been planning just how I’d like to orchestrate this. Usually I don’t plan at all I just get plants and put them in where ever how ever. They always look nice but this time I really want to accomplish my vision and that is going to take planning!

Our Coffee Totes are available for $30 with free shipping. I hope to have them in our online store this evening barring any unforeseen difficulties that is. Here are some other pictures of the shop and the totes.