This Week's Results and Dogs, Dogs Everywhere!

So the farmer's market was definately not as busy as I had expected it would be...but definately better than last week's sales. My thinking on that was that we had to compete with Art in the Park, Daly Days and Brewfest...all going on in Hamilton, with Art in the Park only located less than a block away. So I figured that all those only happen once a year....we're here every weekend. But next week will be a down week. Stevensville is having Creamery Days (yes, I swear there are celebrations going on somewhere every weekend). This is a huge event...from what I have heard...two parades, vendors and the State BBQ Cookoff! There are a lot of vendors not participating in the market so they can participate in Stevi's Creamery Days. So I have decided to scale back my bread baking for this week. Also it was really weird this week I did not sell hardly any german rye (I usually sell out)....I had 4 loaves left. That made John happy though. And my most popular lip butter (cuke melon) from last week was my worst one this week. Musta been the alignment of the stars (haha)!

The Bitterroot Valley is definately a perfect fit for us....they are VERY VERY dog friendly. There are dogs in almost every store you go in...I had to go to ACE today and there were 3 dogs inside the store (all belonging to the owner/workers). And when we went last week to open a business checking account (you tell people to make the check out to me...but some don't listen and make it out to the business name anyway). And it was taking a little while and it was hot....so I asked John if he thought he should go out and check on Daisy....well the teller told us to bring her in....so we did! She laid on the floor in the AC building while we opened the account! She even got treats to boot!

Deal or No Deal?

Definately....NO DEAL. Well, on Thursday we walked on our "offer" to buy our rental properties. Seeing as how we were going to have this guy in our lives for the next 2 years...his actions and poor judgement made us think twice. The two main things that were the deal breakers for us was he was buying the properties without any inspections(not that we would have minded him having any done) and then he goes behind our backs and both realtors back and has his buddy pest inspector inspect the properties. Then (now this was the biggie)....he was supposed to take posession of the properties on August 1. Now, mind you nothing was signed yet.....BUT he went and told OUR tenants to not send us August rent, to just give it to him....WITHOUT consulting us first! The nerve! Now he is demanding in writing why we are rejecting his offer.....duh...think about it. So I told Al (our realtor) on Friday, absolutely not...no way was he getting anything in writing from us...especially since he said we would be hearing from his attorney. I anticipate he will be asking us to at least cover his attorney fees...but I think he could, in the end, owing US money. Because I don't expect August rent from him and there is already damage that he caused that we are aware of...who knows what else could be wrong. So when we called our other two tenants to let them know he would not be buying...they were both relieved. So we have two extremely happy tenants and one extremely ticked off one! So I am thinking we are just going to take them(the properties) off the market for now. Maybe down the road try and sell them again.

Venison and Farmer's Market

It was a slow farmer's market this week. I think it was because there was Logger Days going on in Darby....about 2o min from Hamilton. It is quite a fun and popular event. I really wanted to go, but unfortunately I had to work. Oh, well, there's always next year! This coming week's market should be VERY busy. Not only is it Daly Days, but also Brewfest and Art in the Park. Daly days honors Marcus Daly the copper baron responsible for founding Hamilton. He built a huge mansion in Hamilton for his wife to spend the summers here. However she hated it here (she was used to having all the amenities at her disposal like those found in Chicago and NYC) and only spent two summers here. This past weekend I sold out of all but 1 loaf of bread (marbled rye). I even had one guy ask to buy the loaf that I had cut samples off of! So I sold it to him half price! This weekend I think I am going to make sauerkraut rye!

So I love venison...and have not had any in probably about 12 years or so! So I work with Lori and Gary.....Lori is second in charge (used to be #1 but decided to step down) and Gary is Lori's ex. They also now are temporarily living together. So Gary is a huge outdoorsman and hunts just about everything under the sun! So he (and by default, Lori) have a freezer full of venison. Since Gary doesn't cook (and as Lori has put it her days of cooking for him are over and she can't stand it (venison...and well I suppose cooking for that matter as well), and since hunting season is just around the corner. Lori "suggested" that he should get rid of it. So she asked me if I wanted it.....so now I have a freezer full of venison. I was a little worried that it might be freezer burned....but the meat locker where he got it processed did a really good job at wrapping it. They first wrapped it in cling wrap and then freezer paper. So today we made a meatloaf (which tastes really good, but turned out a little dry....not used to cooking with such a lean meat) and a steak recipe that I found it has onions and baby bella mushrooms in it with a sherry sauce(haven't tasted that yet, but it smells wonderful). So I think that the nice thing to do is to bring Gary a plate of each meal....that way he can enjoy his hard work also!

Wedding Favors.

I got a phone call today from someone who had bought my soap a few weeks ago at the farmer's market (again immediate reaction....what's wrong...did it give you a rash, did you have an allergic reaction?) BUT she said that it was the BEST soap she has ever used and she wants some for her wedding this weekend to give as favors. Thankfully it is a very small wedding! I had enough to fill her order (sorta..she wanted all lavender but she picked out lilac and pink grapefruit to compensate for the lacking lavender). I am making custom labels for her with their names and date and a little saying like "thank you for joining us as we begin our new life together". At this rate I'm never going to get my stock built up....my lilac and pink grapefruit were supposed to be my full batches that were coming off the curing rack for this weekend. But I guess that is a good thing! I am working on a new website for The Muddy Moose Bath Boutique ( www.freewebs.com/themuddymoosebb ) it is not quite ready yet. I need to set aside time to take more pictures! I guess there are just not enough hours in the day. So maybe if anyone is planning on visiting...you might want to reconsider....you might be put to work!! (Just Kidding!!)

Yes, we have no banan....er, sourdough?

Well finally after two months, the stupid guy that bought the subaru has finally come to pick it up (well, ok have it towed away). He came all the way from Billings....which is like about 400+ miles away to buy a car with almost 300,000 miles on it! Not quite sure why. Crazy people. Well looks like I am going to have to look for a replacment bread for this weekend...something happened to my started and it died on me. I started a new one on Sunday, but it takes almost a week to "grow" a new one. So I think I might have some disappointed people on my hands on Saturday. I also have to call that lady that ordered the two additional loaves for this weekend. Not too much else exciting going on here...can still see snow in the mountains!

Ok, so I have no life....

So I guess that the farmer's market it pretty much my life right now and that is all I really do, so I have just realized that I really have nothing else to talk about right now but that! So I have topped my sales yet again...yeah! The morning started out slow, but when I walked around to the other vendors, the other street was extremely busy...and from talking to other vendors, I guess that early morning the produce section gets the business....people wanting to get the freshest pick of the veggies, ect.....and then we got busy in the afternoon.....I made 30 loaves of bread and sold 27......Leftovers: one german rye (John is extremely happy about that being leftover), one pumpernickel (good for crouton mix) and one half of a sourdough that we decided to sample out. My very first customer of the day came back(he bought some last week) to buy my croutons...he sampled my cinnamon raisin swirl, left and then came back to buy a loaf of that. I am also beginning to recoginze my repeat customers and by the fact that I started a soap club card (buy 10 get 11th free) and I am seeing repeats from there! I started my day with 8 different kinds of soap....I was really excited that I was beginning to build my stock up. I released a new scent today (one of my personal favs) clean cotton anxious to see how it would sell thinking I could reorder that scent and have some made before my stock ran out. WRONG! Ended the day with only 2 kinds of soap left....5 lavender goats milk and 5 lemon poppyseed. Which is kinda impressive because I had 3 full batches fresh off the curing rack today. Clean Cotton, Lemon Poppyseed and Lavender (full batch is 13 bars). I had one guy (who was from PA...small world, huh? Outside Philly area...guess he has houses in MT and PA) buy 11 bars! I was totally unprepared for this caliber farmers market...being used to a farmers market having 10-20 (max) vendors. We got a sheet today and it listed all the full time vendors(who have assigned spaces) and I counted 59! Next year I will be prepared! Oh I almost forgot, the lady who phoned and order 2 loaves of sourdough....she order 2 more for next week along with a cinnamon raisin walnut!

Our Rental Properties.....and Sourdough Bread.

Things have been really slow at work.....no long term kids and when we do get any they are only in for a day. We are getting ready to do some painting for our landlord. She owns two other properties in Stevensville and the one house needs some repairs and then scraped and painted. After we finish with that house, the house we are living in is scheduled to be painted as well. So we are going to be busy. The first house we are going to paint is very tiny...we refer to it as the dollhouse....once we fix and scrape (or pressure wash) it should only take 2-3 days at the most to finish (not working full days of course).

We have sold our properties...so no need to worry about finding tenants of fill vacant apartments! No worry about fixing things. We sold it to the tenanat upstairs.....sort of .....we are doing an owner finance for 2 years then he must get his own financing. If he is not able to secure a loan at that time, he forfeits everything. Not the ideal situation, but after being on the market for a year and a half with this being the only interest, we decided to take it.

Ok, so our landline rarely rings......no one every calls us and if they do, they call on our cell phones.....so our phone rings today and I answered it. The lady on the other end of the phone was wondering if I was the lady who did the baking at the farmer's market. So, of course..."yes" (but in the back of my mind, I am thinking...one of the many). Turns out she wanted to preorder 2 loaves of my sourdough bread for Saturday. She told me that she would be there to pick it up before the end of the market. Pretty exciting!

Farmer's Market....last post about this, I PROMISE!!

Ok, so after my post about last week's farmer's market, I told myself that I would not bore you with any further details about it. Ok, so this will be the last one. I PROMISE! There is just a really exciting detail that I wanted to share with you. The day started out a little slow....but I figured it was due to being the day after the fourth, it was a little on the chilly side and it looked like it might rain. Then things really got going! We were super busy! I know if I did not have John with me, I might have lost some sales. There were actually people waiting outside my booth to get in! From a comment the market manager made it sounded like it was busy (at other vendors) but no one was buying. Not true for my booth! This was by far me biggest week yet! But the exciting part happened after the market was over. After dropping me off, John usually mosies home....stopping at a garage sale or two. When he got home he got a phone call from a lady saying that she had bought a loaf of bread at the market.....ok, so your immediate thought is "what's wrong?".....BUT.....she called to say that that was the BEST sourdough bread that she had ever had. She had bought it for her husband b/c he was the one who liked it...she never really did...but she LOVES mine! I sold out of all but two loaves of bread...one I had sold out twice before and the other was a new bread that I had wanted to try....a cinnamon raisin swirl bread....I think I goofed, I put a glaze on top...by the middle of the day, the icing kinda oozed and melted, so it did not look as pretty when it first started. Not sure what to do about that. Might reconsider including it in my lineup. I also sold out of almost all my stock of lotion bars again! Guess I have a busy week ahead of me again.

Happy Fourth of July

Hope everyone has a safe and happy fourth of July!!

Hell's Angels

Just incase any of you were planning a visit, I thought you might want to plan it around when Hell's Angels will be in the area. They are returning for another visit. I guess they were here(Missoula) back in 2000. Their visit will coincide with the Annual Testicle Festival. In honor of the rocky mountain oysters....It is held just east of Missoula in Rock Creek. If that's not quite your speed, there is Logger Days in the town of Darby. I think John and I will try to get to it. They have the log rolling competition that I would really like to see. There is LOTS to do here during the summer if anyone wants to come for a visit.......

Rainbow's End

Yesterday before I went into work I stopped at the natural store where I had dropped off some of my product last week....not only to check back but because I was out of a lot of things like millet, quinoa, vital gluten....ect. So I went about my business and while I was checking out I asked if the gentleman I had spoken with last week was there (I guess I should really learn his name....seeing as how he probably owns the place! So anyway.....he told me that he would carry my products!! He doesn't have a lot of space....so he told me for now 3 or 4 bars of 3 or 4 varieties of soap and the same for the lotion bars! I have also been eyeing up some (well, ok one) day spa in Stevi as well as some in Hamilton to approach as well. But right now, my soap suppy is very low because Monday, I fill three orders...two were for gift baskets, so that ate up a lot of my soaps. Each basket had 5-6 bars and the single order had 3. Condsidering that I only get 13 bars out of a batch and it takes 4 weeks to cure! A certain SIL (and it's not Kallie) has been hinting...well, I'm not quite sure if that is what you would call it, for some lemon poppy seed soap.....unfortunately I am out right now. As for my breads...there is a new girl at work and she suggested that I enter some of my breads into the fair (in Hamilton) at the end of August.....I think I just might do that...who knows?? Then next year (IF I were to win) I could call it award winning bread!! Well, gotta run....making croutons right now.