Blog
Fantastic Soap Sampler (just in time for Mother’s Day!)
Looking for that perfect Mother’s Day gift? Give the gift of luxurious, all-natural, handmade goat milk soaps! Six of the most beloved Heirloom Gardens soaps are packaged and ready for giving. Mocha Cream Cocoa Butter, Heavenly Lavender Lemon, Aprodite’s Bath, Good Morning Face Moisturizing, Green Gaia, and Spring Bee. The soaps are guest-sized, but can be used in the shower, bath, or at the sink. To purchase online, click the “Add to Cart” button below. Orders will be shipped the following day. If you’d like to...
read moreNigerian Dwarf Baby Goats For Sale (bucklings/wethers)
We’re excited to announce that we have three wonderful little goat bucklings (or wethers) for sale! A wether is a neutered male goat, and wethers make wonderful pets and hiking companions. They’re also great at composting food waste into manure for the garden. Wethers (two per household) are allowed in Denver under the Food Producing Animals ordinance. Bucks are not allowed in the city, but they are (of course) fantastic for country folk who want to make more goats. Anyone who would like to purchase a buck needs to reserve and...
read moreNew Baby Goats! (video)
We’ll be sharing (many) more photos and videos in the near future, but we wanted to pause amidst our morning work and announce that Peaberry’s new babies have arrived! We have one girl (in the front with her back to the camera; she has markings like her mama) and three boys. One of the boys is very, very small, but we’re giving him extra care and keeping our fingers crossed. Peaberry went into labor at about 12:15am, and I stayed with her and the babies until 3:30am to help everyone get settled in. Unfortunately...
read moreApril’s Soaps (2013)
Our first featured soap this month blends two of my favorite things — cocoa and cinnamon. The “Mexican Chocolate” soap features cocoa butter, which adds a wonderful richness and moisturizing capacity to the blend of coconut, olive, and palm oils. The color is a rich chocolate brown, and it just looks decadent! This soap does not contain any essential oils, but it has a gentle fragrance due to the cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and ground cinnamon. It’s also a sentimental favorite of mine, since my husband ordered Mexican...
read moreVolunteer at the Market (and get free seedlings!)
UPDATE: Thanks to our wonderful urban homesteading/sustainability community, all of the shifts for the farmers’ market seedling selling have been claimed. However, if you’re interested (and willing to help), please email me at info@eatwhereUlive.com and let me know that you’d be willing to be on the “backup” list. This doesn’t obligate you to work any particular shift, but it means you’ll get an email if we happen to have a cancellation, and will have the option to fill in. Thank you so much to...
read moreEarly April Peek at the Seedlings
It’s hard to believe that in just four-ish weeks it will be time to start selling seedlings. The process of seeding flats, fertilizing, watering, repotting (and then sometimes repotting again) is an ongoing process that begins in early February and continues every day up until June or so. My little (mostly unheated) hoophouse doesn’t keep the seedlings at a consistent temperature. The downside is that it takes everything a little while longer to grow — hence the early February start. The upside is that the seedlings that do...
read moreWhose Line Is It Anyway?
The other day I was listening to my local public radio station and heard a story about processed food. My ears perked up. I love listening to pretty much anything related to food, cooking, and the American diet. I was interested in the story, even though I considered myself already at least reasonably well-informed about processed food. Well, I stand corrected. The interview was with Boulder author Melanie Warner, and her new book is called “Pandora’s Lunchbox.” She casually discussed things about the absolute glut of...
read moreMarch’s Soaps (2013)
The warmer weather means that our bees are beginning to buzz around the hive. Soon they’ll be exploring the neighborhood, ready to sample nectar from the spring flowers. Mint and rosemary are two of the earliest herbs in spring (particularly if you have well-established patches from the year before). So, one of this month’s soaps is “Spring Bee” in honor of the emerging bees and the early herbs. Spring Bee is a hand soap with rosemary and peppermint essential oils, plus a little drop of honey. And although I selected these herbs...
read moreAdding Worm Castings (with a little help)
Growing seedlings for sale is (very) labor-intensive. So, I’m always trying new ideas in the hopes of discovering more efficient ways to grow. This season I’m experimenting with top-dressing with worm castings instead of adding liquid organic fertilizer to my water. The liquid fertilizer works wonderfully well, but the constant adding and mixing gets tedious over time. I’m hoping that the worm castings will provide a bit of “time-release” fertilizing every time the plants are watered. Of course, the initial...
read moreHow to Make Your Own All-Natural Stick Deodorant
Homesteaders can have a number of reasons for making their own body care products. Often they’re concerned about the chemicals and other strange-sounding things that are in commercial products, because putting something absorb-able on your skin isn’t that far removed from putting it into your mouth. The desire to make body care products could be about saving money, because the stuff in the stores (particularly if you go for the “natural” brands) sure isn’t cheap. There are environmental concerns with commercial...
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