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NEWS
Time
passes so quickly! It is now very much like
Autumn at Christmas Croft. The lambs look
like sheep now and spend more time grazing
than playing, and the ewes have regained
their nicely rounded figures! The hens are
still laying plenty of eggs, and I am hoping
to harvest some honey very soon from the
beehives (of course the honey will be used
in Balmy's Bee Good soap!)
Early
summer is a very busy time on the croft
- now the goats are grazing in the fields
a lot the weaknesses in the fencing become
apparent, The goats are so clever at finding
them and much time is spent trying to outwit
them and stop them eating the 6000 hedge
plants I put in a few winters ago. The sheep
also need a lot of watching at this time
of year - they can get ill so quickly. Fortunately
goats are very robust and have a strong
will to live!
Seven
of the Jacob ewes have produced 14 lambs
between them and it is one of the great
joys of this time of year to take a time
out to watch the young ones playing together,
forming gangs to run madly around the fields
together, and cuddling up together in the
shelter at night.
Sunny,
our lovely Billy goat has moved on to an
excellent new home nearby. It was necessary
to re-home him to avoid in-breeding, and
I was lucky enough to be approached by someone
looking for a Billy who has an obvious love
of goats.
JUST
A REMINDER : please do remember that if
you would like to try any of the products
- including the Skin Cream - before you
buy, please do just ask and I will be delighted
to send samples free of charge. As someone
with sensitive skin myself, I do understand
that it can be difficult (and expensive!)
to find products to suit
I have had some excellent
feedback recently about my products (see
further down the page). Laura emailed to
tell me that she tried Balmy's Bee Good
Honey soap on her hair and it worked brilliantly
as a shampoo! Of course I then tried it
and have to agree. I think it would be useful
to take on holiday to use as a soap and
shampoo bar combined.
I have had some great write-ups
in the press in 2008/9, including a recommendation
from 'The Lady' magazine, a mention in the
shopfront section of 'Gardens Illustrated'
magazine as a product for the eco-conscious
(kindly recommended by Alys Fowler, head
gardener of BBC's Gardeners' World), and
a 2 page article in Amelia's Magazine, which
was accompanied by a superb, specially commissioned
illustration. I have also been interviewed
by Scottish Farmer for an article coming
soon.
You will notice that the
new products are now available on the site!
Goosey Lucy's Egg Shampoo is selling as
fast as I can make it, and there is an encouraging
flow of orders for all the products. The
last few weeks have been very busy for me.
As well as making the products, I have been
selling at various Farmer's Markets, and
have been giving lots of talks about my
products and goats. I have had a wonderful
time at many Scottish Women's Rural Institute
meetings, where I not only got a warm welcome,
but also got to judge the baking competitions
- what a brilliant perk!
I recently had a brainwave
about the packaging in my gift baskets.
Up until now I had been recycling the various
materials that come as packaging in the
parcels that I order. With the increasing
volume of orders that I am now getting,
this was no longer enough, so I looked out
the fleeces from our Jacob sheep that were
awaiting the great day when I would learn
to make felt. I put them in a pillowcase,
washed them, and hey presto had some natural,compostable
packing material! I've put a note on the
gift baskets with suggestions for how to
re-use it (bird nesting material, packaging,
composting, spinning, felting etc etc...)
Don't forget that I can
make up lovely gift baskets to order, and
send them gift wrapped diract to the recipient
together with a unique 'Gamrie Goat' gift
card with your own personal message.
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