SCONES AND COMPANY

It has been a really good day here on the hill top at Dream Acres. The weather has been bright and rather windy (making all the lanky tall herbs sway around quite alarmingly - we have already lost a huge angelica plant to a windy day) a great day for drying l guess.

I haven't been doing washing and hanging things out to dry, no, l have been baking and entertaining friends (Jane of Snapdragon and her daughters). On the menu today were my lemon and thyme scones with homemade berry jam and clotted cream (ok, ok l know, lets not even think of those calories, this was a TREAT). Here is my recipe;

LEMON & THYME SCONES

225g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

40g butter

25g caster sugar

1 egg

150ml milk

zest of l lemon

tablespoon fresh thyme with flowers

Mix all dry ingredients (including lemon and thyme) in a bowl and rub in the butter till crumbs. Mix milk and egg and add in gradually as you mix. Beat into a sticky dough.

Roll to 2cm deep and cut into circles.

Place on baking tray and cook in moderate oven for 10 minutes, hey presto, lovely scones.

It was great to sit together and chat (we didn't have time on Sunday at the packaging demo) and l have to agree with Jane on the 'Selling to wholesale' debate. When you break down the costs it really means that we have to either charge our clients seriously high prices so that we can afford to sell wholesale at more than 50% less, or we keep the costs down for our clients and don't sell wholesale at all. If we do sell wholesale at reasonable retail prices then we end up with nothing for all our time and effort. While it sometimes feels like it would be nice to have big wholesale orders coming in, you just can't afford to work with the numbers. Having said that, l must also admit that l really enjoy keeping things in small editions and changing the look and feel of my products on a regular basis and not be stuck running off hundreds of one item.

After a good chat and far too many calories we both headed back off to work, Jane to her fabulous retro caravan in Stirlingshire and me to dear old H.Q.

More next time

Karon x

Sunday Shopping

This has been a lovely day, not just that the weather has been gorgeous, but it has been a good out-and-about day too.

This morning l met up with Jane of Snapdragon at Country Baskets to enjoy the talk and demo by Jane Means on gift wrapping. What an inspiration, while l had already been toying with a gift wrapping service for boxing my little goodies on the web site, this really made me think about putting the icing on the cake so to speak. There were some really clever and creative uses of papers and ribbons, and all done with a simplicity and lack of fuss which was really refreshing. I have stocked up on more tissue and raffia and will get practicing right away.

Back home this afternoon to a bit of light weeding and tea in the garden.

Will return soon and hopefully have my little camera in action and some new pix to show you.

Karon x

SILVER LININGS AND FABRIC FLOWERS

It has been a funny old week, we have had highs and lows in every department l think. I've had to have a wisdom tooth taken out and still have a face like a hamster on one side. Had great plans to take Idgy and friends to Louden Castle fun park yesterday but had to cancel due to dreadful weather. The rain has flattened all the pretty poppies in the garden and stress levels in general reached sky rocket proportions.

On a good note however l finally managed to get the Secret Garden (Dream Acres newsletter page on my site) link sorted out and sent out to all the new members of the group. My friend Jane of Snapdragons Garden (terrific blog and web site) put some lovely comments about Dream Acres on her blog and l got some super new subscribers to the group. Another good thing that happened this week was that instead of the Louden Castle trip, a friend took Idgy out on her daughters little pony, and at long last Idgy found herself really enjoying riding instead of being afraid. So l guess the old adage of clouds and silver lining is true.

On the work front l have been working on Christmas products and zapping off photos to magazines and such. Not long till Christmas now, how terrifying. It seems rediculous to be sewing festive robins and mixing spices at this time of year, however with the wet weather today it seemed like winter anyway at times.

A bit of a diversion for me this summer has been doing the Refab Flowers and their related line. Have added hair bands and even a necklace. The Refab Flowers are handmade simple flowers made with vintage fabrics and old buttons, all on green wire stems for you to put in a vase or tie to a door or whatever. I first made them as a prop for the Country Living fair in Glasgow last Spring. Then this year l took them to the London fair and they sold like hot cakes. So much so that Liberty of London are now buying them from me. While l was at the fair l pinned one of the flowers to my apron as a brooch. This was much admired and l made myself a necklace when l got home. It has been such a hit with friends that l now do them to sell on the web site. I'm thrilled that they have been proving so popular. Though l would share a few photos of the Refab Flower range here.

Gardens both secret and reality

At long last l can report that l have finally managed to get the 'Secret Garden' (a special page for news group members) up on to the web site. This has really shown be up to be a total wash-out in the technology department. I think l have managed to do just about everything wrong and make it all much more difficult than it would have been had l a clue what l was doing in the first place.
The Secret Garden has special offers, monthly competitions and prizes and hints and tips on herbs in home and garden. This is just the first issue, but l am determined to build it up each month and really make it something worth reading. If you'd like to join the news group and visit the Secret Garden, then just drop me an email and l will put you on the list.

In the real garden everything is looking very lush and vibrant and l love the casual look of it all. I'm not a knot garden type of herb grower, l am much more of a haphazzard country garden, mix it up and enjoy the abundance kind of grower. Things never look neat and tidy here, but it does have a very lived in and well loved appeal.

I couldn't resist sharing this photo of a foxglove that has toppled into the bird bath with the heavy rain we have had. That little bird almost looks as if he is taking off in flight, not bad for a rusty old piece of metal - suddenly brought to life by natures abundance of flowers.

The joys of June

Hi there,

Back from a week in the Scottish highlands at a gorgeous little place called Arisaig on the west coast. With bright blue and turquoise sea, sparkling white sand and hot sunshine you would be forgiven for thinking you were in some far flung paradice, but no, only 3 hours from home. Fabulous! Now l would have been uploading tempting photos for you, but alas my phone/camera is a tad too modern for this old heap of a computer and it won't accept it. I am in the middle of trying to change my systems etc over to a newer computer and as soon as l do l promise to get a photo up showing just how amazingly gorgeous good old Scotland can be.

On the garden front, my deep bedding with bark chippings (our own trees that came down in the gales back in January - at least they are proving useful) before l left has been a Godsend on the weeds front. Got home to find minimal weeds had invaded the herb beds and therefore only minimal time had to be spent digging the damn things out. What joy!

Don't think l have shown you any of the new goodies l have been working on of late. Here is the 'Laundry' bag to throw in your drier and give you naturally scented (lavender and lemon balm) clothes. Hanmdmade using vintage mangle cloths and of course filled with our own dried herbs. Sells with refresher oil. The bag should last about 10 loads before you have to add more oil to the herbs inside.

Please forgive delays on uploading to web site etc, l thought l would have got my upgraded system all sorted out weeks ago, but not been able to get the local 'whizz kid' to come and help. Hanging in there......

Enjoying the sunshine

Oh this sunshine is so wonderful and quite addictive when you live on the west coast of Scotland and sunshine is something of a rarity. The herbs are popping up beautifully all over the garden and suddenly everything looks so much more promising. Have attached a photo of some mint, isn't this colour just gorgeous, it just screams sunshine to me!!

Hopefully there will be some big changes coming to the web site very soon. I have finally bitten the bullet and upgraded my web system so that l can do a trade section, special pricing for registered clients, offers etc, all much more organised (l hope) and interesting. It costs rather a lot but l am hoping it will be worth the expense in the long run.Now just have to wait for the Whiz Kid to come and put this system in for me. Oh to be more technically minded, still can't have everything l guess!

Todays main job is making 100 refab flowers for a trade order. Now this is part of my job l love. I can sit on the deck in the sunshine making those flowers all day, just perfect. Now lets hope the weather stays nice.......

love

Karon

The weather is just so fabulous this week, it is making everything so much easier (apart from the weeding, those damn buttercups - ugh!!!) and the garden a joy, instead of a trudge though mud.
I have been working on the web site and got everything organised apart from the 'Secret Garden' subscribers page. Well l have the page all there and uploaded, it is just getting to it that is the problem, oh to be technically minded at times like these!
Can't beleive the pine coning season is already upon us. I have been out filling baskets with fallen cones this week and drying them out in the aga, all ready for pot pourri for Christmas. Should be a good haul of cones if l keep going at this rate, the only hassle is where to store all the sacks of cones when they are dried and ready for use, they do take up rather a lot of space. Between the pine cones and the Christmas designs, l feel a bit out of touch with reality in this lovely weather when l am 'All about Chriistmas' just now.
The sun is shining so l am off outside to sew alfresco!