We recently sent out some samples of St. John’s Wort Extract as gifts with orders, and we received some inquiries as to how such a product should be used. Extracts are an easy way to get the beneficial properties of botanicals into a usable form. People have been doing it […]

All About Extracts

Are you a person who practically dances when the first crop of cherries arrives each spring? Get ready to dance some more – Black Cherry Flavor is here! Imagine biting into the most perfectly ripe cherry. The sweet flavor floods your mouth as you close your eyes in bliss. Now […]

Wish granted: Fabulous Black Cherry has arrived!

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Way back in April, I did an experiment to see how Illipe Butter and Cocoa Butter worked in soap. I made two identical batches, except one used Illipe Butter and the other Cocoa Butter. Click here to read the original post. Now that the soap has had ample time to […]

Follow-Up on Illipe Butter/Cocoa Butter Comparison Soaps

While the name may sound unfamiliar, the scent is not. Litsea Cubeba has a sharp and tangy smell like lemon, only sweeter, with floral undertones. The essential oil is steam distilled from the fruit of an evergreen shrub that grows in Southeast Asia. Common names are may (mei) chang and […]

Litsea Cubeba Essential Oil

I played with fragrance blending several months back, and the blend I most loved was The Meadow Fragrance Oil and Lavender Essential Oil. Andee teaches a class on fragrance blending, and in the class, she shows photos to inspire fragrance blends based on the image. At the right is one […]

Fragrance Blending Friday: Lavender Meadow Soap

I am excited to mix up a batch of soap using Hibiscus Passion Fragrance Oil. The scent is lightly fruity, a bit floral, and has a lovely undertone of musk that gives it surprising depth. It’s intriguing, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it works out in soap. I’ll […]

Hibiscus Passion Tiger Stripe Soap

Fruity and woodsy. Sweetness and comfort. Berries and earth. What could I be describing? Berries and Twigs Fragrance, of course! This one has been a favorite of mine forever. It was one of the first scents I ordered from MMS, and I quickly ordered a larger bottle, so I had […]

An Easy Recipe for a Luxurious Lotion with Aloe

I grew up in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California. Even though it is a bit south of the area in the Pacific Northwest that inspired Forks Fragrance Oil (a town in Washington named Forks, which was the setting of Stephanie Meyers’ Twilight book series), many of the scents are […]

Forks Fragrance Room Spray

I have a friend who has many allergies, so she uses olive oil-based lotions. I was curious about a lotion that used only olive oil, so I decided to come up with a recipe and make some. We also are spotlighting some fragrance oils, so I am using Strawberries and […]

Strawberries and Champagne Olive Oil Lotion

Last week, I took a Technical Support phone call from a gal who wanted to know how much color she needed to use to get a lipstick instead of a lip balm or a lip tint. She said, “You always mention Q.S. on your blog for lip tints like the […]

How Much Color? Making Lipstick with Oil Soluble Lip Colors

One of the biggest challenges in keeping goats safe is keeping predators away. These range from neighborhood dogs to bears, and unless you can be with your herd constantly, a livestock guardian dog is a very good investment. We have four of them. They live full time with the goats […]

Goat Week Day 5: Health and Safety

Mammals only make milk after giving birth, so to get milk, you first have to make some babies. That means male goats must be involved. Goat gestation is about 150 days, or roughly 5 months. We like to plan for April and May births, because the outdoor temperature has moderated […]

Goat Week Day 4: How to Get the Milk