Just wanted to let you know how the Spring Bazaar went (well the whole process). Thursday night Nathan promoted up to Blue Belt 2nd degree (with a white stripe). Now hes going to take the summer off and start up again in the fall. Friday at school Nathan got a certificate for perfect Attendance not only for the semester but for the entire year. He also go the Superintendents Honor Roll (a 4.0 GPA for the 3rd trimester AND it was the last day of school!!!! YIPPPPPPEEEEEEE! Then we had his Birthday party at the bowling alley and then 2 friends spent the night. Then I loaded up the car for early Saturday morning. Todd left out Saturday morning at a quarter to 6am and set up the crates, poles and sand (heÂs such a great man!). After he got back I went over and set up the rest. I shared a 2 car spot with my friend Mae who makes jewelry. WE had a great time even though WE ALL battled the wind. It was cool and windy. Later on it was still windy but warmed up a little to in the mid 70Âs. I got sunburned even though I doused the sun block everyday IÂm outside. Todd hadnÂt wanted to bring ALL the bags of sand (I had 8 for the crates and 1 to fill the water cooler that I put the Knick Knack Planty Tags in). I expressed how I needed all the bags I had bought so nothing would fall. Se he did and thankfully so! I had one person come up and ask if he could use one bag. I kindly said no because they were all for the display I had. It kept all I had there grounded--no casualties. (I had had 3 casualties the day befroe with 3 of them. They were the biggger items so I'm learning). WE had some strong gusts so at times I held the display (for my sanity) to keep it grounded. My friend Mae eyed my totems and I eyed her jewelry. At the end we did a swap. A big gust came through and she lost a glass candle holder that she had as part of her display) After all was said and done I only sold 3 items ($40) and I traded one. Some people got it and some did not. A lot would say "That is such a neat idea" which basically meant they liked but they werenÂt going to buy or just go home and make their own. I didnÂt sell any of the planty tags. I only was asking $2. But then again it wasnÂt a good turnout like I thought. A lot of people werenÂt buying. I think the wind kept a lot of people awayÂI have photos but they are taking forever to upload. AFter Todd came and helped me pack up we came home and unloaded the cars. He and Nathan went out target practice with some friends. I stayed home to recoupe! I'm burned on my scalp---that's the only one that really hurts (but tolerable)...So, we live and learn. Need lots of stability and make sure the venue you go to has really good advertizing and no WIND! :-)When people would ask if I made those totems I said yes....Then I would say, no, my garden junking community just encourage one another with our creations. I can honestly say that everyone who came by said they had never seen anything like what I had before! It's good to be unique!!! I'll post photos when I can get my computer to work a bit faster. It may need some innards dusting. TTYL and thank you for all your encouragement! Love, Jules

Annie, Our governor here in Washington just signed the Cottage Food Law in July, 2013. I checked the requirements for your state and they are, fortunately for you, much more lenient than ours. We have to pay $230 annually; have a limit of $15,000 income (you're at $20,000, and go up to $25,000 in five years); and I can NOT use my separate canning kitchen ... because it's not part of the same building as my home. Go figure! (The canning kitchen doesn't have home cooking, or animals, or children, and there's no co-mingling with anything else.) And don't you just love not being allowed to sell ICE? That just doesn't make sense to me either! However, at least we have this law here now, and that's helping many people. But for me it's fine, because I don't sell my items; I donate them to the church and gift them. It's just something that I enjoy doing for myself and for others. That's why my costs of $1.25 to $1.50 per jar is fine. I'm fortunate because I have so much fruit in my orchard; I'm great at finding sales; I enjoy the time I spend creating things and "prettying up" the jars, labels, etc. The time I spend doing this pleases me; the $300+ I spend on supplies is just another donation or gift to St. Luke's so they receive the full purchase prices; and, everything I make is appreciated by those who purchase and use the products. I had to freeze some fruit because I wasn't well enough to do anything right after my surgery 8 weeks ago -- so I have cherries, raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries in the deep freeze. I'm half-way through my goal of 20 dozen jars ... still have to make: Cherry preserves; Peach-Brown Sugar Jam; Blueberry Jam; Apple Butter; Apple Pie Jam; Dill Pickles; canned Italian Plums; Italian Plum Jam with Triple Sec; Pear Honey; Pear Chutney; Apple Chutney; Watermelon Pickles; Raspberry Jam; ... and anything else I decide I just MUST DO! I'm donating a dozen jars of each variety, and keeping several of each for my use and gifting. I've enjoyed reading all of your comments and appreciate your recipes. Just wish I could make and (legally) sell some of your Salsa! But at least I can enjoy it for myself and friends! Kathy

I think the first real item I made was a yellow plaid roll-up sleeve blouse in Home Ec. I had no clue that matching plaids would be that involved. Since I was in high school in the 60's I remember making a 2 piece lined wool suit like Jackie Kennedy and of course had the matching pill box hat. Next I made a dress out of a pretty green dotted swiss. We didn't have room to cut out our garments in the Home Ec. cottage so we were taken into the cafeteria to use those tables. When I started making my dress I realized that I had not only lost the back pattern piece to my skirt but also the fabric. My Mother and I went back to the store to buy more but they were out of that color. I ended up replacing the back of my skirt with white organdy and applied a white bow in the back of the waist. What had started out as a rather plain dress became a nice church dress which I wore for quite a while. The dress that gave me such fits turned out to be a favorite of mine. Now I really LOVE to sew and also enjoy "thinking outside the box". Some things are made special because of the work involved. It makes you appretiate the results.

The money all goes back into the community. Last year we bought hams for 15 families in need. Donated to the school toy drive,helped our local volunteer fire department with gift giving and others. A young mother with 3 children had her home burn yesterday so we are going to help get the children clothes. We do so many things. In December we go to our two local nursing homes and wrap gifts for them to give to their families. We collect gifts all year and take them to each nursing home. Each patient get to pick out 2 gifts. We wrap each one for them to give to their family members at their Christmas party. Such a wonderful day. You don't think about things like this until you help on a special day like this. They are so grateful..