Exciting news!

I'm so excited to announce that several Ridge Pond Herbals products are now available at Ferdinand, a great little shop in the great little city of Portland!

243 Congress Street in Portland

Ferdinand is the shop and studio space of the talented and lovely Diane Toepfer, full of her rad creations including letterpress cards and screened prints as well as vintage finds. You'll now find a few of my products there as well, including Roses & Honey Decadence Cream and, made special for our Ferdinand launch, Maine Forest Sugar Scrub which smells just like woods behind Ridge Pond Farm. If you live in Portland or are just visiting, consider checking out Ferdinand for all kinds of goodies, including healthy skin care products made with care here in Palermo, Maine.

Part of the Ridge Pond Herbals display

Early July at Ridge Pond

It's hot and sunny out; summer has well and truly arrived in Palermo. Summer in Maine, to me, means being on water as much as possible and over the holiday weekend I managed to be on, in, or near water three days in a row and it was perfect. Now it's back to the business of Ridge Pond Herbals, keeping up with the gardens and chickens, and making sure to appreciate this all-too-brief, gorgeous time of year. 

Daylilies are popping today in the sun and heat. 

Around the chicken coop

A few of our newly planted elderberries are flowering.

The mallow is out in force now. Last year it was blooming right up until our major snowstorm the first week of November! 

I just discovered how delicious pineapple weed is, makes a fantastic iced tea!

Two of our three potato beds are flowering and the flowers smell wonderful. 

The kale is happy.

Sunday garden harvest. It's a good thing we love garlic scapes as this mound is about a quarter of all we harvested. Roasted in the oven or grilled is our favorite way of having them. 

Happy flowers on my parents' deck  

My mother's cherry tomato jungle on their deck. My parents have the greenest thumbs of anyone I know.  

Every year they tend a huge garden  (this is a portion of it) and can or freeze much of their year's vegetables. 

My parents raised all sorts of animals when I was little and are now just getting back into having livestock, starting with two dozen broiler chickens   

For the 4th, we spent time at my sister's in-laws on the Kennebec River, a lovely spot right on the banks. 

Sunset on a giant field of corn near the Kennebec. 

The view from the dock at camp, our special little place only a short drive away, in Mike's family since the 30's. Swimming here is without a doubt one of my favorite things about summer. 

Goodbye, June, you only just got here

July already? It feels like June only just began! The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of preparing for and attending farmers' markets in Gardiner and Yarmouth. A huge thank you to everyone able to come out to either. It's been fantastic to see some friendly faces and meet new ones as well. Weather-permitting I'll be at every Gardiner market through the summer (although today isn't looking promising weather-wise) and I'm planning on every other week at Yarmouth, including tomorrow, July 2. I'll post on Facebook if I'll be missing a market for weather or other reasons. If you're interested in more updates and photos from Ridge Pond, be sure to like the Ridge Pond Farm + Herbals Facebook page and follow me on Instagram.

Roses & Honey Salve in 1/2 oz tins, topped with dried rose petals

The latest product from the Ridge Pond Herbals kitchen is Roses & Honey Salve, packaged in either a 1/2 oz tin, decorated with dried rose petals, or unadorned in a 1 oz glass jar. The rose petals in the tins are really just for the pretty and a little extra fragrance. You'll likely want to remove them before using the salve (they come out easily). I like to remove them all at once when I open the tin and rub them with a little salve in my hands like a fragrant mini scrub and then rinse, leaving my hands soft, exfoliated, and smelling divine. This salve is made from fragrant, organic rose-infused olive oil mixed with beeswax redolent of honey and a little extra rose essential oil. Roses & Honey Salve is great on practically all parts of the body including the face, lips, anywhere needing moisture, and even as a subtle perfume to put on and not feel like you're overwhelming those close to you. Rose softens the skin and its scent can instill happiness. 

Roses & Honey Salve also comes in 1 oz glass jars without rose petals

Ready for skin potions

It's been a challenging and rewarding experience learning the ropes starting this small business. Product making, finalizing packaging, attending markets, tending the gardens. I have been fortunate enough to have had a couple of bulk orders to fill over the past few weeks which have been great fun putting together (and thank you, thank you to those customers for your generous and early support!). Weekly product offerings to CSA members of Crooked Door Farm in Whitefield began last week as well. I'm also working on some exciting retail collaborations which I'll be announcing soon. 

I want people buying my product to have the best possible experience, both in using the product itself and in the purchasing process. For that reason I am taking the time it takes, in the time I have, to make the Ridge Pond Herbals Etsy shop the best it can possibly be before its launch. I appreciate the patience of those of you who've been waiting. It's just around the corner!  However, if you're really wanting to order something from me that you've tried or read about in the meantime, please email me at ridgepondfarm@gmail.com and we can discuss your order. If you're willing to work with a clunky, initial process, I'm eager to supply you with Ridge Pond Herbals products! 

Welcome, July! I'm not sure how you got here so quickly but glad to see you all the same.

Comfrey & Lavender Balm

I'm a bit smitten with these pots of Comfrey & Lavender Balm. The base ingredient is the same as Green Monster Salve: comfrey leaf- and root-infused olive oil and beeswax. To that deep green miracle base I add lavender essential oil for a scent I find calming and grounding. I hover over the bowl, inhaling deeply, while this is cooling.  After a good beating in the mixer the balm is creamy and smooth, much easier to spread on the skin than a salve. You can use it anywhere on your skin, including your face, for the powerful regenerative properties of comfrey, for the moisturizing olive oil, or for the aromatherapy and healthy skin benefits (anti-inflammatory, healing) of lavender (or for all of the above, of course!). Keep this on hand for frequent use, and be sure to give yourself a little extra time to rub this concentrated balm into your skin. Think of that time as "me" time and couldn't we all use a bit more of that?

As with most all of my products, there are no preservatives in this balm so using within 6 months after opening is a good idea. Don't hoard it too long! Seriously though, it will probably be perfectly safe after 6 months but after several months a whole, natural product like this starts to decline in quality. Generally safe to use, just not as powerful as it is fresh. Lastly, as with anything new on your skin, be sure to try a patch test at first. 

You can find this wonder balm for sale at the Farmers' Markets I attend (weekly in Gardiner, Wednesdays 3-6 on the Common and every other week in Yarmouth, Thursdays 3-6 at 317 Main) and it will be available in my soon-to-open Etsy shop. Members of the Crooked Door Farm CSA will also be able to order Comfrey & Lavender Balm as one of their weekly add on options. Enjoy skin pampering and relaxing aromatherapy all packaged up in this little pot!

Summer

Yesterday, the first official day of summer, was rainy and cool. Today the clouds stuck around a good portion of the day but by this evening it felt like honest-to-goodness summer out there. I took my shoes off and went barefoot to do some stretching/yoga on the lawn. It was beautiful. Summer frogs on the pond singing their summer love songs. Bright, bright blue sky and white, white clouds. Happy chickens having their mysterious clucking conversations. Lettuce from the garden for dinner. More storms tomorrow but tonight is what the words "early summer evening" mean. 

No stellar video quality here but this is what tonight sounded and looked like: summer evening 360.