The sun is setting on a Sunday evening here on the farm, and everyone is cozy and relaxing. It was hot today, the temperature getting up to 89.8 degrees, and even now, with direct sunlight gone, it is still 80°F. It was cool for long enough this morning to get some things done for the farm though!
We put in the Lavender plants that arrived on Thursday. The girls and I set up the row on Friday with two stretches of landscape fabric, and an overlapped gap between them. So, not really a gap, but more of a seam, but without any kind of joining. Well, whatever! The point is, we were then able to lay over the one piece of fabric and put the plants in today, then close up the gap again, so the plants are all surrounded close up and completely with the fabric.
We made a mistake and put some mulch around the plants. It’s not a lot, but I will have to clean it off soon. Then I will need to get some sort of pea gravel or something to work instead. Apparently, Lavender is not meant to have any water retaining material around it. It prefers the dry climate.
I am nervous about planting these so late in the year, but they apparently grow like this just fine. Imagine, we can get to -10°F or even less! At least they have some time to do their root work between now and genuine winter! But the forecast for tomorrow is only 72°F! And that’s the high!
We’d like to try the Christmas Tree candles at the Farmer’s Market in the middle of next week. I need to remember to put the wax melter on tonight before bed. It will probably take till midday or later tomorrow to fully melt all the wax that is in it. Then I start pouring little trees with little wicks in the top and put on little warning labels on the bottom. They are cute little trees. I think I have only one mold though, so I may need to order a couple of more to get some serious progress done on this project. I will if they sell well at the Market!
Well, that only makes some sense. There are two Market days left this year. It might be best if I have them ordered sooner and can produce some candles for the Market coming up. Best just get the melter going and keep pouring till it is empty! I don’t know if they will sell, but I cannot see why they won’t! I just had a look on Etsy for some more molds, and the kind I have is not there. But there is a different candle mold, but I am not too pleased with it. It is a little shorter than I think I would like. Maybe I am wrong. Maybe I should just order it and a pinecone mold that I found on there. Okay, I checked Amazon, and of course I can get another mold like the one I already have and two of the pinecone molds delivered by Tuesday for about half the price of what I was expecting to pay on Etsy. As much as I like to support the small seller, I have to honestly justify with myself that I have no idea who is actually selling, and if they are not just reselling Temu. And the pinecone mold was also available there.
And maybe what I need to do is turn some bases for the candles? I could use can lids for the separator to help prevent a fire from forming on the wood. Maybe that is something I should try out at home first. Well, there’s some ideas, anyway. That’s the way it goes around here. Think something up, think up ways to do it, then think up the potential exposure to liability, and cancel the whole project.
Going back to the topic of Temu. I noticed that my spell check does not recognize the name and think I have misspelled something. Well, as far as I am concerned, the whole company should be deleted. They are undermining everyone who is even trying to run a small business. Missus sees it in particular on her online browsing. She has identified where items get sold by Temu that are copies of things she has seen from original makers. There are posts in creator groups saying “This is what I made! Show me yours!” Then they can copy the designs people post. The whole online space is unsafe for makers. Try to parse that out from the sellers who really are just reselling Temu products they have ordered and brought to markets. That should be worthy of getting people thrown out of maker themed markets and anyone claiming to be American Made. If a seller is willing to disclose that they are reselling Chinese crap, then fair enough, as long as it is clear and upfront. It should be posted on a webpage or market stall in large, clearly readable and prominent letters. Let them wear it with the pride it deserves.
Rant over for now.
The sin is down now. I have to go out and shut off the waterspout at the frost-free hydrant. I don’t want the hose to blow overnight. I left it on thinking I was going to water the new plants, but when I saw how little they actually like water, I thought better of it.
The week starts tomorrow. Kids to school! I need to get to work on the second woodshed bent. I would like to see it stood this week. I didn’t last week. I might not this week. There is a lot to do if I am going to properly brace it. I would like to get this project done so I can get on to other important things!