Happy Friday: January 26.
These past two days have been a shock of warm winds, a tease of spring, I'd say, but with it: all the melted snow and mud! Farming feels like a fight against mud most seasons, so we were actually enjoying the frozen snowy ground, giving us a brief break from the muddy life we live. But alas: a January thaw and return to the mud lands! I see it's very temporary, though, so we'll keep trudging through, waiting on the snow expected again next week. As for our kids? They're loving every minute of above-freezing temps and time outside!
We're still living winter inside the farm shoppe, however, with a full restock of hot cocoa gelato: it's akin to a milk chocolate lovers dream. But with some mini marshmallows for good measure! And it's here in the farm shoppe, along with some seriously good flavors before we stock up for a Valentine's Day release: for now, it's stracciatella (our version of vanilla chocolate chip), cookie butter, peppermint and peppermint bark! We've got a few butter brickle, too. Something for everyone in our shoppe freezer, I dare say! Stop by and say hi this weekend: always open Saturday's 10am until 2pm.
We're so close to our first-ever (and a HUGE STEP outside our comfort zones) educational series: A Market Dairy, our online course! We've been building and dreaming and praying about how we can use all we've learned to help other farmers grow their own on-farm creamery, and I think we've got the perfect first step. An all-inclusive video course, showing every step of our creamery process: from barn to parlor to milkhouse to creamery and farm shoppe. What it takes to pass inspection (in our state, which is like most states) and build a business. It's a complete compilation of all we've learned, and we dug deep to not leave anything out. I'm so excited to bring this to life, and encouraged to watch other farms start their creameries. We feel overwhelmed but also so calm truly stepping into our mission: to expand our Microdairy model throughout the US! We'll take your prayers as we put the final touches on this course, and can't wait to help you out if you're joining us! The big release date is 2/1/24!
And now for some links + finds from this week:
- If you follow my Instagram stories, you know of my wallpaper saga! I've spent hours and almost 20 samples now diving into a wallpapered kitchen (I know, I know: but I'm telling you--wallpaper's back)! I'm making myself settle on a choice by the first of February. I'll take all feedback! For now, I'm staring at this image.
- A dinner idea I can't wait to make this weekend.
- I had to laugh at this funny reel about FB Marketplace selling, because I'm so guilty of sending Jesse into the awkward, though he had nothing to do with it!
- Did you see these original Adidas are back? I'm still not sure what I think, but I sure love seeing a shoe from my preteens as cool again.
- I found a kid-loved (but dye-free) Valentine candy option for school treats!
- I'm so excited to partner with our friend, Macie's new macaron business with some beautiful macaron boxes just in time for Valentine's Day!
Our big Valentine gelato release is coming next week, and I can't wait for you to experience so much sweetness!
We're excited to see you at the farm shoppe this Saturday 10am -2pm.
Have the best weekend,
Lisa