Friday, July 13, 2018

A Day at Work

In my self-examination about my work options, I decided one good choice is to devote myself more to my already-existing business, Red Robin Soaps. If you click over, you'll see I don't keep my facebook page as up to date as I ought! 

It's a well-established home business with faithful customers and excellent products. Why turn my efforts to other avenues when this one is already good? 

Today I spent the day making Bee Balm, Healing Herb Ointment, and Insect-Repellent Lotion Bars. These products sell so well, and my customers rave about them. I thought I'd take you through my day today as I made them.

First, Healing Herb Ointment for damaged skin -- burns, poison ivy, scratches and bites. 
Several days ago I collected plantain, yarrow, and dandelion leaves and began infusing them into olive and coconut oils.
 After the leaves are strained out the oils are very green and ready for other ingredients. Adam cut up lots of beeswax for me.
 I have a large collection of essential oils. Four go into this ointment.
 Shea butter and grapeseed and almond oils are also added.
 My little hand-written recipe book contains all the scribbles needed.
 As the Healing Herb Ointment cooled, I began the Lotion Bars. They're made in silicone molds and are 1/3 beeswax.
 The golden oil above is safflower oil infused with dried dandelion flowers. This recipe is pretty labor-intensive and finicky!
 These lotion bars have 7 essential oils that repel insects, and they work wonderfully.
I slipped them in the refrigerator to cool, and began my next item: Bee Balm. More beeswax!
 Bee Balm is a simpler recipe, a lovely lotion for healthy skin. 
 By the time all these products were cooled, packaged, and labeled, it was 2:30, and I was ready for a nap!
Earlier, in the morning, I sorted dried herb leaves for tea. 
 Tarragon, lemon balm, mint, and lemongrass are my tea blend.
 I put tea into little tins that I find at the thrift store and sell them for $2 to $5, depending on size.

If I sold all those products tomorrow at the farmers' market (which I won't ...!) I would make a little over $140 profit. Adam made me crunch the numbers and be sure of the cost of each product I make because he's convinced they are under-priced, haha :) But I do make a profit, and I enjoy what I make. I enjoy meeting and talking with my customers very much. It's satisfying to know my products are beneficial to others.

Last Saturday I sold $98 at the market, a good day. I realized later that I'd have had to teach nine half-hour piano lessons (at my old rate) to make that much money. That's four and a half hours of teaching. Both are good work for good return, and I'd like to teach piano again too. But I get to choose my own hours in my soap business, which is a blessing. We'll see. For now I think I may reconsider finding a desk job that would take me away all day. Jobs like that here do not provide benefits, but they would radically alter our home life. We're having good success at trimming our budget and watching our spending.

It's hard figuring out these priorities and duties at my age, as some of you know! But for now, I'll keep making lotion.

22 comments:

Lisa Richards said...

Your home business sounds so perfect for you and so satisfying! And adding in a few piano lessons might be fun. My son still gives guitar lessons in the evenings, though his life is already very busy. Glad to hear you're doing what you love!

Lisa Richards said...

You might have noticed that I purchased Ann Voskamp's devotional recently. That led me to read your post about her. Ha ha! Oh my gosh! I couldn't believe how heated everyone was in their comments! Well, at least now I know what her personal trials have been even without reading her book! When I started reading the devotional I thought maybe there was something wrong with my eyes. Did I just skip a word? No, there's another word missing there! I didn't "get" her poetic style. I'm slowly getting used to it, but it is distracting and I have to reread some of it over and over to get her meaning. Anyway, I'll muddle through it. But I don't think she'll be on my blog list. :)

Granny Marigold said...

I can just imagine how wonderful your house smells when you make your lotions and potions. I hope you sell them all at the Farmers Market!!

Gumbo Lily said...

I'm glad you are focusing on your soap and natural products. I love making those balms for myself and family. You probably could charge a little more for your balms. Have you checked amazon for an equivalent cream for the Bee Balm? You will be surprised. Also, your beeswax and herbs are "wildcrafted" and from your own gardens. You get "extra" for that!!

Gumbo Lily said...

P.S. Is your beeswax from Adam's bee hives? If so, it is unrefined and has even more healing properties than refined beeswax. I'm guessing there are bits of pollen and propolis (is that what it's called?).

Gumbo Lily said...

One more P.S.
How do you measure your beeswax when it's in shards like that? Do you melt it first and then measure?

M.K. said...

Lisa, that was a CRAZY post and replies, and it still gets more readership than any other post I've ever written. I did those reviews at the request of an old friend, and I think I stepped into a hornet's nest :)

M.K. said...

GM, the house does smell just wonderful, and my hands do too. And I rub any excess lotion onto my arms and legs, so I feel just great after I'm done!

M.K. said...

I think that "wildcrafting" is some of the hardest work, Jody. It certainly takes time and earns me a few bug bites! Thanks :)

Pom Pom said...

You're good at it so you should keep making lotions and potions! Being gone all day is too high of a price to pay for financial easing.

Kezzie said...

Oooh, I would definitely buy your products if you were near me!!! The insect repellant bars sound super as do well, all of them!
My Mum makes ointments and things too so I get those sometimes! I loved seeing your process.
Can I ask you about how I dry the leaves for tea because I would like to dry some of my Lime Mint and Lemon Balm leaves for Winter whilst I have still got them please?!x

Una said...

It sounds as if you have answered your own questions about working. I think you are in the right career. Maybe you could experiment with raising your prices, but I agree it is a fine line between keeping your customers and making big profits.

Henny Penny said...

You are so talented at so many different things. I would certainly keep my home business going. The soaps and creams and lotions and teas...all look beautiful and sound just wonderful!

GretchenJoanna said...

I love reading about your healing lotions and salves full of beeswax and other good-smelling things. Just imagining the kitchen on those days makes me feel nourished :-)

It seems to me you were practically giving away the piano lessons you taught, compared to my experience not more recent than 15 years, with my daughters in roles of students and teachers.

M.K. said...

Jody, our bees all died from living next door to farms that use strong pesticides. So we don't have our own wax anymore. I order it online.

M.K. said...

I don't melt it. I weigh it on a digital scale in the double boiler, adding little chunks and breaking off edges until i get the weight I want.

M.K. said...

Thank you so much for saying that, Pom! That's what I need to hear and have reinforced for me, from friends who have been there, done that, and KNOW.

M.K. said...

Kezzie, I cut them and bring them inside and dry them on a line of cotton yarn that I've strung up in my studio. They dry, but they retain some color and they don't become so dry they are brittle and crumble into dust. The batch that I dried on the front porch on a line -- a covered area but the leaves were in sunlight a good bit -- these leaves were a bit dryer than I'd prefer. I dry the leaves on their stems, and strip the leaves off afterward.

M.K. said...

Thank you, HP!

M.K. said...

Thank you, Una!

M.K. said...

I agree, GJ. I began at that price about 6 years ago because a dear elderly friend was also charging that price, and I didn't want to mess with local prices in my field. But I hope to work my fee up a bit in coming years if I do have a studio here.

Carolyn said...

I've been making plantain salve for a couple years now since seeing your post about it. It saved my skin this summer when I got a really bad sunburn. If you are interested in teaching English online from home to Chinese children, shoot me a line.