Heya Ladies, I have been having fits with this computer, finally HOPEFULLY have them straightened out.
Becky sounds like your getting great advice and your cupcakes look sooo YUMMY!
ANOTHER texas recipe coming to ya Bunny, Blueberry muffins are my FAVS so I have looked and looked also to find the perfect recipe, I think I found it, at least for me.
Tracy you and Fishys need to get together and open a Consulting business! Ya'll both have awesome Ideas!!!

Pixie

Hey Pix, I missed you! The funny thing is when all us girls used to get together when all the men folk had gone out for the night, this is what we used to do. Sit around and make up schemes to make money! LOL! We had a blast talking and figuring out costs and what business we could all do together and still have fun doing it. The food thing is what we all loved to do best but it turns out that only 2 of us really had the heart to make something happen with it. Like I said we are SMALL. Only 6-10 parties a year and all of it is really word of mouth. Left brochures behind at every party. Word of mouth has always been the best advertising. Great service will make a good product sell better than a Great product with so so service. But you still have to have parameters on what is too much for you to do.

Such awesome ideas, gals! As I was driving tonight, I was thinking of just that - syrups and pancake mix in a basket. And lots of other basket ideas. I'm thinking not just food, but maybe flowering plants, my jewelry, stuff I knit, really any kind of gifts. You guys are so cool!! Becki's Baskets???? (not too original, but to the point) Maybe something like "Becki's Farm Fresh Baskets" I could still sell things not in baskets, as well, right? But focus on the baskets? Wow - you all are just such big thinkers!!!! Wow is all I can say! That, and thank you!!! Fishy, you are so kind to offer your help! You girls are making my eyes mist with happy thoughts!

Melissa - so fun that your hubby is excited to make you new beds!!! Mine isn't excited to add ANY more room for flowers, and trust me, I don't have nearly the amount of flower room as some people around here. But, we do need to focus on our veggies, as they feed us!

Tracy - you absolutely don't sound like a nutcase! You sound like an awfully cool mom! And one awesome woman! You ladies have helped me more than you can ever know!

I like the alliteration of Becki's Baskets! Maybe even add Becki's Bountiful Baskets and Sundries. Keeping the name simple also is great for people to remember you.

I think the baskets are a good "hook". In every basket goes a little leaflet listing all of the individual edible items that you offer. Let's say that someone gets a basket with short bread cookies, Cheddar Crackers, strawberry blackberry preserves, champaigne preserves, jalapeno preserves, and pesto. They really like the shortbread cookies and the champaigne preserves and want to know if they can just order those. You will already have given them info that these items are available for individual sale and access on how to contact you and an order is ready to go.

I really like fishy's B&B idea. Another idea is gift baskets for sale on ebay. Make sure you figure your costs and compensate your time before you price anything. Jars, baskets, clear plastic floral wrap, ribbons, nesting material, individual packaging for baked items, ingredients, cooking time, assembling baskets, offer shipping and make certain you add on a handling fee to cover materials for safe shipping.

I say do both baskets and an "al a carte" selection, For my mum's bday I may get a basket, but for something sweet for me, I just want no-fuss packaging. For the cuppycakes, you can order little "chinese take out" boxes in pretty colors that would hold 1-2 cupcakes. Oh and for goodness sakes a small 1 page website with perhaps the "menu" and a "what's in season" page could help, with your number, maybe a map to your farm so people can find you. Oh yes! how about a "picnic basket" packed with finger foods (of course you'd need a 24 hour notice) that the B&B, or people can custom order (example, a picnic in the woods is a sweet romantic thing, but I've no time to premake the fuss, so poor hubby gets a burger on the way). OMG Get an idea toghether and call wedding consultants, hotels with reception rooms, florists, with a "romantic picnic basket" or "honeymoon chocolates", seriously add the word "bridal" and you can charge 20% more just from that. Or do your adorable cupcakes with a wedding theme as favors (seriously the tiny bubble thing's done to death).

Maybe 3 things:
1. the daily farm stand with cupcakes, jams, plants etc.
2. the custom baskets for gift giving
3. Ebay division of both

I say try all 3 and you can always adapt to add more of one, or less of another, 2 years should give you a good "trial period" to make a go at it. Is there a festival/craft fair/college swap in the area? by all means have hubby man the farm stand while you shake some trees.

~Fishy

Great ideas, Tracy! I took a look at Walmart tonight (had to go there anyway) at their jars. I have tons of quarts in my basement, but that's about it. They have really nice looking 1/2 pints for $3.70/4 of them. Or, you the regular looking jars with little pictures of fruit on them for, I think $7.48/12. The regular ones of course are cheaper, but I really like the look of the nicer ones - something to play around with a bit. I think presentation is key, so I will probably either go with the nicer ones, or else put some sort of fabric cover on the cheaper ones. Not sure yet. As far as baskets, I have a pretty good start on them already. I bought a few after Christmas this year, a few after Easter (yep, I'm big on those post-holiday sales), and some when our local Goodwill had a sale on all wicker baskets at 2 for a quarter (I walked out of there with 2 bags full of baskets for under $1.) Plus, all those I've collected throughout the years. I figure I have at least a dozen nice baskets to start with. I can at least take photos with that! Okay, so I am going to keep dreaming, and within the next day or two start figuring costs. My little sis gave me $100 for making her wedding cake (in addition to paying for everything), so that will give me a little "start-up" money! I'll really need to stretch that, though! But, you can believe, I am a bargain hunter to be reckoned with, so I will get the best prices I possibly can! Oh, drat! I just remembered when I was cleaning my basement a couple months ago, I REALLY cleaned out my craft stuff, and donated an entire drawer full of ribbon! Shoot! I could use that now! Oh, well, I'll just have to find some cheap!

I'll donate my sicilian granny's cheesecake recipie to your endevor!

Granny Lyn's extra creamy cheesecake:
3 bricks 24oz Cream cheese - quartered
1 egg
1c. sugar
1TBSP Vanillia
Grahmn cracker crust (i buy crust, but if not it's the basic smash gramn crackers, add 2 tbsp melted butter and smush into pan)

Blend cheese, sugar for 3 mins, add egg, vanillia and cream till.. creamy. (I use my kitchenaid, but a hand mixer or food procassor will do it).

Smooth filling into pie crust (it will be thick thick thick! you want that)

Bake 350 for 35 mins

Fridge for 1 hr

I do berries on top (no nasty glaze, just berries and powdered sugar), or chocolate shavings.

That's how I got 2 husbands, I know it's not from my looks.

Fishy - there is a craft show closer to Christmas in a nearby town (where I sold jewelry last year). And there is a vendor sale thing during Tulip Time in May (which is kind of a madhouse.) Those are the only things I can think of right now, but I know there are more - I need to check that out!

My gosh, girls! You are just life-changing little ladies!!!

Avery label # 6464 is the jar label one, you can buy plan jars and custom up a lovely label to pretty up the jar.

For next year: make sure you plant some heirloom or other "speciality" items (this year we did 6 kinds of melons), If you offer something unique curosity will have people trying it.

Thank you, thank you for the recipe, fishy! Sounds yummy! (And yes, my darling hubby gave me a kitchen aid for mothers day many years ago! I LOVE that thing!!!! I don't know how I would bake without it!)

Becky,
It's n/p I can complete understand needing to work from/next to home (I own the preschool and the land it's on, but my land went to a parking lot and playground instead of a lil farm like I'd wanted), so now I grow a different kind of "sprout".

I forgot to add you can make "flavord" cheesecakes by swapping out the vanillia, example:
1 TBSP Armeretto
2 tsp Orange extract (I call this one "creamsickle")
2 tsp Mint extract (do in an oreo crumb crust with chocolate shavings)

I grew up in SF, but am hopelessly domestic, I got a 15cuft freezer for my 29th bday, I asked hubby for it.

Becki-
I have a BIG BIG BOX FULL of ribbon! Most of it is new, lots of different colors and sizes, designs.... Would you be interested in a swap?? :O) lol
Seriously...You can have it, if you want it. I'm not ever going to do anything with it. :O)

I think you'll have fun with the baskets. A friend of mine used to own her own store, making soaps and bath goodies. She was extremely successfull..she made gift baskets that would just blow you away! :O) She had tons of fun, and it's something that I've always wanted to do...but just don't have the resources.

Becky, if you type in Free printable labels you can find all kinds of labels, recipe cards, seed packets etc, that all you have to do is personalize and print out onto the right paper. I do that for custom seed packets also! There are tons of sites.

Aweome ladies! Melissa, I would love to swap! Need to go now, but I will chat more tomorrow! Take care, and thank you again, everyone!

I'm not going to be back online until Monday night. I am taking Sunday night off of work for my son's birthday. (He got his braces & top palate spacer today....yucky birthday present, if you ask me!! But he'll appreciate it years from now, when he's got tons of girls mooning over his handsome smile!) :O)

Anyway....You girls have an awesome weekend! But not too much fun. :O) Stay out of trouble. (yeah, right.) :O)

Becki- just drop me an email & we can discuss the ribbon! :O) I can't answer you until Monday, though!! :O)

Candies, lots of different types of pretty packaged fudge, caramels, drops, and butter cookies. All you need are cute gift boxes, paper candy cups and pixie's labels! I know our dollar store always has really cheap cute holiday themed gift boxes in all shapes and sizes.

I peaked on ebay and there are tons of sellers offering bulk basket making, candy packaging supplies at wholesale prices.

even the free printable sites have lil boxes that you can make with cardstock print paper. A ream of paper and a stick of glue will make lots of boxes and bags.

Pixie

Hi, everyone! Thank you so much for all of the help you all gave me yesterday. You all have such wonderful ideas, and game me SO MUCH to think about!

First off, I am thinking I really want to concentrate more on the baking and food, than the baskets, so I'm not sure that Becki's Baskets is the right name. I like it, but I don't think it makes you think of food. Any other ideas? A little background - when I was trying to sell jewelry, I wanted to come up with a name, and thought about it a lot. I wanted to appeal to girls with fairies and princesses, and boys with dragons and fantasy, and women with jewels and love, and a word I thought could be associated with most of that was "Enchanted". So that is what I called my jewelry "business". I am not sure if that would still work for this or not. It really doesn't make one think of baking either. But, I was thinking I could give everything fun names. Like the farm cupcakes would be "Barnyard Buddies", and the sparkly cupcakes would be "Fairy Dusted", and the same cupcakes could be marked for bridal reasons as "Diamond Dreams". I could also do some with flowers and insects called "Garden Lore". Just thinking. Anyway, just trying to really feel the marketing and presentation! I got a phone call from my sister today, and as we were talking, she started telling me how everyone keeps telling her how wonderful my cakes were. She said she gets lots of compliments about how nice the wedding was, and how beautiful she looked, but overwhelmingly the most compliments she gets are about the cake. So... I am thinking I need to make up some business cards right away, and give them to Leah (my sister) and ask her to give them to people if they talk about my cake. I think it needs to get done now, while people are still talking about it. But, then I need a name, I think. And I need to be ready to go, which scares me a little bit, but much more than that, it excites me! I think what I really need to concentrate on right now is a "menu" and packaging. So, be ready for more questions and opinions!!

The names are awesome but I would go Pixie dust instead of fairy dust wink wink!!! And why not Rebecca's Rainbow for a name, after all a rainbow offers everything enchanted there is right? ok now weed out the bad on this ok???

Rainbow =

Atlantis*, air castle, apparition, appearance, bubble*, bugbear, chimera, conceiving, creativity, daydream, delusion, dream, envisioning, externalizing, fabrication, fairyland*, fancy, fancying, fantasia, figment*, flight, fool's paradise*, hallucination, head trip*, illusion, imaginativeness, imagining, invention, mind trip*, mirage, nightmare, objectifying, originality, pipe, pipe dream, rainbow*, reverie, trip, utopia, vagary, vision, vision.

That was under Fantasy. This next one is under Enchanted.... for magical.....

bewitched, charismatic, clairvoyant, conjuring, demoniac, diabolic, eerie, enchanted, enchanting, ensorcelled, entranced, entrancing, extraordinary, fascinating, fiendish, ghostly, haunted, imaginary, magic, magnetic, marvelous, miraculous, mysterious, mystic, mythical, necromantic, occult, otherworldly, parapsychological, runic, sorcerous, spectral, spellbinding, spellbound, spiritualistic, spooky, telekinetic, thaumaturgic, tranced, uncanny, unusual, weird, witching, witchlike, wizardly, wonderful

Ohhh! I like Pixie dust!!! You've got it, girlfriend! And Rebecca's Rainbow sounds pretty good! What does everyone else think? I know Tracy is very busy today, and probably won't be here till tomorrow. And of course Melissa is gone for the weekend.

How the heck was your day today, Pixie? I hope it was wickedly wonderful!

Hmm... Rebecca's Rainbow. Is that sounding slightly retro to anyone else? I think I like that! It could really work a few different ways. And like a rainbow, I could offer many different things! My food, my baskets, my jewelry...

Michele - thanks for the idea on how to shuck corn! I tried your fast way today, and it worked really well!

How's this sound?

Rebecca's Rainbow...
Where There's Always More
Than Meets the Eye

Wow, Becki those are great looking cupcakes! Adorable! I wish I could order some to take to Zacks Daycare for halloween! I wonder how they would ship, and if I would eat them before they got there!LOL Buttercream frosting Yummmm! my favorite!

And the jams and syrup! OHHHHH I would love blueberry syrup! Strawberrie/Kiwie! Sounds awesome! I hope you do pursue your dream! There is nothing worse than looking back saying "what if?" It is better to try and fail and know you did your best, than wonder what might have happened. These days, it's hard to get fresh, good homeade anything! As far as being 9 miles out of town, I would drive a lot further than that for good homemade goodies! I love it when I go places, I always try to find the homemade goodies! I love to can and have made salsa for several years. It is a lot of work!

As far as candy boxes, jars, supplies, etc. start looking on line, there are a lot of good deals. Start getting baskets at garage sales and just hose em down good. It will be an investment, but if you start getting supplies now and start doing some sales of baskets, within 3 yrs. you will be busy. Word of mouth is the best advertisement, but it takes time, and the 3 yrs. will go by faster than you think! Then you can put Hubby to work for you! I was into a lot of crafting yrs. ago and when I start packing up the basement I will be happy to send you some stuff you can use to decorate the baskets with, I have ribbon and lace and Lord only knows what in my basement "craft boxes"! I need to start thinning things out.

Good Luck!
Vic

I like that Becky, I really like the slogan!!!! and ya know I like the "pixie" dust lol better than fairy dust lol, could be partial though! I really like the slogan ....

Rebecca's Rainbow...
Where There's Always More
Than Meets the Eye

I think that is too cute and way accurate! You are awesome girlie!

My day was really good, thanks for asking, I am soo glad its a weekend!!!

Vic I am like you, I would drive to get something homemade and good.

You know Becky I will help all I can also. You just let me know.

Ok, I'm gonna try this again!
Heres my embaressing moment!

This happened 12-15yrs ago, and I still can't live it down.

My BF (at the time) bought a place up north with 40 acres, surrounded by federal land. We had not been seeing each other a real long time and his parents were coming in from Florida to stay for awhile. I had not met them yet but had heard the horror stories. His dad is an extreme chauvenistic pig! Women are supposed to be there to do the cooking, cleaning, take care of the house and the man, that is there "purpose", and his mom did just that, when and how he told her to. I knew it would not be "love at first sight", but I didn't think it would be quite as bad as it had went.

Anyhow, one day him and his dad got hammered and were being real jerks, they both went up to bed early and I didn't want to listen to his mom tell me how horrible her life had been, and how bad he treated her over the years so I went for a walk, it was just before dark. It gets very dark ver fast in the woods! Next thing I knew, I was out in the middle of somewhere in pitch black, it was very cloudy, no stars, no moon, just dark. I had somehow gotten turned around on my walk and didn't end up back at the cabin. It was so dark I couldn't even see my hand in front of my face!

I was going to start a fire, but it rained that day and ever thing was wet. I was using my lighter to try and see where I was going, but it started running out of fluid. Well, I was thinking about all those movies I've seen where they use a rag and a stick, make a torch and find their way through the dark. But, the only thing I had on were shorts, panties, and a tank top (nope, no bra, don't need one! lol) So, yep, I ripped those panties off, wrapped em on a stick and lit them up! And POOF! there was light!!! Whooo hooo!!! It lasted all of about 30 seconds!

Now, in the mean time, I have been hollering all night hoping someone would hear me, but no luck. So, I decided it was going to be a night in the wild! I made my way to a tree and squated against it to try and sleep (couldn't sit on the ground it was all wet!) The first tree I was at I kept hearing some rustling in the bushes or weeds behind it, so I figured something was living there and I was not welcome. So off to another tree. Finally, I heard (in a very faint, far away voice) "Vicky, where are you?" WOW, dippo woke up and realized I was gone! It was about 2am at this point. Of course, he had to go in and wake up his parents to ask if I was in their room! Now the whole family is outside trying to find me! I hear his dad "can you see the light?" All I could see was a little spot of light on the clouds. Me: "I can't see where it's coming from" Dad: "follow the light" Me: "I can't see where it's coming from" Dad: " follow the light" this went on several times and I was following the voices, the whole time with my arms out in front of me or I would literally walk right into a tree or bush. Then, they quit talking! I said "keep talking, I'm following your voices!" Dad: (in an angry voice) "Follow the light!!!" Me: " I can't see the (blank)ing light !!! KEEP TALKING!" After about 45 min, I was getting closer so I hollered "shin the light down to the ground so I can see it" Dad: "follow the light" (I never want to hear that phrase again! When it's "my time" I hope God just says "Hey You, over here!" LOL! So, as I come out from behind some trees, after being in total darkness for hours, his dad shines this 10 million candle power super bright light right in my eyes! I scream "Turn that (blank) (blank)ing light off!!"

So, I was home! And believe it or not, during the entire night I was never scared, or worried. I knew I would get home sooner or later, and that it might not even be until the sun came up. I think I was too mad to be scared! Everything would not have been too bad cept when I got up to the cabin I started sobbing "I burned my panties!" Me and my big mouth!

We were together for 8 yrs. and his parents and I never got along, well, we were somewhat civil to each other but they could not stand me. They were so happy when I left him.

Ok, that's it. sorry it was soooooo loooong! Now I laugh about it, and yes, I still get teased a lot!

Vic

LOVE that Becki!
That sounds like the one!
Oh, I also have tons of yarn you can tie little cards onto your goodies with it. Just get computer buisiness card papers and paper punch a hole in it.

Also, do you have any little "Mom & Pop" stores around you? I see a lot of the little gift/flower stores with stuff like that in them. Just a thought.
Vic

I thought I posted a reply, but I can't find it now. So, if this happens to be my second time saying this, I apologize. (Maybe I am really going crazy...)

I love your story, Vic! Way funny! I so totally understand how you weren't scared because you were so totally angry! Men can do that to you!!

I really appreciate your offer for yarn! That is so generous of you! But, I have to be honest with you. I actually have yarn practically coming out of my ears already! My hubby would probably burn it, if he saw more yarn coming into our house! It's all so pretty, and I went through a phase when for some reason I must have thought I was going to knit hundreds of scarves, because, trust me, I have enough yarn for that! So... why don't you knit yourself a few scarves instead, okay, girlie?! But again, thank you, thank you, thank you! All you girls are just so generous!!!

I have been looking online at cupcake boxes. I did find one place, where I can get nice ones with a window on top and an insert inside to hold the cupcake for a pretty decent price. $33.14 for 100 of them. Plus free shipping. But... I think I am going to wait and see how things go, before I make an investment like that. I know that probably doesn't seem like a lot to the rest of you, but that is a lot for me to put out, if people don't buy cupcakes. My thinking right now, for starting out, is to try putting each cupcake into a cellophane bag and tie the top with a ribbon. I'll have to try it though, as I'm afraid the frosting will rub off onto the cellophane. Boxes would be more secure... Okay, so with the boxes (that I'll probably end up buying), I'm thinking I'll make some nice stickers (I have some of the clear address label ones) that have my business name and number. And then, I thought if I want to get really cutesy, maybe I can find some of those nice 3-D stickers and stick one on each one. I'll have to play around with that. I have some of those stickers now - cute ones. I suppose you can make them yourself, can't you? I don't even know if you all know what I'm talking about.

Hey gals! Vic, I loved your story! Laughed pretty good at that one! At least you didn't get your panties in a twist over it! Ooops, never mind, you had already burned them! I guess you couldn't get them in a twist if you wanted too! ROFL!

Becki: Enchanting Delectibles? Becki's Enchanting Eats? Sorry, I am whipped. Busy day. I don't think I have the brain power to be creative! Duh...

I think you are right to start on the cheap side with start up materials. The plastic bags will stick to the frosting plus be pretty time consuming with a dozen or more cupcakes. I think I would look into plain white bakery boxes or gift boxes and but stickers with your logo on them. That way you can place the sticker in the center of the lid and tie a pretty ribbon on top. Simple, aesthetically pleasing and to the point.

oh my goodness! i almost forgot what this pic looked like, LOL i helped hubby's mom do the corn, cuttin and freezin, i slept as soon as i got home! LOL that's alotta work! but i can't wait to do it on my own! LOL and i'm glad it worked great for ya becky! ok, now, who's got any good gumbo recipies? i won't be able to be on much maybe, i think we're gonna be really busy, so please don't be shy and email me please (too) after you share it with everyone else! and i also would love some collard green recipes, and anything to do with okra recipies, pretty please :')) i was trying to read most of the stuff and i was like usually pixie and hnb usually talk alot but not this time, LOL hey mel and tracey! :')) so i was thinking where was pixie, then i saw, LOL i'm used to the rest of us ducking in and out, LOL YAY school is almost here for us! funny cuz i couldn't wait for summer to be here so i could spend time with them, then their teen attitudes came!!! ahhhhhhh LOL she's only 5!!! LOL (but i think pms"n) she's eating all the time! yet ANOTHER growing spurt! becky, you've got how many girls? do they ever stop growing or slow down??? please say yes medo, once in a while, LOL
mom and them took us to carlos o kelleys soooo awesome!!! LOL ain't been in years!! i love the air baked chips they bring to the table and salsa, but ya have to ask for the air baked ones. hmmmm the only other new thing is i finally got back down ta 215 YAY i thought i was gonna get it all back again, actually i was at 16, but today i was like CRAP!!!! LOL hmmmm and i haven't been outside doing the walking in a wh8ile, so i been really worried about gaining. geesh! fishy i am sooo proud of ya! even though i something or another but ya know what i mean, right?? LOL i'm awefull with words!!! :')) but i'm still all happy cuz the mystery tuber alana sent me is a cana!!! how awesome is that?? ok now this is so so so wierd, but here goes, remember i told about the naked ladies? well a few years ago we planted daffadils around the chimmeny, did i tell ya about that or show ya the pic? well this month thats where the naked ladies came up, in the exact same spot, exactly where we planted the daffodils that i don't particularly care for, and lily's are one of my new fav's, now how wierd is that?? cuz if i remember right isn't naked lady part of lily family???? LOL i told ya wierd!! :')))

Hi Becki,
My first career was caterer. I did everything from themed children's birthday parties to elegant sit downs and private dinners, to weddings, large and small. I also supplied desserts to a couple of local restaurants. Everyone has been giving you some great ideas about how to market and package your goods.
It has been 15 years since I have been in the business, and there is money to be made if you work hard, but I would like to offer two things I learned from my experience. 1.Do a little market research and buy and make your supplies to suit your clientele. If most of your customers are young families with modest incomes, there are lots of creative ways to dress up your offerings that won't add to the price you have to charge and thus generate more sales without driving up your operating costs. If your clients are more from the upscale set, up and comers with a lot of disposable income, they are looking for ways to spend it and you can add all kinds of fancy flourishes and charge accordingly and they will not bat an eyelash. Both groups make good and loyal customers and you will find that they come looking for you time after time. You can certainly cater to both, but be aware of their different needs and how you can accomodate them.
2. Learn to say no. The reason I got out of catering was that I was overwhelmed. I had one part time employee and a couple of additonal folks I would call in when I needed extra hands, but I was always exhausted from trying to keep up with orders. Part of the problem was my compulsion to control every step of the process. I had absolutely no life and I spent several years too busy with orders for the holidays to have any time to enjoy the season with my family. I could not bring myself to tell a customer that I was too busy with orders to help them and I ended up with carpel tunnel from squeezing those darn pastry and decorating bags for hours every day. Now I have to strictly limit that kind of activity or I have pain. That is ultimately why I had to stop.
Good luck! It really can be a lot of fun because you get a chance to express yourself in so many ways!

Becki, you are talking about packaging for 1 cupcake, why are you wanting to pkg. only 1? Where are you going to have these for sale? I'm asking because not many people are going to want only 1, prob. 2-4 or more, then you will need to put them in something else anyhow. Just wondering.
Vic

Good to hear from you, Michele! Sorry you are going to be so busy! I've got 2 girls - Elizabeth (7) and Lily (2). They certainly haven't stopped growing! And yea! You are doing so good with losing weight! That's awesome!

Okay, so here I am flip flopping agian, but I like the Enchanting Eats idea. I'm thinking Rebecca's Enchanted Eats. Argh - I wish I had a printshop type program on this computer, like I had in my old one! All I have is Microsoft Publisher, and I havne't totally figured that one out! Fishy, if you were to possibly make me a graphic, can I just save that to my computer and use it on to print stuff? I really don't know exactly how all that stuff works. But, I think if you can make me a logo, then I can buy some buiness card forms and print them with my info. And I can make my labels. Yeah, I think I can figure out how to do that. Have I told you how much I love you for helping me with this??? I do, sweetie! I can't wait to try your cheesecake! I will get groceries tomorrow, and make sure I get the ingredients for it! Sounds so yummy!! (Especially the mint - I love mint!!)

Tracy - I am so glad you made it through yesterday! I hope you got a good night's sleep last night!

Woohoo! It's raining!!! My garden it really going to appreciate this!!!!

Hope everyone is having a good day!

Wow - as I'm typing, more people are posting! Fun!

Vic - yeah, you're right. I am just getting my brain way too full of information and ideas, and I really need to sort it all out! Don't worry, I won't be ordering anything until I have really thought this through and decided what I think will be best. I guess I was just thinking of the the farmers market for right now, and that people might just buy one as a treat for themselves or for someone else. But, yeah, just thinking right now. Way too much, actually!

Poison - thank you so much for all of the tips!! You make some INCREDIBLY good points! So far, I think I have been thinking more of the ones with more disposeable income, but that maybe isn't very realistic. I mean, I don't think there is any way around here, that I can get more than $2 for a cupcake, and even that would get some pretty scary comments! Maybe $5 for a set of four cupcakes? I don't know. You should see some people's reactions at farmer's market, when I say a dozen of our farm fresh all-natural eggs are $1.50! But, I have been told that at the Des Moines farmer's market, our eggs would be selling for at least $3 a dozen, some are getting $4! And at $1.50 I am always selling out. It's just so hard to know how to price things. And then the packaging adds to it! So, this weekend, I am definitely going to sit down with a pen and a pad of paper, and really try to sort out my thoughts!!!

Can anyone tell my brain is just racing?!! Okay, gotta get the kids something to eat!

Becki,
Some people think that when they buy home grow, or laid, stuff it should be dirt cheap. They have probably never even sewn a seed, let alone took care of chickens! The reason you sell out of the eggs is that a lot of people are willing to pay extra for farm fresh, home grown, homemade etc. That is what I expect when buying from stands. The whole point is it is FRESH, and much better than the cheaper, store bought that has been shipped days ahead of time. Let them give you the look, then they can go buy 3 week (or older) eggs on sale for $1.29!

Just my 2 cents!

Vic

Girls,
Please send me your email addys, I have something I would like to send you through email, and not post on here.
vick800 @ sbcglobal.net
Thanks
Vic

Ok, sent to the ones I have addys for. Sorry Becki, I think you got it twice. Ooops lol
Vic

Girls,
I may need your help! I started some new meds this week for Restless Leg Syndrome (it is a miserable thing to have, I've been fighting it since I got pregnant and can't take it anymore!)

Anyhow, the side effects include "unusual urge to gamble, and increased sexual urges and/or behaviors"!

One of the girls I work with is always trying to get me to go play bingo with her, so if I start talking about playing bingo a lot and all the "hot" old guys there please tell me "Vic, it's time to stop the new medication!"

LMAO! Just had to share that with ya'all!

Vic

OMG! That is too funny, Vic!!! I seriously though, hope that this helps you! I can't believe that those are listed as side effects, thought! That is a riot! Wow! Very funny!

That is too funny Vic I, like Becky, can't believe it" Guess anymore they have to cover everything eh? lmao

just emailed you sweetie.

I have this plant in my Love Garden, its got red stems and is about 3' tall and green leaves. It has budded and the buds look like higiscus buds, well today one of the buds is blooming, looks just like a hibiscus when it starts to bloom, its white but it hasn't bloomed all the way yet so don't know what the flower looks like. I can't take a picture of it as my camera is still in the shop. Do any hibiscus plants have red stems? I have several hibiscus plants but none of them look like this plant, not even the leaves look the same, the leaves on this plant are very simple pear shaped kinda. I didn't plant the thing so guess its another present from the birds. Would love some help if any of you know lol hard with just a description and no photo I know. Gonna do some research see if I can't find it online lol

Hey vic, maybe you could pass those out to all the hubby's in this group instead of the blue pills! LOL!

ok found it, it is a hibiscus I am sure!!! I think this is it

I will know forsure when the flower blooms all the way.

Whooohooo I love some of the presents that birds leave for me!!!!

Vic, I got the email. I definitely think it is prudent to be over cautious than not. You just never know with some of the people out there. I will tell you my biggest mistake I ever made with posting my email addy online. I created a listing on ebay for an item that I knew would involve a lot of questions from buyers. So I decided to post my email directly for any inquiries. I ended up removing it the next day because I received a fraudulent email from someone stating that money had been sent from my paypal account to person x in the amount of $119.85 I was then to use a link to view my paypal account. It was a fake site set up to obtain my user id and password. I didn't use the link, I opened paypal in a separate window and logged in through their site and found no transaction had taken place. I then sent the email to paypal's fraud team and sure enough it was a scam. When we post personal info online we open ourselves up to all sorts of hazards. If I were you I would email her back and let her know that you will only trade with folks that are members and have been rated on at least 2 successful trades. You can never be too cautious when dealing with strangers. I have looked at some of the negative reviews in the forum and for all you know this may be one of those people who have been rated badly and doesn't use their profile anymore because of numerous bad trades.

That is one pretty bibiscus! I absoluetly love them. They do drive me a little crazy with how big they get. I divided one of mine this year and was really happy with the size it grew into this summer. It is only about 3 feet tall now and much more compact. Sold the three other divisions I got out of it, he he!

I love hibiscus thats forsure, so I am really hoping that this plant is really one! In the front we have red and orange hibiscus in front to the kitchen windows, they are huge also, trees almost but I love it when the hummers come visiting! I also have some red ones in my love garden that are about 4 + feet tall.

My big woops was that I planted both of them in a tiny bed. It is only about 8 feet wide and 3 feet deep. There is a trellis behind them that has my clematis growing on it. I also have some Siberian Iris (caesar's brother), and a tiny hydrangea my mom gave me from easter 2 years ago in there. I had no idea how big they got when I planted them. They were a gift for our house warming party. Soooo, when they got so big I just didn't know what to do besides divide them and sell off the divisions because I had no where else to stick the gigantic boogers! LOL! I was in the planning stages for the shade garden to be put in not another sunny area! LOL! Too crowded in that bed that is for sure. I finally moved the hydrangea out and still need to pull out the rest of the Siberian Iris. The Clem needs more sun than it is getting behind those big boys!

That is very pretty, Pixie!! I'm glad you found such a nice present in your Love Garden!

Tracy, I have gotten lots of strange emails like that too. I have also gotten ones where they tell you to pay for the item you bought, that cost a lot of money. They say something like, this auction ended so many days ago, and you still haven't payed, log into your account following this link and pay, or you will receive negative feedback. (I got one that was asking for like $1500 for something one time!) Crazy!

Do you make sure that you send those on to Spoof@ebay.com? It really helps them nail the b**tards! ebay started a new policing department, you can see some of the stories of them actually prosecuting the little scammers. It is in the Community Forum. If there is one thing I can not stand it is stealing! Ugh!

So we got 5 referrals out of last nights party, one of them booked us for Sept. 15th already.

I started a new thread for bunny, hope you don't mind. See you all in the new pile!
Tracy