Winter Projects

Although I plan to take the months after the holiday rush to revamp our everyday varieties of soap and moisturizer and develop a few new products (can you say hyaluronic acid facial serum with goat's milk???!!!), I also have a few projects around the farm that I am working on. Living on a farm offers endless opportunities to jump into something new and interesting. I am also an avid do-it-yourselfer and enjoy a challenge. Most of the home projects are my doing. The Bibbed Wonder hates to do home improvement projects. However, he is always reluctantly willing to help me out should I get in over my head.

I am currently working on our dining room. I recently finished our hallway and keeping room off the kitchen, and now I am painting the dining room from ceiling to floor. I am in the final stages of painting the floor, but alas, most of my focus is on the soap studio because our rock star soap family keeps us busy packing orders and restocking inventory. My goal is to have the dining room and kitchen painted and completed by Thanksgiving. I don't believe that is a realistic goal at this point. I will complete my dining room, but the kitchen will take a lot of time and energy. I may have the ceiling and walls painted in the kitchen, but I don't think I can finish the cabinets by the holiday. I also have a few ideas I will need help with, like changing out the kitchen faucet, removing upper cabinets, and adding two sets of open shelves. I don't usually do anything with electrical work, like changing out light fixtures. However, I rewired two vintage lamps and have not burned the house down yet. I like the light fixtures my mom chose, so I will keep those. However, I have never worked on plumbing, and changing a faucet feels very intimidating. I will need my bib overall wearing buddy for that project.

I am pleased that our barn roof project is now complete. Stage one happened before our festival. We completed the east-facing side of the barn roof. This week, stage two, the west side of the barn roof and the milking parlor roof were finished. I am pleased with the final results. We went with a metal roof, which should last throughout our lifetime. We have been advised not to cover our barn in metal siding because of the ventilation needs for hay storage. So, stage three of the barn project will occur in the spring: having the barn painted. I have six months to decide what color scheme I am going with, which feels overwhelming. I am sure inspiration will strike, and I will have my answer when needed.

Once the holiday rush is over, we plan to deep clean the soap studio, add more storage, rework some of our processing areas, and reorganize. It's time to eliminate what is not working and not being used, rethink our set-up for efficiency, and give everything a good scrub. Eric is contemplating new equipment additions but is always reluctant to change what he feels is working. There would be a significant overhaul if it were up to me alone. However, we are a team, and we need to come to a compromise. We focus on efficiency but must decide what changes will benefit us most. Crunching numbers will be the deciding factor.

At some point, before the weather turns cold and unstable, I would like to go to our booth at Shaker Woods and take measurements. I want to replace all the shelves in our booth, and I think these long winter evenings would be a fantastic time to work on this project. It will take minimal woodworking skills and a lot of time to paint. In January, February, and March, I will need something to do besides going to bed at 7 p.m. My bib overall-wearing buddy might not agree with this, but come late March and April, it will be baby season and time to get ready for our live shows. We will not have as much time to work on this project once baby and market seasons begin.

I also have several ideas for additional products, including new soaps, facial products, soaks, scrubs, T-shirts, hand towels, and soap dishes. I foresee 2025 being an exciting year for the soap business. Thank goodness, Eric and Jordan seem to have lost focus on this Porch Chat YouTube idea. I truly hate my voice and how I look in front of the camera. I prefer to do well-done reels or stories or whatever they are called. Just not my voice and limited images of myself. Playing around with making videos is also something I am interested in doing in 2025. I need a few more hours added to the day in order to accomplish all my goals. Soon, it will be time to break out a new notebook and write my goals for 2025, create my new soaps, master new products, and make decisions on packaging new products.

It's good to be busy. What do you do during the long winter months, dear reader? I would love to hear how you stay busy and productive. On this warm November day, stay safe, be smart, stay busy, and wash your hands.