Usually at this time of year I'm very busy making soap and getting ready for shows and SCA events each weekend.  November and December are the months I make over half of my sales each year.  Of course, with Covid, all of my usual events have cancelled or postponed indefinitely.  However, as the saying goes, when the going gets tough, the tough get going and that is exactly what I plan to do!

I have two other venues for sales right now.  If you are reading this, you are probably aware of my website and that is a great way to buy!  I try to accommodate any needs you may have, even including gift notes if you request them. I mail all over the US and can probably mail to other countries if you contact me with your needs and I can figure out the postage. 

​ The other venue is my shop.  It's tiny, but I do have a small porch where all my soaps and beard products are displayed for sale.  Beginning November 21st (Black Friday), the shop will be open from 2-6 pm daily, and by appointment through December 24.  To make an appointment just text 641-456-8953.  The shop is limited to 3 people who come together, or 1 at a time and everyone must wear a mask.  I do take credit cards, checks, cash or paypal.
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The shop is located right on highway 65, 2 miles south of Collins, IA. on the east side.  There is a sign hanging on the mailbox and will soon be signs on the road side.  The porch entrance is at the front of the house facing the road, you can't miss the bright red door!  If no one is in the shop just ring the doorbell and someone (usually me, Deb) will come and help you.  During shop hours the store is heated and very comfortable.

Right now I am busy decorating for Christmas and on November 21st, black Friday , I will be having a special sale day and free hot cider from Center Grove Orchard!  Please stop by on your way to/from the sales in the Big City!  I'll be posting more pictures after I get it all set up!

I have been busy getting new labels and names for my beard products ready and they are finally here!  I have all the old favorite oils that you all love, but I have been inspired to name them after my favorite axe throwing venue; Ironside Axe Club in West Des Moines, IA.  I hope you enjoy the new names!

Bulls Eye - Pacific Trail scent for the adventurer
On Target - unscented for stealth, or add your own signature fragrance or essential oil
Big Axe - Dragons Blood, for the fierce fighter in you!
Ironside - Tobacco Bay Leaf for the laid back woodsman
Kill Shot - Kentucky Bourbon to celebrate your skill

I've also added a gift kit that will be perfect for Christmas or birthday.  It includes a storage bag, beard oil and balm, soap, and a wooden comb.
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Axe not included, of course!  It's not pictured, but a bar of soap of the same or similar scent is included.

Beard oil is a conditioner used to moisturize and soften beard hair. It's also effective for moisturizing the skin beneath your beard. People use beard oil to keep their beards looking fuller, softer, and tamer. It's also sometimes used to promote beard growth.

​Beard balm further conditions and provides more control over those flyaway hairs.

I've also added beard threaders and beads so you can really enhance your Viking look!  Beard threaders are threaded through the bead and then around the hair you wish to pull through the bead.  It's much easier than trying to pinch and stuff the beard hair through those small holes!
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I hope you will check out all the great new beard products for November!  Spruce up your beard and then go out and throw some axes!  Good Luck!

Nalbinding is an ancient Viking method of knitting.  It's done with just a large bone, horn or wood needle and wool yarn.  What is unique about it is that you can actually cut it with a scissors and it won't unravel like crochet or knitting do.  When done with a thick wool yarn the hats, stockings and gloves are very thick and warm!  If you check out the hats on my website you can see that many are made with the nalbinding technique.
Recently I was challenged to use up some of my yarn stash so I decided to try nalbinding socks for the first time!  Here is how they started out:
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Here you can see that I left an opening for the heel and went back to fill it in.  That was something new for me, but I figured it out!
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Both socks are finished.  The heels turned out more square than I wanted, so I decided to felt them.  Felting is done by agitating the wool in hot soapy water and then cold water.... just like accidentally shrinking a wool sweater.  I concentrated on the heels as they were way too big; while the rest of the sock was only a little too big.

Here you can see that the heel in the top sock is felted and the rest shrunk a little too.  Now I will felt the bottom sock so it is the same size.  These are pretty thick, so I think they will be slippers as they are too thick to fit into my boots!

Here are some of the hats I have made.  I sell these online and at events I attend.  I also teach classes on how to nalbind; let me know if you are interested!

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  Yesterday my husband and I decided to take a road trip from our home just NE of Des Moines to the Loess hills, a geographically interesting area in western Iowa.  I spent hours the week before looking up interesting things to see and visit (for me), food (for us), and B roads (for him).  The whole route was about 7.5 hours of driving, so perfect for a day trip.

We left home about 10 am after sleeping in and doing chicken/duck chores.  We had decided to take the White Pole Road so we headed south.  Our first stop was in Dexter, IA at Drew's Chocolates.  This little shop was located in the basement of a residential house.   It is so small that the sign on the door asks you to wait outside if there is another car in the drive!  We walked down some stairs and in the door to see a beautifully decorated for fall room.  The display case in front of us held all their hand dipped chocolates and we were immediately offered samples by the friendly owners.  They told us all about their history and family recipes, how no palm oil was added to their chocolates and the posted sign said that chocolate was good for our hearts.  Of course, for the sake of health, we bought several boxes!

We continued to drive down the White Pole Road to Adair, where we had to get on Interstate 80.  It's fast and efficient, but boring!  Next stop was  Doe's and Diva's Dairy.  We traveled down some winding scenic gravel roads to get there and found a very Covid compliant outdoor store, selling soap and lotions and yarn on the honor system.  Their products looked lovely but we were unable to buy anything as they only take cash and checks and we had not had the foresight to bring either, so be aware of that!  By now we were hungry, so we traveled another 10 minutes to Stanley's Snack Shack.  This delightful little outdoor cafe was built from a storage container!  The menu features goat cheeses and seasonal goodies.  We had the best BLT's we had ever had!  Fresh tomatoes, cucumber salad and fried potatoes were all delicious sides.  I also checked out the restroom.... small but very clean and cute.  I highly recommend stopping here!
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Back on the road again, we drove up the old Lincoln Highway to get onto the Loess Hills Scenic Byway.  Of course we had to try a little off-the-main-road side trip and took The Sawmill Hollow loop (a level B road) where we discovered tranquil ponds and beautiful scenery.
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​The next stop was the Loess Hills lavendar Farm where we met two wonderful ladies who were delightful to talk soap and lavender with.  They gave us samples of lavender jelly and fudge, and of course we went home with jars of jelly and some liquid lavender hand soap.  It smelled divine!

We continued on the byway to the Loess Hills Scenic Overlook and we were not disappointed by the views, they were breathtaking!  We continued to explore the B roads in and around the park and enjoy the fall colors.  The trees were starting to turn, although I imagine the colors will be even brighter next week.
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By this time we were hungry again, so we drove back to Pisgah to Dave's Old Home Café where we enjoyed home made hamburgers and Cokes.  From there we drove north to hit the Lincoln Highway again and headed back home.  By now it was dark, so not much to say about the trip home.  Hope you enjoyed hearing about our road trip!

I am still laid off from my regular job, but keeping busy anyway.  Soap sales continue to be great and I make soap nearly every day now to keep up!  I just updated the website with new scents; although I need to get pictures of about a dozen of them yet.

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I am selling at the farmer's market in Maxwell pretty much every Sunday afternoon from 1-3 pm.  The turnout of vendors and customers has been amazing!  It has been the most fun market I have ever sold at.  There is live music and several kinds of food and treats.  The setting on the edge of a park is so nice, I see people getting food and siting under the shade trees to eat it!  This Thursday I plan to start selling at the Farmers Market in Huxley, IA from 4-7 pm; at least until I get called back to work.

Have you noticed how popular tie dye seems to be lately?  Maybe it's because everyone has been staying home.  A few weeks ago my grandaughter and I had a fun time trying it out.  Here are some of the results:
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Life here at Thistlewood Manor has really slowed down, and it's kind of nice.  I am laid off from my regular part time job at an axe throwing club and all the events I would usually sell soap at have been cancelled, however online business has been brisk.  I really appreciate all of you who have bought soap from me!
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​I am keeping busy with making more soap as well as house and yard projects.  I started plants a few weeks ago and they are already a few inches tall!  The beans are really going to town.  I also started tomatoes, bell and hot peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkins and watermelon.

This year we bought a grow light for the first time and it has made such a difference.  I have never had really good luck with seedlings, they always got so leggy and weak.  This time they just shot out of the ground within days and are looking so healthy.

We are also busy with the chickens.  We have 13 laying eggs now, so we average about 10 a day.  There is nothing better than fresh eggs!  While we are getting quite a few, we are not ready to start selling yet as there are not quite enough extra to guarantee for our customers.  Currently we just give away a few dozen here and there.  We recently got a big Brahma Rooster so we are hoping to hatch our own chicks soon.  We also bought 11 little Black Breasted German Phoenix chicks and are hoping at least half are hens so we will get more eggs.
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I have been working on some new products with all this down time and want to share the latest with you.  It's not always easy to wash our hands frequently, so I put together a little travel soap box you can take with you.  All you need is your own bottle of water and one of these little soaps to scrub away the germs!  Check them out under the Soap tab.
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This year I was more ready than ever.  I had over 600 bars of soap made, dozens of beard oils and balms, rollers of essential oils, wooden combs, woven inkle bands and nalbound wool hats.  It was going to be our best sales year ever!  We were even packed two weeks before and Thursday morning we woke up excited to head to our favorite event.  We hooked up the trailer and headed out on time, planning to have dinner at Lamberts "Home of the throwed rolls" in Sikeston, MO and had a hotel room waiting in Batesville, MS.
Not an hour down the road the truck started getting loud and it was obvious we had a problem.  Greg got out and looked, sure enough, we were missing a muffler.  We backtracked and found it; it didn't look good.  We found a nearby muffler shop who agreed to replace it immediately and so dropped off the truck and walked down to Wendy's for lunch.  While we waited I kept monitoring Facebook and the signs the event would be cancelled kept becoming stronger.  Sure enough, just as our truck was fixed, we got the word; Gulf Wars 2019 had been cancelled.
Well, glad that we weren't farther down the road, but sad about missing our spring vacation and concerned about how the income loss would affect us, we headed back home.  Once there we began to unpack.
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Here are all the bins of soap sitting in my shop waiting to be unpacked.  There are over 40 different fragrances, plus beard products, combs, soap dishes, beard kits, nalbound hats, inkle bands and more.  I am now working on photographing each one and putting them up on the website so people can buy them.  I am hoping to have a "porch sale" next weekend as well so local people can come and buy!  

​I figure it will take me about 25 hours to upload everything I have, so please be patient as I get it all up and then get orders filled.  Thanks to everyone for supporting me!

There is an old story that dates back to at least 1438 that tells of 4 thieves who robbed people who were ill from the black plague, yet never got sick themselves.  When finally apprehended, they went before a judge who promised to be lenient with them if they told him how they managed to stay healthy.  As they had been chemists before their lives of crime, they explained how they had created a special mixture of essential oils, including clove, cinnamon, lemon and rosemary that they wore on themselves and their clothing that kept the germs away.  You may have heard of this potion as "thieves oil".  Since that name has been copyrighted, I have chosen to call my own blend of these oils "plague ban". 
You might wonder what is so special about these particular essential oils, so I have researched them and here are my findings.  
Clove oil is both antimicrobial and antifungal.  https://www.healthline.com/health/clove-essential-oil#benefits
Cinnamon oil is antibacterial and disinfectant.  https://www.healthline.com/health/cinnamon-oil#benefits
Lemon oil is antibacterial and antifungal.  https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/blog/products/all-about-lemon-oil.html
Rosemary oil is anti bacterial and antifungal.   https://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/blog/products/all-about-rosemary-oil.html
This is just a quick overview, please follow the links and do your own research to learn more!  As you can see, those chemists turned thieves may have been onto something.
While I don't make any medical claims about my products, I do make a point to use high quality essential oils in them.  In this flu and cold season, washing hands frequently is the best way to keep yourself healthy.  Any soap is a good choice, but I like to recommend my handmade soaps because they are moisturizing rather than drying and that's important when you wash your hands a lot.  I use my plague ban oils in both my soap and roller bottles you can apply to your skin.

 Making soap can seem mysterious, dangerous and difficult until you actually learn how.  There are several different methods and all can make great soap, but the method I like is called hot process.  One of the reasons I like it best is because I think it is the most like the way our ancestors would have made it; mixing the ingredients in a pot on the stove until it was cooked and then pouring it into a mold.

​The most difficult part of making soap is measuring.  When people first began to make soap they used trial and error and when it worked, passed those recipes down to others.  Now I use an online tool called a soap calculator.  I can enter my ingredients and the size of the recipe, then adjust amounts until I get the qualities I want (I like hard, sudsy bars of soap), and the calculator tells me how much lye I need to use to get the chemical reaction that makes soap.  That is so much easier than running rain water through ashes, straining it and then floating an egg to see if it is strong enough!  Yes, that is how lye used to be made.  Once I have perfected my recipe I carefully measure all the ingredients on my kitchen scale.  If I do it correctly, the soap will turn out just right every time!

Once I have measured the oils I place them in a crockpot so the hard oils (lard or coconut) can melt.  Every oil has different properties.  Lard makes a harder, whiter bar.  Coconut is cleansing and sudsy.  Castor is moisturizing and conditioning.  A good soap calculator will tell you the qualities of each oil.  While I am waiting for the oils to melt, I mix the lye with water.  It gets hot, so I am careful not to get burned.  Once the oils are melted I can add the lye/water mixture, then let them cook until it gets thick like mashed potatoes.  This is a picture of finished soap in the pot.  I then put it in wooden molds to dry.

Once in the molds, they must dry at least 24 hours before I unmold and cut the bars.  Each mold makes 13 5 oz bars.  After cutting, they need to wait several more weeks to dry so the bars will be harder and last longer.  After they are dry enough, they are labeled and put into boxes to take to shows and events to sell.

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Clean up is easy, I just put all the dirty dishes in the sink and fill with hot water.  After soaking for half an hour they nearly clean themselves!  Because the soap has been cooked there is no lye left to harm my skin.

​I hope you enjoyed learning a little about how I make soap; if you are interested in a hands on class, let me know!

I am often asked why I call my soap business "Thistlewood Manor", so I thought I'd fill you in.  It all started in 2005.  I'd been through a rough divorce and after 2 years finally received back child support.  During my previous 12 year marriage we had moved 21 times and I wanted to put down roots.  I saw an ad in the paper for an acreage selling on contract and contacted the owner......I was able to put down that money and purchase a stable home for my 3 young children where they could live and attend the same school until they graduated from high school.
Being active in medieval reenactment, I knew that manor houses often had names, and I liked the idea of naming my new little acreage to make it seem more permanent (and maybe a little grander!)  I spent a lot of time thinking of ideas and the two things that stuck out to me were that we were located within 8 acres of woods and there were thistles blooming everywhere.  Thistlewood Manor was born!
Here's a picture of the first Thistlewood Manor:
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A few years ago my husband and I decided to sell this house and move on, so we bought a new acreage and once again named it Thistlewood Manor.  This is where I make all my soap now and sell it online, at events, and on the front porch.
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