How I Got Started

I started Butterfly gardening many years ago. My yard has been a progression over the years, and has made many transformations. Twenty years ago I experienced Hurricane Andrew. My yard and house were destroyed. We decided not to replace the pool screening and open up the backyard and put in some landscaping. That was the official beginning of my love for gardening in South Florida. I added a beautiful water garden years ago, and have been adding host and larvae plants for pollinators, mostly for the butterfly, for as many years as I can remember. I had my yard certified as a Natural Habitat, through the National Wildlife Foundation. To have a natural habitat you need to provide and meet certain requirements: 1. Provide a food source, 2. Provide a water source, 3. Cover, 4. A place to raise young. I try not to use any pesticides in my yard. I vermicompost and recycle as many of my food scraps as possible. If I had more land I would have a huge compost bin to recycle all my yard cuttings. Basically, I try to lessen my carbon footprint on this earth. In my own little world or backyard I try to provide an ecosystem in my water garden, provide birdbaths, birdfeeders, hummingbird nectar sources, feeders, puddling areas, host plants and nectar plants for butterflies and other pollinators. I am hoping to raise everyone’s awareness of the importance of saving our Butterflies, Blooms & Bees. Without them our world and food source will be in trouble. I hope you all enjoy my journey. I am not a Master Gardener, or Master Beekeeper, an Entomologist, or Journalists. I am simply a Backyard Gardener who is trying to lessen her Carbon Footprint of this Earth.

I hope you enjoy my blogs.

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Dessert Soap Challenge



Well here I am blogging about making soap instead of my bees and chickens, who are doing great by the way.  One of these days I might actually blog about them but for now it is time for another soap challenge.  This month are soaps that look like desserts.  I love making soaps that look like food and desserts so I really enjoyed this challenge.  I kind of combined two birds with one stone on this challenge.  I was asked by Brambleberry to test their fragrances for 2015 SOAP Spring Fragrance Panelists. I used their fragrances for several of the soaps in this challenge. 

I actually sold out of one of the soaps that I made.  So I can’t include in the group picture.  It was actually my favorite fragrance.  Fragrance #1 smelled like Chocolate but with masculine undertones to me.  So I decided to use chocolate stout beer and make it look like a delicious chocolate soap, with chocolate bars and chocolate pieces on top.  



The next soap I created using the Brambleberry mystery fragrance was Fragrance #2 which to me smelled like the holidays.  It reminded me of the spices and baking around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  So I made a Chai Tea dessert soap.  It smells yummy!  It discolored to a nice golden brown exactly like I thought it would.  



 
Next I created a Strawberry Chocolate Sundae Cupcake.  This was mystery fragrance #4.  This fragrance had me stumped.  It smelled so familiar but was difficult for me to place the fragrance.  It did smell like chocolate to me.  I even thought it smelled like a tootsie pop.  So I decided to do something with chocolate and came up with this Strawberry Chocolate Sundae.  


Last I created two different Cupcake Fizzies.  Technically these are kind of soaps the bottom is actually a bath fizzy. One is Oatmeal Milk and Honey and the other is Black Raspberry Vanilla.  I filled each nut cup with the fizzy and then piped whipped soap on top.  I made the Oatmeal Milk and Honey to look like it was dripping in honey with Oatmeal sprinkles, and the Raspberry to look like a Black Raspberry Cupcake.  

 

These are my entries for the Soap Challenge.  I hope you think they look good enough to eat.  I have to admit that sometimes I really need to remind myself that I am creating soap and not really a dessert.  I really enjoyed this challenge.  I hope you like my creations.   


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