autumn days + kitchen witchery + carrot soap



i think its safe to say, summer went by with a blink.  many many good times, and also a bit of chaos.  things have slowed a bit since autumn arrived, and thats just fine.  i was really ready for fall this year, we had a bad fire season.  in fact the smoke was the worst i've ever seen, and many old timers will say the same.  lately our weather has been perfect, hot afternoons and cold nights.  there's a fire in the stove keeping out the cold. and pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins.


miss josephine herself with a wagon full of pumpkins.  these are not all for us, but quite a few of them are.  we peddled our wares at the harvest festival in libby, montana.  and i had the pleasure of trading for these pumpkins.  so far i have made a pumpkin bisque, pumpkin soap, and pumpkin muffins.


i have been harvesting too, both the garden and wildcrafting. coming back from libby that evening, we foraged for elderberries.  wow, they were divine. 


i made the most delicious wild soda with these elderberries, plums, apples, mint, and red cover. i was inspired by a post wild soda for the autumn equinox , by gather victoria.  they have a great blog, i highly recommend following them, especially if you are into wild food.


this is an elderberry + calendula elixir.  i'll share all about that soon, its probably worthy of its own post.



this is tobacco i cultivated.  the garden did well this year, but i get better and better about tending to it.  i also grew tomatoes, pumpkins, calendula, mint, sunflowers, catnip, red clover, potatoes, sage, and thyme.  along with many many raspberries and flowers.  i look forward to doing all over again next year.  as the cycles of earth spin on. i made many tinctures, for us and available for you. 


making soap brings me joy.  lately i have been up to essential oil free tallow soap.  tallow because i think its important to support small scale family farms, and its also really important to not use palm oil.  look at the ingredients on what you eat and what you put on your body, palm oil is everywhere.  and its just not good.  if you would like to read more about it say no to palm oil is a good website.  but there are many more out there.  essential oils are also something i want to move away from.  they are all the rage right now, but with time that will fade also. so i've really been grooving with the carrot soap....






the ingredients: beef tallow, coconut oil, olive oil, carrots juice (juiced by me), cinnamon, and lye.   it can be purchased at my website simplyjosephine.com or if you are local.....come on out friday the 13th to heavens peak organics for ladies night. 4-8 i will be there with samples, and the carrot soap will also be available there. i think we have come to a close, wishing you all a fabulous fall + full to the brim with good things. you can find me on instagram


















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