It's Raining

The weather for a Bank Holiday weekend was lovely - it was the first time we have actually sat and enjoyed the garden, since we moved in last August. If the BBC weather people have got it right, the rain today should be a blip, and we will have sunshine tomorrow.
I am picking the flowers up from Charlie, first thing in the morning, and then heading over to see Peter to get some pics done. They are going live on the site at the end of next week.
The new Italian organic linen range also turned up yesterday, so we are all ready to go!
We have already had a great reaction to our recycled placemat and coaster range, and I only loaded them onto the system on Friday!
Our new organic honey handwash and handcream have passed all the tests so far, so we should have those live on the site in 6-8 weeks time, just the packaging and label design to sort out. Luckily with talented friends like Lindsey Joyce on the case, I know they will look the bees knees!!(No pun intended!).
I will be posting updates on the photoshoot next week - pop back to get a sneal preview!

Will It Rain Won't it...

This week has been all about sorting out what I need to take with me to Wales next week, to carry out the photo shoot for the new British cut flowers and Italian Organic Linen range.
The Italian Linen samples are turning up worryingly late, they are currently still unmade, in Portugal somewhere. Therefore my shoot planning has involved an awful lot of imagination!
The plan is to do some inside in the studio - that will at least mean that we get the flower pics done ready for the new promotional leaflet to hand out at the Good Food show. I want to combine the flowers with the new linen, so that I can get the maximum benefit out of the pics.
I'm also partly hijacking our summer break next weekend, as I have several locations on our drive over to Aberaeron, where in my minds eye I see the perfect image.
I am probably hoping too much to go to Wales, and have a few rain free days to do pics, but I have started to pack up every possible combination of plate, bowl, glass, and candlestick in the hope that the sun will shine!
Because we had a weekend in Sweden dog sledding earlier in the year - our normal summer trip abroad has been downsized to 3 days in Wales. But we are staying at the lovely Harbourmaster hotel, right on the harbour front in Aberaeron. You may have seen it feature in the recent visit Wales adverts.
We have stayed there before, and Paul can't get enough of the sea views from the room. The food is also pretty good, with lots of local fresh produce.
I'd better get on with my packing - now should I take the kitchen sink....?

Ladies Who Lunch!

I knew there had to be a perk to owning your own company- and there is! I can waltz out of the office to go and meet a friend for lunch, and not have to explain it to anybody!
I popped over to Broadway yesterday, to meet Jo Verity. She had just finished another batch of those gorgeous beaded napkin rings for Ochre & Ocre.
Jo started her business the same year as Ochre & Ocre, and we met through a networking group called WIRE. (Women In Rural Enterprise)
Her jewellery has had a great response, (piccies attached), I think mainly because it is so different. So many "hand made" jewellery companies buy in all their beads and just thread them onto a ready made chain, what makes Jo's so different is that she rolls her own paper beads, and then combines these with glass, stones and bone, to give a really unique look.
What is even more exciting is that Jo is expanding into new areas - excited up by the response to her napkin rings, she is developing some other "interior" products, made with her paper beads.
From curtain tie backs, to light pulls, to lamp shades, she has so many great new ideas.
Jo and I had a great lunch, discussing our new plans, and bouncing ideas off one another. It is really great to share ideas and work with other small businesses to try to help each other.
Just to prove it wasn't all play and no work, pic also attached of Jo with her trusty notebook which she takes everywhere with her!
Why not check out her site if you like jewellery that is a bit more unique, and each piece a one off. go to: www.Joveritydesigns.com

Natural Collection Handpicked Flowers

I've just received the new label designs for our new hand picked flowers and they look amazing - the hardest thing is trying to choose which colour.....
British naturally grown cut flowers seems to be a really hot topic at the moment, and when you stop to think about it, it does make sense. As with food we've got used to having lilies and delphiniums in March, or dahlias in May, when really, as with seasonal eating, if we go back to how nature intended it, you start to have something to look forward to each month - a bit like Asparagus season!
The other benefit is that homegrown flowers, tend to be the more traditional varieties, and have a stronger scent. If more people grow their own flowers it will also benefit the poor bee population.
I also have a personal reason for being quite proud of this new range, and that's because of where they are grown, on the hillside slopes overlooking the River Wye, just a few miles from where I was born.
I will be going back home to do the pictures in a few weeks time - keep an eye out as I will post a few pics of our photoshoot on this blog!

Online Shopping

The trouble with this self employed lark is that it is very hard to not think about Ochre And Ocre / Switch off and generally have some down time - hence its Sunday afternoon, and I'm updating this blog!
It may also due to the fact that my husband, is away this weekend, following yet another of his "mid life crises"! This weekend it is navigating at a speedboat race somewhere in North Wales. Ok - I could have gone to watch, but I'm still scarred by memories of freezing to death at Liverpool docks - husband nowhere in site, as he's hanging around with his other mistress somewhere, (caressing her prop that kind of thing!!). I know its good to have hobbies, the fact that his other hobby is beating people up, (well ok self defence, aka free fighting), he always seems to be coming home with some injury or other! Apparently it is a cut hand this weekend....
So what's a girl to do? I need to get my own hobby - apart from trawling the net for inspiration for hours / aka shopping online...
Now the need for me to learn french has passed - I'm keen to pick up my Italian again - although I seemed to pick it up best whilst bombing up and down the M1 to work, at 90mph.
Or I could do dressmaking again - I did a quick costing exercise yesterday, (occupational habit), and worked out I would be better buying the dress I love at Boden rather than making it! Fabric is so expensive - I do have some Ochre fabric left from making curtains, but I don't really want to look like a well upholstered sofa...
So why am I surfing on a Sunday night - its my new way of comp shopping - I'm forever tearing a page out of a magazine to check out a new website. My latest find is some really gorgeous interior fabric and wallpaper from Sarah Hardaker. Ex Osbourne and Little / Habitat, she has added a contemporary twist to some classic ideas. Even better is the fact that her fabric is printed here in the UK. Check out her website at www.sarahhardaker.co.uk. The only problem looking at lovely interior ideas like Sarah's you end up wanting to redo / build a new house....perhaps that is the hobby I am missing!!

Seal Wrestling

Ok, I lie, it wasn't a seal, it was my bulldog Gertrude. But trying to hold her down whilst waving a small bottle of eyedrops in the general vicinity of her eye is no mean feat. Gert, being a wise old lady now, has got wise to the stealth approach, and only seems to sleep on her side with her good eye showing. She is also a lot more vocal now, I dread to think what the translation would be of her growling.
Yet another trip to the vet this morning, to get her eye checked, and her trauma starts before she even gets onto the vets examination table. I think it all stems back to the time a thermometer was inserted into her nether area, (a traumatic event by anyones standard). She now has to sit on my lap whilst we wait, nothing strange there I hear you say. Now imagine 4 stone of quivering bulldog on your lap, complete with whining noises, and you can see why the whole episode is such an upheavel to her normal routine.
I think she was actually pleased last weekend when Paul & I were at Tewkesbury show, as it gave her chance to catch up on her sleep!
We had a really good show, and it was nice to talk to so many people, who were interested in Ochre & Ocre, We also met some other interesting exhibitors. Marc from Riverford organic food boxes was one of those genuinely nice, down to earth people. The fruit and veg he had on display looked fantastic, and with prices cheaper than supermarkets you can see why they are so popular.
There were some lovely local cheeses, our favourite was the lovely blue veined brie from Simon Weaver organic.
With over 7000 tickets presold for the James Martin cookery demonstration, there was no chance of seeing the man himself, although I did sneak off the stand for a while to hear Ben Axford talking about cheese and wine tasting. He certainly knows his cheese, and I picked up some interesting tips. Did you know that mature cheddar actually goes really well cider!
We were in the craft section, and we also met some really nice people there too. If you are ever near Tewkesbury why not make a detour to Conderton Pottery, Toff Milway was a great character, and he certainly knows his pots.
Our next show is going to be a long one, 5 days at the NEC, at the Good Food Show. I'm glad to have a few weekends off before then!