May at Baker Creek Spring Planting Festival
May’s Spring Planting Festival still feels like a sunny day in my pocket, though the calendar tells me we’re at the end of June and every inch of the homestead is humming. It’s been a whirlwind — festivals, two farmers markets a week, the garden going in, wild harvesting, distilling, and keeping the daily rhythm of family life steady through the busiest season we see all year.
Baker Creek was a highlight. What a wonderful festival — meeting so many new faces and welcoming returning friends to our booth warmed us through. The conversations were rich and real: swapping of stories and growing tips, swapping recipes for preserving the season, and sharing why we do what we do here on the homestead. It felt like a community of people moving toward a better way of life for their families, and we were grateful to be part of it.
April’s Flower Festival was another special moment for us: that’s where we introduced Wildflower Waxworks. Bringing that little line into the world felt like a long-awaited extension of what we make from our fields and woods. We have reintroduced our Hydrosol Lotions and essential oil perfumes and several other exciting things through Wildflower Waxworks. We also celebrated the expansion of Wildfire Fabrication and Welding — another family-made chapter — and introduced two more of our family makers who craft herbal teas, extracts, and skincare. It’s been such a joy to showcase more of our treasured formulations and to watch our small circle of makers grow into a broader family of offerings for markets and festivals.
Back at the homestead the pace hasn’t slowed. We’re in full swing with gardens—rows planted, beds at least partially mulched, and daily tending that keeps both the soil and spirits healthy. Wild plant harvesting has been abundant this season; there’s something dizzying and sweet about walking the woods and fields , finding the plants we’ll distill and turn into hydrosols, oils, and products. Distilling is constant now — steam and scent and the steady rhythm of copper stills— as we produce hydrosols and essential oils to fill orders and stock our festival tables.
There’s always more to make: refining formulations, pressing new products into small batches, and keeping up with two markets a week. We’re stretched in the best possible way — busy hands, tired feet, and joyful hearts. We’re also working on better ways to share what we’re doing: new distillation updates, product notes, and (fingers crossed) refreshed social media coming soon to bring more of our homestead life to friends who can’t make it to markets.
Looking forward: the Harvest Festival at the end of September already sits on the horizon, a lovely marker that steadies our work. Between now and then we’ll keep planting, harvesting, distilling, and showing up at markets — meeting neighbors, sharing experiences and stories, and introducing more folks to the gentle power of Ozark plants.
Grateful for the new friendships from Baker Creek, for returning faces that make our booth feel like home, and for the whole family of makers growing with us. For now, there’s a fresh jar of hydrosol on the table and the scent of witch hazel on the breeze — reminders of why we keep at this sweet, busy life.
A bowl full of Spring!
Who can resist a bowl of peonies? We’ve captured their finest scent — a limited-quantity lotion is coming soon!
