What makes you get up at the break of dawn on a winter morning?
A promising date? A skiing trip? A crying baby?
Not for me: it is MARKET day, we have packed the car yesterday, I am not so good at early morning surprises.
Today, we go to Oberwil, a village close to Basel, to the Wintermarkt, one of their four seasonal markets, it is a charming market with lots of local associations participating.
As it is getting closer to Christmas we have included our scented soy wax candles, soaps and diffusers:
Like my food products this is all homemade in small editions, my daughter designed the labels and packaging.
Can you imagine that when I started making candles four years ago I did not find any organic soy wax neither in Switzerland nor in Europe? I still have it shipped from Canada!
I love working with fragrance oils as I am a very olfactory person – this is the uniting factor of my other passion: cooking. Does this make sense to you?
I am currently studying as much as possible, searching online and reading books and taking part in workshop to be able to produce my own scents. I am influenced by my travels, each country or region has its own smell, so you will not be surprised that my first scent is called MY THAI, a tribute to Thailand. The latest is MAREMMA MIA, catching the spirit of southern Tuscany in a fragrance. I only use essential oils, again there is a parallel to my cooking: organic as much as possible.
Hint: our webshop will soon be up and we will ship worldwide!
This winter we have introduced two new sweet products: Florentines, a delicacy made out of fresh cream, sugar, honey, almonds and candied fruit, covered with a thin layer of dark chocolate:
and Fudge, what a taste with a tiny bit of sea salt and butter in it:
A market can be very seductive and I always end up bringing home fine delicacies you would never find in a normal shop: our neighbours to the left sell home-baked bread from a wood fired oven using organic flours such as spelt, on the right there is a cheese maker from the Berner Oberland, selling alp cheese, very aromatic as his cows spent the summer high up in the mountains grazing on fresh grass, flowers and herbs. I buy 4 year old hard cheese which we will offer our guests at our Open House this coming Saturday. Heavenly when combined with our spicy fig mustard.
And on the other side of the road there is our smiling honeyman, selling his homemade products: honey, honey candy, pollen, bee wax candles.
I love the market atmosphere, the jovial camaraderie, discovering new things, friends, faithful and new customers coming to visit us. Never mind the schlepping, the endless hours put in before preparing and afterwards tidying everything up. And I could never do this on my own without any held, big thanks go to my daughter and her boyfriend. This is not something I do only for monetary reasons, it is a passion.
What are you passioned about? I would love to hear your story – share it here with us!
Comments 23
Hi Barbara,
I used to work our local farmer’s market and I LOVED the experience! It sure is worth getting up early for – the camaraderie of the vendors, the energy of the shoppers, and the wonderful shopping you always manage to do while there!
Your products look wonderful! Looking at the photos I feel as if I just stepped up to your both, compete but for the tasting. There IS tasting, right? 😉 I know there is aroma!
🙂
Enjoy this awesome experience (and be prosperous too!)
Lori
@Lori HI Lori,
Why am I not surprised that you worked the local farmers’ market? LOL. And yes, it is great, it is also a sounding board for all new products, you should experience it when my mother (you know she is 87 years old) comes to visit, wants to convince everyboday that her daughter is the best and cannot take no for an answer!
There is tasting but we have to work on it, we put the chutney or jam in small dishes with bread or crackers next to it and you can imagine there are people who want to dip their half eaten bread again! YAK!
Plenty of aroma: spices, herbs, essential oils ….
Would not mind being more prosperous but I have learnt not to be greedy!
Barbara
I love the markets too; here we have farmers markets which includes products like you mentioned plus fresh vegetables. They are usually located in the downtown and have them monthly.
I like the atmosphere, the smells and the craftsmanship. I think Europe does a much better job with the markets, but as more communities start turning back to their downtown’s, this will increase in popularity.
Thanks for sharing, sounds like a great time.
PS – I roll out of bed early to go to the gym and fortunately we have very mild winters in Florida. This morning it was 48 degrees and that’s just about cold enough………:)
@bdorman264 HI, Bill,
Great time? You must be joking, this is hard work! I spent hours watching the honeyman assembling some shelves, ignoring all potential customers, softly and tenderly handling his pieces of wood, drilling in one screw after the other, all the while munching on a piece of cheese. Sweet guy!
I now know all about your early morning activities at the gym, thinking up nicknames for all the unfortunate guys and only getting some exercises done when some appealing creature of the other gender appears, I can clearly see the analogy to social media. Loved your post!
I keep threatening everybody who lives in a warmer climate zone with an upcoming visit! I hate winter (but maybe I have mentioned that before – I am excused by my advanced age).
I’ve taken my food items to sell at Craft Shows and it is a ton of work. But much like farmers markets (which I also love!) the atmosphere is so wonderful. I love the idea of the scent of Tuscany. I’ve always said that if someone made a cologne the scent of basil I would absolutely buy it!
@laliavoce a lovely morning to you, Kathy!
What kind of food did you sell? Are you still doing it? Would love to stroll by and surprise you.
Already thinking and planning of my next market (the last this year) at my favourite location, Matthäusplatz in Basel on December 17, we will be selling mulled wine and gingerbread, all homemade, on top of the normal range!
Maremma Mia has some basil in it, I am still testing the fragrance, have you known that a fragrance has to mature like a wine? Fascinating, why does my day only have 24 hours?
@Late_Bloomers@laliavoce I make candy (turtles, peanut butter cups, chocolate covered pretzels with various toppings) and brownies in several flavors. I don’t really do many shows anymore because crafters aren’t really interested in food, oddly enough! They proved to be not very worth my while. I had this gorgeous display last show I did … beautiful red velvet cupcakes, cheesecake brownies, all kinds of candies. The brownies sold out, the pretzels did well, but not one cupcake sold. I know my stuff is delicious so that isn’t the problem! ha
@laliavoce Wow, this is an impressive range of candies and brownies. And I would have loved to see your display, got any pictures? What do you cover your pretzels with? Sounds intriguing. Bad luck with the cupcakes and they have such a short lifespan!
You know this happens to me too: I can sell only food products on one market, next time I will only sell candles, soaps and diffusers. For the benefit of family and friends who will gladly help to eat, maybe I should diversify with a gym (not a very good idea if you know me).
Wish you tons of success with your Christmas sales!
OMG! I am hungry just reading your post!!! Your candles look great. You are so talented Barbara! Let us know when the website is up and running!
@MuMuGB Thank you so much, Muriel! Hungry myself now, lusting for some hot spicy Thai food but after this weekend I will make some fast pasta, lucky enough I have made sugo napoletano in bottles, so – presto presto – open one and serve it with some taglierini.
The webshop – well that is a long story and not so presto presto. Maybe by the end of this year? Keep your fingers crossed!
Have a lovely week and my some sunshine come your way and brighten up London!
Mmmmm it looks so yummy! And the candles…I have a problem in that I buy candles…too many. So I’ve finally started burning them.
@JanineRipper Good idea to start burning your candles, hinthinthint, so I can bring some from Switzerland to the beach party ….
This is a luscious post Barbara. I can almost smell the scents, and my mouth is watering. And only from Canada, eh? Cheers! Kaarina
This is a luscious post Barbara. I can almost smell the scents, and my mouth is watering. And only from Canada, eh? Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough Luscious, love that word, Kaarina! It is an olfactory orgy. Learning more about fragrances I have come across some surprising words: a fragrance organ, he? No, wrong deduction, the word is borrowed from the music instrument and when you mix essential oils it is called a composition.
And all from Canada! Three cheers!
@Late_Bloomers Hip hip hooray!
This is a luscious post Barbara. I can almost smell the scents, and my mouth is watering. And only from Canada, eh? Cheers! Kaarina
Barbara, your varied passions shines through in this post and I continue to wish that I can live out what makes me happy as you seem to do every day. =) Those pieces of fudge seem to-die-for! Where do you get your inspiration for all the scents? =)
P.S. The smiling honeyman fills me with joy! Love that picture! =)
@Samantha Bangayan Sam, the smiling honeyman makes me smile right now. You know when I took that picture (on his request nonetheless) he said “Wait, wait, I need to comb my hair first” and- a perfect copy of Elvis – out comes his comb in a swish from his pants’ backpocket. Asking for his permission to publish his photo he drily replied “You can have it for free.” Believe me he was not joking, this is Swiss!
Maybe I realise in my passions what I otherwise do not dare: trial and error, just going ahead with a vision and see where it is taking me. The last batch of fudge turned into toffee, not bad at all but not what I wanted to create.
I draw inspiration from sniffing around all day, like Chica, it is difficult to explain but I can sit outside in the Tuscan sunshine and envision the composition.
@Late_Bloomers HAHA! =) That is SOO adorable about the smiling honeyman requesting a pic and combing his hair Elvis-like. =)
And I love the flexibility your describe with your passions — letting them go where they take you. We all need more of that lightheartedness in life, I think. =) Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Barbara!
@Samantha Bangayan If only, Sam! The lightheartedness is about 5 % of it all, the rest is procrastination!
I agree with Sam’s comment, Barbara! It’s very obvious how passionate you are about all this and that’s fantastic! OOOHHHHH, the fudge and those Florentines….you had me drooling! And I’m olfactory too so I can totally relate with what you said. No wonder I love candles too! Isn’t it great to wake up so early for something that makes you not complain about waking up so early? :-)))
@jpage.manuel Thank you, Joy, for your sweet words, you see where my journey takes me. You know, in the beginning when people asked me what Late Bloomers was all about and I replied in a rather grandiose way “I will unite all my passions in a blog”, there was silence and a rather dubious “Aha.”
So, next time, when a batch of fudge will turn into teeth killing toffee, I will remember you and all the others who support me and shower me with these lovely compliments – thank you.
And do not speak of getting up early, this is a killer in winter! 😉 I am convinced I was born in the wrong body in the wrong country and I should be living a happy sundrenched life someplace else.