Bath Shower Home Design

One Inola woman is taking the farm-to-table movement a few steps further—to the shower. Stephenie Simmonds, the owner of Cypress Scents, handcrafts goat milk soap , lotion and an entire line of shaving and bath products. And she's doing it all from her farm in Inola. She moved here from Louisiana four years ago and brought the venture with her. "I milk my goats every morning. I bring the milk in and make products in the afternoon," she said. "People like the farm to table—or farm to shower—movement. I delivered three baby goats the other day, came in and cleaned up, then made product. It's just another part of my day. That's a novelty for people. People come out specifically to see the farm and the goats." Simmonds said it all started when she wanted to make some Christmas gifts for family and friends. "I really enjoyed it, and was good at it, so it was a natural progression of people seeing what I was doing and wanting it. Then to make more I...

It’s winter here in Kansas. It’s biting cold out, the heat is on, the air is dry. I don’t have a maid and I haven’t invented a magic sink, so the dishes still need washing every day! My hands just want to be rough and scratchy this time of year. Rough and scratchy hands are a frustrating inconvenience when you’re working with fine embroidery threads – any time of year! You know how it is: you’re stitching along pretty happily with a brand new thread, when disaster strikes! Your thread snags on, of all things, your thumb! That curséd dry scratchy patch on the side of your thumb ! Grrrrr! The plies of the thread bunch up, the fibers get hairy, you have to trim the thread and start anew. I know I’m not the only one with this problem, because inevitably, in the winter, I get a lot of inquiries about how to work with fine embroidery threads when your hands are rough. Over the years, I’ve tried myriad solutions for this problem. Today, I’ll chat about what works for me, and then ask yo...