Keepsake bears (by MK)

 I have been sewing stuffed animals since the girls were babies. 

Kay and Lin with a herd of bears some time around 1985

 Mostly bears, sheep and bunnies, but a few other critters as well. 

 

My grandmother was my biggest supporter.  She would want any bear I made and then wanted customized bears for all the relatives. 

Custom bears

 A friend of mine had a mink stole that had belonged to her mother.  She did not wear fur, but wanted the fur made into something she could show off and enjoy.  She asked me to make the stole into a teddy bear.  I made her two bears from the stole and dressed them in outfits made from a dance costume from her daughter and a shirt from her mother.  She displays them by her front entrance, each on their own chair. 

Fur bears

 Another friend of hers saw the bears and wanted some made for her.  She had fake fur coats from her mother and her mother in law, and a grandmother.  I believe I made six bears.  One in each set was outfitted in a dress made from her wedding dress and the other had a bow tie.  Each of her sons will receive a set of three bears as remembrances of their grandmothers and great grandmother. 

My mother had a fur collar from a friend of hers who passed away and wanted her 3 daughters to have something made from it.  There was enough fur to make ears for four bears.  I had found two fur coats at St. Vincent's.  There was enough fur with the two jackets, by mixing and matching to make the four bears.  So Mom and the three daughters could have a bear with something that had belonged to their friend and mother. 

Now Kay has asked if I could make a stuffie from her nursing gown.  She sent it to me and I have made it into a puppy.  I had a hard time deciding on dog or rabbit, because Kay always liked both, but it was for Alisha, so puppy won. 

Alisha and her weaning puppy

Repurposing textiles has been a family tradition for a very long time.  My grandmother always had two braided rag rugs in her living room.  They were made by her grandmother.  So making stuffed animals from something loved but outliving its current use seems like a good idea.  It's a nice way to keep something sentimental without it being obtrusive or cluttery.

Kay had read that wool made good soakers for babies.  She suggested old wool sweaters.  Off to Goodwill I went to find sweaters.  I found a few that felt good to me and proceeded to shrink them.  Alisha has a few soakers, but I haven't gotten the fit quite right.  But the cashmere sweaters work nicely for breast pads.  Also a suggestion from Kay.  It's hard to find cashmere in neutral colors, but it's mostly about the texture and the fiber content. 

Wool breast pads

Cocoa Butt Butter (by KK)

When we decided to use cloth diapers we did quite a lot of research on all the different styles before settling on one.  During all that research we learned that we wouldn't be able to use just any old diaper cream with out risk of damaging them.  However, after shopping for cream and not finding any with short ingredient lists I decided I could make my own.  I got the recipe from my friend at Quiet Earth Yoga.  It worked so well that soon other mums at day care asked for a jar or two.  So I started to give it away to friends with new babies.  Who also loved it.  That was when I decided to make larger batches and sell it.  I figured that if it didn't sell I could always use it on my own babe.

Selling locally became kind of awkward.  There was always that moment when I'd have to ask for payment.  I hated it.  Setting up an Etsy site with prices solved that problem.  Now I can tell an interested mom where to look at pictures and prices before committing. 

Not only is the cocoa butt butter safe on cloth diapers, it is all natural and almost organic.  I use all organic ingredients, except the beeswax.  I get this from my cube mate at my day job and he tells me that since he cannot control what blossoms his bees visit, he is uncomfortable calling his honey and wax organic.  I will tell you, however, that he keeps bees at one of the local organic farms.  So the wax is of pretty high quality.  

Fresh wax

The ingredient list is relatively short.  Every thing comes from Mountain Rose Herbs or my own garden.  Just olive oil, calendula and chamomile blossoms, coconut oil, shea butter, bees wax and cocoa butter.  The cocoa butter gives the product such a lovely scent that I don't want to add an essential oil.  But I sure could if someone was interested.   The cocoa and shea butter melt at body temperature giving the butter a very smooth feeling when applying to the bum. 

Unpacking a new box of supplies

Making the butt butter is kind of a mess so I make batches as large as my pot will allow.  I mix all the ingredients over low heat until they are melted together.  Then while the mix is still liquid it goes into jars.  In the beginning I asked my daycare for their baby food jars.  This seemed like a great idea since they just threw the jars away.  But as I started to make more and more butt butter I needed to begin purchasing jars.  So if you buy a jar from us you may get a new jar or you may get a recycled jar. 

Fresh batch in used baby food jars

Once all the jars are filled and labeled they spend some time in our basement.  It is a cool dry place and the mixture stays stable until it is time for the jars to go to use on baby butts.  I like to think of this as the aging process.  We end up using an awful lot of the jars on our own babe so I can easily keep track of the quantity and quality that we have in stock.

Labeling jars

If you would like to try a jar visit our Etsy site or contact us www.reesevilleridgenursery.com.

The Weaning Puppy (by KK)

My daughter decided to wean when she was 18 months. Around that same time she also started dragging my nursing gown around. I guess that makes sense. I had worn the gown almost every day of her life.

It was familiar, and even though she decided she didn't need to breastfeed anymore she still wanted to carry a bit of me with her. Touching, eh? I thought so until we had an disagreement about taking it to daycare one day. The gown had been useful for a year and a half, but it had holes and the elastic in the neckline was worn out. If I do ever have another baby nursling I think I deserve a new nursing gown.
So we decided to make an old thing into a new one. Now my daughter has a new friend and I have a special keepsake to remember our nursing relationship.

If you would like, we can make a puppy for you out of any yard of special material.

The New Logo (By KK)

When we decided to expand our offerings here at Reeseville Ridge Nursery, I knew it was time for a logo. I knew one of us could design it. I knew what I wanted it to look like. Making it happen took a while. I wanted an image that would bring babies and plants together.

Originally I thought of a baby in a cabbage. This came to mind because in France babes are often called petit choux (little cabbages), much like we call ours pumpkins. But we're not in France and we don't grow (or even really like to eat) cabbage. So I decided to wrap my logo baby up in some other kind of leaf. Below is what I came up with.

 

It wasn't quite right. It wasn't what I imagined. So I thought about it for a couple weeks. And I thought about it some more. First of all, the thistle I used the first time just wasn't right for us. I knew I wanted something native and pretty. The day I came up with a new idea I was working at my day job in a cubicle. It was snack time so I was enjoying a couple of fig newtons (the generic ones). Someone in the cube next to mine came back to our area with a fresh cup of coffee and suddenly the combination of scents triggered a memory for me.

Grandma and Grandpa's house always had coffee and fig newtons. Grandpa had these treats for morning snack every day. The memory triggered was not of a coffee break, but of the front garden. Out in front of the house Grandma had her clothes line and it was surrounded by a small flower garden. I remembered that while she hung the laundry I would play in the garden and pretend that I partied with the rabbits, toads and fairies. I remembered being very small and looking up at the flowers on a bleeding heart. Then I knew I wanted to use a bleeding heart in our logo.

On a Sunday morning, Alisha and I sat down to design the logo. I wanted to make the flowers look realistic so I paged through a couple of wildflower books. The first bleeding heart I came across was squirrel corn. We nicknamed Alisha squirrel because she was very squeaky when she was born. So I knew that the squirrel corn bleeding heart was the perfect flower to use.
This is what we came up with and I think it suits us well.

A Family of Plant People (By KK)

We are a family of plant people. By that I mean that we not only grow and sell all kinds of plants, but we absolutely love them. I love plants so much that every available window sill in my home and office is crammed with them. My husband has threatened divorce if I bring another plant home. Yet I continue to sneak them in. What harm would there be in just one more? Just a small one.
We love plants around our homes too. Our porches and yards have become tiny arboretums (without the handy tags or organization). We love to spend time amongst the trees of the forest and the grasses of the prairie. We have combined our wanderlust and plant lust into expeditions across the country side to explore new habitats and find new plants.

This family of plant people loves to create the things we need and to share them with others. Basically we are plant people growing plants and making products for other plant people.

If you think that you might be a plant person too then check out our other offerings or Etsy site. Like us on Facebook and send us a message. We'd love to connect with other like-minded folks.

Wetland Enhancement for Wildlife (by DK)

I am often asked about wetland features to increase use by wildlife. After observing wetlands of many types in Wisconsin for more than 45 years I do see features that attract both game and non-game animals. Here in Dodge County we have acidic bogs, grass and shrub carr marshes, river flood plains and wet eutrophied lake bays. Often the marshes are abandoned farm land that has not been worked for decades since horse drawn equipment and/or organic soil decomposition lowered the fields below seasonal dryness. Some of these nearly abandoned fields have a dense cover of Reed Canary Grass that is harvested during the drier years leaving little good wildlife habitat especially if the grass is harvested before bird nesting and rearing is complete. Within these dense stands of Reed Canary Grass, even if never mowed, it is difficult to establish other forbs and woody species. Given many years you will see some establishment of Dogwoods, Willows, Goldenrods and Asters. If the marsh has wetter areas with hummocks and Cattails that were always nearly impossible to till you may see Coreopsis, Polygonums, Bottle Gentian, Marsh Marigolds, Blueflag Iris and several other species near the edges of these Cattails as the land rises just a little to the grasses. Once Dogwoods and Willows get a foot hold they are able to compete by shading out the Reed Canary Grass. If by chance the marsh has areas that are just a little higher acting as low islands


Willow intrusion 15 years after mill dam removal

you may see Nannyberry, Quaking Aspen, Green Ash, American Elm and Hawthorn. Twining and climbing over these you may find Wild Grape and Wild Cucumber. All of these species provide great cover and food sources for wildlife. Nannyberry is a favorite of Deer, these slightly higher islands provide a view of the marsh and good bedding spots while hidden by the cover. Game and song birds also find nesting sites, food and cover in the shrubs and trees. At the same time open marsh areas are close by for feeding and hunting. 




Example of cover trees and shrubs

To enhance a marsh that is pure grass cover you should take a good walk about the site. Scout for the wettest and driest areas, look for animal trails and cover fence rows or uplands adjacent to the marsh that act as possible corridors for wildlife. If the marsh happens to have a pot hole, spring or small stream you have a natural attraction for all the animals nearby. Try to provide an access to the water with a little cover spot, a few shrubs and a tree or two. On those slightly higher spots you can provide another island of shrubs or a few trees. Along the edges of wetter areas you can add a few forbs to provide seeds, nesting material and cover. Marshes in more northern counties have a large evergreen component with Black Spruce, Balsam Fir, White Pine and Tamarack. The shrub layer can be either Willow and Dogwood or Speckled Alder, Winterberry Holly, Black Chokeberry and Spirea depending upon the pH of the soils. The Alder thickets make good habitat for Black Bear due to the berries of Raspberry, Dewberry, Blueberry and the large ant mound colonies on just slightly drier ground. I also see Sharptail Grouse on the fringes of these wetlands. Along river flood plains you should observe whether your site is along the erosional or depositional side of the stream. Meandering stream flood plains may have both in just a short run of the stream. The meandering Crawfish River here in Dodge County has a very different life community on the erosional versus depositional stream banks. You would see pioneer species along the depositional banks, young Green Ash, Boxelder, Silver


Sandbar willow as a stream bank stabilizer

Maple, Willows, River Birch and many sun loving forbs. These provide a good variety of game foods and cover for small animals and birds. Along the erosional banks you see mature forests of Bur Oak, Swamp White Oak, Hackberry, Gray Dogwood and Hawthorn. Wild Grape and Virginia Creeper climb in the shrubs and toward the canopy of the large tress. Here you find Squirrels, Owls, Hawks and Wood Peckers because these animals need tree cavities or high perches for nests. The predators have great vantages to see Mice, Rabbits and other prey along both sides of the stream. You may add forbs, shrubs and trees along these banks to enhance cover. You may also want to leave some stretches of the banks with just low forbs and grasses that give pleasant views of the stream.
The bogs and eutrophied lake bays are probably in pretty much original pre-settlement conditions. In these areas you may just want to keep an eye out for invasive species and anything that might damage the shoreline or drainage of the area. These areas have many species unique to unspoiled wetlands.
Another type of wetland that I see along the upper Fox River and lower Peshtigo River are on very sandy ground. In these wetlands there is a high variation of the water table seasonally. There are odd combinations of plant species here, Jack Pine

Pitcher plant and leather leaf

and Speckled Alder or Red Oak and Winterberry Holly. Restorations in these sites would be very interesting to watch over the years just to see what thrives.
You may start grandly or timidly to add enhancements, then enjoy the new plants and animals that find your additions and management projects.