Spring Fever

It snowed again over the weekend. I knew it would... the first daffodils bloomed on the south side of the house and there has hardly been a year where those poor first blooms did not get smashed face down in snow or driving rain.

I have piles of seed catalogs and have ordered our vegetable and some flower seeds for 2008. Some have already arrived and today I started the first of them, they will begin their life by sprouting in a window in the house. Our unheated greenhouse is no safe haven for tender tomato and pepper plants. With luck, by the time they are big enough to transplant into 4" pots, the weather will be settled enough to move them out to that greenhouse, to prepare them for life in the great outdoors.

When the days are dry and it is not snow covered or a muddy swamp, I have been weeding and top dressing the garlic and perennials such as asparagus and roses. Pruning never seems to get completely done - at least all the roses. Before our deer fence was done it was never an issue - but neither were flowers or fruit, so there is the bargain. I do the work to reap the rewards.

Klutz that I am, I bear the scars of my efforts. The rose thorns are vicious and I usually manage a scrape or two from the fruit trees as well. That, coupled with my forgetfulness about wearing gloves to work in the dirt and the resulting frequent hand washing, leaves my hands desiccated and spring isn't even here yet!

This is how we came to create Duck Butter, our solid bar hand (and foot) treatment. It not only soothes my poor sore paws, but helps restore them and keep them that way. No oil or lotion I have tried has had the same long lasting effect. We think of it as an industrial strength lotion.
To learn more, see Duck Butter on the Simmons Apothecary page.

About the name... OK, it sounds weird, but no ducks are harmed or squeezed in the making of this product. Duck Butter really is all vegetarian (not vegan, It contains beeswax), and the only possible connection to ducks is that it makes your skin water resistant.
Back in 1989 on a camping trip we met a talented and garrulous fellow named Johnny Tequila who played guitar and made up songs about everyone around the campfire right on the spot. Upon finding we made soap and body care products he crafted a song about us and a fictitious product... you guessed it, Duck Butter! It was a name looking for a product. When we first made our hard working solid salve some years later, it was obvious that Duck Butter had finally come into being.