Fabulous Fermentation

I changed the name of my business from Kelsey's Cultured Foods to Fabulous Fermentation.  I'm very excited about this change as I've wanted this to happen for quite some time.

I'm getting more organized in my business this year as well.  The farmer's market started 3 weeks ago and work is back in full swing!  I've been very busy making my Cultured Veggies and playing around with different recipes.  I really enjoy the creativity aspect of it.  I've been experimenting with fermenting other things like fruit and frijoles since last summer too and I think it's going well.  

I now have a steady stream of customers at the farmer's market.  I'm getting a lot of my repeat customers from last summer and customers from my mom's business down the road as well.  I know I've talked about it before, but I really do enjoy working the farmer's markets.  I don't know what it is, but I feel so alive when I am there. I truly feel like I'm in my element and where I feel most like myself.  It's very interesting.  Fridays I'm always stressing about making sure everything is ready for Saturdays, but once I'm there I can relax and enjoy.  

Liliana has joined me a couple of times already.  Eduardo has been working Saturdays for a while now so I get to take the little one with me.  It's not as bad as I thought it would be, but by the end she and I are both ready for her to be back home!  But it really shows me how a year makes such a big difference when they are so little.  Last year I couldn't even have her with me for 1/2 hour and now she can last for several hours working the markets with me.  My mom will be taking her as much as she can though to help out so that's a big stress reliever.  

Eduardo is skeptical that my business makes money, but I can't imagine not doing it!  The first few months are always hard because you have to invest a lot to get going.  There's the cost of the farmer's market for the season, I'm buying a new banner, you have to carry liability insurance and the list goes on.  I may not make money for a couple more months, but atleast I'm having fun and doing something I am passionate about.  Plus I can't imagine not doing something to try and earn some income.  I like having my "own" money :)  

So wish me luck this year and I'm sure I'll update on the progress!

2011 Year End Review

As I look back on what this year has brought me, I find myself filled with grief, sorrow and pain.  But I am also filled with gratitude and hope.  

I can remember when Liliana and I moved back to the States in May.  It was one of the hardest decisions of our lives.  We were having such a hard time in El Salvador and Eduardo and my relationship had just begun to start it's healing process after a rough few months.  We mutually decided it was best for the family, but it wasn't without rivers of tears on my part.  

I can still remember how I felt when I arrived.  I was so lost and so vulnerable.  I knew coming back was the right thing, but I didn't know who I was anymore.  I had lost so much of myself to El Salvador, yet I had also gained more as person than I realized at the time.  

I wasn't easy to be around in those first few months.  I struggled with my decision and my loneliness.  Liliana and I both had our bouts of being sick, what I call "detoxing from El Salvador."  

I finally got back to working on my Cultured Veggie business and my Esperanza Imports business and I delve myself in completely to my goals of making money and supporting our family.  

I formed some great relationships over the summer working the farmer's markets.  It was my little family for a while and where I most felt at home.  I can honestly say I love my work and wish I was still doing it now.  

The fall and now winter brought some opportunities for my import business, but that has now dropped away after the holidays.  I am now jobless and almost moneyless, but not quite yet!  I'm still hanging in there.  As my stepdad recently said to me, "You aren't going to go hungry here!"  And I'm thankful for that.

Throughout this year, I have had great opportunities to grow as a person.  I have experienced pain beyond belief and I have risen above it all.  I have found strengths within myself I knew not existed.  And most importantly I have grown as a mother.  

The most important relationship besides my husband is Liliana.  She is whom I wake up next to every morning and whom I go to bed with every night.  I play with her and laugh with her and watch her grow by leaps and bounds every day.  I'm constantly in awe at this little human being that has consumed my life in the best possible way.  She is my light in the darkness.  She shows me that through it all, love conquers.  

I am blessed that I have had the opportunity to continue to live my dream, which is to stay at home with my daughter.  Absolutely nothing else brings me a greater joy than being with my baby girl throughout my days.  (even when it's not so easy and I'm desperate for some time alone with adults).

And even though my husband is thousands of miles away and we have not physically lived together in 7 1/2 months, he is in my heart and thoughts all the time.  And I have to say that this time apart has made us grow as a couple in so many ways.  I'm grateful for the relationship we have and how much we are both willing to continue to grow together and make things work.  

So I'm not really into the whole New Year's Resolution thing.  It may be a downer, but I'm just not.  All I want is a New Year's prayer.  I'm praying that 2012 brings more peace and joy to my family than ever before.  I pray my husband can come home soon and we can be together as a family the way we have always imagined.  Amen!!

Happy New Year's to all my blogging friends :)  You are all in my thoughts tonight!  (especially since I won't be drinking any champagne)

Viva Guatemala!

We are headed to Guatemala in 9 days to see Eduardo!  I found tickets last week on sale and jumped at the possibility of us going.  It took several days to decide and book the tickets, but we are sooo excited.  I made a calendar for Liliana so we can check off the days until we go see papi :)  She's a bit confused because she thinks we are going to El Salvador and seeing Abuela, Maynor and Daniela (her grandma and sister and brother), but I keep explaining we are just going on vacation to visit only papi in Guatemala.  I think she understands most of the time ;)  Hopefully once she sees him, that will be all she needs!  

I had a friend of mine offer to work my Kelsey's Cultured Foods booth at the Farmer's Market on the Saturday I will be gone and it was such a surprise and relief.  That was my biggest hesitation because Saturday is my most profitable day of the week.  I'm so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life :)  

We are leaving on Wednesday, Sept 28th and will be back on Tuesday, October 4th.  Since the flights were so cheap, it also means about 14 hours of traveling with 2 layovers each way!!  Wish me luck with that one.  I had another friend offer to let us borrow her mini-dvd player for the trip and I'm hoping that will save the day.  At least I have flown enough with Liliana at this point to not really be surprised by anything that could happen.  I just pray for the best.

I'm not sure where we will stay yet while we are there.  We still need to hash out the details.  It also depends a lot on how much money I can make before we go.  I only have one more Saturday before we go so hopefully it's a highly profitable one so we can have a nice little vacay!!  God knows we need it.  I'm hoping this will give the 3 of us the little boost we all seem to need right now to get us through the next few months :)  

My New Website!

I'm very excited to announce that my website for my Cultured Veggie business is up and running!  I have spent many hours late in to the night the past few weeks trying to get it ready.  It's not the fanciest of websites as I did it all myself and I'm no genius when it comes to those kinds of things.  But, I won't put myself down.  I think I have created exactly what I needed, which is a site people can go to learn all about the benefits of cultured foods and all my info.  I even have a section for my Esperanza Imports stuff, which is exciting.  Now I need to take some time to update this blog with all the new info!  You can check it out at www.kelseysculturedfood.com and I also have my facebook page at www.facebook.com/kelseysculturedfoods.  Now I must go to bed to get ready for the Farmers Market.  I have to get Liliana and myself up at 5:30am!  My mom has been out of town forever now it feels like and so I have to take the little one to my friend's house in the morning before the market.  Wish me luck :)

A Summer of Markets!

Most of our summer here in Indy has been spent focusing on Cultured Veggies and Esperanza Imports.  When Liliana and I are not making veggies, I am at a farmer's market selling them.  Right now I have 2 markets I am doing each week and I'm trying to get into a couple more.  I mostly focus on selling CV's, but at one of the markets I get to have a small table of my Artisan stuff.  It's pretty fun.  

I have done a couple other fairs/festivals and have a couple more scheduled for August.  I'm really glad that this is how I've been blessed with being able to work :)  I'm not a 9-5 kind of gal and I insist on spending my days with Liliana so it works out perfectly.  I hope to get into even more markets before the end of summer, but we'll see what happens!

Farmers Market Fun!

Last weekend I started my season of Farmers Markets here in Indy.  Last week I did the Binford Market Craft Day which they hold once a week.  I took all of my artisan stuff from El Salvador and Guatemala.  I did well and had a blast.  This week I took my Cultured Veggies and a small amount of jewelry.  It went really well despite the rain that creeped in at times.  I talked for about 3 hours straight about cultured foods and the importance of them in our diets.  I also got to share about my beautiful beadwork out of Guatemala that everyone seems to love!  The market master, Jane, even commented at the end of the day how impressed she was by the amount of people and interest at my tent :)

I had forgotten how much I really love to do Farmers Markets.  I used to do the Trader's Point Market before we left for El Salvador.  I'm not doing that one anymore, but am loving the ones I'm doing.  It is a lot of work and I always get nervous that I won't remember to take everything, but it always ends up different and great no matter what happens.  I LOVE getting to chat and share with people and make new acquaintences.  Although I'm working, I feel like what I'm really doing is sharing my passions.  And now at the Binford Market on Saturdays they are letting me share BOTH my passions and I am so grateful for that.

This Thursday I will be starting the Abundant Life Farmers Market off of 82nd and Hague just east of Castleton.  It seems like a really good market and I'm looking forward to it.  I will just be selling my Cultured Veggies there, but may ask about bringing some jewelry as well.  We will see.

I have also started a Facebook page this week for Kelsey's Cultured Foods that you can find here.  And I also have my Esperanza Imports page you can find here.  I will be updating the pages with new products and locations I will be with various events.  I'm really excited.

Farmers Market season is in high gear, so get out there wherever you may live and support your local farmers and artisans.  There's something about buying from the small businesses that may you feel better than buying all the commercial foods.  If you've never been to a Farmers Market, than what are you waiting for?  Get out there and check em' out.  It's heaps of fun :)