Zucchini Bread is Top Seller

I can't seem to stop the zucchini (courgette, to our European friends and family) from growing. A plant will have a two-inch-long fruit on Sunday afternoon, and by Wednesday night it's a five-pound monster! I have zucchini and yellow squash in 5 gallon buckets all over the kitchen. When shredded, each fruit is averaging 18 cups of zucchini or enough to make 18 loaves of zucchini bread.

Fortunately, the rules of homebased processing in Kentucky allow me to produce baked goods that contain home-grown ingredients. I've made three deliveries to the farmers' market this month, and have almost sold out each time. I make large loaves (1.5 pounds), small loaves (1/2 pound) and muffins. I've made plain zucchini bread, chocolate zucchini bread, and zucchini-banana bread. The top seller is plain, 1.5 pound loaves. Which is actually my most economical item to produce.

I've also been canning - kosher dill pickles (some already scheduled on a flight to Dallas at Christmas), bread 'n' butter pickles, yellow squash sweet relish, and three temperatures of salsa. All of those will go to the farmers' market for sale. Some things I keep at home, though -my favorites: roasted red peppers, pesto and spaghetti sauce.

Soap Star

I've always loved science, especially chemistry. Which is one reason why I like making cheese - it's like a science experiment in the kitchen. This summer I have a new outlet for my inner science geek; I'm making old-fashioned goat milk soap. There's a picture of me in my boiler suit, protective glasses and thick rubber gloves. Lye is nothing to mess with.

I've made two batches already. The first is a citrus scrub soap, that incorporates satsuma, grapefruit and lemongrasses essential oils and jojoba beads. It's very invigorating. The second batch was supposed to be chocolate, but will probably be labelled white chocolate because it really smells like sweet vanilla and looks like white chocolate fudge.

Three more batches are on the planning calendar - Amber Romance with calendula petals, cucumber and green tea, and an egg yolk soap scented with Pumpkin Pie and Lavender. I know the pumpkin-lavender combination sounds weird, but an article in Cosmo told me that scientists have discovered that these two scents when used together are a super nostril aphrodisiac (check out http://www.smellandtaste.org/index.cfm?action=research.sexual). I'll have then all ready in time to sell for Christmas, and I can sell goat milk soap in the farmers' market because it's a farm-based product.