Hi There!

Hi there! I'm Tina's sister and former partner in our retail shop, The Herb Basket. Our shop was sold in 2000, but we still work closely together in our separate businesses.

Tina, of course, publishes The Essential Herbal magazine and I enjoy putting it all together every other month as her "Layout Director".

My business is called Lancaster County Soapworks, Etc. We've been making and selling soap since the early 90's when we were the herb ladies at a Renaissance Faire. Tina and I have been making soap together for so long that our soapmaking sessions resemble something of a ballet with each of us knowing exactly what the other will be doing and swooping here or there to take care of the next step! Although we experiement from time to time, because we sell wholesale/in large quantities, soap is something of a production item.

To satisfy my creative side, I started making jewelry a few years ago and eventually learned the art of lampworking which is making glass beads by melting glass rods at a propane/oxygen torch. My lampworking/jewelry website is Torchsong Studio and I also have a blog where I show beads and finished jewelry that may or may not make it to the website.

Finally - Tina and I combined many of the items we sell on our separate websites in one place, The Sibling Group, so that we could offer a number of items that would help to meet a $40 minimum order for free shipping!

Now that the intro is out of the way, I can think about writing about all the fun, interesting and wacky stuff we do here that is sometimes connected with business!

Maryanne