Hi, My name is Peg Camarda. I am of 100 percent Sicilian decent. That may answer the question as to why do all of my hobbies turn into businesses? When immigrants moved to the US they were mostly very hard workers, started their own businesses and had a very good work ethic. Well, my Dad was the son of a Sicilian immigrant. He did work very hard. BUT, my Dad also LOVED horse racing. He did an awesome job of running a business, a family owned restaurant/cafe until 12:00 when he would go off to the races. If he won he would come home to his family at night. If he lost, he would go back to work. He was a very intense person that had fun at whatever he did.

 I learned from my Dad that if you are going to have to work your whole life it might as well be doing something that you enjoy. So as I got older, any hobby that I had would somehow turn into a business. When I was young it was crafts.  I had a craft club every week with some friends. One week we made baby's breath wreaths. Well that turned into a Dried Flower business. By the time I stopped that I had a sales rep that was going out getting me the sales at gift shops and I had 8 to 10 women making the items that I designed. After that I started gardening. I live on a very prominent street corner in downtown Salem, MA. I moved into my home in 1976 and immediately started decorating the doorway and  window boxes for every season. Everyone that drove by my house would always stop to see what this seasons decoration were going to be. Well, THAT turned into a business of decorating peoples doorways, doing window boxes and cottage design! See my website www.henryderbyhouse.com/flowers. After my children went off to college and moved out of our home, I had a great old Greek Revival Home. At this point,  I would make dried flower crafts all year long. In the fall, I would have an open house and people would go through the three floors of my home and pick decorations off the wall and dresser tops and out of baskets to buy, as gifts for the holidays. Well, one of my Cottage Design clients happened to come that fall in 1999. She commented on what a nice home I had, and that I could have a bed and breakfast here. Thus began www.henryderbyhouse.com. my bed and breakfast in downtown Salem. Still doing the flowers I had  a business called the Henry Derby House. Every time I would go shopping and see something I liked I would have to buy it wholesale and sell it at my bed and breakfast! That's where the Lang Products, Primitives By Kathy, Red Oaks Pottery and Home Interiors come in. If I liked something for myself I decided I had to have it for my store!

Well, my dad's favorite saying was Every Day's A Holiday! and thank God he lived his life like that because he passed away at the young age of 56. I love my life, work hard at all the things I enjoy doing and would rather not die so young. So I have become somewhat of a health NUT. I eat organic food. Wear organic skin products, use natural and organic soaps etc. Therefore the latest additions to the store will be Henry Derby Organics. I just added my latest line of natural soap product, that I have as samples at my Bed and Breakfast and Boutique on the lower level. The River Soap Company has wonderful natural soaps. On my online store www.henryderbyhouse.com/boutique  I have organic skin care products, and organic vitamins. All to hopefully keep my going a few years longer at what I love - my different work/play projects.

In summing up, a man stayed at my bed and breakfast once and as I was sitting at the breakfast table,  I was kind of thinking and talking out loud, as I was telling him the different things that I do.  I said, I don't know how I became such a workaholic. He said, Do you enjoy all the things that you do? I said Yes! He said,  I don't call that work. I call those Hors D'ouvres! I loved it!