Month: January 2016

More Getting to Know Me – Cat Edition!

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Confession time. I am a crazy cat lady. And if not full-fledged, I am most definitely in the advanced stages of training.

We have a couple of working girls out in the barn, taking care of the little critters that like to try to come in during the cold months. They’re a semi-feral bonded mother-daughter team, and they are sloooooowly coming to realize we are pretty awesome pink monkeys (aka humans).

Inside the house is a mix of some of the hard-to-adopt kitties and handicats (kitties who have extra challenges). Over the years, we have had cats with kidney issues, diabetes, blindness, birth defects, three legs, bad cat-itudes, or just black cats that people think are evil (not our experience at all…our black cats are the goofiest and funniest cats).

Most of our cats have come from Kitty Angels, a no-kill shelter in Tyngsboro, MA. Every bar of Kitty Angels Soap I sell generates a $2 donation to Kitty Angels. It’s a beautiful blend of Rosemary and Peppermint Essential Oils. Rosemary signifies remembrance, while peppermint is a part of the family that includes catnip. Made with fresh goatmilk, it’s gentle and fragrant.

Cheers-
Karen

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Say hello to Steve Austin – one of our new Kitty Angels, helping me master social media.

 

Happy Wednesday…

Handmade Soaps and Skincare
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It’s a fine Wednesday in New Hampshire to officially start (for the umpteenth time) a blog specifically for Hemlock Springs Soaps. Might as well start at the beginning, right?

My first batch of soap was made in 1999. Scratch that. A lot earlier – I made soap from rendered tallow at Girl Scout camp a *long* time ago. Not sure we ever used that soap, and it stunk something terrible. But I kind of remembered it and wanted to make gifts for Christmas one year. Ordered a book from Amazon (back when Amazon only sold books) and spent days riding around looking for ingredients. That first batch was rough…took me all day to make roughly 3lbs of soap and I was a nervous ninny. But I was hooked on the process. My co-workers at the time were gracious enough to indulge my every day blathering on about soapmaking and my passion was born.

Over the next decade or so, I did 8-10 craft fairs per year. In 2013 I had the opportunity to try this soap thing as my full time job. And on April 1 2016 I’ll be celebrating THREE YEARS at this full time. And it feels so good! I’m feeling like I’m ready to hire a couple of folks to help out more than I did last year. I’ve got a good feeling about the wonderful woman who has taken on the wholesale sales portion of the business. I’m excited to learn about blogging and maybe spend a little more time on the business part of the business than I have been.

I’ve got an MBA in Marketing in Management, a certificate in Project Management and my undergrad in Accounting. Not to mention a life-long love of skincare products and stuff that smells fantastic!

So what can you expect from my official blog? Well right now I hope to share articles and information about ingredients, maybe a few recipes you can try at home, and who knows!