Farm Fresh Soaps
How it began ...
She began and still does make the soap in small batches. She uses the cold process method and uses an all vegetable oil base recipe. She will only use the pure essential oils for scent; earth clays, spices and herbs for dyes. The colors that she achieves are totally natural. The beautiful blue swirl in the Tuppence bar is courtesy of Indigo Root. The swirl in the country spice bar is from Rose Hip Powder. She loves researching the dyes available through her garden. The bars have gone through quite an evolution since 1997. They are now a much larger bar with a "wash board" effect for instant feel and lather. Her line now includes approximately 24 different bar with new ones added every year and occassionally ones taken out due to high oil prices and slow movement. She loves to listen to comments about her soap and anything that she could make a new one out of. When she first started making soap she was really sold on just making soaps and nothing else. She quickly learned to be flexible and her line today includes not only soaps, but bath salts, sea salt scurbs, Comfrey Salve, Don't Bug Me Insect Balm, and body butters. She has also gotten into the culinary side of things (mostly Lavender). She currently makes part of the soap line for two lavender farms in Texas. She also has a private label, Lavender line of jelly and jams, made by her friend Rachel Miller out of Chilton, Texas. Chrissy loves the taste of Lavender probably more than she loves the scent. It really clears the palette and the senses. Because Chrissy needed to order Organic Lavender for the edibles she decided to start making Lavender Sugar and Lavender Italian Spice Blend. She has family on Bainbridge Island and has attended the awesome Lavender Festival in Sequim, Washington (Lavender Capital of North America). She has talked to several of the owners of the farms and has received good advice on products that sell well for them. The fields up there are simply gorgegous, see them on the Lavender Page. Chrissy will attend the 2008 Sequim Lavender Festival and will post more beautiful pictures in August!
Chrissy started out just doing shows on the road while she still worked for another agency of the state. She really felt led by God to accomplish both jobs at once. She worked a full-time job and full-time show schedule for 2½ years. She finally left state employment in April 2000. Chrissy now considers herself an accomplished soap maker and is really excited to give her passion more of her time. Chrissy was also able to get the website back up and running as a result of having a little more time to devote to her business. She is looking forward to getting the Don't Bug Me Insect Balm out there to more retail stores. It's a really good product and she wants more people to have the joy of experiencing it.
