Handcrafted Goats Milk Soap made with mostly locally and regionally produced ingredients.

Washing is an agricultural act.  Author Wendell Berry coined the phrased "eating is an agricultural act", reminding us all that every bite we take is a form of participation in the agricultural commodity.  Many consumers do not realize that soap is largely made up of fats and oils grown in other countries.  It is time to rethink washing as an agricultural act and encourage all soap makers and soap users to take responsibility in reducing our global carbon emissions by lessening the distance traveled from farm to bath.

What It Takes to Make A Great Bar

Joy McEwen, soapmaker and beekeeper, crafts each 120 bar batch by hand. Joy’s soaps are made with large amounts of raw goat’s milk from a local dairy, and honey and beeswax from her apiary. She currently handcrafts eight different bars. Joy has focused on utilizing the highest quality natural ingredients including many organic vegetable and essential oils. As a local agriculture enthusiast, Joy has prioritized the use of local ingredients in her soaps, including olive oil, walnut oil, and almond oil from California, and tallow from Full Circle Bison Ranch in Williams, Oregon. Her North American bars have only oils from North America, and her Bioregional bar and Greater State of Jefferson bar have ingredients from only California and Oregon.

The Problem With Palm Oil

I started off making soap in 1996 as a great way to give all my extended family a gift for the holidays. Soon thereafter, I started selling soap at local farmers markets and became the soapmaker for Wellsprings hotsprings. Like so many other soap makers I used to use large amounts of palm oil in my soap recipes. I learned about orangutans and the loss of their habitat to oil palm plantations when my daughter received an adopt an Orangutan for the holidays. Already a local foods and sustainability advocate, I quickly became concerned with the unethical use of palm oil. We nearly quit the soap business, but finally settled on reformulating my recipes and relabeling our soap to help bring awareness to this issue. We are donating at least 45% of the profits of each bar to organizations committed to assisting the orangutans. read more...