In the Autumn of 2020 we were just figuring out who we were. And by that I mean what kind of soap producers we wanted to be. We decided to make a pumpkin spice goats milk soap and purchased a bottle of ‘Pumpkin Souffle’ fragrance oil from a supplier. We produced a few loafs using this fragrance oil and sold out quickly in October. A fragrance oil is a man-made synthetic product. It’s not an all-natural product like 100% essential oil. The ‘Pumpkin Souffle’ fragrance really made things easy. The soap looked and smelled great.
After that, Kim and I thought about the practice of using fragrance oils. And we discussed going all-natural over the course of several weeks. We decided that it just didn’t make sense to care for our goats, see to their medical needs, feed them the best diet we could, and then turn around and add some artificial products to our soap. It just didn’t make sense for us. So moving forward we put the notion of fragrance oils and artificial colorants behind us. This gives us the confidence that we are doing the right thing… for ourselves, for our environment, and for our customers.
For this fall’s pumpkin spice soap we used our all-natural goats milk soap recipe, but added real pumpkin puree to the batch. So there’s actual pumpkin in every bar. We then selected a wonderful blend of essential oils, mixed them by hand, and added them to the batch. To say I’m impressed would be an understatement. Not only does the soap look beautiful, but it smells perfect. The pumpkin puree produces a constellation of dark red pigment throughout the soap.
We are still about a month away from this batch of pumpkin spice soap being cured enough to use (and offer for sale). Kim and I will be snatching up the first bar for ourselves. We can’t wait to try it out and I hope some of you will too! The approach to autumn, as the blistering heat of summer begins to fade, is such a magical time of year. It’s a great time to think about family, to reflect upon our lives, and to consider the type of person we want to be moving forward. May we all strive for love and compassion along our paths.