The beautiful kitty pictured above is just one reason I continue to make soaps and sell online. One of many strays we've taken in over the past 43 years, "Look-a-Like" is now 16 years old and getting thin and arthritic. I still call him my "baby dumpling" and various other cute nicknames. He has been the most wonderful cat imaginable. The photo above was probably taken about twelve years ago. We had 28 house cats not too many years ago, now we are down to just 2.
. Back in February, 1991 I made my first batch of soap. That started what would become Cats in the Cradle Farmhouse Soaps, a means to help support the growing number of stray cats that had "found us." Phil didn't want me to work outside the home anymore, except of course for all the many nights I worked in our classic rock band (now more than 42 years). I did miss my job at the veterinary clinic. I learned so much there and felt I was doing some good in the animal world. But with the band working so many nights I had to let that job go.
Making a good product that people could use and being able to do it all from the old farmhouse was a perfect solution as we had 28 cats to take care of and that was indeed a full time job in itself. At first I sold at herb shows and farmer's markets, then I met a very enthusiastic sales rep who loved my soaps and offered to start selling them for me to various shops throughout New Hampshire and beyond. Wholesale was hard work, but it was full time work with little time for anything else. It took a lot of soap bars to bring in a decent income at wholesale prices.
I've always worked alone so when things started slowing down some years back it was a relief! There is always so much to do around the old place and from Spring-Fall I find myself outside doing what Phil is not fond of.....gardening, cutting brush, weed whacking, etc. etc.......! This past year I hired a friend's son to help out and he was a real life saver.
Today I still make soap but not nearly as often, and with the ever increasing price of raw materials to do so it means a lot less variety. I stick with the best sellers and have added more and more vintage items that I've collected over the past 40+ years. You'll find other hand made goods on this site and Etsy as well, including the many BEESWAX ORNAMENTS and castings from the old molds I've amassed as well as other vintage style items I find myself experimenting with.
All my soaps are made using the finest natural ingredients I can find, including grass-fed tallow that I render myself on the old kitchen woodstove, sourced from a local farm. Likewise, the goat milk, raw cow's milk, raw honey and herbs are all from local farms. Many of the herbs I grow myself or collect in the wild. I use the "cold batch" method for all of my soaps, allowing them to cure for at least four weeks to insure they are long lasting and kind to the skin.
As I'm a huge fan of "old paper" many of the soaps are wrapped in antique French documents with beautiful handwritten script, hand made Italian papers, or my own labels created on the computer with the aid of Photoshop. Many customers have never opened a bar of my soap because they like the wrapping so much! I always tell them to "buy two" so they can use one and admire the other. You can still purchase soaps and other goodies on my Etsy shop site but I encourage you to give this new site a go.
We are not huge fans of high tech and live without a T.V. (38 years now) or new appliances. Our old house is heated with both wood and oil, and I'm often seen cooking on the old kitchen woodstove, especially in the colder months. Our one land-line phone resides in my workshop in the old barn and we do not use any hand held devices. For this reason, contacting me by phone, email or "snail mail" is about the only way you'll get through. We just do not wish to conform to the high tech world.