The beautiful kitty pictured above was just one reason I continue to make soaps and sell online. One of many strays we had taken in over the past 44 years, "Look-a-Like" was over 17 years old when he died this July 18th. It was one of the most heartbreaking days of my life as he was one very special and exceptional baby. He had been the most wonderful cat imaginable. At one time we had 28 house cats, all strays. On October 1st of this year we welcomed a new kitty into our home, a stray that had been brought to an overcrowded shelter in Oklahoma and eventually transported to a NH shelter. It was only a matter of days before Chloe had accepted him and though he's a bit of a handful for her at times, she has a new friend and is no longer lonely. Check out our Farmhouse News Page for more about "Rhubarb."
. At one time this old farmhouse was home to many homeless and abandoned cats. Because of this and the high cost of keeping them, in February of 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." I had various jobs before and during that time including working for a veterinary clinic where two of our kitties came from and working in our classic rock band which sometimes kept us out 3-5 nights a week.
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.......! It's hard to find help these days so I find myself spending more time outdoors working than I'd like.
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 and higher costs. 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. (40 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. As things only get crazier and more evil in this world, we stay closer to home and connected to the like minded friends around us. I often long for the "old days" which actually weren't so long ago, when we could safely walk the streets of any given city, find good wholesome programs on the t.v., and sit down to dinner with the whole family around the table.
What has happened to America and indeed the world in the past 4-5 decades would be a shock to my deceased relatives if they were alive today. Maybe that's why I choose to live in "the past" surrounding myself with old things in an old house that all have a story to tell of simpler times.
Beautiful Huey