Jon and I just got back from making goat soap with Cindy at Caz Acres Farm.
Jon took a soap making class with Cindy once before, but it was the first time for me. I couldn’t even begin to write about the whole process in detail, it’s very involved.
Although Cindy makes it seem easy.
The first thing we did was choose an essential oil, lavender for me and eucalyptus for Jon, and a color (we chose pink and green) which comes in the form of clay.
Cindy freezes the milk from her goats in small blocks. Then she pours lye over them.
We stirred the two together, the lye melting the frozen milk. After that we added a few different oils and the clay coloring and stirred some more.
The scent came last.
Then we poured the soap into the molds. When it hardens, Cindy will cut it into bars then it has to cure for a few weeks.
I had a feeling that Cindy would a be a good teacher. She’s calm, kind and helpful.
She said she find making soap calming and I can see what she means. I think it’s similar to how I feel about sewing.
Soap making is one of those things that humans have been doing for a long time, almost 5000 years. It’s one of those things that we rely on, on a daily basis. A small thing in itself, but a bit part of our lives.
I can see the love and care that Cindy puts into her soap. She uses lot of ingredients grown by local farmers, including the oats grown by our farrier’s family. And she cares. If you have a request for a certain kind of soap, she’ll research it and try to make it.
Jon and I have been using Cindy’s soap for a few years now. It’s our favorite, the only soap we use anymore. Cindy is impressive the way she has built her business. She sells her soap on line, at farmers markets, fairs to local shops and wholesale.
You can buy it on her website Caz Acrez Farm, just click here. And if you live close by, you can take a soap making class too.
I took a video of Cindy giving a tour of her soap making room. You can watch it here.
