When I was small….my nickname was “SUDS!” I asked my older sister how I got this name….but she couldn’t remember. I remember…I really liked soap….and would play with it in the washtub…..thereby
turning my skin bright red!
Later, I did office work for 15 years…then moved to the country with husband, Bill and son, Gary to go ‘back to the land.’ This meant making my own bread, clothing, having chickens, and a really big garden. I added flowers and herbs to theveggies, then found a recipe for handmade soap in an Organic Gardening mag.
I got some olive oil and went to work….I came up with 48 bars of the creamiest, whitest soap I had ever seen!
The batch lasted a year, although I gave lots away…best of all…no more red, itchy skin…..my soap ephiphany!After trying my freebies..people offered to actually PAY for more. Goody! I now had $$$$ to buy more herbs and essential oils.
I knew my mom and hers had made soap on the farm, before I was born…but learned my granny, a midwife on the prairies, had also made soap and potions in Bohemia, making me a third generation soapmaker! My accounting experience in the city also came in handy….and I never actually went broke…although Bill sometimes complained that he had to buy gas for me to tool around in my old Volvo delivering soap. His nagging made me get serious, get a name, Saltspring’s first “Soapworks”..and get real!
The rest as they say, is Herstory!
