1. Tasmanian Soap Farm Begins
Tasmanian Soap Farm was born out of a sense of frustration at not being able to find soap that was kind to my body. As an active lass (in my 50s) I had tried just about every sort of soap product. I wanted to know that what I used on my skin was going to help, not hinder it. And let’s face it, a lot of what we do use on our skin is because of costly guesswork, marketing, impetuosity and even downright lies from advertisers.
As a child, I was crazy about cooking — mainly sweet things! Over time, I ‘mellowed’ into a health maniac. My varied life journey/adventure has included labouring on my father’s banana plantations, employment as an English teacher (Queensland, Hong Kong, Tasmania, China), working as the head cook in a 16th century pub in England (where I met, and married an Englishman!) and raising three children (now adults). Home baking was just something I always did and enjoyed.
It’s a natural and fun step for me to make soap with 100% Tasmanian ingredients – with negligible ‘travel miles’ and completely traceable origins. Tasmania is experiencing a boom, and like many other people, my family and I made the move to the ‘Island of Inspiration’. It’s such a gorgeous place, I wanted to do it justice and was inspired to research how I could make soap without using the usual soap components: palm oil (think orangutan habitats), coconut oil (due to its climate, there are not too many coconut palms in Tasmania!), (imported) castor oil and so on. My first batch was an immediate success — I tested it on myself, my family (including babies and men) and friends — they became my guinea pigs. Everyone loved it!
Tasmanian Soap Farm is located on five acres of rolling countryside, with views to the sea (Bass Strait). It’s breathtaking. I’m able to harvest botanicals, like dandelion flowers from the property while my horses watch from their paddock. I also utilise the natural rainwater that falls on the property. There’s a weekly free newspaper delivered called Tasmanian Farmer, which I always enjoy reading. Nick (my husband) once famously said, ‘You can’t read that – you haven’t got a farm!’ Well, I do have a farm now: TASMANIAN SOAP FARM!
(The images above are of our farm (left to right): hay harvest, yellow-tailed black cockatoo (Zanda funerea), warmblood mare and wisteria in spring.)
Our soaps represent the wildness of the State’s forests (with superb raw honey and beeswax from bees freely foraging from native leatherwood tree blossoms and the like in pristine rainforests), to the untamed ocean surrounding the island and its minerals (with the inclusion of sea salt and bull kelp seaweed). Our soap also embodies the important agricultural sector of Tasmania, with the unashamed addition of both valued animal by-products like goats’ milk and full-cream dairy yoghurt as well as re-valued, re-purposed beef tallow. If you would rather not use animal-based products, we also make vegan soaps. Other farmed ingredients in our soap include highly-prized cold-climate local olive oil, organic oats, world-renowned lavender essential oil, rosemary oil, new-industry luxury hemp seed oil, poppy seeds (you can see medicinal-industry poppies being grown all over the State) and of course, apples, in the form of unrefined apple cider vinegar. Tasmania is also known as the Apple-isle after all!
I hope that you take the opportunity to use our soap and bathe in Tasmania! And, in the case of our toothsoap, brush with Tasmania!
GENERAL DISCLAIMER
The contents of this sharing are for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment . . . Read More →
