To Market To Market

I created my second chalkboard--there was much improvement already.

I had my Bee's Niece logo, and some more simple-but-interesting font ideas. So I'm pleased with the board, and my progress.

I made the board to take to my Saturday farmers' market stall, advertising my all-natural vapor rub (like Vicks--but made with beeswax instead of petroleum). I was hoping to draw attention to that product since it is fall now. The vapor rub hasn't sold well this summer, though it was the thing I was most excited to make for myself.  I figured no one thinks about getting sick in the summer, but they plan on it more in the fall going into winter.

Maybe that's true, but unfortunately, no one thought of going to the farmers' market, and it was my worst market day yet.  I've gone about 6 or 7 times this summer, and it's been interesting.  I don't really feel like it is the right venue for my products, most people are single-minded on food at our market.  But I still feel like my product has real value, I just need to find the right marketplace.

I have an etsy page, but the fees associated with etsy hold me back.  I don't want to have to essentially have people pay double the price of my product when you include fees and shipping, so I'm trying to figure out what I want to do there. 

My soaps, lavender sachets, shaving kits, and vapor rubs. 

I didn't get around to labeling my two new batches of soap I made at the end of the summer-- more lavender, and a holiday spice orange clove bar.  Since I did practically no business that day, I'm glad I didn't stay up late the night before worrying about/working on those labels. 

I think something I'm actually going to do is invite the ladies I know over to my home this fall for an "in-home show" of my Bee's Niece "line" for Christmas gifting.  Instead of a Tupperware party where 50% of the profit goes to the national corporation--100% of the profit will go to me, so I can buy my children food to eat.  Doesn't that sound reasonable? 

You've been warned, watch your mailbox for a postcard invitation!

Atop a Homemade Soapbox

I can identify the exact catalyst for my recent foray into mad science. 

Labor Day two years ago we took a family camping trip.  Just an overnight-er for the fun of it.  But we came back from that trip with Jonas experiencing a horrible flare-up of exzema.  It was really the first time he had had any trouble with exzema--but it was bad. 

It's hard to say what triggered it.  Initially people suggested things as simple as: he was having a reaction to the grass he'd played and sat in while camping.  I wondered about the bug spray we had used--though it was the same brand we'd used before.  We had recently quit nursing (at 18 months) so we later even started to wonder about things like a milk allergy since his cow milk intake probably increased around that time as well.   

For almost a year we treated Jonas with the two recommended products: steroids and a white petroleum-based skin protecting ointment.  It worked out pretty well until our family reunion to the beach.  Even though we bought an expensive name-brand "natural" baby sunscreen Jonas had a horrible skin flare-up as a reaction to it --and I got fed up.     

I reasoned that the current treatment wasn't preventing it was only managing the eczema, and I was starting to feel uncomfortable with the uncertainty of the long-term effects of the treatment.  So I wanted to try my own management.  A more natural management.  I dropped the steroids and swapped the white petroleum skin protectant for olive oil and coconut oil (I've recently upgraded to something a little fancier but that's a topic for another day). 

I started to realize how hard it is to control what's in the products we use when they are all made outside our home.  I need a basic gentle unscented product, for all the products we use in the home.  Any product scent or coloring could aggravate Jonas' skin.   But companies are always adding random things in their products for one reason or another--usually to decrease manufacturing costs or increase "perceived value" (Gee, this is sounding a lot like the food industry as well)--And so I started studying practical home chemistry and the useful chemical reaction of saponification. I checked out some books from the library, bought some supplies and made some homemade soap.

I made these bars with three types of fat:  olive oil which makes a very moisturizing bar, coconut oil which make nice big soap bubbles, and lard which makes a nice firm white bar.  We're almost at the end of our one month cure period which means that the chemical reaction is complete, and so even though the soap is made with lye it no longer contains lye.  It contains a little extra oil from "superfatting" the recipe, a lot of soap (obviously right?) and glycerol (glycerin).  I was interested to learn that commercial soap-makers remove the glycerol to sell it or use it in other products.  My glycerol is still in my soap to moisturize freely.  

I'm excited to have a product for my family to use that is exactly what I want--with nothing that I don't want.  I might try getting into interesting scented bars for myself or friends, but for now I'm satisfied with a creamy white bar of soap that won't turn my baby into a scaly itchy red monster.