Town of West Bend, WI – The painting below is of Century Farmhouse as it existed in the 1970s. Painted by a neighbor, it shows the buildings as they looked at the time; the little center building near the straw stack has since been dismantled. There are also two other outbuildings not shown in the painting and they sit to the right of the house.
We have removed the faded yellow clapboards to reveal the beautiful red oak and white oak log cabin beneath and there have been other minor tweaks to the other buildings. Grandma would still recognize the place though, because nothing really has changed too much.
When I was growing up, my mother and my grandmother made laundry soap together; my sisters do not remember this, which makes me wonder if I dreamed it?? Grandma would pour the soap into wooden fruit crates lined with freezer paper, then cut it into hand-sized chunks perfect for scrubbing stubborn stains on children’s clothing.
With my grandmother’s daily work as my creative inspiration, I later taught myself to make it with the help of soap making giants like Sandy Maine* and Melinda Coss*- well, with the help of their books, anyway.
More than 25 years ago, I would hound our local library for information on how to get started and soon figured out that I could find books I really wanted and repeatedly put them on hold so they could be kept for months. The librarians now roll their eyes when I mention it, but at the time the catalogs were not digitized and I could get away with being that cheap penny pincher rookie soap maker. There weren’t many of us around.
The very first batch of soap I made was Lemon & Poppyseed and I poured it into an old, enameled pan that my father had used for photo enlarging. Imagine my horror when two days later I could not get it out of that pan except by scooping it out with my hands and making snowballs of soap.
Yes folks, I forgot to line the pan with extra grease and parchment, and I still cringe at the fact that I could make such a rookie mistake. Being a beginner is as good an excuse as any for missing that step. – Hah! I’ve done it a few times since and it’s even more fun to deal with a batch that’s 100-bars large in a deep, pull apart, professional mold.
Shortly after that first batch fiasco, my father opened his wallet and handed me a $20 bill, telling me to “go buy soap for heaven’s sake,” but the process was so intriguing and the results so much fun to see that nothing would stop me. His bribe and words of encouragement to stop that nonsense worked like a charm in reverse: each new batch and new scent I created had me asking more and more questions until finally I had a house full of soap. Then I needed to sell it to be able to keep making more soap. ….and since I am still making and selling soaps, you know the rest of that story.
By the way, I never did take that $20 bribe, in case you are wondering. I put it back into his wallet and suggested that he watch me. Which he did – proudly. Thanks, Dad.
Click HERE to read more News from the Farmhouse
When this all began 25+ years ago, it was never my intention to do more than learn a new skill. Classes in soap making did not exist, so having someone to teach me the process and ask questions of along the way would have been a dream. I have rectified that now: you can always and forever contact me with questions about soap making once you’ve attended one of our retreats to learn the basics. You can’t often get that kind of personal attention from online how-to videos and classes. The personal touch makes such a difference, don’t you think?
Our upcoming Autumn Soap Making Retreat is Saturday, October 18 at the lovely Cedar Valley Retreat Center. There are still a few spaces open – let me know if you have any questions!
*At the time, both Sandy Maine (US) and Melinda Coss (UK) were full-time soap makers who really were at the leading edges of the modern soap making movement. I was privileged to not only get my hands on their books, but to do a mentorship in person with Sandy in Potsdam, NY and to speak with Melinda, who was a guest on a Wisconsin Public Radio Show in the early 2000s.
