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The Art of Stooping in Richmond

David Tran | October 13, 2020

Topics: community, richmond va furniture, richmond va thrift finds, richmond va upcycled furniture, rva furniture, rva thrifting, stooping, stooping rva, stoopingrva, used furniture richmond va

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure, and this Instagram account is making it easier for locals to give unwanted furniture a new home.

From accent chairs draped with floral prints to dark mahogany wooden desks, undesired furniture pieces are scattered throughout Richmond’s sidewalks and hidden alleyways — but usually not for long. 

Trash becomes treasure for Richmond residents as they scour the city for abandoned curbside items to bring into humble homes, an activity otherwise known as “stooping.” Now, furniture scavenging is made easier with the local Instagram account @StoopingRVA. 

The alleys in the Fan district have always been hidden gems for functional ottomans and dressers, as well as quirky items such as craft materials. Fan resident Sydni Lopez frequently stumbles upon free items in alleys, but at first didn’t realize there was a term for it. 

“I didn’t know there was this whole culture starting to build up, called  stooping,” Lopez said, “of people going out and actively looking for things, versus something I stumbled upon.” 

Olivia Colom has been in the stooping game for quite some time. She said she’s always been on the hunt for cheap finds ever since she first explored Goodwill. Colom took the opportunity to create StoopingRVA in late July, when she noticed an abundance of items thrown to the curb in the midst of move-ins and move-outs. Colom was inspired by StoopingNYC, which currently has more than 88,000 Instagram followers. 

“The streets were just flooded with people leaving their stuff out,” Colom said. “And I thought, ‘Well, I have too much [furniture] right now… I’m just going to make [an Instagram account]’ because there wasn’t one at the time.” 

PHOTO: Stooped furniture in Richmond featured on @StoopingRVA.

Stooping Instagram accounts have been on a rise in recent years, including accounts dedicated to Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Since its creation, StoopingRVA has garnered nearly 1,000 followers. Colom said the account reached 200 followers the day she created it. 

Living room pieces like couches, loveseats, and coffee tables dominate the account’s feed, but idiosyncratic items — bowling balls, a pool table, and a DIY cold-brew coffee maker — occasionally pop up. 

“There’s an army of lonely chairs out in Richmond,” Colom said. “There’s a million of them in little alleys all by themselves.” This strange trend has been documented since 2017 by an account called @rva_sadchairs, but StoopingRVA highlights the chairs still in good condition for new homes to adopt. 

Running the stooping account is a collaborative effort by the community. Richmonders are encouraged to direct-message a photo and location of street finds to the account, or items they themselves are throwing out for Colom to share to her followers. 

That is how college student Eliza Booke and her girlfriend scored a mint green dining chair for their apartment. The couple ventured through the alley in the Fan district searching for the furniture piece posted by StoopingRVA. 

PHOTO: Eliza Booke retreiving her stooped chair / its design in her home.

Booke is a keen stooper, and often finds abandoned items by chance, like kitchen pots and a wine glass set. She said the account is perfect for both those getting rid of items and those who want to add something new to their home. 

Since following the account, Booke said she has been sending it photos of discarded curbside pieces. “I know people want their stuff gone, and people like stooping,” she said. “I feel like they’re not walking around all the time looking for items. They need people to send in tips.” 

Abandoned furniture may also pose potential risks of unwanted germs and critters — like Richmond’s bedbug residents — gaining a new home. Lopez said furniture upcycling outweighs those risks, and she made sure to properly sanitize her floral print-embroidered accent chair before using it. 

Colom has an Instagram highlight dedicated to proper furniture cleaning procedure. It is also home to community resource information, such as donation requests from Richmond Mutual Aid Distribution, which she believes is an important way to use the account’s platform. 

PHOTO: Syndi Lopez’s Stooping Success chair on the StoopingRVA highlight.

“The best way to be supportive is through the excess that you already have,” Colom said. “But if you don’t have that, then you can use other people’s excess and prevent things from going to the landfill and give them to people who need them.” 

The popularity and necessity of stooping has become more apparent in the midst of the global climate crisis. Not only is stooping essential for those who can’t afford to buy new furniture pieces, but for the environmentally conscious, it prevents these items from heading to the landfill. 

Colom said stooping also can create a more personal sentiment to household items. “With IKEA and big manufactured furniture companies, we’ve lost this connection to a furniture piece that you’ve had to fix up yourself,” she said. 

One of Colom’s most successful stooped pieces is a red Persian rug that decorates her kitchen floor. She wants followers to share their “Stooping Successes” with the account. In an Instagram highlight, she documents success stories as followers send in their prized alley finds revived in a new environment. 

PHOTO: Olivia Colom’s stooped Persian rug.

Stooping can sometimes be competitive, especially when a highly sought after item is up for grabs. Often, stoopers arrive at the location to discover the item has disappeared. Stooping success stories help resolve that piece of mystery, which itself can be a community collaboration. 

A stooped item’s whereabouts can be chronicled from its days in the trash to its new home. Someone may witness a stooped furniture piece on top of a car, then send a photo to Colom to share on the highlight. If that makes its way to the furniture’s new owner, it can prompt them to send in a photo of its finished design. 

“Anytime followers send me a picture, I put it up on the highlight,” Colom said. “That’s my favorite part, because you get to see the progression.”

To find your own alley treasure and join Richmond in the stooping movement, check out StoopingRVA on Instagram and send in your favorite finds. 

Friends of Pump House Pushing Passionately for Historical Renovations

Jonah Schuhart | October 1, 2020

Topics: community, EnRichmond Foundation, friends of pump house, james river pump house, pump house park richmond va

Richmond’s iconic Pump House once hosted galas, weddings, and community events in addition to being the city’s main water source. Friends of Pump House is working to restore the building to its former glory. 

There is never a shortage of public renovation projects in the city of Richmond, but few have lasted as long as the project to repair the James River Pump House, often called the “Castle on the James.” The Gothic-style building has had a long journey in its 140 year lifespan, but has since fallen into disrepair. Currently, only two organizations — Friends of Pump House and the nonprofit Enrichmond Foundation — are pushing for the restoration of this historical site. 

PHOTO: via Friends of Pump House on Facebook

The House dates back to 1882 when it functioned as the primary source for the city’s water supply. On the top floor, however, it doubled as a dance hall for the residents of Richmond. Gala events and parties were held there regularly, and it became a central space for the area’s nightlife. 

“It was an open-air ballroom,” said Friends of Pump House President Cassi Patterson. “You could see the trees. The breeze comes in, and that’s where people held social events like weddings and community gatherings.” 

At first, this area was only used by the city’s upper-class population. It eventually grew to be a popular space for Richmond’s middle and lower classes as well; that is, until 1924, when according to the Richmond Times Dispatch, the popularity of Pump House began to decline with its wealthier patrons. Around the same time, much of its machinery was scrapped for the American war effort. Pump House was shut down, and eventually sold to the First Presbytarian Church. 

PHOTO: via Friends of Pump House on Facebook

Once it fell out of use, Pump House sat virtually abandoned, wearing away and passing between various owners until it once again landed in the city’s hands in the 1980s. After that, various projects to restore the historical site did their best to maintain and repair the location, though with limited resources and funding. Right now, those efforts are spearheaded by Friends of Pump House and Enrichmond. 

According to Patterson, Friends of Pump House was formed in 2017 by Joe Costello, a master’s student in VCU’s Urban Regional Planning Program. Part of Costello’s final thesis included a plan to “revitalize the Pump House,” and included the formation of this organization. To accomplish their goal, FoPH needs to perform plenty of renovations. 

“Right now, we’re working on projects to make it safe to open to the public,” said Patterson. “There are a lot of things we need to do to make it safe for the general public.” 

PHOTO: via Friends of Pump House on Facebook

The list includes adding bathrooms, elevators, and accessibility options for the disabled, in addition to fixing general repairs like structural weaknesses. The end goal is to not only make the space available to the public, but to also establish a museum on the bottom floor while restoring the event space to its former glory. 

In efforts to raise money and spread awareness, Friends of Pump House holds private tours of the building as an exception to the usual “no public allowed” rule. They also hold events and accept donations on their website. 

The cost for all of these renovations lies somewhere in the millions, according to Patterson, meaning the organization is a long way from raising the money needed to fully restore Pump House. The restoration of this historical site is perhaps one of the least-contentious government projects in the area. After all, the profits generated by the newly-restored Pump House are planned to go back to the James River Parks System, further improving Richmond’s outdoor public spaces.

To learn more about Pump House and its restoration projects, visit Friends of Pump House on their website, Facebook, and Instagram. 

Be a Changemaker In This Year’s Tom Tom Festival

Laura Drummond | September 24, 2020

Topics: community, tom tom cities rising summit, tom tom festival, tom tom festival 2020, tom tom foundation

The Tom Tom Foundation’s Cities Rising Summit is a seven-week, free, virtual event that offers opportunities to connect, collaborate, and confront critical issues impacting cities today. 

The Tom Tom Foundation hosts events each year focused on innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship, bringing together multi-sector city leaders from across the country to exchange ideas and develop solutions. 

“A hometown is the product of the people who live there,” Executive Director Paul Beyer said. “We care about citizens who are engaged in envisioning the future of their community. Creating bridges for people to connect is important.”  

This year, Tom Tom’s Cities Rising Summit is completely virtual — and free. The goal is to increase accessibility, ensuring all people have a seat at the table to discuss critical issues brought to the fore by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 movement for racial justice. 

PHOTO: Tom Tom Foundation Cities Rising Summit

“We are trying to broaden access as much as possible, to empower change-makers across the country to come together,” Beyer said. “This new virtual format is amplifying and extending the number of connections that are possible.” Marketing Manager Chelsea Woodfolk added, “We’re in a very difficult time right now. Not everyone can afford to participate in programming if we were to put a price tag on it. By keeping it free, everyone can be a part of it.”

The Cities Rising Summit kicked off on September 15 and runs through October 30. The event features 50 sessions over seven weeks, with each week exploring a different theme: like criminal justice reform, education, applied machine learning, healthcare, localism, and more. 

“What we felt people needed most was an opportunity to connect around these issues, and through relationship building, try to come up with some new ideas,” Program Manager Ben Wilkes said. 

One week is devoted to small businesses and how to support them, particularly those owned by people of color. Speakers include September Hargrove, Vice President & Head of Michigan Philanthropy at JPMorgan Chase; Wendy Jackson, Managing Director for the Detroit Program of the Kresge Foundation; and Nick Davis, Founder & Photographer of Sidekick RVA. Discussion topics include creative pivots, small business recovery, and the future of restaurants. 

PHOTO: Tom Tom Foundation Cities Rising Summit

Another week focuses on the importance of arts in the community. Hear from Twiggy Pucci Garçon — community health specialist, organizer, filmmaker, and runway consultant for Ryan Murphy’s hit FX series, POSE — about protecting authenticity, creating space for others, and how artists can come together to create change. Dominic Asmall Willsdon, Executive Director of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU, will participate in a panel discussion about how art institutions can be better community partners. Discussions will also include ways creatives can give back to their communities, and how artists can build their networks through telling their own stories. 

The Cities Rising Summit covers many topics and issues, but there is one common thread that runs through all of the events: interpersonal connection. 

“This is a great platform for people to share their ideas, hear other people’s opinions, and acknowledge that we need to work together to achieve the goals we want to see,” Woodfolk said. 

To ensure that connection isn’t weakened by a virtual event, Tom Tom organizers innovated ways to communicate and collaborate. “All of our sessions are live,” said Wilkes. “We thought it was important, for the people who are able to make it, to have organic input into the conversation. It’s for them and about them.” Attendees can participate in real-time conversations with individuals from around the country, including elected officials, entrepreneurs, doctors, educators, non-profit organizers, data scientists, and more. 

PHOTO: Tom Tom Foundation Cities Rising Summit

Each session includes opportunities for engagement. Breakout meetings after each panel make it possible for discussions to continue. Weekly changemaker sessions bring together participants to form concrete action items around each theme, and virtual mixers offer informal avenues to meet.

“Everyone needs to be a part of the conversation,” Woodfolk said. “We’re bringing in leaders, but we also need constituents to be part of the conversation. That’s what we’re trying to achieve with this programming — making sure everyone can have a say in things that are affecting them.” 

If you can’t attend the live events, you still have an opportunity to get in on the conversation. Each session will be available on YouTube, with discussions continuing on social media. 

“A lot of these sessions will have an element of positivity, of hope,” Wilkes said. “If all people can do is plug in to one session and feel inspired, I think we’ve done our job.” 

To learn more about the Tom Tom Foundation, visit their website here. Specific information about the Cities Rising Summit, with speakers, event times, and registration, can be found here. 

Indigenous, Woman-Owned Resilience For 25 Years

Jamie McEachin | September 22, 2020

Topics: alternatives richmond va, Carytown, carytown stores, community, ethical sourcing, guadalupe ramirez alternatives

How often do we know the origins of the products we buy? At AlterNatives Boutique, the answer is every time. We caught up with owner Guadalupe Ramirez as she embarks on her 25th year in Carytown.  

The story of AlterNatives Boutique begins and ends with one idea: if you give someone the opportunity for education and the access to possibility, they will be empowered to help themselves. 

Guadalupe Ramirez, owner of the Carytown boutique, remembers tagging along with her parents and grandparents as a child in Guatemala. They attended community meetings for their family’s cooperative in the small village of Tejutla, located in the Western Highlands. 

PHOTO: Via AlterNatives Boutique

Ramirez’s family worked to help locals during the devastation of the Guatemalan Civil War. Their involvement would eventually inspire Ramirez when she opened her ethically-sourced boutique: a person of color helping other people of color to aid their communities. 

“[It’s important to] not just have the complex of a white savior,” Ramirez said, “but to also learn a little bit more that as people from the area, who understand more of these struggles — we can have a better impact.” 

Ramirez believes in the importance of knowing the origins of the products you buy. Often, she says, ignorance is the reason that the overwhelming majority of consumers don’t know or care if they buy from unethical sources. AlterNatives seeks to combat that. With fair trade jewelry, clothing, and home decor, the store’s products are transparently produced, and their creators are paid fairly. 

“Many times, we make poor choices not because we want to… but because we don’t know exactly what’s happening,” Ramirez said. “My mission is to communicate and educate about how those items are made. The person who made the item has a biography; they have wishes and energy that they put into the items.” 

The marketplace is sacred to Ramirez, she noted, for exchanging energy between the creators of her products and the people who buy them. 

Ramirez’s interest in social work was fostered by the peasant’s movement in Guatemala. It was revolutionary, but not for the reasons the Guatemalan army believed. According to Ramirez, instead of the communist group the army thought they were targeting, the movement was a cooperative of highland farmers joining forces. They wanted better crop pricing, and to be educated by a group of Belgian nuns. 

“My parents organized in order to find good prices for the crops,” Ramirez said. “It was the help of some nuns from Belgium that gave them the opportunity to learn bookkeeping, organizational, and business skills to put together this cooperative. Between meetings my parents’ trainings around different communities, I was along, trying to be quiet and entertain myself.” 

Ramirez’s family was targeted by the military, resulting in the death of her uncle and threats to her father.

“I was trying to find a job and help my parents at the same time,” she said. “My father was receiving death threats, and he needed to flee the country. I had to find a job and try to support my sisters.” 

Despite her family’s cooperative being decidedly pro-market and pro-business, Ramirez believes the army’s persecution became a sad example of harm done by a lack of education and fear of the unknown. 

“In reality, for us and for my town where I come from, we were looking for better prices for goods [and pooled resources],” Ramirez said. “You pay what you can, and support this movement.” 

PHOTO: Via AlterNatives Boutique

When she was 16, Ramirez left her hometown to continue her education with a teaching diploma. By the age of 18, she was teaching a second-grade class to send money to family in her hometown, struggling after her father was forced into hiding. Her attempt to study sociology at the University of San Carlos ended abruptly when the army targeted the department, kidnapping and possibly killing some of their faculty. 

“When we came back to the university to do our report, the humanities faculty was taken over by the Guatemalan Army,” Ramirez said. “They said ‘One more step on this school and you’ll be killed.’ Everyone left that night for good.” 

Ramirez continued her work following in her family’s footsteps, working with marginalized groups in the wake of Guatemala’s devastating civil war. She aided orphans in the Guatemalan jungle, widows of political violence in a small Mayan town, and children of plantation workers by teaching them while their parents fought for rights in the capital. 

PHOTO: Via AlterNatives Boutique

In the face of tragedy, Ramirez’s upbringing in a small peasant town has taught her resilience and resolve to help others. These traits have helped her guide AlterNatives through a 2007 fire, the Great Recession in 2008, and now through COVID-19 harming small businesses. 

“[This resilience] is about always learning to adapt to the next challenge, and become stronger than before,” Ramirez said. “We need the opportunity to learn things… and adjust to the market again. We need variety. Then there will be more creativity.” 

Ramirez’s husband, Ben Blevins, traveled to Guatemala as a human rights observer after his graduation from the University of Richmond. The couple decided to settle in Richmond, and eventually she became a licensed peddler to sell cloth woven in Guatemala by women who needed funds to recover from an unsuccessful potato farming business. 

“The concept that only white people can help brown people is not really the truth,” Ramirez said. “That was my understanding. thought, ‘Why can’t I help my own people? Why does it have to be a white person to save a brown person?”

After years of selling handmade items on the streets of Carytown and in front of Plan 9 Records, Ramirez was able to rent her first storefront. The brick-and-mortar location for AlterNatives was born. Located at 3320 West Cary St., the building called to Ramirez with a mural of a jungle while she was still peddling her fair trade cloth and jewelry. 

While Ramirez said the streets of Richmond were generally welcoming, she did experience racism and distrust from many of her original patrons as a peddler. She was often asked about the percentage of sales going back to the women producing the items, and some customers seemed wary of her helping other people of color. 

Despite those instances of racism, Ramirez thinks Richmond — and especially Carytown — has an open-mindedness that helped AlterNatives survive through many challenges in its 25 years. Her husband often jokes about Ramirez being a hippie at heart. She thinks her nature of love and understanding is the reason AlterNatives will continue to thrive. 

“We are excited,” Ramirez said. “We are getting ready for a new chapter in our lives.” 

To learn more about AlterNatives, find the store on their website, Facebook, and Instagram. 

A Shield And A Crown

Robin Schwartzkopf | September 7, 2020

Topics: angela patton, art, community, face masks richmond va, face shield flower crown, Girls for A Change, Hamilton Glass, larkin garbee, richmond va coronavirus, richmond va face shields

Local entrepreneur Larkin Garbee teamed up with Girls For a Change and artist Hamilton Glass to create face shields that double as flower crowns: keeping the community safe, and teaching innovation along the way. 

A year ago, personal protective equipment (PPE) would not have been on many people’s fall accessory lists. But the coronavirus pandemic has made widespread use of face shields, masks, and other safety items critical to public health. With kids returning to virtual and in-person learning, entrepreneur Larkin Garbee paired up with Girls for a Change CEO Angela Patton and artist Hamilton Glass to design and produce a flower-adorned face shield that could raise funds — and save lives. 

PHOTO: Jay Paul

When Garbee started making face shields in March, it was to support hospitals that were running low on gear in critical times. Her sister and brother-in-law, both employed in medical fields, shared concerns about being completely out of face shields. So Garbee, using her background in entrepreneurship, started a “Buy One, Give One” program to cover the cost of producing the masks. For every mask purchased, one would be donated to an essential employee or healthcare worker. 

“It was important to us because we’re not in the business to make all the profit,” Garbee said. “It’s about [serving] the community and making sure the impact is there.” 

But making face shields for kids comes with different considerations. PPE can be intimidating, restrictive, or just not fashionable. Garbee thought kids might be more interested in a fun-looking shield that still met industry standards. 

“I’d wanted for quite some time to create a more user-friendly version of [face shields]. Early on, I reached out to Angela with Girls for a Change based on the relationship I have with her as friends. We’ve done projects together in the past,” Garbee said. “I thought it would be a really great opportunity to launch the first art shield, specifically with Angela and her program.” 

PHOTO: Jay Paul

Enter Hamilton Glass: artist and frequent collaborator with Girls for a Change. After working with Patton on several projects, including a mural in Jackson Ward, Glass was approached by Garbee to design a shield the girls would want to wear. 

“The premise behind the design was making a crown out of flowers,” Glass said. “I’ve done a lot of work with Girls for a Change, and flowers are pretty much always a part of it.” 

The mission at Girls for a Change has long been about growth and empowerment. The youth development organization was designed to help Black girls, and other girls of color, to see their goals and innovations come to life. Glass reflected on the symbolism, which he described as frequent, but unintentional. 

“I was trying to find a way for the girls to make [the shields] cool, and expressions of themselves,” Glass said. “To bring out their personality through not just having a normal face shield.” 

PHOTO: Jay Paul

Glass finished a few designs for the shields before the final idea was chosen. It was revealed at the Girls for a Change garden party, where girls in the nonprofit’s summer programs gathered in a safe, socially-distant atmosphere. At the party, all the girls received a free shield, and could learn about production as well as try their hands at designing their own. 

“I wanted the girls to see how they can take a creative skill and apply it — and have some kind of outlet for understanding small-batch manufacturing,” Garbee said. “I was thinking it would be a fun exercise, but it was almost more fun to see them creating their own shields.” 

The need for PPE is not going away anytime soon. Garbee wants to support more nonprofits, and she has a plan to do it. 

“We just got a printer that arrived this week. It will allow us to locally source our own printing, and do it in-house,” Garbee said. “If we do them locally, it means we don’t have to do 5000 at a time. We can do small batches — 100, 200, or 300 — that could be meaningful for small organizations that don’t have the budget to commit to thousands of these.” 

PHOTO: Jay Paul

While more partnerships may be coming in the future, Garbee expressed the importance of working with Patton and Glass for their first art shields.

“For me, it was important to specifically work with Angela. I was very excited that Hamilton was willing to work with us as a collaborator,” Garbee said. “We intend to create more of these, but to make our first splash through this partnership was really exciting.” 

Their flower crown face shields are available on the GOOD WORK Society website. For every shield purchased, a donation will be made to Girls for a Change. 

Goat’s Milk Soap Is The GOAT

David Tran | August 28, 2020

Topics: art, community, freckled farm soap company, goat soap roanoke va, local business, naked goat soap, richmond va farmers market, richmond va goat soap, roanoke, roanoke va farmers market, South of the James Farmers Market, virginia goat soap, wandering cow farm

Whether you want to incorporate more clean skin products into your life or just to live out your cottagecore fantasy, these homemade soap businesses from all around Virginia are here to add to your collection. And the best part: the soap comes from goats. 

While you’re deep asleep in your bed at five in the morning, Crystal Neilson-Hall of Freckled Farm Soap Company is out feeding her herds of goats. 

This is just the start of a long day for many goat farmers in Virginia. From tending their farms to formulating recipes, local goat farmers spend much of their time surrounded by the redolence of livestock, lavender, and cedarwood. 

PHOTO: Freckled Farm Soap Company

At Freckled Farm Soap Company in Goochland, Neilson-Hall and her husband may work until 10 or 11 at night. While her life constantly revolves around tending to her goats and other farm animals, Neilson-Hall says it doesn’t feel like work. 

“I feel like I’m living my vacation, because I love what I do,” she said. The company is named after her two children, Breckin and Bryce; both names are Celtic words for “freckled.” She had always wanted goats, and the soap business grew out of her desire to raise them. 

As environmentalists, Neilson-Hall and her husband stand behind the nutrition and environmental benefits of using goat’s milk. After doing their research, they decided to start creating products. 

“So often, people are using products that put horrible chemicals into our water system,” Neilson-Hall said. “That messes up our reservoirs, creating algae, and killing and suffocating wildlife. So we’re very careful to pay attention to what we are creating.” 

Their bar soaps consist of goat’s milk and essential oils, which they source from suppliers with Certified Sustainable Certificates, indicating that they utilize sustainable practices. 

PHOTO: Freckled Farm Soap Company

In addition to their goats and typical farm animals, Freckled Farm is bestowed with a guard llama, Afton, who is famous among many customers. Afton is reaching old age, but with the help of a guard dog, he is still committed to protecting the farm and animals. 

“His job has always been to protect the herd,” Neilson-Hall said, “and he takes it pretty seriously.” 

Naked Goat Soap, located right outside of Richmond in Hanover, was founded by Heather Long in 2014. The “Naked” in Naked Goat Soap refers to the lack of dyes and chemicals in her products, Long said. 

Burnt out by her real estate career, Long decided to venture into the soap-making business after moving to her husband’s family farm and acquiring goats. From there, she delved into research on goat’s milk benefits and soap-making, and started experimenting with batches. She began selling to friends and family, and the business grew organically. 

“It was just a flow, a natural process as this came together,” Long said. “It afforded me the opportunity to focus on my business and leave my previous career.” 

PHOTO: Naked Goat Soap

GOAT Soap, based in Roanoke, was created by Bryce and Emily Gannon after a trip to their local farmer’s market nearly a decade ago. They purchased goat’s milk soaps from a vendor, and after one use, they never went back to any other soaps. 

The two were so in love with the soaps that they soon talked with the vendor about expanding his brand nationwide. After learning the soap-making process directly from him — and with many trials and errors — GOAT Soap was born. 

“It all started from a desire,” Emily said, “to take such a good product with goat’s milk in it to more than just the downtown Roanoke farmer’s market.” 

The brand’s name is a pun, as GOAT is an acronym for The Greatest of All Time. The Gannons are confident about goat’s milk products when they say “it’s the greatest soap of all time.” 

Homemade goat’s milk soap lacks artificial ingredients and chemicals that commercial mass-produced soaps often contain. The rich nutrients in goat’s milk, such as alpha hydroxy acid, combined with essential oils’ soothing properties, make the product a non-toxic and natural alternative that many consumers seek. 

Both Neilson-Hall and Emily Gannon pointed out that mass-produced commercial soaps are not legally allowed to call their products “soaps,” but rather use terms like “beauty bars” or “moisturizing bars.” 

PHOTO: Freckled Farm Soap Company

“Many of them are qualified as detergents, not actually soaps,” Emily said. “In order to be a soap, you have to move through the saponification process.” 

Saponification, in simpler terms, is a process in which triglycerides such as oils react with lye to produce soap. 

“Once you go handmade, you can’t go back,” Neilson-Hall said. “They’re using high-quality ingredients, high-quality oils that are really nourishing.” 

Owning a small goat’s milk soap business comes with multiple perks. Besides being surrounded by goats all day long, there is full creativity and control in designing and naming the products.

Many of Naked Goat Soap’s product names are influenced by their scent profiles and color. Take “Calm” as an example: a cool, gray bar soap. It’s named after the lavender essential oil’s ability to calm, and for Long, gray is a calming color. 

“I think people are connected to a scent,” Long said. “Maybe it reminds them of their childhood or it reminds them of a certain place.” 

Neilson-Hall and her husband have a similar approach to naming their soaps. While they do take into consideration the ingredients and scent profile, extensive research goes into the naming process as well. 

PHOTO: Naked Goat Soap

They were conflicted on what to name a bar soap containing frankincense and myrrh. Neilson-Hall said she wanted to avoid simply naming it “Frankincense and Myrrh,” because it can have religious connotations. After learning these essential oils originated in the Northeast region of Africa, and that Cleopatra used them in her makeup to prevent conjunctivitis, she decided on the name “Cleopatra.” 

“We felt it would be a good homage,” Neilson-Hall said. “This woman, who is known for her beauty and her skincare; to honor her [because] these essential oils hail from her part of the world.” 

Wandering Cow Farm in Charles City, named for owner Mary Murphy’s infamous cow that frequently escaped the farm, started out as a forage project for her kids. She soon turned to soap-making as a way to help treat her daughter’s psoriasis and acne. 

Like many local businesses, Murphy’s business took a hit amid the coronavirus outbreak. As a response to the pandemic, she began making face masks and hand sanitizers. Murphy went through all the steps to get federal and ABC permits, so she’s able to buy alcohol from manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, and distilleries. For Murphy, helping people find these essential products during coronavirus was an important contribution to the local community. 

PHOTO: Wandering Cow Farm

GOAT Soap also felt the effects of coronavirus this year. Launched in March, right as the pandemic started creeping into the United States, Emily Gannon said the extra time at home was helpful. It ensured that their products and website were ready before launching, and it was also beneficial to customers. 

“It has helped that people have had a chance to slow down,” she said, “and evaluate the products they use in their life.” 

For Neilson-Hall and Long, there were some challenges in operating during the pandemic. A majority of their income came from farmer’s markets and exhibitions. With cases spiking in Virginia in past weeks, these events were cancelled. 

The reopening of the South of the James Farmers Market allowed Neilson-Hall and her husband to experiment with selling their product under social distancing guidelines, but they barely made a profit. 

“The little bit that we were bringing in was not worth the risk it was bringing into our family, with my high-risk husband,” she said. 

In an average year, Long would attend 20 to 24 shows, one as far as Nashville, she said. This year, while some shows transitioned online, Long said the virtual markets do not offer the same intimate experiences and interactions as in-person markets. 

PHOTO: Freckled Farm Soap Company

Despite the obstacles that the coronavirus has created for these local businesses, website traffic has surged during the past couple months. 

Long is thankful for her customers’ loyalty and the brand’s stockists — like Ashby, Whole Foods, Mamie’s Apothecary, and more — for their continuous support for her business. She also acknowledged the amount of free time she now has to develop her brand further. 

“It allowed me to step back for a second,” Long said, “and to take time to start working on new products, like our liquid soaps. [It also helps] to hone in on the things that maybe you’d miss on a day-to-day normal year.” 

The pandemic has forced many local vendors to restructure their business models, and these goat’s milk soap companies are no exceptions. 

“Luckily, we have amazing, supportive customers who have followed us to this new platform and continued to support us,” Neilson-Hall said. 

Soaps from Freckled Farm Soap Company, Naked Goat Soap, GOAT Soap, and Wandering Cow Farm are available on their websites, along with other products. 

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