wandering cow farm Archives

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

“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.

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.

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.

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.

When grocery stores become a place of worry, Virginia’s local farmer’s market vendors are here to show how eating local can benefit us all.

Mark McIntyre, owner and head baker of Norwood Cottage Bakery, is no stranger to economic turmoil.

When the 2008 recession hit, McIntyre was working in advertising. At the time, he was baking only for friends and family, making cakes and breads for dinners and parties. But as the economic crisis got worse, McIntyre began reconsidering baking only for fun.

A friend emailed him about a new farmer’s market that was starting in Richmond, and suggested he participate. At first, McIntyre resisted. He didn’t have an industrial baking space, and couldn’t afford to renovate his kitchen to pass such an inspection. Then, as if it were fate, Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, introduced SB272: a bill that created inspection exceptions for home bakers.

“I took that as a sign,” McIntyre said. “I knew someone who worked downtown at the General Assembly, so I sent some cupcakes to Sen. Deeds as a thank you.”

When he attended a vendors’ meeting for the upcoming South of the James Farmer’s Market, McIntyre solidified his decision. There were several home bakers there planning to sell cakes, but no one was interested in selling bread. The market had a niche he could fill. He researched how to make no-knead bread, and sparked the beginning of his dream.

“The first market I went to, I sold out,” McIntyre said. “When I started in 2008, I turned 50. It was an interesting thing; I discovered the passion of my life that I never knew was there. A couple years after I started, the people that worked with me in advertising and said, ‘You’re my hero, you did what I want to do. We all want to get out of advertising.’”

For years, McIntyre sold bread regularly at the South of the James Farmer’s Market in Forest Hill Park, and built a strong customer base of locals and college students. This year, McIntyre was anticipating another strong market season when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, a majority of his customer base — college students — have gone home, and markets are being ordered to close.

“It’s not just an economic downturn,” McIntyre said. “It’s social, physical distancing, which is completely opposite of what the farmers market is about. It’s about community; seeing people and talking to them.”

Despite the hardships, McIntyre and other market vendors are figuring out creative ways to make it through.

McIntyre is still baking and selling breads, but at a discounted price. Customers can see his list of bread options on his website and pre-order via text or email. And luckily, South of the James has been able to keep business alive for their still-active vendors. Although no one can attend the market in-person, South of the James has received permission to run a drive-thru pick-up market. During the week, customers can make pre-orders directly through participating vendors. On Saturday morning, they pick up orders at the market.

South of the James was unable to provide a comment at this time. However, they regularly update their Facebook page with market and vendor information.

Penn Farm/Norma’s Produce is another participating vendor, run by former migrant workers for the past 18 years. They’ve been a market staple since 2011, and are offering various seasonal produce at South of the James and other regional markets, including Harvest Market at O’Connor Brewing Co. in Norfolk and the Williamsburg Farmers’ Market.

Leopoldo Beltran Jr. is the son of the farm’s owners, and he helps run the market side of the business. When the virus began to spread its way across the United States, he knew there would be impacts on the 2020 season.

“For the first two weeks, it was basically a waiting game to see what we could do,” Beltran said. “Luckily, our farmer’s market managers did what they could to set up with pre-order, drop-off, and drive-thru style markets. It’s really hard to organize as a small business to take more than just orders from certain markets, because it takes so much time away from keeping the rest of the business going. We really hope it’s not long term. It’s more work than it has to be.”

Filling pre-orders takes away from important aspects of work on the farm, like planting and weeding. It stretches the staff thin, but they’re satisfied being able to sell produce at the market at all. They also are happy for the opportunity to continue satisfying their regular customers, and hope to attract new customers as well — such as people that might be reluctant to shop in grocery stores.

They aren’t the only vendors banking on that idea. Cavalier Produce, a local wholesale vendor that stocks Richmond-area restaurants, is now offering produce on an individual consumer basis. They’ve discovered that many of their new customers are those seeking to avoid shopping in grocery stores.

“We have direct customers calling us, we have people who prefer local over other no matter what, and we service them,” said Denise Yetzer, president of Cavalier Produce. “We have customers calling us who are in a high-risk group that don’t want to go to the grocery store, and we’re helping them learn about buying locally and supporting local business.”

To help educate customers, Cavalier Produce provides a list of their local suppliers on their website, and are constantly building and expanding that network. They also have a list of available products and are in the process of making an online ordering system.

Everyone in Virginia’s local food production industry has had to be creative in providing goods to customers. Local artisans are no exception: Mary Murphy, the owner of Wandering Cow Farm, said she has switched from doing mostly wool-felting — a profitable business during market and festival season — to making soaps that customers have more need for during the pandemic.

For those interested in purchasing soaps or custom-made felted wool products, customers are currently able to go on the farm’s website or email Murphy directly. She’s also participating in St. Stephen’s grab-and-go Farmer’s Market and South of the James market.

*Cavalier Produce’s Buy A Box, Give A Box Program*. *Photo via Cavalier Produce*

Even after the worst of the pandemic passes, Murphy is anticipating longterm changes to vendors’ business models, including her own. She is hopeful, however, that this virus will result in more people shopping local and buying locally-made products.

“I think it’s going to be a new normal, and your business has to change to suit that,” Murphy said. “I think there are immuno-compromised people who, from here on out, will have to think twice about going into large groups of people. To serve them, and the public, is taking that into account.”

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