Farm and Soap Updates

Here's what the farm looked like on April 27th this year: Of course it was all melted by around noon the next day! In northern Vermont it's a good rule of thumb to keep your snow tires on from Halloween to Mother's Day, lest you incur the wrath of the spring snow storm. There's a saying about snow that its "poor man's fertilizer". Turns out this isn't just an old farmer's tale. All precipitation brings nitrates out of the atmosphere and on to the soil, the advantage of snow is that this fertilizer is "slow release" gradually soaking into the...

I am sometimes asked if I make goat milk soap and the answer is no, in fact I make cow milk soap! I'm not quite sure when and why goat milk became the "go-to milk" for soap making but you can make soap with any kind of milk (or any kind of water based liquid really!) The only soap I currently make with milk is my Milk and Maple Soap. Both cow and goat milk contain fats, vitamins and minerals that are great for the skin and that make a bar of soap more moisturizing. The cow milk I use...

Around the beginning of March I got one of the first signs of spring on the farm (the real first sign was back in February when last summer's young female calves went into heat for the first time and started bellowing and making well, cow-eyes, at the bull from over the fence) which is a rising tide of eggs! I do provide supplemental light for my hens in the winter but with the bitter cold we often experience in Vermont, they expend a decent amount of energy in the winter staying warm, so production drops. I could provide them with...

Every so often I get asked some variation of "the lye question" from customers or prospective customers: Do your soaps contain lye? (yes... and also no) Can you make me a soap without lye? (Nope) Is lye soap bad for your skin? (it depends...) Do your soaps contain lye? First lets talk about the several different ways that lye can appear on an ingredient label. I simply use the term "lye", since it is simple and clear and most folks understand what it is. Another name for lye is "sodium hydroxide" (chemical formula NaOH) which is probably a bit more...

This month I am rolling out a new system for local pick up and delivery customers! Since the old system was just me emailing back and forth with customers and then typing everything into a spreadsheet, I think this will be an upgrade ;) Going forward I will be using the Open Farm Network platform for both deliveries and pick-ups, though I am still more than happy to exchange emails to help everyone get used to the new system! Check out the new storefront here:  https://openfoodnetwork.net/fat-chance-farm-llc/shop#/shop Your first decision will be whether you are ordering for delivery or pick-up. The...