On Saturday, I quietly, cautiously added a new item to our Web site’s Store page: homemade soap.
My caution came from the awesome responsibility of maintaining an inventory. If we sell it, that means we need to make sure it’s available!
Our homemade devil’s club soap, currently a rare commodity! (Photo: Mark A. Zeiger).
We have made our own soap since moving to the “homestead” (see Soap Lust, among others). Last summer, our friends at Alaska Rod’s in Haines asked if we’d be interested in selling soap in their shop. One of their suppliers decided to stop making it, which created an opening.
We delivered our first rough bars around Christmas time (see A Wild Winter Solstice). We recently replaced those with a new size and shape, which is easier to produce in larger quantities. You can only purchase the soap from Alaska Rod’s in Haines, or from our store page.
Now we just have to get serious about making the soap! That’s not easy in the summer months, when there’s so much to do outside. Ideally, we’ll make most of it in the winter, when indoor activities are more comfortable. But, we’re already behind in our production. We only have devil’s club soap available at the moment. A local friend particularly likes our other current variety, tea tree/lavender. We need to crank out a batch of that ASAP to keep up with demand!
Of all our various “micro incomes,” this one makes the most sense, as we use the soap ourselves. There is no such thing as excess inventory; somebody will always need it, so we can’t lose.