Reminiscences of the past...

The very first batch of soap that I ever made was Lemon-Poppyseed and it was stuck so tightly in the mold that I eventually had to scoop it out with my fingers.

After studying soap making for several weeks, I had finally decided to make a batch of soap just to see what it would be like.  Everything was measured very carefully, the mold prepared, and the directions followed precisely.  Eighteen hours later when the soap was supposed to be ready to remove from the mold it was a gooey glop in the pan.  Not despairing yet, I decided to leave it covered for a few more hours and la!  It had become soap.  It had become a really big bar of soap that would not pop out of the pan. 

Century Farmhouse® has come a very long way since that initial soap project.  In fact, when that first soap was made I'd had no idea that one day I would be making soap for a living. 

Make way for a new home...

The activities of the past few weeks have been bringing back memories of the past ten years.  Century Farmhouse® is growing!   A studio is under construction in a more commercial space in the city of West Bend - we have vastly outgrown the confines of our beloved log home and will move the actual soap making operations to the studio as soon as it is ready.   Soap design and the photography of our soaps will still take place at the farmhouse.   This was in some ways a very difficult decision and in some ways a relief.  In a way, this soap making business is a continuation of a family story.  We live in the house for which the business is named.  My grandmother who inspired my learning to make soap lived here, too.  But now my family will have a kitchen table to eat at and chairs to sit on and room to walk with no boxes of soap cluttering every spare and not-so-spare space in the house!  Once, this was a home in which we made soap; now it is a soap factory in which we live...it is time for something to move! 

And focus on the future!

The new studio space is bright and spacious and will allow us to keep all the production in one place while still having the clients of The Threshold wrap our soaps.  Best of all, we've designed the space to allow for a retail corner with a view of the soap making activities - you will be able to see the soaps being created!  Future plans include classes in soap making as well as mentorships.  We can't wait!

Have a fabulous autumn!

Ann Marie