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Kristen's goat-based home-business cleared $1,700 in its first four months

My Homestead Income

by Kristen Embry

Over the last ten years or so, and around my various “off the farm” work schedules, I have learned a bit about gardening, preserving food, sewing, quilting, raising livestock and even the occasional butchering.  I generally take these little projects on during the winter when things slow down a little and some of the fruits of my labor can, conveniently enough, serve as Christmas gifts for friends and family. 

In the winter of 2002, I decided to try raising a few home milkers, in the form of  dairy goats.  After much research via the internet and books on the subject, I chose Nigerian Dwarves because of their small size and generations of official milk production records.  Our small 3+ acres seemed best suited for a miniature dairy goat.   I carefully chose 6 does and 3 bucks to start our herd.  I intended to sell enough kids every spring to buy the hay during the summer.  I planned to make cheeses and yogurt for my family with the excess milk. 

The fall of 2003 rolled around and as I was investigating goat’s milk recipes, I found a basic recipe for goat’s milk soap.  Wow! Soap! I had recently began collecting the supplies I would need to make my first candles and I decided the combination would make excellent Christmas gifts. 

So, in September of 2003 I made my first batches of goat’s milk soap.  I used recipes which called for lard or tallow, because the fancy butters and oils simply are not available in small, rural markets.  I anxiously watched as the soap hardened.  I was shaking with pride and anticipation while I unmolded and cut those first bars.  I think I checked those first soaps a half dozen times every day during the three week curing period.  I wrapped the cured soaps in plastic and because I couldn’t have possibly waited until Christmas to show them off, I gave every single bar away! Friends and family took the soaps and gave them away at work and at church.  In a very small town, it takes about 20 minutes for the entire community to know you’re up to something new.  Those free bars of soap paid off for me in a big way.  In a week’s time I had orders pouring in.  I thought, “Great! Maybe I can sell enough soap to pay for the supplies I’m going to need for my Christmas gifts.”

  By, the time I had those orders made, there was a pretty good bit of  word-of-mouth advertising going on.  Sometime in October, a lady passing through town ordered 47 bars for resale in another state.  A week after that, the curator from an area museum asked me to supply their gift shop.  The local newspaper came out to our little farm and we made the front page.  The individual orders for gift sets and gift baskets meant very little sleep for me during November and December. 

As it became clear to me that a little hard work might turn this new hobby into a profitable business, I began researching the rules and regulations regarding packaging, labeling and marketing of home made soaps.  I also decided to start looking into a liability insurance policy.  Again, the internet was an invaluable tool for this project.  I chose to label my soaps with plain address labels.  I use the computer to print our business name, location, telephone number and a list of ingredients.  I also print, or handwrite, the name I’ve given that fragrance or style.

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