How a Soap Business was Born

Good evening from the Homestead,

Let me start this off by telling you a little about Grafted in Grace Creation. My name is Sarah and I live on a small homestead in Lebanon Missouri, but North Carolina is my home state. I moved out here 2 years ago and love the people and the area. I have spent the last six years trying to become as self-sufficient as I can while working a full-time job and raising three girls. I learned how to make soap because it just seemed like the next step in things one might need to know. Oh, those first loafs of soap were well scary and some much-tossed bad batches and remelts. It was a challenge many days, but I was hooked like a mad scientist in the kitchen many Sunday mornings trying to see what I could mix next. 

Making soap can be intimidating, but like all things if you do it enough it becomes second nature. I ordered a kit to start because I wanted to be successful. The melt and pour kits take a lot of the guess work out. Those are called cold process soaps because the oils and the lye are close to the same temperature when blended. This is how you can make beautiful patterns and swirls, but the cure times are six weeks or more. Patience is not a virtue I have so I wanted to find a way to make chunky farmhouse soap that was simple and beautifully crafted.

This is how I stumbled into hot process soap making. My soap is a blend of oils heated in a crockpot and lye mixed up in a mason jar. These two are blended and the matching of temperature of the oils does not matter because you are going to cook the soap. The cooking of the soap allows for the lye to cook out and really 48 hours after making you can cut and use the soap. Exciting there is a way for people lacking in patience to create these wonderful little bars of art. The picture is the first soap blend I made and still a favorite of many.

This is how Grafted in Grace Creations was born. Lots of love and support from wonderful friends many have been here from the beginning but many I have made turning my customers into friends along the way. Soap making is my me time and something I really enjoy; from soap I have branched out too many other items you see in the shop. I have learned quick which soaps not to make on the same day because some scents do not blend well in the air and others linger for hours... 

I plan to update successes and struggles of this wonderful little homestead. This blog will be about all things going on around the farm, sourcing herbs, essential oils and tips and tricks for trying to balance it all in this crazy world.

Thanks to you all,

Sarah