What's in my soaps?

My goat's milk soaps and specialty soaps are made with organic ingredients when affordable, locally sourced when possible and home grown when available!


The oils & fats I like to work with:

sweet almond oil; natural or organic
canola oil; organic and locally sourced through Regional Access or Greenstar
castor oil; natural
cocoa butter; organic
coconut oil; organic
lard; organic, local (Kingbird Farm at the Ithaca Farmers Market)
olive oil; natural (no chemical extraction methods used)
palm oil; organic - refined (white) or unrefined (retains the orange fruit color)
palm kernel oil; organic
shea butter; natural, imported from Africa
soybean oil; not available local for some reason tho grown all around
sunflower oil; organic and locally sourced through Regional Access
wheat germ oil; natural or organic

beeswax & raw honey; local (Waid's Apiary, Rowland's Farm or friends)
vegetables & fruit; home grown, Greenstar or organic from the Ithaca Farmers Market

My palm oil is farmed and is not part of rainforest deforestation.
I don't use hydrogenated oils (like shortening) because I don't want to lather myself with something I wouldn't want to eat :)

About Far Mountain Soap...

 

Far Mountain Soap specializes in fragrance and essential oil free all natural goat's milk and specialty soaps; made with organic when affordable, locally sourced when possible and home grown when available. We add subtle scents where needed using choice flowers, spices and/or herbs and do the same to create specific soap colors - all without adding any chemicals, of course.

Started in the early winter of 2011 - you know, winter, when for the homesteading artist there is not much else to do than our favorite pass of time: bookkeeping... with the help of my accomplished soapmaking sister, Far Mountain Soap was born. I make my soaps using the traditional cold process method, the bars are hand cut and given at least a month to cure. This creates a high quality long lasting bar that retains the naturally occurring properties of the great ingredients I use. The bars are also naturally high in glycerin, a humectant that leaves the skin feeling clean and fresh without stripping it of its natural oils.

While we make basic soap batches, like the traditional Lye Soap with only local lard and well water, I enjoy developing and making unusual soaps. Like my Coffee Bar and Kitchen Hands soaps made with local Gimme! Coffee brew and grounds, my Apricot Wheat and Partly Sunny soaps made with the same beers from our local Ithaca Brewery and not to forget our signature milk soaps Milk & Honey and Winter Sunshine, made with milk from our own goats!

My soaps are free of preservatives, dyes & colorants, petroleum products, synthetic fragrance or essential oils - and of course: 100% biodegradable!

Please note - my soaps are hand made & hand cut, therefor every bar is unique; you may get a bar that does not *exactly* resemble the picture, but it will always be from the same recipe and it will always be just as pretty.

Handy Tip: handmade soap will last a long time if kept dry between uses. Please use a draining soap dish and keep the bar away from direct streams of water (and yes, we do sell reclaimed wood cedar soap dishes).

Soap Resources

Mountain Rose Herbs
Large selection of organic and non organic oils, butters, herbs etc.

Tropical Traditions
Has bulk regular and organic high quality coconut oil, keep an eye out for their free shipping and other sales.

Essential Wholesale
Has bulk regular and organic oils, nice materials but not that good customer service. Also sells cosmetic bases if you don't want to cook your own.

Brambleberry
Nice soap website with neat molds, melt and pour soap bases, fragrances and nice containers.

Lye Depot
Agway does not sell lye anymore, but I did find a great source for food grade lye on the internet.

Of course Regional Access for locally made and processed oils & honeys.

Milky Way Molds
Great selection of pvc soap molds; many, many to choose from.

Majestic Mountain Sage
Good recourse for materials, recipes and hosts the MMS Lye Calculator.

Miller's Homemade Soap Pages is full of technical know-how and recipes.

Soapnuts
A good resource for recipes, ideas and tips.