We hope you have a great weekend,
The Moores

We use pure beeswax in our All Natural Goat Milk Soap because it gives a solidness that prolongs the life of the bar.

Sodium hydroxide is used to trigger the saponification of the ingredients. We like to say that we simply put the right ingredients together and then let them make the soap!  Mom mixes the sodium hydroxide with distilled water and goat’s milk.  At the same time we melt and mix a special blend of oils and beeswax together.  We use olive oil, palm oil, vegetable oil, vitamin E oil, and coconut oils to insure that our soap is full of good things as well as pleasant to use.   Olive oil moisturizes while providing protection against the harsh climate your skin must face every day.   Vitamin E is an antioxidant and natural preservative; we use coconut oil to create firm bars that really give you a great lather.

Everything needs to be cooled before anything can be mixed together and this requires a lot of stirring!!

Here you see us mixing all of the ingredients together…..

While Mom is busy mixing the oils, wax and sodium hydroxide , Pamela is going to add the essential oil.  We add these all natural, scented oils at the end to ensure that everything has been mixed well before hand.

These are our unique soap molds They are responsible for the delightful shapes we are able to offer to our customers.  Our most popular designs are the dogs, goats and roosters!

The molds laying out on the table, ready to be filled……

Here, Nathan is carefully pouring the liquid soap into measuring cups so that we may then carefully pour it into the molds.  Sometimes, no matter how careful we are, we end up pouring too much soap into the molds and then – our molds overfloweth.

Look at how carefully Pamela and Mom are filling the molds!!  We are thankful for their steady hands.

After the molds are completely filled, we place them on a table in our ’soap room’.  We use freezer paper between the layers and then cover the whole lot of them with an old comforter.  The heavy blanket keeps the heat in while the soap begins the process of curing.

Emily is our appointed record keeper and she reported that we produced 371 bars of soap that day! What a lot of work, but we had a very good time and now our inventory is on its way to being restocked.  According to Nathan’s records, we are half way to being completely stocked.  We are looking forward to another soap making day in the near future.

We appreciate hearing from you. Good-bye for now,

The Moores

— We also wanted to mention our new scent, Orange.  It is now able to be ordered through the website.  Try a bar today!

We look forward to serving you,

The Moore Family at Garland Goat Soap

May 5th, our very temperamental  dairy goat Touche, gave birth to triplets. They were born in our pasture in the early afternoon on a gorgeous day. Touche dropped her kids with ease and the assistance of my sister-in-law, Kathryn.  The first was colored like her half sister, Ellie. The second was shiny black with white spots on her ears and a pronounced overbite. The last kid was the biggest and mostly white with brown markings. We had to help them at first with nursing, but they seemed to catch on real quick!! They have all thrived in the past months, they love being in the pasture.

In fact, they love being in the pasture so much they were nearly impossible to contain while still very young. They never seemed to plan their escapes on purpose, but somehow they always managed to end up on the greener side of the fence. Straining their necks through the open boards around their pen to reach some lush looking weeds, they would innocently push right through the boards and end up in the pasture! They would climb up on the fence, looking at the sky above and -ooops!!- the slim boards would slip right out of place and they were in the pasture once again. We were never able to make the fence completely ‘kid-proof’, so we became quite used to hearing my little brothers remark, “Oh,the kids are out of the pen!” Someone would then walk out (rushing not being necessary since they were in the pasture and therefore content to stay put) and recapture the vagabond doelings.

Now, they are contained (in the pasture) within an electric fence that they dare not prove, unless of course, it’s off!

Touche continues to give milk for our all natural goat milk  soap. It is the only generous thing she does, for the rest of her days are spent bossing around Ellie. We love her dearly, even though her personality can be a bit interesting at times! We know that God put it in goats to have a very firm sense of order among themselves. Touche does an excellent job living up to her calling as Queen of the goats here at Little Valley Farm!

Ellie is enjoying the sun!

Until next time,

The Moores at Garland Goat Soap of Vermont

With Arielle helping Greg with his piano business, plus growing a baby, she found she was overwhelmed and asked us if we would consider taking over this business.  After prayerful consideration, we felt the Lord leading us to take on Garland Goat Soap.  We’ve changed the name to Garland Goat Soap of Vermont, LLC but have kept the same wonderful ingredients that make the soap wholesome and natural.  We will continue to use only essential oils and over time will include some of our own honey in the soap!

As I mixed up several batches of this Milk and Honey soap, I was considering the different ingredients I was adding and what they contributed to the soap. Honey lays down a clear, protective film that helps skin maintain moisture. It hydrates and soothes the skin and is thought to be slightly antiseptic and bacteriostatic. It does all of this without being greasy, even contributing astringint value. Propolis is antibacterial, reduces inflammation, and stimulates the immune system.

To quote one description: “Two natural treasures in one bar of soap help repair sores, fight acne, soothe chapping, and balance uneven or oily skin.

Bee products—honey, propolis, pollen and wax—meet goat milk to clean up the toughest skin problems you can muster.

Honey cleanses dirt and impurities while smoothing wrinkles by increasing your skin’s elasticity. Propolis—a mixture of the essential oils, pollen, and wax bees harvest from plants—nourishes dry, itchy skin. Pollen, rich in enzymes and vitamins, contains the complete family of amino acids. It promotes new skin cell growth while scrubbing away built-up dead cells without stripping the skin of its natural protection.

Milk & Honey’s beeswax base is the all-natural “carrier” for other ingredients that leaves your skin feeling soft and clean.

Raw goat milk is rich in enzymes beneficial to your skin, and five natural, skin-replenishing oils balance and moisturize. This abundance of revitalizing components is topped off with a touch of sweet orange essential oil for an agreeable, bright aroma.”

Our Milk and Honey Soap has proved to work great for our customers, as noted by what these customers had to say:

This is the best facial soap bar I have tried. I use it at night time to wash off the days dirt and make up (with no moisturizer afterward since I have somewhat oily skin), and by morning time my face is smooth and clean. I love how it lathers up, and the sweet smell makes is so pleasant to use. I have stopped using the expensive clinique and estee lauder products completely since this has worked out much better in every way. It does last a long time, too. I recommend it to friends whenever I get the chance.

This soap is great. I have problem skin and have never used a soap. Actually I’ve used the same cleanser on my skin for years and just didn’t like how my skin was looking lately (lifeless and dry). I tried this soap thinking it wouldn’t make much of a difference and WOW! I was able to stop using the medication on my skin that I had used for years. My skin looks great and glowing.

Try it out for yourself! To find it, click HERE.

To superfat soap is to leave unsaponified oils in the final bars for the mildest soap. Unsaponified oils do not form compounds with the other soapmaking components but, instead, remain in their original form in the bar as emollient ingredients.

The percentage of sodium hydroxide in a soap formula is carefully calculated according to the degree of saponification desired. (Remember, saponification is the process whereby the oil molecules and sodium hydroxides molecules mix to form the new substance — soap.) When enough sodium hydroxide is used to supply all of the fatty acids with sodium hydroxide mates, the soap is considered fully saponified. No discount is taken from the percentage of sodium hydroxide required for complete saponification. This fully saponified soap does not contain excess oils. By using less sodium hydroxide than is required for a complete saponification, however, fat and oil molecules run out of lye mates. The excess oil remains in the final bar of soap as a soothing moisturizer. This milder soap is called a superfatted soap — a soap provided with excess fat and oil to make it more moisturizing.

Nearly all bath soaps clean, but the degree of saponification determines how gently or how harshly they do their jobs. An excess of sodium hydroxide not only can strip the skin of dirt and excess oils, but it can take away important natural oils as well. People with dry skin are especially affected by the strip-clean. When emollient fats and oils are added to soap as superfatting ingredients, they lay a hydrophobic film on the skin’s surface that softens the skin by holding in internal moisture.

So by superfatting our goat milk soap, we are providing our skin with a milder, gentler, and more moisturizing skin-care experience!

The gentle cleansing and moisturizing properties of the oils used in Garland Goat Soaps make them ideal for baby's tender skin.

Palm oil is another important oil for use in a natural bar soap. A gentle cleanser and moisturizer, palm oil contributes to lasting hardness in a bar of soap. Unlike coconut oil, however, it will not cause the bar of soap to become brittle, so when these two types of oils are combined together, the resulting soap lasts a long time without becoming brittle and cracked. Palm Oil is rich in palmitic acid, vitamin E, vitamin K and magnesium and is considered to be a natural source of anti-oxidant.

Last but not least, Vitamin E oil completes the well-rounded selection of oils in Garland Goat Soap of Maine’s base soap recipes. Vitamin E oil is extremely emollient, and deeply moisturizing. Because of it’s make up, it does not saponify in the soapmaking process (in other words, it does not react with sodium hydroxide to make soap, but rather remains in it’s pure form as an unsaponified oil) and acts as a natural preservative in the soap.

Is your skin needing a lift? A bar of natural soap chock full of skin-nurishing oils, coupled with the special luxeries of goat milk, will give your skin just what it needs! Check out your options here.

Coconut oil is also an essential component of Garland Goat Soap. Coconut oil is obtained from copra, which is dried coconut meat. It provides many benefits to a natural bar soap!

Coconut oil creates a hard bar of soap with fluffy lather.

When used in the right proportion, coconut oil creates a good, hard bar of soap that won’t just “melt away” in your soap dish. It also contributes generous, fluffy lather for a squeaky clean feeling. More than that, though, coconut oil is an ideal skin-care oil! Because coconut oil’s molecules are small, they are easily absorbed into skin, making it the perfect moisturizer for dry or rough skin.

It helps protect your skin from the aging effects of free radicals.  It can help to keep the skin from developing liver spots, and other blemishes caused by aging and over exposure to sunlight.  When coconut oil is absorbed into the skin and connective tissues, it helps to reduce the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles by working to keep connective tissues strong and supple. The oil is absorbed into cell structure of the skins connective tissues, limiting the damage excessive sun exposure can cause. Coconut oil will aid in exfoliating the outer layer of dead skin cells, making the skin smoother.

Coconut oil helps prevent aging in your skin!

Antiseptic fatty acids in coconut oil help to prevent fungal and bacterial infections in the skin to a certain extent when it is used in skin-care. Because of these qualities, coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. I consider it indispensable in my soap recipes!

There are all sorts of oils available for soapmakers to use. Some are commonplace, some exotic. Olive oil is one of the key oils I use in Garland Goat Soap. True, it’s rather expensive to use in large quantities, but it is extremely valuable for skin care. It helps promote a sooth, radiant completion, maintain the elasticity of the skin, heal dry, brittle nails, and soften cuticles. Olive oil performs these many functions due, in part, to the fact that it is a very good moisturizer because it attracts external moisture, holds that moisture close to the skin, and forms a breathable film to prevent the loss of the skin’s internal moisture.

Olive oil creates a superiour soap!

Unlike so many other substances used for this purpose, olive oil does not block the natural functions of the skin while performing this task. The skin is able to continue sweating, releasing sebum, and shedding dead skin cells, all necessary functions for maintaining healthy, vibrant skin. Olive oil is high in antioxidants, including vitamin E. Antioxidants are nutritional powerhouses that protect against age-accelerating free radicals. Thus, including olive oil in soap helps to protect against those damaging free radicals, as well as helping to slow aging signs such as fine lines and wrinkles. In soap, olive oil is a gentle and thorough cleanser. You might say that, as a natural soapmaking ingredient, olive oil is “worth its weight in gold!”