Tuesday Spotlight: Almond and Milk

Click To Save On Almond and Milk

Welcome to the Tuesday Spotlight, dear reader. This week, the spotlight is on our soap family favorite, Almond and Milk. Almond and Milk is a simple, lovely soap scented with bitter almond oil. It smells delicious; that is the only way I can describe it. After seeing a photo of almond trees in blossoms, I was inspired to use pink and white micas for color. The scent is pure, simple, and clean without complex blends. You, our soap family, have made this our second most popular scent.

As always, we begin with our luxurious milk-based soap recipe. Our recipe is a skin-loving, moisturizing, old-fashioned blend of goat's milk, skin-loving oils, and essential oils for fragrance. I believe, dear reader, that the ingredient that allows our products to stand out is our fresh, raw goat's milk. If you read our ingredients label, you will see that goat's milk is the first ingredient listed. Each soap batch uses almost five pounds of fresh, raw milk. Soap is created by carefully blending liquids, solid fats, and liquid fats. Our only liquid is our fresh raw milk. Other soapers and commercial soaps make "goat's milk soap," but many use water with a small percentage of liquid goat's milk or (gasp!) powdered goat's milk. Technically, it has goat's milk in it. However, I believe using all goat's milk for the liquid makes our soap truly outstanding. The fact that our girls are loved, happy, and well cared for is a bonus.

This week, exclusively on the website, save 25% on Almond and Milk soap and moisturizer. No promo code is needed; the savings will be applied at checkout. On this rainy Tuesday, stay safe, be smart, enjoy the savings, and keep washing your hands.

My Favorite Component

Orders from our last fundraiser

I get bored quickly. I don't know if it is simply my personality, a result of my adult ADD, or internal wiring, but I lose focus and tend to bounce from one project to the next. Often, I struggle with time management and realistically estimate how long it should take me to complete a project. Just ask one bib overall wearing wonder buns how frustrating it can be to deal with me, my ideas, impatience, and follow through. Eric keeps me focused and on point. However, I believe he finds my impulsivity frustrating. Thank goodness, he is a patient man.

I was filled with grand ideas when I first began my soap-making journey. I wanted to build a website, participate in live shows, do wholesale, offer fundraisers, open a store, and host live events. At the time, I had no idea what it would take to make all these things happen. I could not wrap my head around the fact that I didn't have enough time, funding, or workforce to execute my grand ideas successfully. That is where my bib overall wearing wonder buns steps in, puts things in perspective, helps me create a plan, and then executes the said plan. We balance each other well. I am a dreamer and idea factory, and he is the common sense-filled logistics guy. I jokingly call him a nay-sayer, but truthfully, he is the voice of reason. I know that when he tells me no, it only means not right now. Except for the storefront, he has made it crystal clear that there will never be a brick-and-mortar storefront, period. Sigh. Just think of the fun I could have with a storefront, dear reader: old clawfoot tubs for display, bubbles everywhere, shelves and rounders filled with products...the possibilities are endless. However, I accept there will never be a storefront. Owning a brick-and-mortar store is a whole new level of marriage to your business.

To date, we have successfully implemented all my ideas for a well-diversified business—diversification is my buzzword. In my little brain, I believe it is essential to diversify our business plan so we aren't relying upon one stream of income. So far, this approach has served us well. When online sales dip, and they always do, wholesale sales carry us through. When in-person sales are low, online sales make up the difference. Finally, we have added another desired level of diversification to our business, and one near and dear to my heart is fundraising.

I am genuinely excited about our fundraisers. When I was teaching, I ran a community service student group. Our primary source of income was fundraisers. Fundraisers made it possible for my students to do good in the community. Whether it was purchasing materials to do arts and crafts with older adults, materials for school beautification, or t-shirts for the kids to show their pride, fundraising played an important role. As a group advisor, I struggled to find fundraising options that were easy, profitable and offered high-quality products. I was frustrated at our limited options. Most companies provided sub-par products, low-profit margins, and limited options.

Now that I am a small business owner, I can offer everything I sought in fundraising and more. Our goal as a company and company owners is to provide customer care that goes above and beyond. I view customer care as the foundation of our business. It does not escape me that soap can be purchased from any big box store at a discount, that there are hundreds upon hundreds of handmade soap makers out there, and that my soap family is the one that makes it possible for us to do what we do together and on our farm. We could not do this without you, so I will happily go above and beyond to make you happy and offer only the best experience with the highest quality products I can produce. You deserve to be cared for.

We take the same approach to fundraising. I aim to provide an easy process with a fair profit margin and make the fundraiser as successful as possible. We have completed over a dozen fundraisers, and this aspect of our business has become one of my favorite parts. I'm unsure if it is the connection to young people, my background in education, or the satisfaction of knowing we get to play a role in making young people's dreams a reality, but I get a thrill from packing up a fundraiser.

When I help with a fundraiser, I consider my experience as a former club advisor. From my experience, these are the things I like about our fundraiser. First and foremost, I like that we offer a higher profit percentage than most other options. Offering a fundraiser that the organization actually makes a profit was of the utmost importance. We provide the same pricing as our wholesale accounts. Secondly, the process has to be easy and simplistic. We strive for clear communication about the process, simplify the process, and go above and beyond to make the process as stress-free as possible. Next, I like the fact that our goods are nonperishable. There is no concern about spoilage, food poisoning, cold storage, or urgency to deliver to buyers. Families can allocate delivery times over several days rather than rush to deliver food before it spoils or worry about cold storage space. Also, I feel we provide a superior quality product that is useful. Almost everyone uses soap, so there is a universal appeal to our fundraiser. I also like that we are small enough to pay close attention to scheduling an organization's fundraiser. When we receive a request for a fundraiser, we are diligent about not overlapping local organizations. Suppose Smithtown Wrestling has a fundraiser scheduled for December. We receive a request from the Smithtown Band to do a fundraiser in the same month. In that case, we will gently advise the band of the overlap and offer dates we feel would be more beneficial to their success. I greatly enjoy the attention to detail and making the most of the opportunity for a successful sale. My favorite part is providing a care package to the advisor and a reward basket for the top seller. One of my favorite aspects of our work is making someone's day with a bit of surprise.

It has taken us years to get here, but slowly, we are making my visions for our business a reality. (There is an emphasis on slow. The Bibbed Wonder does everything slowly and carefully, like driving, home improvements, and making all my great ideas happen.) On a serious note, it's good that he is cautious and strategic. More than one person has pointed out my impulsivity and not in a flattering tone. We are a good team.

With the upcoming holiday season fast approaching, we would love to make all your fundraising dreams a reality. I gently encourage you to inquire about our fundraiser, discuss scheduling options, and let us help your group realize its goals. We work tirelessly to make you happy and your fundraiser a success. A bit of advice from one former organization advisor to another: read carefully, ask for clarification if needed (there are no dumb questions), plan for a two-week sale period, leave enough time for stragglers to get their orders turned in (working with young people can be a lot like herding baby goats they make a lot of noise and run around without a lot of direction, oh, and lots of drama!), and let us help you with the details. If you are out of state or not local, it's even better. You will have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to succeed.

On this overcast day, stay safe, be smart, and please consider us for your fundraising needs. If you aren't an organization advisor, please spread the word and keep washing your hands.

Bakery Style Apple Muffins

Image from Add a Pinch website

Of course, dear reader, I am considering fall-themed food during my favorite season. I enjoy anything pumpkin, apple, or maple-flavored this time of year. My go-to fall coffee is a pumpkin spice latte. Along with a latte, I enjoy a small sweet treat. I love a good muffin. Blueberry muffins are my favorite, but apple muffins are a close second. I prefer a muffin with a lot of fruit, a crunchy sugar top, and a moist texture. The recipe I am sharing with you today delivers all those options. Not only are these a delectable sweet treat, but they also scent your home with a delicate apple and cinnamon fragrance when baking. This recipe is the perfect baking project for a chilly fall morning.

I prefer to use fresh apples from our local growers and vanilla from my favorite vanilla lady, Amanda, who is Sweet Home Vanilla. This recipe makes a dozen muffins and only requires one apple. However, I prefer extra fruit, so I use two finely chopped apples. I like to use Cortland, Gala, Honey Crisp, or Rome apples. You could also use Granny Smith apples if you prefer a tart, crisp apple. The secret to evenly dispersed fruit throughout your muffins is to coat them in flour before mixing them into the batter. Otherwise, all the fruit sinks to the bottom of the muffins and creates a somewhat soggy texture. I learned this the hard way...insert a wink.

I found this recipe on the Add A Pinch website several years ago. It has been printed out and has been part of my Tinkerbell folder recipes for quite some time. If you love to bake, I gently suggest exploring the hundreds of recipes on Add A Pinch. The Ligonier Country Market is open for two more Saturdays if you want fresh, local apples and produce. JP's Produce is where I purchase my Honey Crisp apples each week. We hope to see you this Saturday.

Bakery Style Apple Muffins

Ingredients:

2 Cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. all-purpose flour for coating the apples

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon for coating the apples

2 Cups diced apples

1/2 Cup butter, room temperature

1 Cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 Cup milk

For the Topping:

1/2 Cup butter, melted

1/4 Cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375º F. Spray muffin tins with baker's spray or coat well with shortening or butter and flour, discarding any excess flour after coating.

• Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

• Mix flour with ground cinnamon to coat the apples. In a separate bowl, toss diced apples with the flour/cinnamon mixture to coat them. Set aside.

• Cream together butter and sugar until lightened in color, about 3 minutes. Add an egg, one at a time, taking care to fully incorporate before adding the other. Mix in vanilla.

• Gently fold in the flour mixture, alternating with milk. Stir until just combined. Fold in diced apples and scoop mixture into prepared muffin tins, filling about 2/3 to 3/4 full. Bake until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

• Prepare the muffin topping while the muffins are baking by melting the butter and allowing it to cool slightly. Pour the butter into a separate bowl sized easy for dipping the tops of muffins. Mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.

• Once the muffins have been baked, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool slightly in the muffin tin. Then, remove each muffin and brush the butter on with a pastry brush (or dip it into the melted butter) and then into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place them onto a plate to finish cooling.

On this lovely late summer day, stay safe, be smart, enjoy delicious food, and keep washing your hands.