Using Maine Ingredients

I am very proud to be part of Maine Made. 

Creating all my soaps and products from scratch using my own recipes.    Each small batch product is carefully made just for you!

I use many Maine grown or harvested ingredients in my soaps and products.  I am always on the lookout to add more or find new Maine items to add to the soaps.  I have included for you below many of the current items that I use.

I use fresh ground yellow cornmeal, gown and ground, from Fairwinds Farm in Topsam Maine in my Citrus Scrub and Gardeners Scrub soap bars.  Fairwinds Farms sell at the Saturday Winter Farmers Market with me and are the nicest folks!  http://www.fairwindsfarmmaine.com/   I LOVE their cornmeal!  I admire the texture of the cornmeal, so course and chunky (but it can be made finer, if you like).  There are a few different color flecks in the cornmeal from the "real" corn. I love it!  It is a nice gentle but hardworking scrub for my soaps.

I use Oatmeal grown and milled by Aurora Mills & Farm in Linneus, Maine is used in my Oatmeal, Honey & Milk, Peppermint Oatmeal, Unscented with Oats and Cinnamon & Oats soaps.   As well as in my Tub Tea.  http://www.auroramillsandfarm.net/   These oats are soo hearty and add a great texture to the soaps.  Creating extra scrubbing power and gentle exfoliation for your skin.  Oatmeal is also know to help moisturize, protect and gently cleanse, while soothing itchy or inflamed skin.

Sea Salt is used in my Mermaids Garden and (new) Day At The Beach soaps and also in my Tub Tea.  http://www.maineseasalt.com/  Sea Salt is nice and scrubby, exfoliates and reportedly draws toxins from the skin. 

Local Beeswax is purchased from Keough Family Farm in Hebron, Maine and is used in my Body Butter bars.  It's not as easy to use as beeswax "beads" that I can buy commercially and already easy to measure out, but grating and shaving up the local beeswax is strangely satisfying!  And I love the aroma of fresh beeswax. 

Of course, my Balsam Dryer Sachets are chock full of Maine Balsam needles for that familiar Maine fragrance.  Soo dreamy and woodsy, it is my most popular Dryer Sachet. 

I add Vitamin Sea Seaweed from Buxton, Maine to my Mermaids Garden soap.  The Seaweed shows up as pretty dark to light green pieces in the soap.   Seaweed has become popular for it's rumored benefits to detoxify and remove toxins from the outer layer of the skin and to tone. I like it because it is from MAINE!   http://www.vitaminseaseaweed.com/contact.shtml  I don't harvest my own seaweed, because it needs to be properly cleansed and sterilized. 

Maine grown Calendula (from my farmer friend on the Mid-Coast) makes a BIG appearance in my  unscented Clandula soap.  I steep Calendula in warm Olive Oil, using the petals and full flower heads, for 3 weeks, then use that Olive Oil as the oil in my soap recipe.  The results are a very soothing, gentle soap.  I sprinkle many dried petals in other soaps as well for texture and appearing.  Lavender & Herb, Lemongrass & Sage and Buttermilk Baby all have Calendula petals. 

I am currently researching Maine grown Sunflower Oil to add to my soap recipe as well as Maine grown Lavender.  I did try growing my own for the past 2 summers and only ended with a wee bit.  My garden didn't seem to cooperate

If you have a Maine product that you think would work in my soaps, I am happy to entertain the idea.  The cost may be a bit more, but I think that using Maine made, grown ingredients and supporting our local farmer is important.