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Sometimes a person's attachment to a home goes beyond the average or even what is considered reasonable. When Mary Bufton lost her husband eight years ago, many of her friends expected her to move to town. She thought about it, but wasn't ready. Leave 24 Valley? And where would she go? But to stay out in the country, wouldn't it be lonesome and monotonous? Possibly. And so she asked a friend, "What could I do?" The friend promptly replied, "You could make soap."
Making soap had never occurred to Mary. Why would it? She knew nothing about it. Oh, she recalled her grandmother making soap, and an attempt by her mother, years ago, to make soap for Christmas gifts. A tiny bit intrigued by her friend's suggestion, she sorted through some of her mother's old books. There she found some long-ago notes made by her mother and titled, "Elsie's Soap Recipe." Elsie was Mary's grandmother. About all the recipe described was how to make lye from rain water and ashes. To quote, "Put the wood stove ashes in the rain barrel out by the woodshed. Be sure the rain runs through the ashes and drips into the tub. Keep the tub covered so as not to weaken the lye water." Instructions for saving cooking fats, and rendering fats after butchering day followed. None of this seemed very practical or desirable, so Mary put the book away along with the idea.
But she began waking up in the middle of the night with soap on her mind. It was the summer of 1989. Mary began spending long hours in the LaCrosse Public Library. She haunted used book stores, her attic, and the attics of relatives to learn about soap. She even tried making some soap. Her early efforts were disappointing. You see, she had set her standards high. She said to herself, "I will never sell soap I wouldn't use on my own face." Then inspiration and motivation followed after she read an article in an 1897 Encyclopedia Britannica. Perhaps it wasn't all that different from what she had read before in the other old books and encyclopedias, but somehow this author spoke to her in a whole new way. She renewed her efforts with more zeal. She conquered some of her most baffling problems, for example how to get the scent and color to stay in the soap and how to keep a consistent mix. She began testing her soap for its ph level. And she beganusing the soap on her own face.
By now soap was spilling out of the cupboards and shelves of Mary's house. The house smelled altogether different. There was no longer the atmosphere of home cooking causing the instant realization that apple pie was in the oven, or that there would be casserole for dinner. Those smells were snuffed out by the other delightful scents of Mary's soap. Tearose, gardenia, green apple, patchouley, honey, and on to a dozen kinds. Fortunately, Mary has three grown sons. They banded together and remodeled the barn. The cows are long gone, and where they once stood, Mary's sink and cupboards and work counter are lined up. The walls are painted green and gold and a wide floral border sets it off. A perfect country soap factory! And the wonderful scents have moved to the barn.
Once Mary felt comfortable about selling her soap, she needed a name for it. That was a simple matter. In the middle 1970's, Mary had written a column for the Fox River Patriot of Princeton, Wisconsin. She had called her column, "Countrywoman Almanac." What a good name for the soap!" she told herself. And so it became Countrywoman Soap.
Countrywoman Soap is all natural, and made with new ingredients. It is not all vegetable. It has tallow it. Mary does not feel this indicates cruelty to animals in any way. After all, beef cattle are raised for meat. The resulting tallow is a waste product. No one kills the animals because of making soap. The tallow supplies a gentle ingredient that is difficult to surpass by any other oil. In addition to tallow, Countrywoman Soap contains lard, olive oil, and sweet almond oil. Colors are certified safe, and scents are provided by essential oils and high-quality fragrance oils. Lavender, Patchouley, Oatmeal, Cranberry, and Almond Meal soaps all contain particles of herbs and grains incorporated in their makeup.
As in all hand-made soaps, Countrywoman Soap comes with its natural by-product, glycerin, intact in each bar. Glycerin is noted for its ability to collect moisture from the air, thus coaxing moisture into the skin. Countrywoman Soap is long-lasting, and the fresh fragrances last as long as the bar itself. The soap comes in country or Victorian patterned cloth bags, in economical brown cardboard boxes, or wrapped in a pastel tissue paper twist. All bear the Countrywoman label and make thoughtful gifts or beautiful decorating accents. Please see order blank for further details.