I didn’t start out to run a soap company. I started because learning to make my own soap had always been a goal of mine.

I’ve always liked being creative, especially making useful and beautiful things. I learned from a friend how to crochet in my forties and it has remained a passion of mine. I paper-crafted, cross-stitched, and tried making art with photography. I homeschooled my two sons from first grade on. This required a whole new set of skills.

With our support group, Schenectady LEAH (NY State), the other parents and I found ways to keep our children active and give them great experiences together that they wouldn't get otherwise. Over the years I variously learned to schedule field trips, arrange sports activities and help run a yearbook class so the homeschool kids would have something to look back on. It was a way to let the students make their own memories while fostering creativity. Working together with other parents enriched our family in too many ways to count.

I loved working estate sales and thought that might be the long path. Then my husband got sick, and I needed steady pay. I went to work full time for a wonderful employer doing receptionist and secretarial work, after years of not working a full-time job since my early twenties. Both of our sons had graduated not long before my husband passed. Crafting stayed in the margins while I got used to that new life.

Then I found an online soap-making class with a great price. Here was my chance to learn soapmaking! I loved the simplicity of ingredients and the art of creating something useful and beautiful. People started asking if I was selling. I said yes. I sold a little beginning in early 2025, mostly to people I knew. By November 2025 I decided it shouldn’t stay informal. Friends encouraged me. I formed the business and went for it. I still crochet. I still like learning. The soap is goat milk, handmade, and sold without big claims; it’s just the story of someone who loves making useful things that look pretty too!

Amy Gordon, Nanny & Ewe