Willamina woman launches a business from her rural homestead

By YVETTE SAARINEN

Of the News-Register

Deborah Young is a lifelong learner and tinkerer.

After she and her husband, Chris Smith, and their son, Cadon, moved to rural Willamina from Las Vegas and adopted some goats, she wanted to find a use for their milk other than just drinking it.

Being an educator - she home schools Cadon - and good at research, she quickly discovered that goat milk is revered by many as nature's greatest soap ingredient. She produced some for her family, shared some with friends and soon her products were in demand.

She launched Candle, Bath & Spa Co. about three years ago in a shop dedicated to the business on their homestead.

Now she's a regular vendor at the McMinnville Farmers Market on Thursdays, other farmers markets and holiday bazaars. She also sells online at www.candlebathandspa and draws customers from as far away as Indonesia.

Young now buys the goat milk from a neighbor and finds that around 60 gallons is sufficient to make a year's worth of product for her small operation. The milk does not have to be processed because it goes straight from the goat to the freezer, she said, and then is taken out in small batches for production.

The face and body soap she makes in slabs and cuts with a miter contributes to skin health and beauty because the milk has shorter protein strands that accommodate absorption of minerals and vitamins along with the protein, she said.

The soap-making process takes 30 to 40 days because the product has to "rest," and then fragrance is added to finish it. Fragrances include tangerine-mango, pineapple-cilantro, coconut, raspberry-patchouli, blackberry-sage and one that smells like cotton candy.

The soap naturally softens the skin while it gently cleanses and may be used on such skin conditions as excema and psoriasis, she said.

She designed and produces the labels on parchment, which circles the wax-paper- wrapped bars. She's selling the 4-ounce bars at three for $10.

She also makes Shea Butter Lotion using a blend of avocado, coconut, grapeseed and meadowfoam seed oils. She said it penetrates deep into the skin and provides moisture throughout the day. It hydrates and increases capillary circulation, she said.

Her handmade Sea Salt Body Scrub naturally exfoliates dead and flaky skin cells. Its sweet almond oil penetrates the skin to moisturize and deliver minerals from the salt to underlying tissues, leaving a revitalized, smooth, polished and balanced layer of healthy skin, she said.

Her Tea Tree Naturals leg and foot cream is made with a blend of tea tree oil, spearmint essential oil, eucalyptus and arnica oils and unrefined Shea butter. It helps heal cracked, dry, sore and tired legs and feet while deeply moisturizing, she said.

She also produces hemp butter moisture cream because hemp seed oil contains the highest concentrations of linoleic and linolenic essential fatty acids necessary for the production of strong cell walls. The acids are a colorless liquid found in natural oils and are essential to human nutrition, she said.

All of the products are biodegradable and environmentally friendly, she said.

The products are available year-round at Willamina Drug Store. Smith, who helps staff the Farmers Market booth, said they are looking for other venues. The phone number for Candle, Bath & Spa Co. is 503-876-8701.

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