Blog
Vermont Soap will be at the Hunger Mountain Coop Food and Wellness Expo on Saturday, November 8 at Montpelier City Hall!
My kids grew up with a jar of “Green Stuff” in the door of the fridge. Whenever they got a scrape, bite or “owie” they would tearfully reach in the fridge for a soothing jar of homemade salve. Our garden mixture of natural oils, garden herbs and beeswax brought nearly miraculous and instant relief to whatever ailed them. We kept our Green Stuff (variously known as a balm, salve, ointment or unguent) refrigerated to extend its shelf life just like it does for fruits and veggies. A well-made, otherwise unpreserved batch of salve could last up to four years with…
Our discount factory outlet & soap museum has officially reopened! We are still located at 616 Exchange Street in Middlebury, Vermont but with new hours of operation. We are now open Tuesday – Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday from 10am to 3pm (we are closed Sunday and Monday). We are so excited to have our store freshly renovated and back in business! Our shelves have been restocked with many of your favorites and we keep adding more every day. So y’all come down now and get your soap!
National Organics Standards Board (NOSB) was created to keep the USDA in check when it came to organic farming and foods. On May 8, 2014, the USDA reduced the NOSB’s responsibilities, limited their participation, and reclassified the NOSB as purely an advisory board. This completely undermines the purpose of the NOSB. “Congress created the Board so that a balance of organic interests, from consumer to industry, would have an irrevocable seat at the table in defining, maintaining and enhancing organic standards. That independent voice is now seriously jeopardized,” noted Paige Tomaselli, senior attorney at the Center for Food Safety. A…
As if Walmart hasn’t done enough already, they’re invading the organic food market: When Walmart announced in April that it was introducing the Wild Oats brand of organic food products in 2,000 stores, some food-justice advocates grew excited. In U.S. News & World Report, one writer praised Walmart for embracing “sustainable products and sustainable sourcing.” The Guardian declared that Walmart was providing low-income shoppers with “an organic option they can afford.” Not everyone is so pleased: But the intent of the organic movement is to support regional food systems, connect consumers directly to food producers, minimize food-borne illnesses and pesticide-based…
We come into contact with so many pesticides everyday, children usually more often than most. In the recent TIME magazine article “Why Organic Is the Right Choice for Parents”, TIME explores the benefits of choosing organic foods for yourself and your families to reduce the exposure to the harmful pesticides that are often in or on your foods. Organic food is a healthy choice for all of us but especially for kids. Infants and children are particularly vulnerable to chemicals, in part because their immune systems are still developing and in part because, pound for pound, they’re exposed to more…
We have two new limited edition flavors up for sale in our store: Cinnamon and Lavender Rose! Our new Cinnamon Clove bar is a blend of essential oils with a clove-ey overtone. Excellent for combination skin and oily zones. Lavender Rose is a beautifully scented perfume like bar that really does smell like its name. There’s a drop of synthetic rose in there so purists take heed. An excellent choice for someone who loves natural but also likes perfume. Good for all but the most sensitive skin. They will only be available for a short time and are being sold…
The building had old inefficient lights. We have had the electricians in to replace those lights with new efficient “high bay” florescent lights. They give more light, for less electricity. It’s greener! The catch is that the ceiling is so high that we have no ladder which can safely reach high enough to touch the ceiling. The fork lift gets us high enough to change the bulbs, but not high enough to remove & replace lights. So our electrician (Glen Peck Electric) brought in a manlift. It came into the building through the ground floor level overhead door, and into…
The Rutland Herald recently wrote an article about the fire at our factory and our recovery efforts. For Larry Plesent, last month’s fire that seriously damaged his Exchange Street business turned into an unexpected opportunity to expand his organic soap company sooner than expected. “We’re going from 10,000 to 25,000 square feet,” Plesent said last week during a tour of the new facility.
It is a good time to be living in Vermont! Gov. Shumlin has officially signed a bill into law to regulate toxic chemicals in children’s products: The Vermont Department of Health will list potentially harmful chemicals on its website starting July 1, 2016. The department will have full authority to regulate these chemicals, including requiring manufacturers to label or remove them from their products for children. Read the whole exciting story in Valley News.
