Millcreek Valley Farm is a quiet little operation nestled against the Old Millcreek running through Ogden, Utah. The location is, as we were fortunate to discover, perfect for keeping a couple of bee hives. The rest, as they say, is history! In Addition to bringing in a crop of sweet, golden honey every year, we are excited about including honey and bee's wax in our line of natural soaps and personal care products. These "Comforts for the Body & Bath" proclaim a minimalistic approach to the ingredients list with an eye towards the way our grandmothers made necessities for the family.

Nothing Pleases Us more than bringing to market a line of products that is all ours. As in many things, ingredients are everything! We are sure that you will recognize everything that we put into our soaps, lip balms, lotion bars and bath salts. The big name manufacturers have, for the most part, departed from common ingredients that you know and appreciate. We love making our soaps real and simple.

What's The Big Deal about SOAP? Well, like honey and wine, there is a lot of history in that little bar of soap. A soap-like material found in clay cylinders during the excavation of ancient Babylon is evidence that soap making was known as early as 2800 B.C. Inscriptions on the cylinders say that fats were boiled with ashes, which is a method of making soap, but do not refer to the purpose of the "soap." Records show that ancient Egyptians bathed regularly. The Ebers Papyrus, a medical document from about 1500 B.C., describes combining animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to form a soap-like material used for treating skin diseases, as well as for washing.

Ancient Roman Legends suggest that soap got its name from Mount Sapo, where animals were sacrificed. Rain washed a mixture of melted animal fat, or tallow, and wood ashes down into the clay soil along the Tiber River. Women found that this clay mixture made their wash cleaner with much less effort. After the fall of Rome in 467 A.D. and the resulting decline in bathing habits, much of Europe felt the impact of filth upon public health.

Soapmaking Was an established craft in Europe by the seventh century. Soapmaker guilds guarded their trade secrets closely. Vegetable and animal oils were used with ashes of plants, along with fragrance. Gradually more varieties of soap became available for shaving and shampooing, as well as bathing and laundering.  The English began making soap during the 12th century where business was so good that in 1622, King James I granted a monopoly to a soapmaker for $100,000 a year. Well into the 19th century, soap was heavily taxed as a luxury item in several countries. When the high tax was removed, soap became available to ordinary people, and cleanliness standards improved. Commercial soapmaking in the American colonies began in 1608 with the arrival of several soapmakers on the second ship from England to reach Jamestown. For many years, soapmaking stayed essentially a household chore. Eventually, professional soapmakers began regularly collecting waste fats from households, in exchange for some soap.

Thanks To Discoveries in France and Belgium, soap became easier to make and also consistently milder. By 1850, commercial soapmaking was one of the fastest industries here in America. Now everybody could afford soap. Soapmaking took another turn with the shortages brought on by the two great world wars. Synthetic soap was introduced, and these detergents did solve some problems like soap curding when clothes washing in mineral rich water. Hand soap also became "commercialized" with dozens of ingredients that make a particular brand of soap easier to mass produce and store in a warehouse for years. That is where hand crafted soaps come into play. We believe that real soap is simple soap, rich in natural vegetable oils and butters. This handmade soap is a little more expensive, but we also believe that we . . . you and I . . . are worth the small indulgence. After all, soap was once affordable only by the elite class. Now we all can treat the skin we are in like royalty!