Adventures in natural skin care and Batty's handmade life
Hello! My name is Jamie and I'm the girl behind this little blog. I'm a Canadian soap maker and paper artist. This blog follows the progress of my handcrafted soap business, Batty's Bath. You'll find information about the handmade movement, beauty trends, skin care information, beauty tips, and much more! I'll also share information about the freshest, highest quality Fair Trade Compliant ingredients I use in my luxury handmade soap and beauty products such as olive oil, shea butter and essential oils. Stick around to learn more about Batty's Bath and what handmade soap from Canada is all about.
Wooohooo!!! 
Style at Home likes the pinterest board I’ve been building of ideas for our century old home! It’s got great “bones” and is so “us” just based on that so I can’t wait to see our house transform over the years into an even bigger reflection of our tastes 
The only thing is the battle over my love of cottage/shabby chic retro inspired style and Drew’s love of traditional/classic dark elegance. It will be interesting to say the least!
These little birdies wont be found in the online shop this spring, but they did found their way to our table at our last few events! Throughout the day at each event they made their way home with customers, baby batties, and anyone else who couldn’t resist their cutest!
Here’s another edition of Heard Around the Bathtub! If you’d like to have what YOU’VE said featured here, simply send me an email and let me know!
I have several soaps made by Jamie, but this [Oatmeal Milk and Honey] one has quickly come to be my very favorite. If someone comes up to me and says, “I make homemade soaps”, this is what I would expect it to smell like! It’s comforting and so relaxing. It makes me feel like I’m living in a log house in the middle of a lightly populated prairie and I’m using soap made by the local (and extremely talented) soap artisan. When I was younger, I relied on the familiar scent of Dove soap to wash away my daily stresses. As a grown-up that knows better than to put yucky chemicals on herself, I now use Batty’s lovely and safe treats to pamper myself. I truly hope this soap earns a permanent spot in the shop! Oh, and it’s a great facial soap too! =D
- Melissa Durant
Oatmeal Milk and Honey Cold Press Soap by Batty's Bath
This picture was taken at the old house and was my first attempt at growing a pumpkin patch.
This morning while surfing around and checking all my daily “web stops”, I came across the Urbanhomestead.org. I’ve always been fascinated by the homesteading idea; growing your own food, supplying your own solar power, etc. Living off the land has such a natural appeal, and I’m sure if you’re a tree hugger like me, the thought of growing a garden that supplies the majority of your fruit and veggie needs, has crossed your mind – even if for a brief moment.
The home we lived in before moving away from the “hustle and bustle”, was shaded by huge, grand, old, BEAUTIFUL trees. And while they were gorgeous, and had many benefits (like keeping the house cool in the summer and providing numerous critters with homes), I was always felt held back from having even a small garden because they completely shaded our whole lot. That didn’t stop me from trying to grow pumpkins though! I know, I know.. they need tons of sunlight – but I was determined to try! I grew them from seed and my parents brought over a truck load of good soil to put in the garden boxes in the backyard. And, surprisingly, the pumpkin vines actually did quiet well after I put them in the “garden” outside. The vines started growing, twisting around things, and reaching up towards the patches of sunlight that made it through all the tree branches and leaves. I was so excited! Even if I didn’t get any pumpkins from the vines, I was encouraged that I could at least grow SOMETHING! Unfortunately, my pumpkin growing excitement didn’t last long! One day, when the vines were getting quiet long, I went out to water my “pumpkin patch”, only to see vines in pieces and the leaves chewed off. Some critter was as excited about the pumpkin vines as I was and had them for their midnight snack! I’m guessing they had the leaves for dessert! To this day I don’t know if it was one of my dogs, the squirrels, the skunks, or the raccoon family that lived in one of the trees (they were quiet the clan by the way!).
Now that we live with wide-open spaces, where the stars actually twinkle at night, I’m once again getting the green thumb itch! We have lots of space – including space outside the fenced in area that we call “Batty’s dog park” – to plan, grow, and *fingers crossed* harvest wonderful things! I’m so excited and definitely need to get my nose in some books about how to be a good green thumb! There’s lots of work to be done around the property, and Drew and I are actually looking forward to working outside on all the things that need to be done! Between the list of things to do outside the house, I’ll be making a little garden – or two! I’ll also planning on giving the pumpkin patch idea another go! It’s my dream to have a HUGE pumpkin patch that takes over a good section of land and gives us the best Halloween pumpkins ever! I will no doubt be making sure that work doesn’t get in the way of enjoying our first spring and summer here
Before I ramble too much more, I wanted to share the video that inspired this post! I came across this video at the Urbanhomestead.org. It’s called the “Homegrown Revolution” and is truly inspiring! Enjoy.
I’ve decided to start a new feature here at the blog! It’s going to be called “heard around the bathtub” and it will feature things that customers have said recently! Most of the snippets I’ll share will be right from my inbox (like today’s post.. this was from an email I received today!). I get so many encouraging emails from all of you, and it’s time I stopped keeping them all to myself If you’d like to have YOU’VE said featured here, simply send me an email and let me know!
“I just wanted to say thanks for brightening up my day today.
(I didn’t mention the name of the customer in this one because I didn’t ask her if it was ok to share her name. If you’re reading this (you know who you are
) and you don’t mind me sharing your first name, just send me an email)
It’s the early 90′s.. I’m about 8 years old.. my sister is a teenager. We are once again “dragged” out on a family vacation (little did we know then that they would be some of our most cherished memories). My brother, 6 years old, was along with us too. Mom and Dad, after having us camping in tents with all the “real” camping rituals like watching for deers at dusk, being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and choking down “camping potatoes”, take us to “the cottage”. “The cottage” wasn’t their cottage, no no, it is owned by close friends of the family – mom’s best friend – and what we thought of as another aunt – along with her husband (another uncle!), and their children (hooray! cousins!).
I would LOVE this as the Batty's Bath store and studio! Can you imagine? One day! One day I'll post here that we've built a cozy little nook for Batty's Bath and invite you all to visit
The cottage didn’t look like the one above but it was just as cozy and welcoming! The cottage was always fun! Lots of exploring to do just like camping, but there was a REAL toilet, beds, a tv that got one station and a great kitchen (they are Italian so of course there’s got to be a great kitchen!) There was always something happening in the kitchen! The adults made fabulous meals and the kids were on clean up duty! This is where the Shoop Shoop Song comes in!
In a ploy to get us to stop griping about having to do all the dishes, Mom put on the Mermaids Soundtrack and set it to the Shoop Shoop Song! Before you knew it we were all dancing around – kids and Mom included, working away at the monstrous piles of dishes at the same time! It was a blast! Dancing around with tea towels, scrub brushes that were used as microphones, and suds flying everywhere! lol. From then on the Shoop Shoop Song has been known as the “dishes song” in our family! No grand dish washing event is complete without it!
Looks like Momma Batty has been coming up with cunning plans since she was little!
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Ever since I had my first few teeth it seems I’ve had toothy troubles. It wasn’t rare for me to have to go back for multiple visits to the dentist after each 6 month check up. I hate the dentist. I don’t mean any certain dentist.. but the experience. It’s always been the best way to ruin a day – or week – while I worry about the looming appointment, and days after nursing sore gums, or an empty space where a tooth once was, or what about those freezing needles!? The injection sites hurt for up to a week after!
I certainly can’t blame all of the trips, aches, and pains on genetics, the dentist, or my hygiene habits (which are pretty stellar by the way!)… but I can’t ignore that my diet is a suspected culprit to some of the issues. My diet is something I’ve touched on in my new years resolutions post, and it warrants its own length discussion (maybe I’ll post about that later), but I wont get into that now. I’ll just say, for the moment, that it’s certainly in the forefront of my mind. What I really want to talk about in this post is another suspected culprit….
I didn’t think much of it at the time, but like so many things that start with a simple question, my mind started opening up to why the question might be asked in the first place. Sure, it seems like a no-brainer with the mega trend right now being about all things natural – green – eco – organic… but toothpaste hasn’t really crossed my mind. Sure I had heard about natural tooth soaps, flakes, and chips before but didn’t explore the idea any further.
Now, it seems strange to me that with having toothy troubles, I wouldn’t have dove in head first into the realm of alternatives. After all, I did that when Drew had soapy troubles, and when I couldn’t find any relief for acne, but it seems some journeys take longer than others.
Shortly after the question was first asked, I didn’t research the “why” like I normally would (although I did ponder), instead I went right to the studio (to create and ponder!). Since I was pretty sure of what types of ingredients could make a safe and decent “cleaning” paste, I did some trials. No – I didn’t start brushing with my concoctions right then and there lol. I was merely playing with texture and consistency first. Over the next several months I’d come back to my notes and “tests” to play around with it a bit more while waiting for something to melt, heat, cool, or set in the studio.
Side note... Most formula for me never follow the same “creation” path as any other formulas I’ve perfected. I think that’s what I like most.. it’s never as straight cut as finding a recipe, collecting the ingredients, and giving it ago. I think if that were the case I’d never be doing what I do for a living! Why? Because that sounds way too boring for me and too close to cooking…. which is something I avoid as much as possible!
…And it has been about a month since I even thought about the progress of it, but several things this week brought it to mind.
I’m going to start testing the toothy cleanser formula I’ve come up with so far next week (and I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes). But I found it interesting that (without looking for anything to do with teeth) I came across several articles within a few days all talking about “Oil Pulling“. Have you ever heard of this? This was my first time hearing about such a thing. Here’s one of the blogs I saw it on. I can’t say I’ll be diving into that any time soon (umm coconut oil? really!? in my mouth??? bllah!), but it has encouraged me to speed up my toothy cleanser trials so I don’t end up having to try something totally weird like oil pulling lol.
I’d also like to explore the fluoride debate further. As well as any other questionable ingredients in commercial toothpaste – like SLS for example! Any of you who have followed my blog, or have witnessed any of my rants on SLS know that it’s not an ingredient (or the “milder” SLES for that matter) that I will allow near my skin – and I’ve come to find out that it’s something I’ve been brushing my teeth with every day! That alone would have been enough to spark a change!
There’s always something to learn isn’t there? Stay tuned to see how my toothy trial goes next week!
When I started Batty’s Bath I was determined to make a company I could be proud of and that made the world a better place! To me, that meant making some serious commitments that go beyond just making great products! I made a total of 6 encompassing commitments that I run my business by. Each was made out of a desire to do more than just “make soap”, or contribute to my family financially. Why? because we all only have so much time and energy each day and I believe if we want to live a fulfilling life that encourages others to do the same, we need to make each action count.
In a nutshell, the commitments I made are listed below, but to really understand how important each one is and what it means for me and my business, please see the full descriptions here.
Here are my favs from around the web this week!
Click the pictures for more info & credits.
