The company Pleasant Meadows is located in the grape region of western New York, along lake Erie.
My name is Sylvie and I am the founder of Pleasant Meadows. For many years, I was fascinated by the ancient art of soap making till finally on Mother's Day in the year 2000, I attempted my first batch of cold process soap. I started out with a very simple recipe and enjoyed it very much. The soap was very primitive looking but lathered well. The artistic side of my nature wanted to experiment with ingredients but especially with the appearance of the soap. I wanted to make it wonderful and beautiful. I soon found out that it would not be a simple task. You see, with the cold process method (where you mix the oils,water & lye) it is very difficult to cut back on the size of the batches for there is a very delicate balance to be kept between the ingredients. Accuracy is very important. Any degree in temperature difference, or grams in weight difference, can ruin a batch of soap. Sometimes, all I could do with a batch was to throw it out! I wanted this new hobby to be relaxing not frustrating.
Then one day, my husband Todd bought me a book on vegetable glycerin soap. Well, it only took a couple batches to convince me that this was what I had been looking for. I could now easily incorporate herbs and tinctures to my soap and also experiment with what seemed like endless combinations of shapes, colors and scents. I absolutely loved it. My soap was now wonderful and beautiful.
One of the great benefits of vegetable glycerin soap is the fact that after you incorporate beneficial herbs to the soap, there is no curing time. Not like the cold process method where you have a period of 4-6 weeks in which the chemicals reaction of the lye is still affecting the herbs you might have incorporated in your soap. After the curing time is over the benefits of the plants would greatly be diminished.
Another enjoyable aspect of the vegetable glycerin soap is that there is hardly any waste. I have made thousands of bars of soap and experimeted with hundreds of styles over the years and have wasted maybe 2 bars along the way. I think that`s great!
Perhaps you wonder why Pleasant Meadows doesn`t just do like other companies and mass produce a certain selection of it`s finest soaps. Well... It is because I love the challenge of inventing something new. I have 6 children and repeat a lot of the same tasks everyday. So when it comes to making soap, which is my passion and relaxation, I want to be creative.
To Him be all the glory!
