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Dalrymple uses knowledge, hobby to spread word on herbs, oils
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| By: Amber Gieseke |
November 10, 2009 |
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Amanda Dalrymple, of Chetek, started making homemade soaps, salves and balms for her family about a year ago. Since then, she has started using her hobby as a way to educate the public and spread her knowledge of herbs and oils.
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Not only did one Chetek resident start using information that she reads about in her own life, she has turned her knowledge into a hobby she can share with others.
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Amanda Dalrymple started the ball rolling for her in-home store Tranquil Gardens about a year ago, though she may not have known her hobby would turn into a small business at the time.
After having her son, she said she realized there was more to life than going to the store to buy anything and everything she needs.
After leaving her job, she and husband Tylan started raising chickens and milking goats, and she started making soaps, salves and balms for their use.
After using the products for her family's own use, she started making these products in bulk to sell at the Barron and Rice Lake farmers markets this summer, and Tranquil Gardens came into existence.
"It was slow this year, but I liked it for the social aspect," Dalrymple said. "I did build up a clientele base, so next year I should be busier."
Her interest in essential oils was passed on by her grandfather. Now she uses them and herbs from her garden in her products so that, "you know what you are putting on your body," she explained.
She started her hobby by reading books on herbs, oils and making things in the home.
"One of the books that got me started is 'The Herbal Drugstore,'" she pointed out. "It showed me all sorts of things about herbs."
It was a jumping point for a hobby she uses daily in her lifestyle.
"I enjoy it, especially when the ingredients are readily available," she noted. "My neighbor has bees, so I bought wax from them. They don't use pesticides in their fields, so it is organic and straight from the bees."
With the wax, she made a balm for diaper rash, lip balm, skin-saving balm and more.
"The blister balm was where I started," she said. "It wasn't hard because I had an original recipe and knowledge of essential oils and herbs. It was more about finding the right ratio of bees wax to olive oil to get the right consistency than finding a recipe. You just have to check the temperature so the oils don't just burn off when you add them."
She also mixes up laundry soap, which she said is a big seller, and a baby laundry soap, a more gentle version made of castile soap.
"I have made bulk orders of liquid detergent that washes 128 loads," she went on.
Other products include baby or massage oil made of herbs from her garden and almond oil and herbal wash.
"The herbal wash is very soothing," explained Dalrymple. "It's calendula (pot marigolds), which have healing powers in the flowers."
She enjoys making her products with oils and herbs with medicinal values, though she is partial to patchouli, which has a smell she enjoys but doesn't offer any therapeutic purposes.
A lot of those therapeutic qualities come through in the soap she makes.
"It's a lot of work," she started. "You have to find all the ingredients, which I try to do locally. The oils have to be mixed, then the lye water is added and stir with a stick blender. When it traces, or is fully mixed, it looks a little like the consistency of fudge."
That, Dalrymple said, is when you mix in the additives.
"I use flowers or oatmeal or anything you want to make it look good," she laughed.
The soap then sits for 24 hours before being cut into bars.
"They say it should then sit six weeks to cure or it can burn your skin," she warned. "I've touched it and was okay, but I haven't ever used it before that six weeks."
The mom, who runs an in-home day care now, said, "I always wanted to do a little more with making my own products; we're always doing something around here, though with another baby on the way, something will have to give."
She enjoys her hobby and what she learns from each batch she makes and from the other venders at farmers markets or craft fairs.
"It's just a fun hobby and not a way of making money," she stated. "It was a good idea for me and a way to educate other people on the qualities of herbs and oils and how homemade products are good.
"I wanted to read and learn about it, and this is what happened," she smiled. "Herbs and oils have amazing healing powers, but they take time. It's not like aspirin. It's mind over matter, and now I can share that with other people."
For more information or to buy products, Dalrymple can be reached at (715) 458-3815.
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©The Chetek Alert 2009
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