Welcome to Home Sweet Homespun
I'm Tina.
If you've been here for a while, you probably remember when this little business started as City House Country Home. Over the years, the name has changed a few times ~as life and people change~ but honestly, that's about the only thing that's changed. The recipes, the way I make them, and the reason I started are all still the same.
The first batch of soap I made was back in 2013. I wasn't planning on starting a business. I had little ones at home, and I found myself reading ingredient labels a lot more closely. The front of the package would say natural, but then I'd flip it over and the ingredient list usually told a different story.
I wanted to know exactly what I was using on my family's skin, so I learned to make soap.
Not long after that, I was cloth diapering and trying to make a salve that would actually help diaper rash without causing problems for cloth diapers. That sent me down a completely different path. I started learning about herbs like calendula and plantain, and I couldn't believe how well those simple plants worked.
From there, one thing just led to another.
At first I bought dried herbs. Then I started growing them. Once I learned how to harvest, dry, and infuse my own, I realized there was a huge difference. Better color. Better scent. Better quality. After that, I was hooked.
These days we have a little micro farm. We grow many of the herbs that go into our products, keep chickens, and make everything here in small batches by hand. What we don't grow ourselves, I source as carefully as I can because the ingredients really do matter.
I'm also a little obsessed with trees, especially Eastern white pine. I grew up in Maine, where foraging was just part of life. My grandmother gathered dandelion greens and fiddleheads, and I don't think I realized at the time how much that shaped me. Now I spend as much time wildcrafting as I can, gathering things like horsetail, St. John's wort, and Eastern white pine. Every trip back to Maine usually means I'm coming home with herbs tucked in my suitcase and I ship them home too.
A few years ago I even brought home a tiny Eastern white pine from my parents' land. It's growing here in Tennessee now, and someday I'll be able to harvest from that tree too. I love that thought.
I didn't sell any soap until early 2015. Those first couple of years were spent making batch after batch, changing recipes, giving soaps and salves to friends and family, listening to what they liked, and making more notes than I can count. I wanted to be sure that when I finally put something up for sale, it was something I was proud to use in my own home first.
No matter what this business has been called over the years, that's always been the foundation. Make good products with ingredients I trust. Keep learning. Stay curious. Take care of the land that's taking care of us.
I'm really glad you're here.
The online shop will restock August 1 HomespunSoaps.com