Beekeeping in Minnesota

Minnesota Beekeeping!

Our Youngest helping with a hive inspection!

In addition to Siena Soap Company, our family began an additional venture this past year. As many of you know we have become Minnesota Beekeepers. We began the adventure this Spring with hiving 2 packages of Minnesota Hygienic Honey bees.

The arrival of 2 - 3 lb. packages of Minnesota Hygenic Honey bees the end of April was exciting and shocking at the same time. There were so many bees! Not knowing what to expect, we nervously hived them the day before Easter. We suffered a cold, wet spring not helping our early endeavors much. As the hot humid days of summer rolled in we began to have many interesting experiences as 1st year novices. One of our hives went queenless the first part of July. The other hive exploded with bees and decided to swarm the end of July. Luckily, we recaptured the swarm cell, and the other hive did requeen themselves. Our bees are doing great in spite of our first year jitters, inexperience, and clumsy beekeeping.

As we build our hives we expect to use all the products of of our hives including the honey, beeswax, and propolis in our Siena Soap Company's all natural skin care products. Next summer we will also be able to offer raw, fresh wildflower honey, possibly beeswax candles, and propolis products.

We will keep you updated on our progress in this new and mesmerizing world of honey bees. Join us in our journey!

To learn more about our all natural skincare products check us out at:

Siena Soap Company

www.sienasoap.com

"Experience the Difference!"

Summer in Bloom!

A sure sign of summer is the ANOKA RIVERFEST! The fest will be held this Saturday, July 9th, from 9AM until 5PM on the downtown streets of Anoka next to City Hall.

Come join us for a fun filled day of food, free boat rides, and of course wonderful arts and crafts. Over 130 local artisans will be showing their wares at this annual event.

Come see Siena Soap Company at BOOTH 30, for special new products including our DEET free insect repelling body spray, and for show specials on all products.

Come join us at the fair! We hope to see you there!

SIENA SOAP COMPANY

"Experience the Difference!"

Fall into Winter

"Christmas Morning"
Special Edition Soap Bar

It is hard to believe that it is already September!  This time of year means many things for most of us - school shopping, last minute dental and doctor appointments, school open houses, and last efforts to squeeze in a summer get away.  Here at Siena Soap Company it means only one thing - preparing for the busy winter and holiday season.

We thought you would like a preview of one of our winter special edition bars currently curing on our soap racks.  "Christmas Morning" is one of our customer's favorite holiday bars.  It is scented with a delicate blend of essential oils including cinnamon, fir needle, pine, vanilla, and nutmeg and has Australian red reef clay added for its powerful skin loving properties. This beautiful artisan soap bar will be available September 15th.  Reserve your special edition "Christmas Morning" soap bar now at the pre-sale price of 4.50. 

Pre-Sale Price of 4.50

is good until 

September 15th, 2010

Siena Soap Company

"Experience the Difference!"

The Safe Cosmetic Act - Is it Okay to Oppose It?

HR 5786 – The Safe Cosmetic Act – Is it Okay to Oppose It?

On July 20, 2010, HR 5786 was introduced to Congress, “To amend title VI of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to ensure the safe use of cosmetics, and for other purposes. 

I would be the first in line to support well written legislation that would guarantee safety in skin care products. In fact, the chief motivating factor for me to began handcrafting personal care products for my own family was really the issue of the “junk” contained in so many of the commercially produced products.  My kid’s skin did not always react so favorably to big name products.  That began my quest for healthier and safer alternatives. Siena Soap Company was born seeking this one honorable quest… pure, natural, healthy skin care.

Of course it is a continuing travesty that known toxins and carcinogens are allowed in everyday products used by babies, children, and even adults.  I have been on my soapbox for some time telling of the drying, harsh effects of the commercially manufactured detergents with known toxins marketed as everyday soap, and of the unsafe chemicals in common skin care products.  Something has to be done.  The authors of this bill see the problem.  I appreciate the intent of this bill.  Undoubtedly, reforming our current cosmetic industry is a necessary and noble endeavor.  This bill – HR 5786, though, is not the answer. Here’s why!

1)   HR 5786 is being categorized as a “pink slip” for the hundreds of thousands of home-based or small independent soap making and cosmetic companies in our country.  Unfortunately, if passed, this bill will make no distinction between the small all natural skin care businesses that are already manufacturing safe, natural product and the large synthetic beauty manufacturers. The bill will require extreme documentation of sales, vendor purchases, changes in product formulation, and company activities.  The freedom to better a recipe, experiment with new products, change up a product line or suppliers will result in a paper chase of getting Big Brother’s okay.  How will these home based businesses handle the additional time spent laboring over all this documentation?  How will the government police all these new requirements?  Obviously, it will create more red tape, more bureaucracy, and more taxpayer money spent for additional cosmetic “police.”  Lumping all natural small businesses with large corporate manufacturers in cosmetic policing makes no sense. Small businesses are suffering enough in this failing economy.  This will be the final assault for many.

2)   It is important to remember that most of these small all-natural soap making and cosmetic companies are woman owned.  Many of these small businesses are able to provide jobs for a modest amount of workers.  We are the backbone of the American economy and the American entrepreneurial spirit of this great country.  We are not asking for bailouts.  We just want to continue to provide for the needs of our customers with products that are safe, inexpensive, and useful. 

3)   Ingredient lists will be mandated where each company will be required to disclose each and every detectable trace chemical in each product marketed.  Foods in this country do not require knowing which molecule exist in the parts per million range!

4)   This ingredients listing requirement will require expensive testing of each product marketed to secure every detectable molecule in it.  Small business cannot afford this.  And who will pay for this?  The consumer, of course!

5)   HR 5786 also includes a Savings Clause that will allow states or cities to enact legislation that is more specific or severe that this proposed federal law.  I am presently able to do business in any of the 50 states.  If new and different laws are enacted in states and municipalities it will make it a nightmare to do business outside my own state for fear of violating another state’s cosmetic laws.

6)    “The Story of Cosmetics” a cartoon video released on YouTube and sponsored by The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, says it represents the cosmetic industry. I started to follow the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics several months ago and the work of their sister, EWG (Environmental Working Group).  Their idea of a safe US cosmetic industry caught my eye.  I really believed that they would represent our best interests.  Now I believe they do not understand the small all natural business industry at all nor do they represent our wishes or us.  Their video using skulls and bones and various scare tactics scare the consumer into thinking even our natural products may not be safe. Also their studies do not tell the whole truth as outlined by R. Tisserand in Tunnel Vision.

I know it is hard to oppose a bill called The Safe Cosmetic Act – it just sounds bad.  But research the facts.  Educate yourself.  Then contact your congressmen.  

I know that I have been long winded.  Thank you for wading through all of this.  I believe it really is okay to oppose the Safe Cosmetics Act.  It surely doesn’t mean we are against safe cosmetics. What we are opposing is a poorly written desperately overreaching piece of legislation.   If passed, HR5786 will surely kill entrepreneurial small cottage industry in this country while continuing to make government bigger and more powerful. 

Mary  -  Artisan Soapmaker

mary@sienasoap.com

www.sienasoap.com

Introducing New Limited Edition - Flower Power!

NEW! Flower Power!

You are going to love the sweet summery scent of our newest special edition soap bar we have named FLOWER POWER! Every spring we like to introduce a new scent for the summer months and we know we have hit a home run with our newest special edition bar. This moisturizing bar of soap has been scented with the essential oils of Ylang Ylang, Jasmine, Rose, Tuberose, Lotus, Vanilla, and Patchouli. The scent is heavenly and brings to mind the intoxicating scent of a warm summer evening when walking near a blooming flower garden. Because this is a special edition bar, when they are gone, they are GONE!

On Sale Now for a limited time!

4.50 per bar

at:

Siena Soap Company

www.sienasoap.com

"Experience the Difference!"

New Year - New Product!

NEW! Facial Serum

We have a wonderful new product for the new year. We have done our research and are offering a top end Facial Serum for rejuvenating your winter skin. Included in the serum are the following ingredients:

Argan Oil - Made from the nuts of the argan tree which grows almost exclusively in Morocco, this oil is said to have restorative and age defying effects. It is extrememy high in Vitamin E and phytosterols that can help all types of skin conditions from dry skin to acne, psoriasis, eczema and even wrinkles. No wonder they call it the miracle oil!

Coconut Oil - High in Lauric acid, capric acid, and caprylic acid lending this oil properties of acting as an antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial. Coconut oil is moisturizing to all skin types preventing dryness, flakiness, delays wrinkliong and sagging of the skin, and helps skin conditions such as psoriasis, dermetitus, and eczema.

Rosehip Oil - Contains essential fatty acids and minerals giving the oil antioxidant properties. Rosehip oil improves skin elasticity making it a great oil for mature skin.

Borage Oil - High in Gamma Linolenic Acid this oil helps nourishes and hydrates the skin. Not only does Borage oil help with psoriasis and eczema, it is a great oil for mature skinbecause it regenerates new skin cells.

Monoi Tahiti - Made by infusing the crushed Tiare Flowers of the French Polynesia this lovely scented oil rapidly penetrates and hydrates dry and damaged skin.

Jasmine Absolute - The intoxicating oil of the jasmine flower helps lift spirits and is also wonderful for dry skin. The lovely delicate scent of jasmine gives this high end serum an euphoric scent.

Most serums containing these high end oils are retailing for over one hundred dollars. Our serum is a one full ounce of skin loving oils and comparable to any high end cosmetic company's product minus the added chemicals or preservatives.

We are offering our Facial Serum at an introductory price of :

19.95

Price good until 1/31/10

Normal retail price will be 24.95.

To order please check out our webstore at:

www.sienasoap.com

Siena Soap Company

All natural skin care!

"Classic" SOAP SALE!

"Homemade soap feels good: soft, rich, enveloping, soothing.  The lather is dense and penetrating rather than thin and airy.  It leaves an emollient film on your skin that makes it feel soft and senuous.  Homemade soap is comforting in ways which manufactured soap can never be: its look, its weight, its bulk, how it feels in your hand, looks in the dish.  There is something ineffable about homemade soap.  It's not homogenized, pasteurized, deodorized, santitized, or synthesized - it's one of a kind, every bar different, each unique.  It is idiosyncratic in the way of all homemade and handmade things. "

Ann Bramsom

Excerpted from her book,  "SOAP"

Ann Bramson is a hero to many soapmakers for she wrote the first modern day CLASSIC book on the the soapmaking process geared toward the home soapmaker.  Her book simply titled, "SOAP", was first published in 1972 and has since inspired a generation of soapmakers.  

Reading these words for the first time inspired my  journey in artisan soapmaking.

  

What I love about soapmaking the most is that it is part science and part artistry.  Although our recipes, and methods have been carefully recorded, no two of our batches or bars of soap are entirely identical. And above all, we constantly strive to make our products both beautiful and purposeful.  With our artisan soaps and other all natural products we are constantly striving to meld the two worlds of science and art to provide you with the best possible product.

Our CLASSIC Soap scents are now on sale to commemorate Ann Bramson's pioneering efforts in soapmaking. 

Soaps currently priced at 4.50 each include:

Siena

Velvet

Citrus Mint

Paradise

Prices good until February 26th, 2009

To view these products and all our fine all natural products check out our website at:

www.sienasoap.com