In the “Pour Room” in the Schmidt basement, Adam Schmidt is mixing together the next batch of Blue Man soap. He starts with beef tallow, adding oils, lye, and the fragrant Blue Man mix: orange peel, mandarin, star anise, tonka, coriander leaves, and patchouli. When everything is melted and stirred together, Adam will pour the soap into molds, cutting it after 12 hours, then letting the newly-formed bars sit for 30 days to properly harden and set, in a process known as saponification.

When Adam, Sara, and their two children moved onto their 40 acre farm northwest of Starbuck, they knew they’d found their dream home. “We wanted to raise a few cattle, chickens, and our children,” says Sara. “We also wanted to live and work with purpose, building community by buying locally and selling locally wherever possible.” Their soap-making business—It All Makes Scents—was a natural extension of their cattle raising. “We raise and sell beef and found that using beef tallow to make soap was a really great way to use up the whole animal. We want to have as little waste as possible.”

Now, with a flock of chickens and their first three steers, the Schmidt family is pouring soap. They have bars of soap in a wide variety of scents: tea tree, lavender, cocoa butter cashmere, black cherry merlot, cotton candy, Blue Man, and roasted pine cone, to name a few. Adam makes the soap and Sara sells it—a perfect partnership. “We all have our favorites,” Sara smiles. “The kids love the cotton candy soap, my favorites are our lip balms and shampoo bar, and Adam is especially proud of the shaving soap.” The shaving soap is of a recipe of Adam’s own creation. “It’s the best way to get an old-fashioned kind of shave: put some soap in a cup, moisten it, then mix it into a lather with a shaving brush. It’ll keep your skin soft with less razor burn than cream out of a can.”

In addition to their soaps, shampoo bar, and lip balms, It All Makes Scents will have their powdered laundry soap and charcoal soap at the Starbuck Vintage & Artisan Market. You can find It All Makes Scents on Facebook or on their website. Their products are also in stock in Starbuck’s There’s No Place Like Home.