Used Oil Into WARHORSE Cleaner & Primitive Glycerin Soap

http://www2.wspa.com/lifestyles/go-green-save-green/2011/sep/26/green-way-use-old-oil-new-soap-ar-2468294/

Be Kind Getting Out and About Sept. 17 & Oct. 1-2

Be Kind: WARHORSE & PRIMITIVE Soaps Getting Out & About

Sept. 17. Visit the Dark Corner Distillery in downtown Greenville today from 10:00 am until. Great Bluegrass and storytelling about Dark Corner history. See Joe and Roxanne's copper moonshine still. If you like, sample some and take a quart or two home. Be Kind has made the DCD some custom 'SHINE glycerin soap. Lots of local products for sale as well.

Oct. 1 at the Columbus Farm Festival. Be Kind will be downtown Columbus with some biodiesel and soap demonstrations. If you like, you may purchase WARHORSE and PRIMITIVE at the Be Kind Booth. Many fragrances and essential oils available--kudzu, cucumber/cedar, peach pie, lemon/basil, mint, lavender, lemon/orange, musk, citrus wood, chocolate decadence, blackberry and more.

Oct. 2. Be Kind will be with its green partner Mountain View restaurant in Columbus. Mountain View is hosting a Be Kind product introduction from 3:30 pm until everyone has had enough. We will demonstrate how WARHORSE and PRIMITIVE soaps are made. Also, you can see how they are used at Mountain View to clean and and can test them yourself. Products will be available for sale.

WARHORSE Multipurpose Cleaning Soap:
Cleaner is super concentrated--a little goes a long way. No fumes or chemicals. Works on vehicles, boats, leather, fiberglass, tile, laundry stains, wood floors and cabinets, decks, outdoor furniture. Instructions and dilutions on label. WARHORSE's Brown Mule Glycerin Soap and Conditioner cleans and softens leather.


PRIMITIVE Body Soap Ingredients read like a recipe--no sulfates, phosphates, or parabens. Great for bath, shower, soap dispensers, and foaming pumps. Also, can be used to wash the dog as well. Foaming pumps available with 8 & 16 oz bottles.

Dark Corner Distillery: Be Kind Going to Downtown Greenville

Well, you just never know. About 12 years ago, Joe Fenton--former Polk County High School student and Clemson engineering graduate, entrepreneur, and owner of the Dark Corner Distillery, along with his wife Roxanne, who is also a PCHS graduate--sat in my Honors English I class. And I mean sat. What else can you do when you're a student exploring the intricate uses of the semicolon and analyzing Rome and Juliet.

Joe, along with a sea of my blossoming 9th graders, got the new teacher, Mrs Weicker-- a career change for me and an "older" first year teacher. Joe did very well in my class--all the way through his high school career--and I frequently saw him in the hallway, as a senior and key part of clubs, sports, and Student Council. I knew he marched to his own drum--to use a cliche' that I tell my seniors to not use in their college essays.

I recently visited his and his wife's--Roxanne- Dark Corner Distillery in downtown Greenville, just across Main Street from the Hyatt hotel. Joe and Roxanne, along with their business partner, have established the first legal moonshine still in S.C.

My great grandfather made shine and sold it in his country store in Pea Ridge. It's fitting that my biodiesel "still" glycerin and my barrel of soaps journey on down to the DCD (Dark Corner Distillery). Plus, Be Kind is able to continue on with former PCHS student talent. Joe said it was "Divine," and I might agree. Who knew I would be taking advice and "working for" one of my ex students. If you get to the DCD and see Joe, he can tell you a story about ole Weicker and a little bit of trouble...

Well, as I tell my current sea of seniors, young people have so much to offer--creativity, determination, and talent. Joe has all of these traits. The DCD is beautiful and "primitive," with patina walls, a copper moonshine still, and a passion for his "dream." When I went there this past weekend, Joe, Roxanne, and Michael (who is a PCHS graduate, works for DCD, and makes Internet videos and is talented in his own right) all were so excited to show us the moonshine process.

You need to go there for a shot of Appalachia Moonshinin' history. You can see the moonshine process through a wall of glass, and the still is up close and personal. If you wish, 3 shots are legal, and you can purchase moonshine to take home for friends, family, and foes. Joe is well versed in Dark Corner traditional moonshine making and is all about supporting his local community.

I am honored that Dark Corner Distillery has asked Be Kind Solutions to customize some of my glycerin soaps for their store. We are calling the body soap "Shine. A perfect name for DCD soap.




As I just told my current sea of senior English students, "You never know when you will need the help of someone from your past. Always treat others with respect and honesty." I hope my green, glycerin soaps do well in downtown Greenville. After visiting Dark Corner Distillery, I believe Joe's passion and work ethic has created an awesome, unique business. Go see if for yourself and visit their website and read about Joe and Roxanne's Dark Corner story.

Mountain View Barbecue--Green Cleaning with WARHORSE Multipurpose Cleaning Soap and be kind body soaps

Mountain View Barbeque Goes Greener: Innovative and Creative with Be Kind Solutions

Mountain View Barbeque is Western North Carolina’s (maybe in the entire state) first restaurant to use a green cleaner and natural soaps made from its own kitchen and vegetable oil. Shane and Holly’s soybean oil is recycled with Be Kind Solutions. Also, Elizabeth Russell, Holly’s sister who usually greets customers from behind the counter, introduced biodiesel and glycerin soaps to the Be Kind family fours year ago. Liz made biodiesel and soap for her senior graduation project. So, it’s natural that Mountain View’s oils are pioneered into biodiesel. Then, the biodiesel’s glycerin is refined and handcrafted into Be Kind’s non-toxic, chemical-free WARHORSE Cleaning Soap and Primitive Body & Foaming Soaps, completing a truly innovative, sustainable circle.

soybean plant is harvested, pressed and makes soybean oil




used vegetable oil is filtered, processed, cleaned, and becomes biodiesel
and glycerin. Glycerin is distilled and refined for 40 hours, and used
to make glycerin-rich, non-toxic, awesome cleaning and body soaps.

Yes, our WARHORSE Multi Purpose Cleaning Soap and Primitive Body & Foaming Soaps are handcrafted from recycled vegetable oil. This vegetable oil has cooked the food you have eaten, and vegetable oil is a recyclable and natural product. So, Mountain View Barbeque’s potato chips are prepared with and contain the very same soy bean oil that we use to make biodiesel and glycerin soaps. From plant, to oil, to Mountain View Barberque, to Be Kind Solutions, to recycled byproduct, to biodiesel and glycerin, back to Mountain View. And, Mountain View recycles their gallon vinegar jugs with Be Kind as well. Businesses helping each other.

Visit Mountain View for great barbeque, grilled salmon on spinach salad, tasty wraps, and awesome homemade potato chips. You can purchase Be Kind's WARHORSE and PRIMITIVE soaps as well.

Tired of Scrubbin' Clothes

This woman, about 107 years old, probably made her own soap from the pig tallow that came from Oscar Mayer's butcher shop, located on the north side of Chicago. It was brown too, just like Be Kind's Shower Gel Soap. However, hers didn't have essential oils or a fragrance like Kudzu Blossom, nor was there sweet almond oil. And she certainly wouldn't have frittered away local honey in her lye soap. Gosh, she looks tired...and wishes her father-in-law had taken Oscar's advice about expanding their family bakery.

Before the days of ph test strips or digital ph meters, this woman
would have put a dab on the tip of her tongue to see if the soap
was too "hot," or akaline. If it stung the tongue, she added fat and threw some more wood on the fire.

The chemistry for natural soap making is essentially the same--oils + lye + water = soap. Today most soap makers use fixed vegetable oils such as castor, coconut, grape, or almond. Each oil adds a particular attribute to the final soap. Be Kind uses glycerin (cleans, softens, attracts moisture to skin), saponified soybean oil, castor oil (lather), sweet almond oil (moisturizing). With all the glycerin that we keep in the soap, the basic recipe doesn't need much--maybe some vinegar to adjust the ph and an essential oil or fragrance. Just like the wash woman, I taste my soap as well. Then, I follow up with my handy dandy digital ph meter, calibrated before each use.



I like making soap like the wash woman did--a primitive process, I guess. But, she didn't have all the advanced tools that I do--my boat paddle. And I'm sure glad we have a GE front loader and not that wooden bucket. Sometimes, if the work clothes are bad enough, they go in a bucket of water and some WARHORSE, then left to dry.

Food And Soap: THE ANALOGY: It just keeps happenin'

Seems like I've traded one type of cooking for another. The biodiesel setup looks like a cross between a giant pressure cooker and a moonshine still...or something much more sinister; and my pic where I am stirring my concoction has gotten a few comments including, "witch...brew." See, boat paddle keeps me out of the witch category--they don't stir their potions with boating equipment....Yes, my "brew crew" did get a little out of hand on bottling night...overkill on the goggles. Here's the pics from the blog to recap what I'm talking about. You can visit the blog articles to get the ugly details...


....soap witch...glamorous...glycerin brew and the paddle...


...witch's flying monkeys...

There's just some simple cooking going on: Pizza Upstairs, Soap Downstairs...

Carl, the tireless-Kansas-oil-pump, makes a pizza in the real kitchen.


That bottle says Ragu, but really holds my homemade
pizza sauce. Really.


Ed and Petey hope Carl gets a little sloppy with
the cheese...


After pizza, I go down to the soap kitchen


Pots and bowls, ugly brown soap on a rack



But I'm still cooking, with natural, local ingredients.




Be Kind Soaps--almost good enough to eat. But don't, it is soap.

Be Kind Visits Hendersonville Coop--Nice Vibe

I spent some time at the Hendersonville Coop on Saturday. Arrion, the Wellness Coordinator, invited me to greet customers and explain how I make WARHORSE from biodiesel glycerin. It was fun to meet lots of people who are mindfully evaluating products and their lifestyle. Arrion also put me in touch with SCORE, a non-profit group of professionals that volunteers to advise and help new businesses. This focus group is soooo helpful. Got some homework to finish before our next meeting.

When traffic got a bit slow around my demo table, I just held up work pants that had a leg soaking in a bucket with some WARHORSE. Most people had never worn clothing that dirty. Take a look.



No scrubbing, just a little time in a bucket.


My table was set up near Devon's register. After two hours I had
watched him help many, many customers. As you can see
he is listening to the gentleman's question. During a lull, Devon
asked about the dirty pants and the jar of biodiesel. He smelled
some soap and commented he like the cucumber cedar. Another
free bottle given out, but it helps me too. If he likes it, he'll tell
someone else. Later in the afternoon I met Devon's mother, who
works here too. She smiled a lot and said her son was a "good boy."
He sure was good to all the customers who came to his register.


Hannah smiled as much as Devon. I was impressed with the
ease they had with all the customers. The Coop has a friendly,
atmosphere and the deli...best pimiento cheese I've ever eaten.
Free Soap to another smiling, attentive "neighbor."

So far so good. Giving out soap for several years is a sure fire way of getting feedback and creating a customer base. Three years ago, I had no plans of marketing and selling my biodiesel glycerin soaps. I'm starting slow and it's going well. My company goal is to make a high quality product. I just tweaked my shower gel and foaming soap recipe, making it even more concentrated-- a little does go a long way. Repeat sales could be weakened if my WARHORSE or Be Kind Shower Gel lasts longer. However, I like it when someone purchases one and realizes how concentrated and thick the soaps really are--no thickeners added. If you check my ingredient list, saponified vegetable oils and glycerin are the first two. See my previous blog for more info on this topic.

My company's success will rely on these factors:

• quality, sustainable, natural soaps
  
• information to the consumer; transparency
• continued commitment to community
  
• word-of-mouth; 3rd party sales
• creating products from customer feedback

I'm in no rush to grow big, and might not grow at all. I've enjoyed the learning curve and working with Elizabeth, Lyndsey, Anna, and Erin--all young, local talent. My bottling and labeling crew has got to read the Code of Production Handbook more closely. It's been interesting to see how this project has evolved and where it might go. We've got some advertising plans coming up. It's going to be homegrown--a Polk County brood and out-of-the-box. I'm excited.