Conversations with the Inspiring Emily Scherer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Scherer.

Emily, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My life has taken a few turns that has somehow led me to where I am now, a soap maker and urban homesteader. As a teenager, all I wanted to be was a horse trainer. Horses were my obsession, my life, and no one could talk me out of it. So, at age 20, I became a professional equestrian, showing horses all over the country and living my dream. Showing and training horses takes its toll on you physically and mentally and after 10 years of working 7 days a week, I was burned out. I needed a change of scenery so I did what most people do when they are 18, I went to college.

I had decided to become a teacher, as I enjoyed the teaching aspect of my previous career. During my junior year, my husband and I got married and at the beginning of my senior year we found out we were going to be a family of three. Life was moving fast but I was feeling positive about it. After all, I had put myself through school, graduated with honors, and had started a family. After graduation, I landed a kindergarten teaching position and had the summer to adjust to being a new mother. Life was good, or so I thought. What I couldn’t have foreseen was that life was suddenly going to be very stressful and I was going to have to make a tough choice. Being a first-year teacher AND a new mother did not mesh well. I was tired, overworked, and I recognized that the way life was going was not sustainable. So, after five months of teaching, I left to stay home with our daughter.

Being home gave me the time to focus on being a mom and building our urban homestead. We had some chickens (that is a whole other story), a couple of goats (compromise for owning a horse), and a modest garden. My husband and I wanted our daughter to grow up knowing where her food came from and have a connection with our animals that provide us with food. So, our urban homestead began to take shape. We transformed our front yard into a food forest and started raising dwarf milk goats. Milking goats, collecting eggs, and picking fresh vegetables became part of the daily routine. I learned to make cheese and decided the next thing I wanted to learn to do was to make soap, specifically goat milk soap. I met a woman who was teaching a homesteading class and volunteered our goats for her “Raising Goats in the City” class. She happened to be a talented soap maker and I signed up for one of her classes. After her class and one batch of soap and I was hooked, like seriously obsessively hooked, on making soap. So, here I am today, homesteading in the city and running a small soap business.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it has not been a smooth road. But that is life, life is not a smooth road. I have had to make some tough choices leaving careers that I had worked very hard for. I don’t regret my decisions though. I wasn’t happy and it was affecting those around me. Everyone has to make choices and sometimes, we don’t make the right ones. I had to take ownership of that and make a change. When I closed my horse training business, I learned that I needed to go with the flow. I was drowning trying to swim upstream. I was worried that I would disappoint so many people, but I realized I couldn’t keep living my life the way they wanted me to. All of my experiences and mistakes have led me to where I am now. Now, I am learning to juggle being a mom and running a small business. It has not been easy and as my business grows it demands more of my time. Time management is now more important than ever.

What should we know about EJ’s Farm? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I make farm-crafted soap and a few other body products, but soap is my main focus. Now, you are probably wondering what ‘farm-crafted’ is and why that is important to my brand. To me, farm-crafted means that every one of our products is crafted with something from our farm. It may be goat milk, roses, calendula, cucumbers, tomatoes, lavender, herbs, the list goes on. When I am creating a new product, I ask myself, “How will this represent EJ’s Farm?” I want to share a piece of our little urban farm with all of our customers.

Now, the other feature of our soaps is that the majority of them are unscented, meaning there is no fragrance, no essential oils, just the natural smell from the oils they are made with. I struggled with buying handmade soap, as I often got a migraine from the scents. I tried using fragrance oils when I began making soap and I couldn’t keep them anywhere in our house, the smell was overwhelming. So, I started doing some research and found that there were not many soap makers with a lot of unscented options. Many would have one “Plain Jane” soap with no color or scent. I wanted to offer people like me a product that is truly unscented but still had a pretty design or an infusion of nourishing botanicals. Essential oils in soap feels like a bit of a waste to me. I love essential oils but I don’t love seeing them go down the drain, so I only make a few soaps with one or two essential oils.

Our products are safe for your whole family to use. We provided a selection of soaps and leave-on body products for everyone. Additionally, our products are made using only natural colors and clays, never any lab-made colors. Our farm-crafted products are made in small batches right here in Denver.

Do you have any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general? What has worked well for you?
I have found that social media is a wonderful tool for networking among soap makers. There are groups for business support, design ideas, natural soap making, troubleshooting, and just for sharing our creations. People are so willing to share their experiences and for the most part, are supportive of other makers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ejsfarmdever.com
• Email: ejsfarmdenver@gmail.com
• Instagram: @ejsfarmdenver
• Facebook: @ejsfarmdenver

Image Credit:
Denver Headshot Co.

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