Welcome to From Goats To Soaps

Welcome to From Goats To Soaps, Crafting Creations On The Farm,

the official blog for Les Belles Bouclettes!

We’d like to take this our first post, as an opportunity to introduce our blog and tell you a little about Les Belles Bouclettes, because it is the beginning of the story.

Ferme Bonne Mine is the farm on which many of our creations are crafted , and it is located in beautiful eastern Ontario Canada.  In addition to Isabelle and her family, a happy herd of angora goats and their llama guardians live on it, and they are the foundations of Les Belles Bouclettes, where this blog was first conceived. But then everything about Les Belles Bouclettes begins with these fun loving, happy angora goats and their gorgeous mohair fleeces.  From their fleeces come the locks (from which Les Belles Bouclettes got its name, beautiful locks), rovings and  yarn. While selling the fibre was the original plan it quickly began to expand. First the idea of doing something extra, a way in which to use our fabulous goat’s milk was discussed, and soon there was a line of goat’s milk soap made especially for Les Belles Bouclettes.  (And when the soap became part of Les Belles Bouclettes’ story so did I, Grey Dove.)  And then, there were all these fabulous fibres, just sitting there while they waited for their new homes, and we couldn’t resist playing with them.  (Beg pardon, that is of course crafting and creating with them!)  From felting our goat’s milk soap, to “painting” with rovings, and knitting the yarn into soap sacks and baby garments the mohair is a constant source of pleasure and creative inspiration.  Many of our other product lines are spin-offs from the mohair based products, or compliment existing product lines. 

We enjoy the processes involved in all aspects of our creations, from shearing the goats and sorting the fleeces, to wrapping the soap made with their milk and felting it in their mohair rovings; and we want to share all of it, with you!  From the rhythms and seasonal aspects of farm life and the way they impact our products, to  daily life working with the animals and the fibre.  From our goats latest adventures, to the newest creation we are trying our hand at, and all the topics in between.  Most of all we look forward to having this time and space to interact with you, the people who share our love for and interest in these natural materials and the variety of wonderful things we can craft using them. 

So Welcome to the farm, we are glad you stopped in!  Traditionally crafting was done in groups and had social aspects as well as practical and creative ones.  So please join us whenever you can in our cyber farm kitchen, and feel free to comment, share your thoughts and ask us questions.  We want this to be a conversation and we will be happy to discuss topics via the comments sections or even plan posts around topics that you raise or ask about.

To get things started our first few posts will be in-depths discussions of some of the ingredients we use in our bath and body care products, and some of the products we have made using our fibre.  We have video clips of the spring shearing to share with you, and wanted to post photos and tell you more about the sorting involved in choosing and preparing (skirting) the best fleeces for carding and spinning. 

Thanks for stopping by, we look forward to seeing you again soon, and often!

Our recent posts

This Saturday We’ll Be At: …The Chesterville Spin-In!! - This Saturday, February 15th, we’ll be in Chesterville at their 21th Spin-In, a place where spinners, weavers, knitters and crafters get together to share their love of fibre. It is open to the public (general admission is $5 per person) from 9am to 4pm and is being held at the Royal Canadian Legion, 167 Queen…

News And Updates, … Fundraising Past And Present!!!! - CELEBRATING! … WE PLANTED TREES!!! We are thrilled to let you know that in the past year 2019, the portion of our sales that we collected on behalf of Forests Ontario tree planting program reached a sum that will allow Forests Ontario to plant forty-four trees! We would like to thank all of our dear…

Happy New Year!! - From all of us at Les Belles Bouclettes to all of you our wonderful readers, followers and customers, we wish you a joyful, healthy, prosperous and happy New Year 2020. We were grateful for the chance to meet some of you in person at our different craft shows and festivals. To all our customers, your…

This week-end, we’ll be in:… Montreal (QC) - It’s our last show this season and we hope (if you are in the Montreal area) that you’ll be there! At our table, you’ll find that there is something for everyone! Choose from beautiful yarns, knitting and crochet kits, wonderful gifts as hand-dyed mohair socks, scarves, headbands not to mention our goat’s milk soaps and more!…

This Saturday, we’ll be in:… Ottawa (ON) - This Saturday, December 7th, we’ll be at Craftalicious in Ottawa (ON) from 11am to 4pm – Knox Presbyterian Church Ottawa, 120 Lisgar St. Need to park? Parking at City Hall is free all day. NAC is a flat $10 on weekends.  Parkade at Nepean and Metcalfe is $12/day.  Place Bell is $15/day. At our table, you’ll…

This week-end, we’ll be at…Marché de Noël de Sainte-Adèle (QC) - We are really happy to be participating for the first time to this event! It’s all happening at la Place des citoyens, Sainte-Adèle (QC), on Saturday, November 30th from 9:30 am to 6pm and Sunday, December 1st from 9:30 am to  4pm. On our table you’ll find beautiful yarns, crafting kits, hand-dyed socks,wonderful gifts to give and to…

This week-end, we’ll be at… The Vankleek Hill Christmas Craft Fair! - We are so happy to be participating in this event, one that is taking place in our home town of Vankleek Hill! It’s all happening at the Community Center (above the Arena) at 36 Mill Street in Vankleek Hill, on Friday, November 22 4pm-8pm and Saturday, Sunday November 23-24 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm.…

This week-end, we’ll be at… The Glebe Community Centre, Ottawa!! - The Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild will held their annual Exhibition and Sale at the Glebe Community Center in Ottawa.  It’s all happening this week-end: Saturday, November 2nd from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday, November 3rd from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. For this event, we hand-dyed lots of yarn, made some knitting,…

This week-end, we’ll be at … Festival de la P’tite Laine (QC) - Come and join us to this great Festival!! This event, located in the Hôtel Universel of Rivière du Loup (QC), is open to the public from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm Saturday October 5th and from 9:00am to 4:00 pm Sunday October 6th. You will have tons of activities to do and see: workshops, demonstrations…

This Saturday, we’ll be in:… Kemptville (ON) - For the first time, we’ll be at Leeds Grenville Fibre Extravaganza this Saturday,September 21st. This one day event is dedicated to yarn, fibre and all things related to knitting, crocheting, weaving, spinning, needle felting, and more. This will be a really exciting day!! It is open to the public from 9:00am to 4:00pm and is…