We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Steve Stanek a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Steve, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

How did I know I first wanted to pursue a creative path professionally? ——————————————————————————

I was slow to realize I needed a creative outlet much less a creative career. For years I had a undescriptive yearning for something to engage my mind in new and unique ways. For years I was trying different activities until one day I found the one thing that I am really good at (IMHO) and enjoy. It just so happened others also benefited from the soap making and it led to a full-blown business. When your dreams align with something the public wants you can accomplish great things.

This is the story of how I stumbled my way into becoming a goat-herding, soap making business owner. As a kid, I always liked to take devices apart, see how they worked, and try to fix them. As I grew this hobby led me to pursue an engineering degree. When I graduated from NC State as an Electrical Engineer I was very excited to start a technical job performing software and hardware testing. The salary was excellent and it helped engage my brain with all sorts of acronyms and technical jargon. But over the years, I started to feel slightly empty about my career….wondering if there was a more meaningful path I could follow. I really struggled to find a way to fill this void. I knew I liked being outdoors and to escape sitting in front of a computer all day. At a relative young age had felt the negative health effects of sitting at a desk stagnant for years. I started cycling, then moved onto mountain biking, and eventually white water kayaking. These pursuits got me out into nature and involved a good deal of excitement. And while they left me feeling tired and happy, I still felt that there is something else out there for me. I had also joined a volunteer fire department and absolutely loved it. The excitement, the comradery, and most of all helping people in need. I thought for sure this would be a path to a new career. But I quickly realized that most career firefighters needed to maintain two jobs to get by. My wife and I planned to have a gaggle of children so between the salary and the occupational hazards, I began to look elsewhere for the elusive career.

As we worked our way up to 5 children, free time became less and less available. My outdoor hobbies and firefighting time was nearly non-existent. So I began to feel that emptiness again. Don’t get me wrong… I loved time with my family….but for a occupational standpoint, I needed a different outlet. Looking for a home based hobby that would allow me more flexibility, I started by raising chickens (the gateway animal to farming). Shortly after that, ducks were introduced, then rabbits, and finally dairy goats. It really was an amazing experience for not only me but our kids also. I began to form a meaningful connection with the land by caring for it along with tending to the animals. And since then I have not looked back. The hobby farming really helped me escape the technical side of my life. And then it happened one day….I had a ton of extra goat milk and I was looking online about what I could possibly do with it all. I stumbled upon an article discussing the health benefits of goat milk soap for people suffering from Psoriasis and Eczema. I was very, very skeptical. I have struggled with Psoriasis for 25+ years and tried tons of “solutions” and medications and most were unhelpful. But I thought what the heck, it will be cool to make my own soap and I can give it away later because it surely will not help me. I made a small batch of unscented goat milk soap. I let it cure and then gave it a try for a month. It was mid-winter when my skin is normally dry and painful if I don’t take extra care of it. But during that month I started to notice that my skin felt great. It was not tight, dry, and itchy. I even had to take less of my prescribed medicine. It is not a cure for Psoriasis, but it definitely made the inflammation and dryness go away. I was astounded how something I made at home could have such a positive impact on my body.

One day I was lamenting to a friend how I loved the goat milk soap but wished it was possible to add scents to them. Up until this point in my life, any scent would cause my skin to burn and the psoriasis to go into overdrive. For 25+ years, I had to use a popular baby wash and I can tell you, I was so sick of that smell. Well, the friend mentioned essential oils may be a possibility. These plant extracts can be used to add a naturally aroma. Again, I was very pessimistic but thought I would give it a go. I was floored when my first batch of lavender soap DID NOT irritate my skin. At that point, I just went nuts. Within days a plethora of essential oil bottles started to show up on our doorstep. I became a soap making machine overnight. I was so excited about the possibilities and the variety I could create! I could not only craft different soap recipes for particular lather, bubbliness, moisturizing, and so many other attributes, but now I could also create different blends of scents. My wife thought I went off the deep end as bars of soap began to cover our family ping pong table. I began to give away bars to friends and family. And they really like them…so much so, I had to make more batches for people as they used the bars up.

Then I found natural ways to color the soaps and implement cool designs with Mica. The design aspect added another layer of creativity to my hobby. I could incorporate various additives into the bars to make layers, swirls, & delicate designs. As Christmas came around people were asking to buy soap for gifts and encouraging me to sell at markets. At that point, I cleared out a place in my house for soap making. That is my happy place. When my mind is flustered or upset I would go there and start whipping up a batch of soap for a short escape from reality. What recipe to use? which colors? what scent blends? and what design to include… the sky was the limit. Soon we had regular customers and expanded to craft and farmer’s markets. Then as we grew people requested lotions, body butters, & various body care products. They appreciated the fact we were a small farm and tried to make products as naturally as possible. Eventually, local stores started to carry our products and we are so grateful for the opportunities it opened. But I have to say the best part of this whole journey is when someone with skin conditions tries the soap or lotion and it changes their life. They generally are a little skeptical at first, but after they use a bar and see the positive impacts they become lifelong customers. And the absolute best is when they report back to me about how the product helped them. I can see that same excitement in their eyes as when I first discovered it years ago. Sure it is not pulling someone from a burning building, but it a giant positive in my eyes and for them.

For me, soapmaking and crafting body care products turned out to be what filled that void I in my life. It allowed me to combine my love of the outdoors and animals, with a creative outlet, and at the same time help other people who were struggling with skin issues. When I get bored I try different recipes to target other problems that people have (Acne, dry cuticles, or dry skin). And because it is such a creative outlet, my mind and soul are happy. Not to mention being a small business owner adds a whole new level of decisions and creative ways to grow a business without putting yourself at too high a financial risk. I would encourage others whom may have a similar void to not shy away or ignore it. Keep on trying new things that engage your mind and spirit. The more you try, the easier it is to hone in on that one thing that you were meant to do. Good Luck!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Shoot this one I kinda answered the how I got into this in the first entry… but here are some other details:

We focus on making body care products using all natural ingredients and essential oils. We use milk from our goats in the soap to provide a nice creamy lather and extra-moisturizing effect. We also make luxurious lotions, body butters, creams, moisturizers, and balms. I have skin condition myself and this is how I got into making the products. There was not anything in the stores that did not irritate my skin.

A lot our our customers whom have sensitive skin or even skin problems enjoy our products because they do not irritate their conditions. Folks without those same issues use out products because there are no detergents that strip your skin’s oils, nor are their artificial fragrance oils. The ingredients on the label are easily recognizable an people really appreciate that instead of a lot of unpronounceable chemical names.
We also focus on having as small environmental impact as possible but offering a bottle buy back program and using mostly recyclable paper packaging. We removed almost all the plastics from our packaging that we can.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal is to become the Soap Baron of North Carolina :) Apart from that, our main mission is to help get the word out about natural skin care. I think there are a lot of people out there with dry skin, sensitivities, or full-blown skin conditions. A lot of this can be solved or at the very least alleviated by using natural products. This has been my experience and I want to enable them so perhaps they can have the same results. The problem with large companies is they try to keep price low by lower the quality of the ingredients. They use chemical detergents, artificial fragrances, chemical preservatives, and other ingredients with questionable effects. While their products may have a cheap purchase price, your body ultimately pays the price with dry, irritated skin, and possibly worse reactions due to the chemical side effects.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me the most rewarding part of being an artist is it engages a different part of my brain. I can just shut out all the noise and stress in my life and get fully absorbed in creating something beautiful that helps people. It is refreshing and a nice little escape. I also love the fact that it never gets old because you can the vary the design, scents, and even ingredients and experiment with how it all results. When I mix up an new batch of soap and pour into the molds. I cannot wait until the 24 hours are up to cut the bars to see what the design looks like.      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fiddletree.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fiddletreefarm/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FiddleTreeFarm/