Tucked into a corner of Beth’s Farm Stand in Warren, we came upon a display of Common Scents Soap made with goat milk by Warren resident Patty Young. We’re suckers for pretty soap and even more so for reasonably priced ones that look expensive.

This bar, oatmeal milk & honey, cost $3.49, features a molded floral motif and comes wrapped in its own decorative organza bag, which Young suggests can also be used as a loofah. “You can hang it right up in your shower,” she says. (We were planning on using it to look like the kind of person who puts out lovely soaps for the usual deluge of August houseguests, but to each her or his own.)

Young lives in Warren, has an administrative job at a dental office, and has been making the soaps in her spare time since 2010, using goat milk from nearby Mainely Poultry. Recent additions to her line of soaps include bars designed to look as if they are full of sea glass (now that’s a way to exfoliate), blueberry with blueberry seeds, and, most intriguing, Maine-iac Soap for men, which has a pumicing effect and smells (intentionally) like dirt. “Really fresh dirt, like a new bag of potting soil,” she said. The goat’s milk provides the creaminess and there are no chemicals or synthetic components in any of the soaps.

Beth Ahlholm at Beth’s Farm Stand gave Young her first break, but the Common Scents Soaps are now available at various locations around the state, including Lisa Marie’s Made in Maine stores in Portland and Bath and The Paper Store on Vinalhaven. Young doesn’t have a website but she does have a Facebook page; search Common Scents Soaps.

— MARY POLS


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