How an Unexpected Baby Goat Led to a Line of Beauty Products
More than a decade ago, Ben and Polly Gorringe called themselves “hobby farmers” taking care of their six acres of land near Alexandria, Ohio. Little did they know that one of their farm goats, named Martha, would take them on a totally new journey making goat’s milk soaps – and ultimately creating a full line of organic skin care. “We didn’t’ intentionally set out to do this,” says Polly. “We just thought it would be fun to have some chickens … and some goats who could help keep our land mowed naturally.”
Only into their goat farming for a short time, the Gorringe’s found themselves with an unexpected kid among their herd. According to Polly, “we looked out to the pasture and thought we saw a small dog or a large cat. When we walked out, we discovered a baby goat. We were shocked – we thought we had only female goats in our herd.”
When their goat, Martha, gave birth on a frigid winter night Ben and Polly brought her kid into the house house so she could survive. Via YouTube videos, they quickly learned how to milk Martha so they could bottle feed her baby. They eventually nursed the baby goat back to warmth and health … and suddenly found that they had an excess of goat’s milk.
“We drank it ourselves, gave the milk to others. We made cheese. We made goat milk’s bar soap – hundreds of bars, in fact. Family and friends loved it and encouraged us to sell it. That was the beginning of our Martha’s business,” says Polly.
As the Gorringe’s made their soaps, they did more and more research into how oils and butters feed the skin. They began to branch out and create other skin care products in their home including lotions, scrubs, liquid soaps, bath bombs and more. Their focus was always on simplicity and efficacy.
“If you start with quality ingredients, you don’t need extras in your products,” says Ben. “We’d rather have five ingredients in our products that are familiar to our customers than 30 that aren’t.” They love when customers ask what’s in their products. “There’s nothing to hide. We offer quality products that are good for the skin and affordable.”
As the Gorringe’s continued to educate themselves on beauty products, they began to realize that many skincare trends come and go. They took a different approach and leaned into the things they knew have had great benefits for skin for centuries, like lanolin and rose water, for example.
The home-based Martha’s business kept growing, selling directly online and supplying several community markets. About four years ago, Christina Moser reached out to Polly and Ben to supply the farm market with Martha’s Bath and Body products after she had tried some of the skin care line herself. According to Christina, “I loved the natural feel of their products on my skin. And I just knew others would, too. Since that time, our market has carried quite a few Martha’s products – both their core lines along with seasonal soap and lotion fragrances. Today, many customers come in looking for Martha’s.”
Unfortunately, in May, the business suffered an incredible loss when an apartment above their first-ever retail store in Alexandria caught fire. Thankfully, no one was injured but the store was a total loss due to water and smoke damage. Since the fire, the Gorringes have returned to making products in the basement of their home. They are gradually getting their supplies and inventory back to pre-fire levels and building up stock. Ben and Polly say that the pure kindness of their customers and other small businesses has kept them positive and optimistic about moving forward. We wish them all the best in their recovery!
“Meet Moser’s Farm Partners” regularly features the area farmer partners who bring you
“farm fresh, flavor first” produce and other goods at Moser’s Farm Market and Barn.
Martha’s Bath and Body is a family-owned business in Licking County, Ohio, providing
natural skin care and fragrances. You can learn more about them on their website or by following them on Facebook and Instagram.
