Page 28 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

Soap Cauldron of Shared Devotion
By Emma Mann, Owner & Soap Artisan, soapcauldron.com My love for my child was the catalyst
that brought us to a shared love of
21 years ago, before my soap partner was born, I thought that my accomplishments de ned me. I served as a civilian Naval reserve o cer in a war zone before women were allowed and was the rst person in my family to graduate from college. These moments however paled against the undertaking of being a mother.
‘The Butter y Lady’ turns 100
By David Abbott
Despite record-setting rain, and
handcrafted artisan soap.
a storm raging in the West County, more than 100 people attended local icon Louise Hallberg’s 100th birthday celebration at the Graton Community Club on Jan. 8. Origami butter ies decorated the hall and a cake honored the centenarian known as “The Butter y Lady.”
My preemie daughter did not come into
this world easily having been born, wrong side up and way too early. To nurture and love another human being unconditionally has been the single greatest accomplishment of my life. I quickly realized that this small and perfect being needed the best and so began a journey of growing and making her organic baby food, questioning every choice and even making her soap and salves myself. When Sabrina was three she joined in the process making soap for family and friends. After years working in the natural product industry, and making soap for family and friends for a decade we took a leap and began or own company.
“The storm was horrible, but at least the electricity didn’t go out,” Hallberg said on a recent afternoon during a break in the storms. Louise must have felt very much at home at that party, as her mother Della Hallberg had been a charter member of the club founded in 1914, and she has been a member since 1974.
I named our parent company Soap Cauldron and launched the brand Three Sisters Apothecary, named after the my myself and my sisters Marlo and Pandora. As girls, we spent Sunday afternoons gathering herbs for our grandmother, a nurse to use in remedies learning early that nature can truly be therapeutic.
Louise Hallberg was born in
Sebastopol on Jan. 3, 1917 and has lived
on the Graton property on Oak Grove
Avenue most of her life. In 1882, her
grandfather John F. Hallberg bought
40 acres on a hill south of Oak Grove
Elementary School, where she and her
sister Esther attended school. He built a
two-story Victorian house, and planted
apples, prunes, pears, hops, berries and cherries. The orchards were passed on to Alfred Hallberg, and then Esther and her husband, Haven Best, who oversaw operations. The Hallbergs and Bests owned orchards all along Highway 116 so they established an apple cannery in downtown Graton, the Hallberg Canning Corporation Cannery.
A place in Graton history
bar is poured in small batches with a unique combination of botanicals, pure essential, gourmet butters and plant oils to support skin naturally. We know that in this fast-paced world the simplicity of nature is often forgotten. Our goal is to bring back that reverence for nature with our products.
“Graton has changed a lot,” Louise observed. “Back then, I rode an electric streetcar to Analy. There were only two houses in Graton and now there are about 200.”
We have cultivated a loyal customer base and it has given our brand longevity allowing us to transform from an artisan e ort to thriving woman owned and operated small business. Recently we launched our second brand, Soapy Tails as Sabrina and I are passionate about our canine friends. We have created bars designedforthespeci cneedsofvariouscoattypes.Iguessthisiswhatwe nd so exciting about our company, if we can dream it there is no reason we cannot make it happen. And yes, years later we still love making soap; my daughter and I create our bars together, choosing the herbs and scent pro les that make each bar unique. We source and package our ingredients locally to minimize our carbon footprint. Our boxes are printed on recycled board made with Solar power. We also use as many organic ingredients as possible as well as sustainable palm, and are certi ed animal friend by the Leaping Bunny Organization.
Louise Hallberg’s fascination with butter ies began early in her life. “In school, I heard about birds and owers, but not about butter ies,” she said. “When my mother planted Dutchman’s pipevine in the 1920s, we had a food supply for the black caterpillars that became the Pipevine Swallowtail butter ies.”
Soap Cauldron also partners locally to make a di erence. We believe that as part of our community and as a responsible business we have a duty to give back. We proudly support our community with regular donations of bar soap to clients of local shelters. Our love of soap comes across in our products and we feel that is a key reason why we have grown in our local community. Moving at a deliberate pace, we have been able to make truly thoughtful choices that have been well received. My child and her wellbeing has always been my primary focus. While starting, this company was a risk, I could do so once I knew that the ground beneath our feet was steady and my child was set on a path forward. I now have the best of both worlds; I can focus on a career of my choosing while still being her mother. The challenges on the horizon before us now are growing the business sustainably and leveraging sales with expansion.
Little did Louise know that her
mother was setting the foundation
for what is possibly the oldest
butter y garden in the country. After retirement, she started to seriously study butter ies, taking biology classes at the JC from the famous Santa Rosa botanist Milo Baker, namesake of the local chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
28 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 2/17
“I came here in 1988 with my second-grade daughter and there were pupae in the bathroom,” Gay Bishop, member of the Hallberg Butter y Gardens board of directors, said. Bishop was so impressed with Hallberg’s dedication to the butter ies, she couldn’t help but get involved, even penning a book for the students who visit the gardens titled “A Class Trip to Miss Hallberg’s Butter y Garden.”
The art of alchemy best describes what we do. Our Soap Cauldron is the creative ground from which all our soap creations originate. We are family owned and operated and located in beautiful Northern California. Our handcrafted bar soaps are made in the time-honored tradition of the rst soap guilds of 7th century Europe. Each
Her father, Alfred Hallberg, was a trustee at the Oak Grove school and a collector of information, a trait he passed on to his daughter Louise. After Oak Grove, Louise attended Analy High School, then Santa Rosa Junior College and went on to study political science at UC Berkeley. When she returned to Graton, Louise began a 35-year career as Registrar at SRJC, retiring in 1975.
A love of butter ies
In 1988, the garden opened to Oak Grove students and in 1997, the Hallberg Butter y Gardens were incorporated as a non-pro t and opened up to the public. Since then, more than 30,000 people have toured the gardens and enjoyed bio- diverse property among the vineyards surrounding Graton and Sebastopol.
LOUISE cont’d on page 29