Since the birth of our daughter Charlotte in 1996, one of our goals as a family has been to live a simpler life, using natural, organic, unprocessed foods and simple, unadulterated products. As Joanne recalls, this thinking even applied to feeding the birds in our backyard…

"I remember wanting to feed the birds suet. So I went to the butcher who gave me a chunk. It looked different than what I expected, so I thought I perhaps had to render it down. But then it looked even less than what you would feed a bird! I did some research and found out it was tallow, a base ingredient for making soap. So I experimented by making a small batch of soap..."

One day, Joanne was telling Marcella, the owner of a health food store, about her first soap-making experience.

"She asked if I could make her some goat’s milk soap. Her usual supplier was unable to supply her any longer and, as a result, she was not able to provide this popular product to her customers..."

Joanne researched how to make goat’s milk soap (without tallow) and developed her own recipe.

"I made a few batches, enough for Marcella and our family. It was fun and it satisfied our commitment to using natural products that were gentle on people as well as on the environment. As more people began using our soap, we made more and more soap."

Today, the Walkerville Soap line keeps growing, but our commitment and approach to a simpler, healthier and more responsible lifestyle is unchanged.

The Walkerville connection

Walkerville Soap Co. is named after the historic Edwardian company town founded in 1858 by the whisky baron Hiram Walker. This is where we lived before moving to Nelson, B.C. Rather than change our name, we preferred to stay true to our beginnings!

The people of Walkerville Soap Co.