Hello, I'm Jennifer. Owner of Hillbilly Acres Soapery. I wanted to introduce myself to all you wonderful people. This is my very first time blogging (nervous giggle).
My husband & I are high school sweethearts. Sept 2024 we'll celebrate 30 years of being together (married 24 yrs)! We have a son & a daughter. Both kids are adults & married. We got our first grandbaby in 2022! We're homesteaders in the Arkansas Ozarks. Our farms name is Hillbilly Acres. I am a tad obsessed with all kinds of poultry. For the last 20 years I've always had between 80-100 pasture chickens on hand, several ducks, turkeys, geese, quail & guineas. We'll be adding peacocks & pheasant to our farm, soon! In addition to all the birds, I raise KuneKune pigs, feeder pigs, & Nigerian dwarf goats. Our son & daughter-in-law live here on the property & help us manage the farm.
In 2013 a friend at church held a soap making class. After taking that class I was hooked on soap making! I was making soap and giving it away to family & friends. Life was good... Until suddenly it wasn't.
Summer of 2015 I was in our main vegetable garden (we have 3 gardens) with my husband & kids. I got up to move over to the next row of green beans & I fell. I instantly lost the ability to move my limbs, sight was coming and going in my left eye, & I lost the ability to control other body parts. I honestly thought I was having a stroke! I was diagnosed with RRMS (relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis). Now looking back, I was having MS symptoms for about 6 years prior to this. In 2018 I was diagnosed with Lupus. My health was steadily deteriorating. In 2019 my MS had progressed to SPMS (Secondary progressive MS). I know what you're thinking "She just keeps hitting the health lottery."
In 2021 I had to make the hard decision to retire from the office job that I loved. Poor immune system and working in a petri dish don't mix well together. 2022 started out with another blow to the gut. My father suddenly & unexpectedly passed away. Thankfully since I wasn't working, I was able to stay with my mother in Texas for a few months. Three weeks after loosing my father, my daughter delivered her baby. My first grandbaby!
Jennifer, what does any of this have to do with your business? Nothing and everything. Plus, Google told me that my first blog should be a personal one. I shall abide the interweb rules.
2023 I was a bored housewife. We're empty nesters, our house stays clean. I can't work due to SPMS & Lupus. I enrolled in online classes for herbal medicine. That's going great! Late last year I decided to take my soap business & leap into the public with it. Starting a business is so scary! Especially when you have a few disabilities trying to hold you back. Has this journey been easy? No. No it has not. Did my business just take off, booming with sales? Again, no. No it has not. But, I'm a fighter and I don't give up easily. Plus, I have unbelievable support from my family.
So this is me. If you've stuck around to the end of this, we're pretty much besties now.
Life is short, use the pretty soap!!
~Jennifer~