Farm living leads to new skin care line

When Gabriella Esperson married Ryan Nelson, a fourth-generation farmer from Wisconsin, the seeds were sown for a new line of skin care products.

“I’ve always had a passion for animals — ever since I was a little girl,” Gabriella writes on her website. “Being married to a farmer who shares the same interests as me is a dream come true!”

Ryan gave Gabriella a Mini Nubian goat for their second anniversary. One animal became a small herd, and Gabriella soon found herself wondering what to do with the surplus milk being produced.

Internet research led to the founding of Down Home Soap, a company dedicated to creating a variety of products from the nutrient-rich milk of the family’s Mini Nubian herd.

The goats all have names, and Gabriella and her two daughters milk them by hand, feeding them homegrown flowers, herbs and vegetables planted in organic soil. All of the company’s products are 100 percent natural, and their labels are plastic-free and recyclable. A few of the soaps even contain embedded wildflower seeds that can be planted at home once they’re washed from the bar.

Fragrance combinations include grapefruit and rose, hickory and clove, and pine and mandarin spice. Other products include milk baths, herbal salves, lotions, lip balms and pottery soap dishes.

Gabriella is the daughter of Gina and Jim Esperson and the granddaughter of Agatha and the late Nick Giordano.

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