Our Story
We Didn't Exactly Plan Any of This
Suds & Buds started because I became the person who read every damn label.
My road to motherhood wasn't easy, and by the time I finally had the little girl I'd fought so hard for, I started looking at the things coming into our home differently.
I wanted to know what was in the products we were using, why it was there and whether there was a simpler option.
One question led to another. Then another.
Eventually, I started making some of those things myself.
I wasn't trying to start a business.
I was just a mom trying to make more intentional choices for her family.
Turns out, that one decision would take us somewhere I never expected.
First Came Soap
Soap was where it started.
Then came tallow, home fragrance and a whole lot of experimenting, researching, testing and occasionally making something that absolutely did not turn out the way I planned.
But I kept learning.
Friends and family started asking for the things I was making. Then other people wanted them too.
And somewhere between reading labels and taking over entirely too much of the house with supplies, Suds & Buds Apothecary was born.
We still make our goods in small batches. We still pay attention to ingredients. And I'm still the person who researches something because I want to understand what we're actually using.
But I'm also realistic.
We're not perfectly natural. We use essential oils where they make sense and carefully selected fragrance oils when we want something to smell really freaking good.
I'm not interested in competing in the crunchy Olympics.
I just believe in paying attention, asking questions and making more intentional choices where we can.
Holistic-ish. Not perfect... just intentional.
Then It Became About More Than What We Make
Somewhere along the way, Suds & Buds started changing.
I realized I cared just as much about why someone was buying something as what they were buying.
- A friend having a hard week.
- A teacher who deserves a thank-you.
- Someone celebrating a birthday.
- A family moving into a new home.
- A person who's always taking care of everyone else.
- Or somebody you simply haven't reminded lately that they matter.
We've gotten really good at being connected to everyone all the time while somehow becoming a little less intentional about actually connecting.
I don't want that.
And that's how thoughtful gifting became such an important part of Suds & Buds.
Our gift collections are designed to make it easy to send someone a little:
“I thought of you.”
No giant occasion required.
You choose something that feels right. We package it beautifully and send it on its way.
Because sometimes the best gift isn't really about what's inside the box.
It's knowing someone thought of you in the first place.
Life Beyond the Workbench
We're Trying to Make More Room for Life, Too
Running a business can consume every available minute if you let it.
So can homeschooling. Animals. Work. Responsibilities. And all the everyday stuff that somehow fills every damn day.
It's incredibly easy to keep saying:
Someday.
Someday we'll take the trip.
Someday we'll go camping.
Someday we'll explore that place.
Someday when things aren't so busy.
Except life doesn't seem particularly interested in becoming less busy.
So we're trying to go anyway.
We're exploring Oregon, camping, hiking, finding waterfalls, fixing up an old travel trailer, hauling kids and dogs around and learning as we go.
Sometimes it's beautiful.
Sometimes the road is horrible, somebody is tired, we forgot something important and the entire plan goes sideways.
Usually it's a little of both.
We're sharing those adventures through Sunshine & Wild Roots — partly because we want to remember them and partly because maybe they'll encourage another family to stop waiting for the perfect time, too.
We don't measure a good adventure by how far we went. We measure it by whether we came home with a story.
