a fisher mill road treasure: a follow-up on amber hills herbs and gifts.

a few fridays ago, on an evening when the sky padded down hard rain, a friend and i visited what i'm deeming a fisher mill road treasure in oley-- amber hills herbs and gifts.

before the brink of spring (although this has been a very chilly late april !), i penned a story about the shop for the boyertown area times. i gabbed my way through a lengthy interview with the owner, tammy abraham, but hadn't actually had an opportunity to try her handcrafted, quite naturally made soaps due to accidentally leaving my wallet at home when i ventured out to take photos of the place. 

so when i visited the shop again for a longer peruse on that rainy night, i stood at the soap corner sniffing away at many a packaged bar of the herb and essential-oil infused scent-style she had stocked on her shelves.

soaps cost $3.50 each, but if you purchase 5, they add up to a hip-priced $15.00 in sum. after much labor to my olfactory system, i chose lemon verbena, refreshing, blackberry amber, clary sage and vanilla, and eucalyptus and lemon.

my chum of the hour, a mohnton resident, picked be happy, lady lavender, very sexy for men, chamomile and neroli, and butterfly orchid.

i could not believe how alluring the very sexy for men was. blush and a half ! i was partially tempted to buy it for myself to use daily ! 

as i have a habit of gift-giving with many perks i come across in life, i let one of my nieces choose a bar to take home for herself when she visited me weeks ago. she sampled the lemon verbena, which appeared, at least to me, stronger in scent than the lemon and eucalyptus. i absolutely plan to buy another bar of it for myself on a future trip to the shop, especially since i seem to be on a lemon kick this year.

the blackberry amber i am snail-mailing to a good friend on the west coast.

so far, i've only delved into using the refreshing soap, which is inches away from invigorating, in my proverbial book. sadly, my bar of it is dwindling in shape day by day. i expect that but still don't want to see the oval mound shrink ! that just means one more trip to fisher mill road for another day.

soap-maker abraham explained that in the past, she used to shrink-wrap the soaps in their individual packages, but this prevented customers from being able to easily detect the smells of each. so from then on, she covered the bars loosely in plain old plastic wrap from the kitchen drawers.

abraham added that she can identify exactly which ingredients are involved in any bar of her soap, just by smelling the thick rectangles, from the experience of always having her nose nudged near bar after bar and during the soap-making process.

when we last spoke, abraham said she had a few dozen more scent-styles ready to turn into gleaming bars of soap, as much of what she does is an experimentation nose-wise.

i have a lengthy wish list in the works from abraham, including lip balms, essential oils to blend for sunburn remedies, a sinus or possibly sleepy-time bear, and maybe even shower gels, once she figures out the best formula for crafting those.