A Goat, a Poet, and an Unexpected Journey

How a Gift Shop, a Painting, and a Box of Poems Shaped a Brand

Long before I ever made goat’s milk soap, my mother kept a small recipe box.

It didn’t hold recipes. Instead, it was filled with handwritten index cards covered in beautiful cursive. On each card was a favorite poem she had carefully copied by hand.

As a little girl, I would sit beside her reading those poems. Some I memorized without ever imagining they would stay with me for the rest of my life. One of my favorites was Carl Sandburg’s “Fog.”

The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Even today, I still find myself reciting it to visitors who come to my studio.

At the time, I had no idea those childhood moments would one day become part of the story behind The Appalachian Goat®.

Years later, after I had started Essential Journeys®, the gift shop at the Carl Sandburg Home asked me to create a private-label goat’s milk soap. Carl Sandburg’s wife, Lilian, had raised an award-winning herd of dairy goats at Connemara, their home in Flat Rock, North Carolina. Goat’s milk soap was a natural way to connect the gift shop’s products with the history of the home.

The soap became so popular that I began to wonder if goat’s milk deserved a collection of its own.

As I searched for inspiration, I discovered the artwork of Gwen Seemel. One painting immediately caught my eye. The goat wasn’t simply beautiful. It had personality. It seemed curious, confident, and charming. I contacted Gwen, licensed the artwork, and that wonderful goat became the face of The Appalachian Goat®.

The collection grew from there. Customers wanted matching lotions. The buyer at the Carl Sandburg Home asked if I could also create a coordinating lip balm, which eventually became our Luxury Lip Butter. One product led naturally to another, not because I had a grand business plan, but because each new idea felt like the next step in the journey.

Looking back, I don’t think this story is really about goats. It’s about the unexpected connections that shape our lives. A box of handwritten poems. A beloved poet. A gift shop nestled in the Appalachian Mountains. A painting of a goat. A simple bar of soap. Individually, they seem completely unrelated. Yet somehow they found one another and slowly became The Appalachian Goat®.

Today, the Carl Sandburg Home carries The Appalachian Goat® products under our own name, bringing the story full circle.

My mother still edits my newsletters, just as she has from the beginning. Her love of language, poetry, and beautiful words helped shape the way I see the world and the stories I tell through Essential Journeys®.

I hope The Appalachian Goat® reminds you that the best journeys often begin with the smallest unexpected moments. You never know where the next one might lead.