Fat Chance Farm

Fat Chance Farm Raising chickens on fresh pasture, making soaps, salves, and deodorant from local grass-fed tallow and pastured lard. Why "Fat Chance"? Enter, soaps and salves!

Animal fats have gotten a bad rap in the past few decades, not only in world of soap and cosmetics but has been demonized as a part of a healthy diet. Low quality fat from factory farmed cows, pigs and chickens and pesticide-laden sheep wool are mostly responsible for this bad reputation, as well as the boom in cheap vegetable oils that helped big companies cut costs and seemed (for a time) to be

a healthy substitute. In reality, there is nothing better for the body and skin than fat from happy, pastured animals. You may find improvements in your skin simply by eating animal fats instead of vegetable oils! Also, tallow, lard and lanolin have a fatty acid profile that is as close as you can get to human skin, which means it absorbs readily and holds in moisture. As more and more people become interested in "nose-to-tail" eating of locally raised, pastured animals, we need to remember that food isn't always the best use for every part of the animal. Even the most avid supporter of eating fat would have trouble getting through 10 pounds of beef tallow. Soap and salve making turns what is often almost a throwaway product, lingering in farmers' freezers, into a healthy, useful addition to your local "diet". It's easy, as a craft soap maker, to get caught up in the fancy side of things, making beautiful, heavily scented products, designed to catch your attention. I try to stay in touch with that grubby kid I used to be (and often still am!), who had to be dragged into a bath once a week, whether I needed it or not! My soaps and salves are simple, gentle on the skin and never contain artificial colors or fragrances. Everyone deserves to be comfortable in their own skin. So whether you battle oil or dryness, harsh chemicals at work, dirt, or overuse, I strive to make products for you that are affordable, effective and that use local ingredients. If I don't make something that you would like to see, start a conversation and see where it takes us!

First farmers market of the season! We’ve got soap, lip balm and deodorant, plus chicken eggs and goose eggs.
05/16/2026

First farmers market of the season! We’ve got soap, lip balm and deodorant, plus chicken eggs and goose eggs.

I tested out the natural colorants with my existing recipes and I really like the results. I’ll definitely be trying it ...
04/30/2026

I tested out the natural colorants with my existing recipes and I really like the results. I’ll definitely be trying it out with bigger batches in the future!

Looks like we’ll be busy for a few days, trying to convince this beaver to go build a home elsewhere. Luckily the dogs a...
04/17/2026

Looks like we’ll be busy for a few days, trying to convince this beaver to go build a home elsewhere. Luckily the dogs are well suited to this task! There’s plenty of beaver habitat just a little way down stream.

04/14/2026

1. Sound on for bluebird chirps! 2. Our annual hooded merganser visitors

I’m experimenting with natural soap coloring. Top to bottom: indigo, turmeric, spinach, rose clay. It would be nice to b...
04/09/2026

I’m experimenting with natural soap coloring. Top to bottom: indigo, turmeric, spinach, rose clay. It would be nice to be able to distinguish all my soap varieties by sight, I think! Indigo is stronger than I expected so I’ll try another few bars with less, aiming for a light blue.

What started as a simple question turned a bit more complex... enjoy!
03/27/2026

What started as a simple question turned a bit more complex... enjoy!

You know how natural is always better? Except that sometimes it isn't? Turns out this is called the appeal to nature (or also the naturalistic fallacy) and I have definitely fallen victim to it a time or two. It occurred to me recently that I had never really done the research to support using only....

We do our part to reduce plastic waste by packaging in either steel tins (which are reusable and infinitely recyclable) ...
03/24/2026

We do our part to reduce plastic waste by packaging in either steel tins (which are reusable and infinitely recyclable) or plastic-free cardboard tubes.

I also try to keep product waste at the manufacturing level to a minimum. Soap scraps and imperfect bars are reprocessed into Thrifty Soap, cracklings from fat processing are fed to our laying hens amongst other strategies.

Lotion, toothpaste, and make-up packaging are a recycling disaster, but one UK family business has a complex process to give it a new life. It makes plywood-...

New product alert! Our tallow and lanolin balm is now available in a compostable push up tube. Added beeswax gives the b...
03/13/2026

New product alert! Our tallow and lanolin balm is now available in a compostable push up tube. Added beeswax gives the balm a firmer consistency. As always, made with 100% grass fed tallow from local farms.

A cozy day in the cowshed
01/26/2026

A cozy day in the cowshed

Address

1224 McKinstry Hill Rd
Hyde Park, VT
05655

Telephone

+18028510339

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