Fresholi | Melting Pot Café

Hello everyone!

My name's Janie, and I joined the site recently as I finally got forced encouraged by my friends and family to get myself assessed and legal to sell my bath products!

I've been making soaps, bombs and all those things for years for myself and various other people I knew who were willing to be my guinea pigs, but giving it all away was proving to be expensive, and then they kept saying people they knew wanted to buy x y or z but I couldn't sell them it which was very frustrating, so it was decided I should be brave and take the plunge!

So I got a Business Start Up Package assessment from Scott (who I must say is absolutely amazing, I couldn't recommend him highly enough!) and have registered with BIS, got insurance from Ian Walker, told the Inland Revenue etc and am now all legal and currently working on some product design for things people have requested, and ploughing my way through endless PIPs, sorting out all the pre-orders I've taken whilst all this has been going on and drinking lots of coffee!!

On a personal note, I'm 35, I'm married to a gorgeous Scotsman, I have a daughter who is nearly 15, a son who was 2 last week and I also have my own hedgehog rescue centre that I run from home too. So I don't get to sleep, sit down, or rest very often! haha

Very pleased to meet you Selkie. Now the next thing is to pop some pics up of your wee goodies. Don't be shy its not allowed here. Have fun we are a friendly bunch. :buttrf:

Welcome to the club!  :D
And yes, please, have your camera around to post pics!!!

haha yes I am aware of reading through the other posts that I should be ready and willing to show off my creations, and I promise to do that very soon (once I've plucked up the courage and also found where my son has hidden my camera!)

Hello Janie  :buttrf:

Hi Janie and welcome.

The hedgehog rescue must be interesting. What made you start that. I feed a blind hedgehog for someone occasionally and they are such cute little things, but much noisier than I thought especially when they fight.

Hi Janie! Lovely to have you here :buttrf:

well I've always loved animals and as a child I was the person people brought random injured wildlife too (much to my parents disgust, they are not animal lovers at all haha) anyway as I got older and had left home and bought my own place, and the things I ended up being handed got more frequent and even more challenging (wildlife injuries can be pretty horrific as they have often not been noticed for a while and when they are people are wary of vets cos they don't want to spend lots of money on an animal that isn't theirs and so the ones I get often have injuries that are really quite stomach churning) anyway I decided to start a proper rescue facility and to focus mainly on hedgehogs as they are my favourite (although I take in anything really, have had snakes and lizards and all sorts of random things dumped on me).

So now I run a proper rescue, rehabilitation and release centre, which is emotionally and physically exhausting and rewarding in equal parts, and as it is expensive to maintain (equipment, food etc) the proceeds from my soap business will help fund it, and also will mean that when my son starts school I can still be a stay at home mum and therefore carry on with my hedgehog stuff, rather than working in a job that was a regular 9-5 office thing (my husband doesn't want me going back to work as he wants me to be there for the kids, the hogs and the house etc but tbh I need to do something more than cooking and cleaning and mum/wife/slave stuff all day, my brain isn't suited to a diet of Jeremy Kyle and being a lady wot lunches) hence stating my own soapy business!

Wow that didn't seem such a long explanation in my head!!

Thanks Scott!!

Can I just mention that you are amazing and wonderful and an assessor extraordinaire!  ;D

Thank you Janine - careful or I'll be blushing :mwaha:

Hello Janie and welcome!  :buttrf:
Well done getting all set up and SAd, registered and the whole bit. Am looking forward seeing your creations.

Oh but it is true Scott! Plus I fully believe in sucking up to praising those who have provided so much help!  ;D

 :mwaha:

I totally agree about sucking up. Scotty the hero. He will start wearing his pants on the outside of his tights soon. Superhero status is needed for him me thinks.  :mwaha:

 :popcorn: :popcorn: Where are the pics :mwaha:

Welcome to the board! I love hedgehogs as well, they are so cute and I love the noise they make when eating snails! They sound like proper little piggies. If you ever need room for one, my Garden is severely lacking one, although the dogs and cats here may have something to do with it, so not sure if one would be happy here. Certainly enough snails and slugs to munch on.

Now we need pictures, hogs, soaps, bombs.... :popcorn:

ah well I can post a couple of hog photos to keep you going while I hunt down the camera ;)

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/janie-c/more%20stuff/73b42a83.jpg)

(http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/janie-c/more%20stuff/fb45e80f.jpg)

(hope this works!)

those are all babies I hand-reared from birth as the mother died the day they were born.

They are now much bigger and will be released in the spring :)

awwwww Cuteness Alarm!!!  (:hug:)

Hi Selkie, welcome to the forum. Lovely pics, aren't baby hedgehogs delightful, just look at those little feet! I don't mind if you don't post soapy photos, just keep showing me baby hedgehogs  ;D

Awwwww, t hese are so so cute

Welcome! Hope you enjoy it here  :buttrf:

Hi Janie, welcome to the boards :) Everyone is super nice and helpful here, and there's lots of things to be inspired by.
Good on you with your hedgehogs (how cute!), I would love to do something like that. You'll have to let us know if you have a website or anything like that.
Looking forward to seeings pics of your lovely creations x

Hello Janie, welcome aboard.

The little hedgepigs are very cute - it must be difficult to let them go!

Hi Janie - very cute pics  :buttrf:

well the website is http://www.hogswatch.com (http://www.hogswatch.com) although I've been so busy with the kids, hubby, hogs, soaps, life the universe and everything it's not been worked on much, I need to sort that out (when I have the time)

@EJ In some ways it is hard to let them go, especially when I have handreared them (feeding with a pipette every 2 hours day and night for a couple of months can be very bonding) but it is also amazing to see them trot off into the distance when they are released, knowing that there is yet another hog out in the wild that wouldn't have otherwise been there, and that it can go off and breed and have a happy life as nature intended, and the fact they are now endangered makes this more important than ever. So yes it does get me emotional but in good ways :)

Oh,  how cute!

Hi,  Oooo very cute hog pickys & welcome aboard!

Hi Janie  :hi:

Lovely pics. I love hedgehogs and every year there's a hedgehog family living in our garden.

Celia

What a nice intro!!  Welcome Selkie and really hope you enjoy it here.  Lots a lovely peeps and I am sure you will fit  ;D :buttrf:

Welcome to the forum!   :)

Your hedgehog pics are adorable!  I really admire the fact you have set up your own rescue centre, I can only imagine what hard work that must be, & now you have taken on soaping as well- wow!

Talking of hedgehogs, I opened my back door the other day to find a very dozy little hedgehog sitting on the doormat- poor thing must have got confused at the sudden rise in temperature, or not had enough to eat to get him through the winter.  I didn't know what to give him to eat, I'd heard you can give them dog food, but not having a dog I obviously didn't have any!  I heard they eat nuts/berries as well as slugs etc, so I gave him a bit of one of those fatballs you give the birds.  Not sure if it was the right thing to give him but I figured it wouldn't do any harm, I then went & bought some dogfood, which he ate a little bit of but I think he preferred the fatball!  My dad suggested putting a box out for him to go in, so I left a box of shredded paper on its side, & later that day he did indeed go in it & bed down under the paper shred.  He has been there for several days now.  I guess I should just leave him there?  It is right near our bins, so I hope he won't be disturbed by us putting things in the bins etc.  Have I done the right thing for him?  (Any expert advice appreciated!!   :buttrf:)

Hi Janie, welcome to the forum!
What a cute wee pigs you have there.
Look foward to seeing you around the boards :)

Hi and welcome. Feel free to ask any questions. Everyone here is really helpful :buttrf:

Hello Janie  :buttrf:

Hi Janie. :hi:

Eire

 @Vanilla

yep, Hogs tend to wake loads during the winter as they need to keep eating to survive so they wake when the weather is mild enough for their body temperature to be able to cope and stuff their faces before their next nap. We've had a weird winter so far and so they would be out when people don't expect them to be, or they would starve :(

There is a list of foods they can have here http://www.hogswatch.com/#/feeding/4543647298 (http://www.hogswatch.com/#/feeding/4543647298) and the box thing will definitely help, just keep it covered to protect it from getting soggy (an old tarp or something like that should do) and stuff it with hay/straw and old leaves. Also if you could put a bowl of water out (checked regularly incase it has frozen over) and hopefully he should be warm enough. Of course their are many variables and he may not survive due to many other factors, such as if he has lungworm or another type of parasite overload, but they are just an unfortunate part of nature. The easier time he has finding food and water and shelter, the more chance he has though so having someone look after him by making sure he has those things is a huge bonus. So thankyou for being willing to help him, every hog saved is one more away from them becoming extinct :)

Hi Janie
Welcome

 :)

Thankyou everyone for being so friendly and welcoming, I promise to not talk Hogs the whole time and will be getting some pics up of my bombs etc soon (bombs are my favourite thing, they are what got me started with this whole soap making addiction!)

I'm just off to make some vanilla, almond and oatmeal soap (once I've chopped some logs, tis a bit nippy today!)

Thanks for your advice on looking after the hog Janie!  I didn't know they wake up throughout the winter.  I will put some water out for him.  The box is underneath an upstairs balcony, so fairly protected from  the rain, but I did think of covering it with something to stop it getting soggy if the rain blows in.

I started off making bath bombs too!  I used to enjoy making them, but find them a bit frustrating- they so easily go wrong!  (I always seem to add just a tinch too much moisture to the mix & then they go a bit warty, which i hate.)

Vanilla, almond & oatmeal soap sounds gorgeous- don't forget to post pics in show-offs!   ;)

Hi Janie,
Welcome aboard and what cute little hogs!

Hi Janie!  I am so delighted you are here.  Your pictures and explanation of the hedgehog rescue was very interesting to see and read about.  I love the website and all of the pictures & videos you have on there also.  That little one drinking milk and the babies in the other video are toooooo cute.  I would hate to send them out after raising them  :'(.  I have never seen one close up before; they are just soooo adorable.  It is such a wonderful thing you are doing  :)... and how fortunate for the little hedgehogs to have you.  Welcome!