Woman’s soap-making venture becomes family enterprise
Story by Cyndee Fontana-Ott • Photos by Tomas Ovalle
About10years ago, Jill Spruancewas anempty-nesterwithanenterprising spirit and 5 acres of land in the winding Fresno County foothills. She and her winemaker husband, Kim, wanted to put that acreage to good use. So she bought a fewdairy goats, with the idea of having plenty of freshmilk for the couple. Soon, however, theywere awash inmilk. And Jill, who always dreamed of starting a side business, began researching what to do with the extra milk (besides make cheese). The answer was soap. “At the time, I didn’t even knowyou couldmake soapwith goat’smilk,” said Jill, a bubbly bundle of energy and action. But over more than a few months, she learned tomake soap—andbothhalves of the couplewere sold on the better feel of their skin. “Honest to goodness, the first daywe used it our skinwas unbelievable,” she said. “Theonly reasonwas the soap. So I said tomyhusband, ‘This could be the product, the thing that we were looking to do.’” Now, this one-time side venture is a full-time family enterprise in the small community of Prather, about 20 miles northeast of metropolitan Fresno. Basilwood Farm produces all-natural lines of goat’s milk soap, lotions, bathbombs, scrubs andmore that havewon fans across the country. It all starts with goat’smilk The company has a robust online presence in addition to an on-site farm store and roughly 35 to 40 wholesale accounts. It has overtaken the Spruance homestead (now the store) and convertedKim fromwinemaker to goat milker, bath bombmastermind and general manager of the farm. Daughter Shelby Roberts works in production and teaches the occasional cheese-making class, while daughter Morgan Condie takes care of bookkeeping. Even the grandkids help, in the form of inspiration.
Jill Spruance runs Basilwood Farm in Fresno County with her husband, Kim. The small, family-owned farm produces goat’s milk soap and other goodies.
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