DT's Biography

It all started on the prairies of the Flint Hills almost 25 years ago. We were busy raising and home schooling our seven children on a very limited income. We lived the "Little House on the Prairie" life, for real! We raised chickens for eggs and meat, turkeys for the same, a few pigs, a couple of goats, and several hundred head of cattle. We are still cattle ranchers and sell grass fed beef locally.

We heated our home with wood and dipped our water from the spring. We read together every night and played and worked hard in the day. One year we even canned our pickled beets outside over an open fire. It was in 1985 after we had butchered the holiday hog that I called Grandmother Keller and asked,"What the heck am I to do with all this lard?" She said,"Well, I guess you're going to make soap." She was my greatest resource for all things having to do with the cooking and gardening. That was the beginning of what would evolve into one of my favorite pastimes, making homemade soap and natural body products.

After that first batch of soap I soon expanded the original "white lightening lye soap" recipe from Grandmother Keller and made soaps using vegetable oils and all kinds of vegetation. Because we were living off the land, literally, it was only natural that I started incorporating native plants and herbs into my soap recipes. We have always looked to the earth for her healing ways (thanks to the influence and wisdom of my dear departed Mombo). It was great fun to harvest the garden and prairie to make new soap concoctions.

As you shop our site you will see that we have incorporated many old family recipes. What I have found through the years is that the same processes from 100 years ago still work today. Keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it natural.

This is me, having just flown my girlfriend Jen's new Cessna. What a beautiful view our ranch is from the air.

I love dog sledding. A favorite place to go is Wintermoon-Summersun up close to the Canadian border. My girlfriends and I try to go every other year. There's nothing like a brisk dog sled run with temperatures hovering around five below or a snow shoe hike into a beautiful lake at sunset to hear the wolves howl. Wood heat, real food, sauna! Read about our last trip dog sledding A Dogged Pursuit Debi Taylor answers call of wild to mush.

This year I went up with a team to kayak. We did Basset Bay, Salo Lake and Lake Superior. Planning a trip for next summer now!

I graduated from the University of Kansas Medical Center School of Cytopathology in 1997. Cyto is Latin for cell and pathology is the study of disease, so cytopathology is the study of disease on a cellular level. I am a practicing cytologist in my "spare time".

I am a meat eater! Here I am with my first deer. I hunt with a 30-30 and with two of the most down to earth people in the world, my buddies, Dennis (who taught me all about hunter safety) and Glenn. I'm hoping Glenn will teach me to bow hunt this year!! From my experience hunters are the ultimate caregivers of mother earth. Totally in tune with nature!!

What is life without the great girlfriends? We do a New Year's Day hike on the Kaw River every year. These pictures are from previous years.
Me (3rd from right)	Me (3rd from left and 2 of my grandgirlies.

	This is Charles (on the left), my cowboy and husband of almost 25 years. I know, I know, he is very handsome. When my daughter had a friend stay over night in grade school, she ran to the bedroom all excited and grabbed Becki and yelled, "You didn't tell me your dad was the Marlboro Man!!!" Actually, he rolls his own, which I find incredibly sexy.

We hope you will enjoy our products as much as we enjoy making it!