Former Polk County resident Linda Bond still offers her hand-crafted, all-natural soaps and lotions at local venues. She grows many of the ingredients that make her Wild Heart Soaps unique and reasonably priced.
“I think I’m becoming what people call a ‘soap chef,’” said Linda Bond, originator and maker of Wild Heart Soaps.
Local residents know Bond and her exquisitely crafted and all-natural soaps from the winter market at the Polk County Agricultural Store in Mill Spring, and from the Columbus Tailgate Market. Though she has not attended the Columbus market for some years, she was on the ground floor of developing that venue. Her products are also available in Tryon and Landrum, and are listed on polkfresh.com all year. (Click on “personal care.”)
Bond, lived on a 15-acre farm in Mill Spring for 14 years, and now resides on a 10-acre farm in western Rutherford County, where she raises goats (which provide milk for her soaps), and many of the plants which contribute desirable qualities to her products.
Part of Bond’s recovery from cancer, and her present soap making, can be traced to her study of natural healing. She began raising various herbs to supplement more conventional cancer treatments. “That was when I really started believing,” she remarked.
But Bond’s dedication to self-sufficiency began many years before, when she grew up on dairy and horse farms.  She learned that “old farmers made their own soaps. I want to keep that concept alive.”
Historically, when farmers butchered hogs, they rendered the lard as one ingredient in their soaps. While Bond followed that process in the past, her soaps do not contain lard. “So many people want all vegetarian and vegan elements,” she acknowledges. Some of her soaps do contain goat’s milk, which is nourishing for the skin.
Among the plants Bond raises for soap making are calendula flowers (calendula has remarkable healing properties), lilac, rosemary and special roses. “I’m finding more and more ingredients that I can add, that are good for the inside and outside of your skin.”  Bond produces fragrance oils, but purchases essential oils. Fragrance oils have a higher flashpoint, thus are more stable in the manufacturing process.
“I’m really fussy about fragrances,” she noted. “I won’t make a soap that I can’t tolerate the smell of.” Her fragrances are phthalate-free. “I try to use fragrances found in nature . . . that make you feel good.”
Because so many individuals began making soaps, friends told Bond that she needed to find her own niche, to become more successful. She found that many customers purchased her soaps as gifts. Eventually, more buyers have discovered the appealing properties of the soaps and realize that they can treat themselves, and still purchase more.

Currently, Bond crafts some 20-24 varieties of soap, including a chocolate-based product which she said should be accompanied by a real chocolate bar, as the soap’s aroma makes it seem edible!  Newer offerings include felted soap with original and hand-sewn needle-felted artwork. The

felted covering acts as a small washcloth.  With her soaps. Bond now produces limited quantities of lotions with natural preservatives, like Optiphen Plus, as an alternative to harmful parabens and formaldehyde.
At one point in her life, Bond felt “I didn’t know what to do with myself. I felt lost. Then she became involved in helping develop the Columbus Tailgate Market. She began selling her eggs and vegetables. “Soap-making was something that fit the picture.” Now, she and her husband are raising (and naturally pasturing) Black Maran chickens for eggs. At various times, Bond has made her children’s clothing, and produced yogurt and cheese. “My whole life’s been in farming,” she emphasizes. It’s really nice to have a farm like this and still be close to everything (including shopping and a feed store).”

Local outlets selling Wild Heart Soaps are 10 North Trade Cafe, Tryon; Cafe at the Mall near Isothermal College; and Horse and Home, Landrum. Bond will also offer her products at the Rutherford County Farmers’ Market at Florence Mill.
“I really love the Polk Fresh website,” Bond noted. That has opened a larger market in the Charlotte area.
For more information, contact Bond at wildheartsoap@gmail.com, or by calling 828 287 5555.