Written by Amanda Coers – A family in Early is milking their way to profits with an up-and-coming artisanal soap company. Their home-operated business, Arrows and Oaks, offers handcrafted soaps and skin care products made with milk from the Nubian goats roaming the acreage behind their home. Lark Terry and her husband Aaron moved to Early five years ago from Indiana. It’s been a dream of Aaron’s to have livestock for their family to raise. What started with one milk goat on loan has now turned into a successful small business, thanks to Lark’s creative ingenuity and a desire to offer a product that is truly made with love.
Sitting at Lark’s kitchen table, watching sheer white curtains drift in the breeze from an open window as chickens meander beneath sprawling oak trees, it’s easy to imagine you’ve found a small patch of rural bliss. A romantic image of Lark, trailed by her adorable four children, harvesting tiny rosebuds and collecting milk from contented goats lounging in the sun is also easily conjured. But in reality she’s a busy wife and mother operating a growing business.
“Excuse me,” she laughs as she answers another request down the hall. Her bare feet pad lightly on floor, just a mom taking care of a child’s need. She returns and pours coffee, taking just a moment to share the story of how her business started.
Photo from Facebook: The Terry Family
“Once we moved down here, God connected us with the right people at the right time,” Lark said. “I got involved with the MOPS group at Southside Church. It’s a very good, ‘young family’ community.”
Within the community, Aaron, who teaches music at Woodland Heights Elementary, became friends with Todd Sanders, owner of the Harvest Restaurant in Comanche. Both Todd and Aaron wanted livestock for their families to raise, and the two pursued their shared interest.
“Todd had purchased a milk goat at market and they needed to go out of town and asked us to milk her,” she remembered. “So we babysat the goat, and Aaron milked her faithfully every day and we just thought this was so cool!”
The Terry family began looking into purchasing their own milk goat when another friend offered to loan the family a goat for a test run, with the promise to sell the goat to them should they like the process. Lark and Aaron were hooked, and not only purchased the goat, but soon acquired more.
One of the Terry family goats smiles for the camera
“We tried our hand at cheese-making, and everything was quite a success. About that time we decided to start trying the goat milk soap,” Lark shared. A longtime friend of Lark’s was also dabbling in soap making, and shared a few secrets. Coupled with that knowledge and her own research, Lark began creating her signature goat milk soap.
“Our first batch was a success and we just went forward with that business.”
And business has been booming. Lark sells her handcrafted soaps in three different boutiques, as well as at the local Artisan Market in Brownwood and is considering opening her own storefront someday. Her website has an online store, as well as opportunities to purchase products on the Arrows and Oaks’ Facebook Page. There are nearly 20 different soaps for sale on the website, with varieties ranging from Rosemary Lemongrass to a specially formulated soap that can help keep sickness at bay using essential oils.
Photo from the Arrows and Oaks website
In an economic environment that’s seeing many retail locations close their doors, Lark is capitalizing on the online shopping trend and marketing her products effectively through social media. It’s a perfect marriage of technology and an old world commitment to quality.
“With cell phones and internet, we are able to conveniently buy things, sometimes for less if it’s mass produced,” Lark said. “But people are really wanting to get back to that mom and pop store and supporting local businesses, and I love that. Nobody wants fake anymore, and so much of what’s mass produced is not authentic, it doesn’t have that handmade touch to it.”
And while the reality is Lark is a mom, balancing life with four children and a home to remodel board by board, there’s still the undercurrent of a dream with Arrows and Oaks and a small homestead cleaning the world, one bar of soap at a time.
