Capricopia

Capricopia is a working goat and bee farm in the Margaret River region. Smudge was a goat before she was a soap. She was Cath's best milker, giving about four litres a day, which was more than the farm could use, and that surplus is the reason Cath started making soap in 2014. The range still carries her name.

Cath and Brad came to the farm from Leederville, in inner-city Perth. They chose a small property in the Margaret River region partly because it was close to a surf break Brad liked. It began as a tree farm. Guinea fowl and chickens came next, then two dairy goats, then sheep and bees. Each arrival ended up producing something. Milk became soap, first sold at local markets. The farm's own beeswax now goes into candles and balms.

The place is run with a long view. Cath and Brad have planted more than 10,000 trees and shrubs on the property so the animals have fodder year after year. Goat kids are weaned naturally at five months, and the Angora goats are shorn twice a year.

What comes off the farm is sold under a few names. Smudge is the goat's milk soap, handmade in small batches. The farm says it is made without palm oil, SLS or SLES foaming agents. Slow Skincare covers the balms and serums. There is a liquid shampoo made with the same fresh milk and filtered rainwater, and beeswax candles made on the farm with cotton wicks.

Cath also teaches. She runs on-farm workshops in beeswax candle making and in traditional hand-spinning of yarn, and in November 2021 she started a craft co-op stall at Origins Market.

The farm does not publish a street address, so the workshops and the market stall are the ways to meet it in person. Check the maker's site before visiting.