Happy Valley Farm's Story

Who we are: Gary, Jenna, Jaxson, and Isaiah Hylton. Gary and Jenna have been married 16 years. Jaxson is 13. Isaiah is 9. We are East TN natives and have lived here since birth!

Our goat journey began about 5 years ago. We had a small herd of mini goats and they were great! We loved them, but they weren't exactly what we were looking for. I was teaching at the time and had a student in my class (who works for Land Basket now) really encourage me to get standard (big) goats! I caved in and bought one and fell for them. 

I sold every mini goat we had and bought all big goats. Now that I had a herd of dairy goats (who produce a ton of milk) what was I going to do with them? I had struggled for years with imbalances in my endocrine system (thank you bath and body works)(they put too much junk in their soaps). I think everyone my age struggles so much with imbalances because of the junk we used as kids/teens. 

So........... I thought "let me make some soap with this milk". So I ordered all of the supplies, watched a million videos, talked to some friends, and dove right in! My first batch was a success! 

I started offering soap to friends for them to try. I kept tweaking my recipe to make it better each time. Before I knew it people were wanting to buy our soaps. Then business EXPLODED! We were making soap every single night after coming home from work. My kitchen would look like a bomb exploded. We were making two to three batches of soap every few days. We outgrew this process very fast. My amazing husband built me a full size kitchen in my basement and now I am making 15 loaves of soap a day and still growing.

While building the soap business, I was still working full time as a RN. I was teaching nursing in the local high school. Last year, God laid something heavy on me. I didn't know what it was but all He would tell me is "just listen". I knew He was working on something big in my life but I wasn't sure what that would be.

So for two months I just listened and just let Him guide me. I've never really liked change so I was anxious as to what this "calling" was going to be.

Then He told me, "quit your job and focus on your family and listen to Me". I thought there was no way, that's insane! I've worked too hard for all my degrees and certifications (I have 5). We need my paycheck to survive and I love what I do. I fought Him. I argued, I didn't trust, I didn't believe it. And then one Sunday it hit me so hard, I KNEW and BELIEVED what my calling was. My calling was to be a stay at home mom, homeschool my kids, and make soap. My new career became "soap dealer". In December, it will have been a year since I left the workforce and came home full time.

Since switching to using all my own products, my skin is better than ever, my endocrine imbalances are improving, and my customers are texting, emailing, and calling me telling me how my products have gotten rid of their eczema, psoriasis, and they don't have "itchy" skin anymore.

My career has taken a lot of twists and turns, but "soap dealer" is my favorite.

We strive to use organic ingredients as often as we can. If not organic, we find the absolute best. We don't cut corners or cut the quality of ingredients to save money. What we sell to the public is what we use for our family.

Our products are all made on our farm by us. We do not have any employees! Everything from the care of the goats, making the soap, and packaging orders is done by us.