Life is a breeze for Tipperary artisan Maggie on the Knockmealdowns

On a warm and sunny June afternoon, I meet Maggie Morrissey of Knockmealdown Breeze at her house deep in the Knockmealdown Mountains.

Maggie’s dogs, Buster and Sally, welcome me at the gate then escort me into the house. Her front and back doors are open offering a welcome breeze through the house; the dogs settle in the shade, panting.
Maggie has deep roots in the Knockmealdown Mountains going back six generations on her father’s side. She has a real connection to the land and to nature, she believes in living sustainability, but then this is the way she was raised.

“My mother came from Boolteens, county Kerry. She moved to England in 1946. England still had rationing at that time which meant everything was in short supply. Dad was from the Knockmealdown area, close to where we are now actually,” she said.

Maggie’s parents met in England at an Irish dance, got married and had seven children there.
“I was a child of the 1960’s, we lived in Essex, in a council housing estate on the edge of a small village. We had a large garden where we grew our vegetables. Growing up, my mother made all of our clothes. My parents built this house while they still lived in England, our childhood summer holidays were spent here. My parents and I returned to live in the Knockmealdowns in 1983,” said Maggie.

Maggie used to work in administration, then moved into retail, but began to find it very stressful.
“The job I had moved me from one place to another, I got depression and anxiety. If you were off for more than three days sick, you were put on disciplinary. I felt so unwell I had to leave. I was on sickness benefit for a year,” said Maggie.

BALANCED LIFE
Maggie began seeking a more balanced life, and as part of her recovery, she used the Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) which she now facilitates. She began to study in the creative field, which she found gave her a sense of peace.
“I did a level 6 Fine Art Course, then Silver Smithing course, then Fine Art again. I knew then that I needed to do a creative job,” said Maggie.

HOBBY
Five years ago, Maggie began to make soap as a hobby. After a couple of years, Maggie set up Knockmealdown Breeze.
She offers a range of soaps, shampoo bars, conditioner bars, beeswax candles and many other natural products which are sold locally through the summer craft/farmer’s markets in Ardmore, Dungarvan, Cappoquin and Villierstown. She also sells through her website, Knockmealdownbreeze.ie, so when visitors to the markets enjoy her products, they can purchase online too.

MENTAL HEALTH
“I do this for my mental health,” she says.
“At Ardmore Market, I’m sitting by the sea in a field for the day. There is nothing better! And the bonus is, I earn enough to pay for my petrol and maybe a little extra,” she said.
Maggie’s lifestyle sounds idyllic; I’m quite envious of her. We walk down the long hallway, which also doubles as her artwork gallery hung with paintings of local scenes such as Nugent’s Shop and Ardmore to the small workroom.
In starting the business, Maggie has found the support of friends is vital to her wellbeing, they have helped her turn her hobby into a source of income.

BEEHIVES
“Sourcing locally and using sustainable products is very important to me, but I wouldn’t have done any of this without my friend Helen, because my anxiety is a real barrier. Helen lives nearby; she keeps bees and gives me the wax from her beehives. I make body lotions out of the beeswax. Helen was selling her honey and jams at local farmer’s markets, and she encouraged me to sell the soaps and candles there. We have complimentary products, so we share a stall,” she said.

Maggie gets goat milk from another neighbour 4 km away and uses Calendula from her own garden. She collects seaweed from the beach in Ardmore.
“I buy in the Cocoa butter and Shea Butter from an Irish company, but I make sure that they are ethically sourced. I iron the brown paper from my ingredients deliveries to use as soap wrap. I even print my own labels using my own artwork for my logo. There is little waste here,” she says.

WORKSHOP
“My workshop has everything I need, there is a cooker and a sink. Soap takes about two hours to make, then it is cured for six weeks for the lye to die off. The lye (a mix of caustic soda and milk) is the base of any soap. The soap mould makes a batch of 10 bars which are cut on the guillotine, then it is stored in a dark place on trays. All the soaps are labelled in batches, by lot number, dates. After six weeks, it is safe to handle but before that it could burn you. It is a slow process which can be a problem if I have sold a lot and have not made another batch,” said Maggie.
There is an old Greek story about the discovery of making soap. The village women were cooking on a hill, the beef fat dripped down the hill with the caustic soda (this is carbon of the wood, the ash) when the fat mixed in the river with the water, the women discovered the water fizzed.
“This area with fizzy water made washing the clothes easier.
Maggie shows me a chest of drawers which holds various containers of different types of soaps.

LAVENDER AND HONEY
They are lined up in rows, an array of pale lilacs, oranges. As the lid is lifted off, the smells fill the room with lavender and honey.
“I love making soap, experimenting with different ingredients. Everything I use is organic such as castor oil, wheatgerm, silk proteins into the conditioner bars, which make them very soft on the skin.
“My most unusual soap is made from seaweed, which I am selling a lot of just now. It has become very popular. One of my customers has found that this has helped their eczema.
“It just seems to suit the skin of this person well and has made a difference,” said Maggie.
Maggie says “I get the seaweed from Ardmore; I also do seawater soap.
“I collect different types of seaweed and kelp, dry it on the workshop curtain rail and then grind it in a coffee grinder.
“It does not really smell of seaweed. Just one string provides a lot of ingredients.”

CANDLES
Maggie produces the candles here in the workroom too. She has enjoyed the last few years setting up her business. Knockmealdown Breeze has been a case of trial and error to get the business to where it is now.
She has really learnt a lot along the way.
“At first it was slow, I made batches that were too soft. I got the ratio wrong, I used too many oils. Soaps go mushy if the spontification was wrong. Spontification is the process of how it reacts with the lye, it’s about percentages. An example is that mango butter face soap is soft, but a shower soap would be of a harder consistency,” said Maggie.
Although Covid and Brexit have caused the prices of raw materials to rise, Maggie’s business hasn’t been badly affected.
“I bought this year’s materials in November to cover the stock for the year ahead, and that protected against price rises. I am a creative administrator; I know how much each product cost me as I costed it out. I am a bit OCD in that line so that I have control of this,” she said.

AUTHENTIC PRODUCTS
Maggie’s business ethos is about producing authentic products.
“My products sell via word of mouth with people coming up from the village. Although I have plans for the business, I want to keep Knockmealdown Breeze manageable.
“I am happy with how things are, and thankfully, I am feeling well. I may produce a calendar to advertise the business, expand into men’s grooming market with beard balm, shaving soaps and beard oils. I will continue to do this as long as I enjoy it,” she said.
As I drive away through the beautiful green of the Knockmealdown mountains, I feel Maggie has achieved a perfect balance of personal mental health and creative endeavour while supplying natural products that align with her personal beliefs.
In fact, it could be said that Maggie’s life is a breeze.

Two books, Artisans of Clonmel and Artisans of Cashel, were published before Christmas.
They were launched as part of Clonmel Applefest and the Cashel Arts Festival. They both carry the stories of craftspeople in the community.
Over the coming months The Nationalist will carry stories from both books. The article for this week was written by Theresa Jones.
Theresa Jones writes narrative poetry, she recently published two collections ‘Servant of Time’ and ‘Waterfall of Intentions.’ Her flash fiction pieces are published in the Fudoki online magazine. She has been involved in projects on screenwriting and song writing. Theresa was first published in ‘Seascapes,’ RTE Radio programme, February 2018.