LüSa Organics
Viroqua, Wisconsin | 0.8 miles
Rachel Jepson Wolf made soap with her college roommates while pursuing her master’s degree in environmental education. After graduation, she turned the craft into a small family-run business based out of her home. When Rachel discovered herbalism in the early 2000's her small cottage soap shop grew into LüSa Organics, a purveyor of soaps, salves, and balms and a featured local producer at the Viroqua Food Co+op. The LüSa team includes Rachel’s husband, Pete, and her two kids Sage and Lupine, plus three staff members. They work together to make soap and curate a line of salves and balms at the Food Enterprise Center (FEC) in Viroqua, WI. LüSa Organics is the second organization to house their business in the FEC and is the longest-standing tenant going on 11 years. The floors are painted bright yellow, and the word joy runs around the top of the walls. There are jars of herbal infusions in a bright window, soaking in the sun. “I chose the spot in the very back of the building because of the southern exposure - I wanted the sun in my space.”
New products are inspired by those Rachel loves. She added baby balm when her kids were little, and has developed products she later sold to address a need for a family member or friend. The name LüSa is a combination of her biggest loves: her daughter, Lupine and her son, Sage. LüSa soap base is a mix of saponified oils of coconut, cocoa butter, olive, sunflower and fair trade shea butter.
A variety of “flavors” are added as herbs, minerals, herbal infusions, and essential oils to give each bar its unique characteristics. Ingredients are ordered in bulk from sustainable sources, and they make many of their own herbal infusions. Natural sources color the soap including herbs, spices, roots, minerals and activated charcoal. To utilize locally sourced ingredients Rachel added the Locavore line that features local grass-fed tallow and sunflower oil in the soap base. Locavore is available in all six of their bestselling bars. Soap at LüSa is made in 216 bar batches. A batch is mixed and poured into a block mold. It then cures for two days before it is cut into bars. Bars are then cured for another month before they are packaged and sold. This cold curing process makes the soap harder, longer lasting and produces a nice, rich lather. Sustainability As an environmental educator, Rachel believes in creating a business that is as sustainable and ethical as possible.
Each year, LüSa takes another planned step towards greater sustainability. One year, they eliminated palm oil from their recipes. Another year, they planted a tree for every order shipped. In 2019, they set out to reduce plastic use in their operation and even surprised themselves by reducing plastic usage by 98%. A large part of this was done by researching and finally sourcing cardboard tubes to replace plastic tubes for LüSa lip balms. Inclusivity Customers may soon notice some changes to packaging and product names as the LüSa line becomes more inclusive. “What we need to do as a culture is to include everyone and be more welcoming” Rachel explains. It is with this in mind that they are rebranding and changing a few of their product names and designs. For example, Mama Balm will become Birth Balm. When it comes to her business philosophy, Rachel says, “We want to make products for people who love the same things we do. For us, that is customers that seek products that are local, ethical, and sustainable – products that have heart.”
To learn more about LüSa Organics, check out their website at: www.lusaorganics.com While you’re there, be sure to take a peek at Rachel Wolf’s blog about her life at LüSa, being a mother, herbalist, homesteader, homeschooler, and all around rock star.