Business
Smell Like a Bear? There’s a Bear for That…
‘Who makes soap? Body wash? Toothpaste? Mouthwash? Shampoo? Conditioner? Deodorant? Beard products?’

By: Purple Bear
Ever since joining the Bear community, when I meet a high-morality person with a skill or small business, I like to support it. Even when they tell me, ‘Nah, man, I’ll just give you some!’ But that’s part of why they deserve to be supported. I’ll accept the generosity of a gift, but eventually, I want to send my energy to my in-group. Not some stranger. Not some foreign entity. Not some commercial product using ingredients you’ve never seen in nature. I want someone real with something real to support. And there’s no one more real than the Bears! No exaggeration.
So with that mindset, look around your home. What are you buying from the store that, in all honesty, you don’t need to be this commercial-constant staple in your day-to-day? Is it made in your nation? Can you identify the ingredients? Would your ‘continuing to buy it’ not only feed a problem outside of you but feed a problem inside you? Wouldn’t it be great if you could just ‘have a Bear’ for all these things you keep getting by habit? And not only is it healthier or of higher quality, you just helped a good family.
For me, the simplest thing was hygiene products. Of course, we guys will just buy whatever so we can go back to work without people nagging about how work makes us smell. But the ‘just buy whatever’ can easily be switched to ‘just buy Bear stuff.’ Easy, right?
So I got on the app and said, ‘Who makes soap? Body wash? Toothpaste? Mouthwash? Shampoo? Conditioner? Deodorant? Beard products?’ And in minutes, someone commented with an answer. So one great confidence you can have is there’s a Bear for everything good and valuable! And every connection is a bridge worth trying to build.
Maggie’s Home Essentials was the most frequent answer to my question. Maggie is @MaggiesHomEssentials on the Beartaria app and has her website here with all her products that Bears and non-Bears can shop. All her stuff is homemade and natural. You can look at each item on her site and see the small number of simple ingredients, all readily recognizable in nature. Now, sure, her designs have pretty flowers on them. But guys, they get the job done! The people nagging about your post-work smell will stop their whining and leave you alone! And look what you’d be supporting: The in-group.

I made a post on the app reviewing some of the things I bought from Maggie over the course of a year, and the Beartaria Times Editorial staff were nice enough to reach out and suggest I turn it into an article. And here we are. As for my review post, here it is:
“I wanted to review some @MaggiesHomEssentials products I bought this year. Most of these come in different fragrances for men and women. I’m a man, so the scents I went with are mostly sandalwood, I think. Except for the toothpaste, that one is peppermint.
Shampoo: It does the job just fine. It’s watery, but it lathers (Castile base with coconut milk), so you’ll get plenty of use out of it despite how small the current bottle size is.
Conditioner: Also does the job. Maggie went out of her way to make this liquid version of her ‘conditioner bar’ when I suggested it. It’s much better than the bar, in my opinion.
Deodorant Stick: The paste is excellent, though it’s a bit softer than expected, so you might notice the stick squish faster than a commercial stick. This brings me to the…
Deodorant Paste: This is just the paste in a little container, which is better for how soft it is, in my opinion. The stick kind of makes you accidentally use too much if you’re rough with it
Deodorant Spray: Another way to get the job done, albeit not as manly. Just do it quickly!
Mouth Wash: Our own natural mouthwash! This was another one Maggie went out of her way to make. This first one has a kind of salty taste to it, but it works fine. No burn.
Body Wash: This one crushes as a general body wash, but it also works as a shampoo if you want something that has multiple uses. This one also lathers, if I remember correctly.
Mustache Wax: I mainly got this out of curiosity because I’ve never messed around with beard products. If you like beard wax, I’m sure you’ll like it. I guess I just don’t need it.
Beard Balm: I still don’t quite get the point of balm, but I’m glad I tried it. It’s firmer than I expected, but I guess this helps with split ends and stuff. I’m not sure. Sorry, haha.
Beard Oil: I like this one best. I wore it to a Bear’s wedding! The lid has an eye dropper, so you can put as much or little in your beard as you like. I may use this more, allegedly.
Charcoal Toothpaste: Finally, some stuff I know for sure doesn’t have any bad ingredients in it. If you know, you know! You might have a spoon or something near the sink to get it out. And rinse really well!
Bar Soap: Good bar soap. This was a free gift in one of my orders. She does that a lot!
Exfoliating Pine Tar Soap: I’ll be honest I haven’t tried this yet, but it looks cool, and it has good stuff in it, like goat milk and charcoal. You know, the good stuff! But in soap!
Conditioner Bar: I much prefer the liquid conditioner, mainly because you have to keep the bar in the fridge. But I also found this one very waxy and hard to fully get off the hair and hands after putting it on. I guess if you want your hair to be a little shapable or have that sort of wax sheen to it, this is fine. Me, I’m sticking with the liquid version. Which also has a LITTLE bit of that wax feel but not nearly as bad. Maggie is accommodating on the app, so just message her for feedback, and she’ll crush new methods!

Overall Opinion: Maggie’s products are great if you’re looking for alternatives to stuff you buy at the store. She listens to feedback and suggestions from her customers and even throws in free gifts with your orders! Good stuff. I’ll buy from her again for sure.
Business
Classical Learner Launches New Homeschools Connected Portal
We are pleased to report that Classical Learner has launched a new Homeschools Connected members portal.

Homeschool consultant and author Brett Pike started the company Classical Learner. Brett started this path to top-tier Homeschool services by offering consultation to homeschool parents to help sculpt and nurture Homeschool programs for families just starting their journey.
He began to post videos online that went viral, talking about the issues with the public school system as well as various subjects and methods for implementing a Homeschool education.
Brett’s philosophy focuses on critical thinking over memorization, stacking skills, and getting Children Entrepreneurial experience in the real world.
He attests to utilizing a child’s passion for stacking skills leading to entrepreneurship.
For example, at the most recent Beartaria Times festival, he talked about a child passionate about photography. Parents can nurture that skill into the experience needed to start a business and then stack additional skills such as marketing, web design, graphic design, sales, and more.
His online presence is multiplying with his unique ability to design lesson plans that bring education into the real world.
Instead of just learning math, he encourages reinforcing that math with living practice.
Want to know the area of a rectangle?
Make a garden box and reinforce those math skills, along with carpentry!
His methodology and philosophy are highly sought after as the go-to Homeschool program for parents wanting to nurture their children’s education with real-world skills and entrepreneurship.
Classical Learner launched Homeschools Connected in 2021. He brought together Homeschool families across the U.S. into a private discord where they could connect with other local families and access his courses and daily lesson plans.
His company’s growth brought strategic reinvestment in the areas his members hoped for improvement.

To better cater to a more productive user experience Classical Learner launched the Homeschools Connected portal that will allow members to navigate a clean, user-friendly design to better experience courses and well-organized lesson plans.
“The launching of the Homeschools Connected platform is a special achievement because its creation is the result of our initial members’ belief in me… and their support which made investing in the platform possible. Building Homeschools Connected on discord was a good start, but it wasn’t the right platform for the full curriculum we are building now. The new Homeschools Connected portal is organized, easy to navigate, and will allow us to expand in previously unimaginable ways. These achievements are what winning looks like; it’s about building parallel systems so that parents, children, and good people don’t have to rely on the beast system.”
Brett Pike

We are incredibly happy for Brett and Classical Learner!
Many of our members on The Beartaria Times App are also members of his program. We believe in his vision and love seeing his success.
We encourage all Homeschool parents to try it and join his Homeschools Connected Community. We can only see him grow and continue to offer highly valuable products and services in the future.
Sign Up Today.
Business
New Product Announcement From Ferrell Custom Wood Designs
We have combined our passion for music with my Dad’s passion for woodworking to bring you our exciting new product, Wooden Cell Phone Amplifiers, that require no power!

Hobbit Bear here from Ferrell Custom Wood Designs. We have combined our passion for music with my Dad’s passion for woodworking to bring you our exciting new product, Wooden Cell Phone Amplifiers, that require no power! They come in different selections of pine, cedar, and oak for various acoustic tone options. So you can amplify your favorite music or podcast, and custom fit any cell phone to boost your sound on the go, at family picnics, in your garden, or your work area. Just drop your cell phone in the holder, crank up the volume on your phone and enjoy your favorite music or podcast.



Please message me on The Beartaria Times App @Thehobbitbear to get yours today. It’s easy to ship and affordable at only $60, with shipping straight to the comfort of your home. Keep up with all my latest products and music on BTA page as well.
I want to thank you all for your support and, as always, onward to Beartaria!!!
Arts and Crafts
Too Many Mittens
My mom has always loved seeing her children be creative, so she was thrilled when I showed interest in learning how to make mittens. So, in 2016, she taught me how to make wool sweater mittens.

By: Charity (@trailerparkgirl on BTA)
My mom started making wool sweater mittens sometime around 2014. She got the idea from visiting a local Mennonite-owned store. She found patterns online and started out just making them for the family. We’re a family of ten, so there are plenty of us to make mittens for.
In 2015, at eighteen, I became her right-hand businesswoman and began photographing her mittens and selling them on Etsy. My younger sister, Madeline, drew the mitten in the shop logo.
My mom called her shop “Too Many Mittens.” She may or may not have gotten the idea for the name from the 1958 children’s book “Too Many Mittens.”
It’s one of a few books she remembers from her childhood. My mom grew up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the story takes place in Michigan.
My mom has always loved seeing her children be creative, so she was thrilled when I showed interest in learning how to make mittens. So, in 2016, she taught me how to make wool sweater mittens. I found them to be pretty simple to make. Very fun, too. I already had some experience with sewing, so it didn’t take long to get the hang of mitten-making. The excitement of pairing different wool sweater fabrics together and adding cool buttons to the cuffs was enough to get me hooked.
We make the mittens out of wool sweaters from thrift shops. And we line the mittens with fleece. My mom and I have had a blast sifting through thrift shop clothes racks in search of funky wool sweaters. We’ve gone through hundreds of wool sweaters in the past several years. Sometimes I see a sweater that I love so much that I’m tempted to keep it for myself to wear. But then I think, “Nah, that’ll make some really cool mittens.”

A few years ago, I invested in an embroidery sewing machine and lots of machine-embroidery thread. It’s been lots of fun to play around with different designs on mittens. They really give mittens extra character. The machine was definitely worth it. And it was fairly affordable. I use a Brother SE625.

Now, in 2022, my mom is far too busy for making mittens. She’s focused on helping raise some of her grandchildren. So, my mom decided to let me take over Too Many Mittens. I’m planning on adding other handcrafted goods to our shop in the future, like cold-process soap. I’ve been playing around with soap-making since 2018. I’m currently working on perfecting recipes. My goal is to have soap available by Spring 2023. I’m even trying to get my younger sister to design the labels for the soap. After all, it is tradition.
One day, I hope my mom will have some extra time on her hands so that she can get back into making mittens. She really enjoyed it, just like I do. Together, we have sold over 350 pairs of mittens. I’m grateful for the time we’ve been able to bond because of our mutual love of mitten-making. If I ever have a daughter of my own, I plan to teach her how to make wool sweater mittens and so many other wonderful things.
Visit my Etsy shop, Too Many Mittens, Here!
Bears get 15% off with the code: TRAILERPARKGIRL
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