Origin Story
5 min read
Today, I’m making it official: Vibra Farm is becoming a skincare brand. The sourdough starters are going away. The tallow balm, the lip balm, the bath products — that’s what we’re here for now. Fully, completely, without looking back.
I wanted to write this out because I think you deserve the honest version of why.
How It Started
I didn’t set out to make skincare. I started rendering tallow because I was already rendering it for cooking, and someone mentioned offhand that people used to put it on their skin. I was skeptical. I tried it anyway.
The first time I used our grass-fed tallow balm on my hands after a day of farm work, something clicked. My skin absorbed it differently than any lotion I’d ever used. It didn’t sit on top. It didn’t feel greasy after five minutes. It just disappeared. And my skin felt like my skin again.
I started making small batches. I added lavender for its calming properties, raw honey as a natural humectant to draw moisture in, and Vitamin E to preserve the tallow and protect against oxidation. I gave some away. The feedback stopped me in my tracks.
“My eczema is better.” “I haven’t needed my prescription cream in three weeks.” “I’ve tried everything. This is the only thing that works.”
These weren’t people I’d gone looking for. They were friends, neighbors, customers who’d ordered sourdough and tried the balm on a whim.
Why the Pivot Is Actually Simple
The honest truth is that I never felt about sourdough the way I feel about the skincare.
I made a good sourdough starter. People loved it. But when I packed a skincare order, there was something different in me — a kind of pride I couldn’t manufacture. This wasn’t just a product I was selling. It was something I believed in: made from animals I knew, rendered at low temperature by my own hands so nothing valuable was lost in the process.
I kept the sourdough around longer than I should have. Partly habit. Partly not wanting to disappoint anyone. But keeping both meant I was only half-committed to the thing that mattered most.
So here we are.
What Makes Our Tallow Different
Not all tallow skincare is the same. A lot of brands have entered this space recently, and quality varies enormously. Here’s what we do differently — and why it matters for your skin.
We use suet — the fat surrounding the organs — which is the most nutrient-dense fat on the animal. Grass-fed animals have a completely different fatty acid profile than grain-fed: higher in CLA, Omega-3s, and fat-soluble vitamins. That difference carries directly into your skincare.
Heat degrades fat-soluble vitamins and causes tallow to oxidize prematurely. We render slowly, at low temperature, to keep the full nutritional profile intact. This is the step most brands skip — and it’s where most of the value is.
Lavender is naturally anti-inflammatory. Raw honey is a humectant that draws moisture into the skin. Vitamin E prevents oxidation and provides antioxidant protection. Five ingredients or fewer. Nothing you can’t pronounce.
What’s Coming
I’m documenting all of it on YouTube — the farm, the rendering process, the ingredients, the science, and honest updates from someone doing this at a small scale with real intentions. The first video is live today. It’s the full story: where this came from, what it means to me, and where we’re going.
If you’re new to Vibra Farm: welcome. This is a small farm making grass-fed tallow skincare the old way. No synthetics. No shortcuts. Just rendered suet, real botanicals, and a lot of care.
I’m glad you’re here.
— Lindsay, Vibra Farm
The first YouTube video is live today. Watch the full story, then come back here and shop.
