Take Allan Johnson seriously when he tells you that his Cosmic Pepper is hot, hot, hot. Sprinkle it on a hamburger and feel the heat envelope you.

Allan and Nora Johnson are bringing a full line of culinary and health care products to the Canfield Spring Garden & Craft Show this year. Their family enterprise “Herbs for Healthful Living” started more than 25-years ago with a cake of homemade soap and now includes a full line of products they developed and make themselves on a farm in Saegertown, Pennsylvania.

“I was a professional student for seven years and met Nora when I was doing graduate work at Edinboro State University,” Allan says.

“I was teaching art in the high school and at the college, but I had an inner drive to do something innovative and the idea to make that first batch of soap was a merger of my passion for gardening and Nora’s interest in the use of the herbs we grew. She is a weaver and had experimented with herbal dyes. She knew that herbs could be useful in developing a healthier lifestyle.”

Add to this background the fact that although Allan is only 54-years old, his grandparents were of a generation that tried to be as independent as possible. They knew how to do many of the self-sustaining things that helped farmers to flourish both financially and physically.

“We’ve never been afraid to try new things and that first batch of soap was a winner,” he continues. “It made great gifts that year and those who received our soap suggested that we ought to sell it.

“Making soap was a natural and anyone who grows herbs knows that they keep on multiplying. The lavender and chamomile are especially wonderful for soap and of course, chamomile is also good for tea. So we begin to think ‘tea’ and we’ve moved from the bathroom to the kitchen.”

What began on a small scale in the house now occupies six buildings on their Saegertown, Pennsylvania, property south of Erie and close to Meadville. The “soap house” is a place where the drying racks are filled with herbs for soap and for seasoning and also for some medicinal soaps, salves and teas.

“Of course, we can’t prescribe our home remedies, but the experience of a long line of customers over the years assures that our products work. For example, one product we recommend is our milk and honey soap for pimples. We know about a lot of grateful teenagers.”

They formulate a flea repellant soap for household pets and a pine tar soap that is an old remedy for eczema. A gardeners’ soap exfoliates and soothes and Nora believes there is nothing more refreshing than soaking in a tub with lavender bath salts followed by lathering up with lavender soap.

“The soaps have a vegetable oil base and we offer a wide variety of herbal choices. Customers asked about lip balms and that seemed a natural way to expand and now we have twelve different lip balms with either a beeswax or olive oil base,” Allan says.

“I guess our sales are almost evenly divided between bath products, salve and toiletries and the culinary mixes that Nora creates. We grow some of the herbs for our spice blends and buy some of the ingredients in bulk. Toiletries include drawer sachets, soothing bath salts and aroma bath additives. We also grow the Lufa gourds that people use as a bath sponge.

One of their biggest culinary sellers is a spice blend that has come down in the family from his grandmother.

“My grandmother Gladys was famous for her refrigerated bread and butter pickles. These aren’t canned pickles. You simply add the spice packet to vinegar and pour it over the sliced cucumbers in a gallon jar. She always had them on hand and we were thrilled when she gave us the recipe. Nora has developed a variation for dill and hot pickles as well.”

With the current concern for Lyme disease and West Nile virus, Nora and Allan have collaborated to create an insect repellent that starts with a witch hazel base to which they add pure oil of cedar, eucalyptus, geranium, citronella, pennyroyal and peppermint.

“We put this in a spray bottle that is easy to use and with the witch hazel base, it dries quickly so that you don’t feel greasy in the garden,” Allan says.

When their three children were young, they often came in from play with cuts and bruises. What did the pioneers use? The Johnson’s ‘Grandpa’s Salve’ is the result of research and experimentation to find the answer to that question.

“We relied on this salve and it’s been one of our biggest sellers for many years. We spell it out on the label - ‘Grandpa’s Salve - An all purpose antiseptic and healing First Aid ointment, for burns cracked skin, cuts, bruises and chafing.”

They make no secret of the ingredients, which are listed on the nostalgic label: Pure olive oil, beeswax, vegetable glycerin, Native American Golden Seal root powder, Aloe Vera oil and calendula.

“I always enjoyed drawing pictures for our labels but now thanks to a gift from one of our sons, I use Photo Shop to enhance my labels,” Allan says.