Jans 30 years with Emu Ridge

This is a story of a lovely lady called Jan Hawes who came to Kangaroo Island on a holiday, fell in love with it, and made it her home. Jan worked for us on a casual basis at Emu Ridge and from her home for 30 years! WOW! That’s dedication and commitment and we thank her dearly for being there for us all those years.

Jan has been working with us since 1993. In a nutshell, Jan was originally from England. She married an Aussie, had her son Daniel, parted ways with hubby, and decided to go travelling. She arrived on Kangaroo Island on a holiday with Daniel and came to us at Emu Ridge as a WWoofer, (Willing Worker on Organic Farms) who work for their food and board whilst travelling around the world.

Country farm life with the Turners was not for Jan and she soon found somewhere to live in our main town of Kingscote. Jan continued to work for us as an employee completing her certificate 4 in tourism, she was a gun at making our giftpacks and boxes, helped with the bottling, taking guided tours, working in our retail shop which was the Old Post Office back then, and controlling our staff superannuation.

Being a casual I think that she got tired of coming to work and not being able to find any of her equipment to make the gift packs and boxes with. Our kids all came to work back then (nothing has changed, now its the grandkids) and they liked to use and loose Jan’s things! Consequently Jan asked if she could make them from home and that was fine with us. Jan loved working from home and also started up a mobile dog grooming business. If anyone knows Jan, dogs are her first love!

Gift Box Emu Ridge Eucalyptus oil, soaps, bath bomb & Kangaroo Island Honey

Gift Pack Emu Ridge Eucalyptus Oil, Pot and Kangaroo Island Honey

Jan retired from making our gift packs and boxes for Emu Ridge in 2022 freeing up her house of the mess of all the boxes, dried flowers, cellophane, glue, ribbons etc. A pretty good innings we think! 29 years, Wow!!

Jan also made our laundry washing liquid. We started making our laundry liquid in 1994, the recipe given to me by a lady who had visited us and it was added into our recipe book of tried and tested uses for our eucalyptus oil. We made it, liked it and it started selling  from there. After a year or so, (this was a long time ago so not accurate), the gentleman that was making our soap and laundry liquid wanted a break and Jan said she would be happy to make the laundry liquid for us, something else that she could do from home, so she started making our Laundry Liquid around 1996.

Around 1998 Jan asked us why we didn’t wholesale our laundry liquid, it’s something that we were not interested in doing. Jan asked if she could make it and wholesale it under her own label. We said yes go for it, which she did for the next 25 years, selling it on KI and to outlets in Adelaide as well as making it for us. Jan recently decided to retire from her laundry liquid making, she sold the wholesale business to Jodi and Andrew Scarr, from KI Candy in Kingscote and we have now gone back to making it for ourselves again. Tristan our son, makes most of our natural products with the help of Larry. Jan’s only commitment now is her Doggy Day Care, pet sitting and pets goods retail business. Happy retirement Jan and thanks so much for all the years.

So as you have read Jan fell in love with Kangaroo Island and is still living here 30 years later. Below is her lovely mum who often came to visit from England in the early days and used to help us out at Emu Ridge so she could be with Jan.

Below Jan with her son Daniel all grown up and now living in New Zealand. Jan continues to be busy with her Doggy Day Care, Pet sitting, and Pet Shop. Thanks Jan for all your years, we are so glad you chose Kangaroo Island as your forever home.

Our Laundry Liquid is a multi purpose cleaner, it’s great for washing woolens as well as normal clothing, you can clean bathrooms, kitchens, floors, windows, cars, carpets, upholstery, and pet washing. It is low sudsing, good in hot or cold water, and so can be used in top or front loading washing machines.

This product is 100% biodegradable and if you bring in your empty container we will give you a refilled container at a cheaper price. Helping reduce plastic by recycling and reusing your containers, doing our bit for the environment. We offer refills on many of our other products as well.

Thanks Jan enjoy your Doggies!