This was a fun surprise. I was interviewed by a local reporter Katie Jennings for Neighborhood Character, a local Lincoln Park/West Side Jersey City newsletter (founded by my neighbor + friend Amy Wilson, a phenomenal talent and terrific gatherer of the people).

Katie is taking on a big role at Neighborhood Character because Amy has accepted a great new position at a midwestern university. (We expect Amy to be a regular guest on the digital publication.) 

The article below was coverage about me, the origins of Present Day Goods and inspiration, plus a plug for our local Lincoln Park Farmer's Market, and frankly a plug for all the farmer's markets out there--these are great places to preserve through patronage. 

This week we caught up with Maureen Gallagher, founder of Present Day Goods. You can find her selling handmade candles, lip balms, sugar scrubs and other products made with natural ingredients today at the Lincoln Park Farmers Market from 10am-2pm! You can also find her at the Riverview and Hoboken Farmers Markets. And her lip balms are available at Busy Bee Organics at 451 Palisade Ave in the Heights.

From the Present Day Goods site.

How did she end up on the West Side? “I've been basically problem solving to get here,” she said. Maureen first moved to downtown Jersey City around 20 years ago after being priced out of Manhattan. Then she bought a condo in the Heights when downtown became too expensive. During the pandemic, she and her husband found a house on the West Side with kitchen windows that look directly out onto Lincoln Park.

Present Day Goods started as a pandemic side project. “We were all trapped inside. And one of the ways that I do my own kind of therapy is I make things,” said Maureen. This past December what started as a side project became full-time after the stationery publishing company where she held a day-job closed. “I've always been a maker. I try to learn new things when I can.” 

Check out the Present Day Goods website and Instagram. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you start Present Day Goods? “It started with candles. And I was just watching a lot of YouTube, and I got attached to one Youtuber that was walking through her journey.” Candlemaking was a lot more complicated than it seemed and required lots of different considerations, she said. “Depending on the different kinds of wax and how dense it is and the dimensions of the container. There are many different size and types of wicks made of different materials, so you have to do testing before you discover [what works best].”

It seems like you’ve expanded a lot beyond candles? “Candles were great, and then a lot of other people had the same idea, so there was that competition,” she said. “And I didn't realize people weren't into candles as much in the summer.” It turns out the candle market is seasonal. People tend to purchase more in the fall and winter, especially at holiday markets, so she decided to expand into soap. “That's actually more complicated. It's very sciencey. It's using lye, which is toxic, and you have to learn a whole set of safety rules.”

The fun part “is learning about all this stuff that's been around us this whole time and has these properties, or it transforms into something completely different,” she said. “Like looking at olive oil in the supermarket. You can actually make soap out of just lye and olive oil.”

Maureen manufactures everything in her kitchen-cum-studio and sells at local farmer and holiday markets. Whenever she feels like she’s in a lull, she starts thinking of new products. The most recent additions? Room sprays and bug balm bars. 

“Now I think each thing sort of sells the other thing. For example, if I just had the candles and the soap at the table, and you don't really feel like you're interested in either one, you could walk away. But if you see those neat little tins of lip balms, and you're curious about what's inside, and then you read the ingredients, and I tell you that it has beeswax in it from Jersey City bees, [it draws people in].”

Editor’s Note: Maureen sources beeswax from Swarm King Apiaries. They have a Jersey City Honey CSA here and we plan to talk to them for a future issue!

How is business at the Lincoln Park Farmers Market? “Last year it was better. I don't know what happened, but we had a lot more. And this is like a bigger cultural question. I guess we had a lot more people that came out from the church and used to walk through. But a lot of the people around here really appreciate it, especially the soaps. And it was nice for me to offer this kind of product to people in this part of town, because it's a desert for natural products.”

“I think also our attention is grabbed so much everywhere. I think even three years ago, posting about a farmer's market on Instagram had a different impact than it probably does now. With these algorithms and everyone’s trying to fight for your attention and ads and everything. I just think we're losing what we had.”

What about Etsy? “I tried for a while. Now it's almost impossible to be seen. When they started the first five years or ten years or so, it was strictly handmade. Then they sort of expanded handmade to a print-on-demand and stuff made in China that has a handmade look.”

What’s next? “I have a lot of stock, so I'm using a lot of that. The room sprays are new, so I had to make those. But I have to be really careful about my overhead, because I was using my job to help fund a small business, and I don't have seed money or a loan.” 

“I don't like credit, and I don't want to borrow. I don't want to owe somebody if the risk doesn't pan out. The way our world is working, you just don't know what's gonna happen. But I think the only way now is really to go mass production.”

“I really love this. I love being at this market, meeting people, hanging out with neighbors and the community. It's a really nice way to connect with people and people really do appreciate just holding something and smelling it in real life.” 

“I would like to find a way to supply a bigger customer base and turn it into a bigger thing.”

Editor’s Note: During this interview, which was conducted at my house, Maureen spotted the most epic feral of the week outside my kitchen window: Pizza squirrel! [see below!]