This photo does not represent my product, but it does represent my dream.  My dream of less waste, more refilling, buying personal care in bulk, and reducing our footprint in an industry laden with so much waste.  I kind of wish I would have thought of this from the get-go, because it hard as hell to change direction when you get 6-years into a branding concept that seems to be working.  And, let's face it, how many stores want to carry bulk containers, and how many customers can afford to pay for glass packaging?  Maybe more than I think. I hope so. 

The last several months of me have been filled with the type of dreaming I was doing when I started reading stories of the city-to-farm movement 10 years ago.  I remember those days, picturing myself living in a big, round yurt, surrounded by land and books, ingesting the DIY projects in the pages from baking bread to raising bees.  And here we are.  No yurt, but a beautiful 120-year-old farmhouse.  I love that our house has stood that long.  The history greets me everyday, in so many ways.  Sometimes when I'm cold in the winter I think about how much of a struggle it was to heat this home in 1900.  I think about the times without electricity and how the general tasks of everyday living we try to squeeze in around working were the only thing the first family in this dwelling had any time for.  They weren't consumed with social media, annoying politics, or mass-produced over-consumption.  They simply lived, made what they needed, scavenged the earth for materials, bartered and borrowed within their surrounding community, and made things last as long as possible.  Life was fresh, local, and not taken for granted.

That life, this house and it's history speaks to me so deeply, yet it seems where the difficulty at that time was getting through each day with all that had to be done for simply surviving on a farm, my greatest difficulty is the tugging at my heart about the waste that happens all around us, and within our home, and business, and it becomes so incredibly overwhelming I wonder if it's even worth it.  Should I just stop caring?  Not possible.  Can I make an impact?  I have to try.

It is a fine line we walk in the natural care industry to create a safe, sanitary, effective product.  On one side, disposable packaging ensures the integrity of the final product and is significantly less expensive than eco-friendly counterparts, making natural care products more accessible to more people, not just those who can afford "the luxury".  I do not think natural products should be considered luxury products, they should be able to be used by everyone, everyday.  These natural ingredients and products, when sustainably sourced and purchased from small companies, are already more expensive, why add to that with additional packaging costs?  On the other side of that line lies the insane amount of waste that occurs when a consumable product is used up and all that's left is the bottle, and the pump, or the jar and the cap.  These are, as stated before, things we use every single day, they go away, they are consumed, they are washed away, they are gone.

Zero waste packaging is becoming a growing trend in this industry, but not all products can exist without a container.  But does that container have to be used just once?  Come dream with me.  I want a place where containers can be brought in and refilled.  I want a place with bulk containers where laundry detergent and bath salts can be scooped into a muslin sack that can be washed and reused, brought back, and filled again.  I want glass containers that are purchased once, returned to my place, cleaned and sanitized, and used again for the exact same purpose it was always intended.  Need a wrapping?  How about cellophane?  It's compost able and made from plant materials.   Don't want to put a glass container in the shower or bath in case it breaks?  How about hemp bio-plastic bottles?  I have read they decompose in just 53 days in a compost heap.  What about those customers that can't come to my place?  How about biodegradable refill pouches sold in bulk so they have more product, saving the customer money, using less packaging material, and allowing each purchase to last longer?  You have no idea the amount of hours I have put into researching these options, contacting companies, weighing out costs, and looking at huge boxes of plastic bottles in my storage room, just waiting to get through them so I can move into an emotional place where I can feel good about not only the beautiful natural ingredients that go into our products, our commitment to purchasing from family-owned, small companies who are ethical in sourcing from the earth, and our desire to source as much of what we use within 3 states of where we live, but also about this next phase of figuring out how to eliminate the line, and create safe, effective products with a commitment to reducing waste.  Just like our homestead dreams, I know this one isn't far from reality. 

Need a great reuse idea?  Check out my post on making your own Springtime Inhaler with an empty essential oil bottle!

I had a friend ask me the other day of the best way to use essential oils for a cough and congestion.  A couple of great ways came to mind.  I like using a roller ball applicator and placing a breathe blend near my nostrils, along my jaw line, and rubbed onto my chest.  Be sure your oils are well diluted (about 5-6 drops per ounce of a carrier oil like olive oil or grapeseed oil) if applying directly to the skin.  I love using campherous oils like Rosemary, Eucalyptus, and Peppermint for this purpose.  These oils act fast at clearing acute congestion.

Another great way is through a steam facial bath.  Using hot, steamy water in a mixing bowl, I add about 10 drops of my favorite sinus oils (I prefer grapefruit and lavender for this purpose), place a towel over your head and lower above the bowl and inhale deeply.  The steam breaks up mucous and carries the essential oil molecules into your sinuses, helping to clear them.  Because of the chemical components in both the grapefruit and lavender (limonene, linalol, and linyl acetate) this blend is great for boosting the immune system, fighting inflammation, and is also antispasmodic, helping to control coughing.

Inhalation is the other very effective way to use essential oils for allergies and congestion.  It takes a very small amount of oil, and, in the spirit of Earth Day, I recommend reusing essential oil bottles rater than purchasing plastic personal inhalers.  The great benefits of this are cost (let's face it, you probably have at least 3 that you could dig out of your recycle bin), because they are glass, they wash and sanitize easily in the dishwasher, and you are reusing something for a similar use to what it was originally intended.  You can make an inhaler 2 ways.  Always start with a clean, sanitized essential oil bottle, 15ml or larger works best.  Remove the plastic orifice reducer (this can be recycled or saved for other applications).  Place several drops of your essential oils of choice on a clean cotton ball or piece of quilt batting small enough to push into the bottle.  Place the cap on the bottle and let the blend settle in.  As needed, open up the bottle, hold close to your nose, and inhale.  When you want to change the blend (maybe the allergies are gone but now you have nausea!) just use a tweezers to pull the cotton ball out, wash, and reuse again.  An alternative to the cotton ball is to fill the bottle with course Himalayan Sea Salt.  The small salt molecules that are carried with the essential oils as you inhale can help to thin out mucous, clearing congestion, and also benefit the immune system with it's anti-microbial, anti-fungal, and antibacterial properties.  Enjoy!