It is this time of the year again! A couple of weeks ago I received an email from the wonderful Anne who grows healing plants for our WD formulas. Every year around this time, Anne wants to know what to plant and how much to plant for WD for the year. It takes a lot of planning on her part to deliver what WD needs. And it’s not that easy to plan because weather changes and every growing season is a little different. For example some years calendula grows in abundance and other years it is too dry and flowers are scarce. So it is a bit of a guessing game.

It also is a guessing game for WD. How much product will we need to provide for our clients this year, determines how much plant material we need to purchase. Will we expand in the coming year or will we slow down is the question. We can try to project but with today’s economic situation, it gets very tricky.

So every season, I say a prayer and ask for only that which will be needed.

I never want to order too much, because dry plants do diminish both in life force and their effectiveness as time passes. I also don’t want to waste any. And if I order too little, there is no going back. Whatever is planted is planted and there is no more even if we run out.

Working directly with the grower certainly has a lot of nuances. We could have opted for buying plant material from big suppliers. It’s much easier for sure! We could order whenever we want, and if we want more, there is always more. It is also a lot cheaper. Like three times plus cheaper. So why not do it the easy way?

THE QUALITY OF PLANT MATERIAL

When you see dehydrated plant material from plants grown by Anne and those purchased from a large scale supplier, no explanation is really needed.

Anne’s plants are full of vibrant colour and aroma and are packed with antioxidants and phytonutrients. Intense colours and scents, are the testament to their vitality.

Most of the plants from big suppliers look pale and tired as if life was completely drained from them. And it actually did!

When I purchase plants from Anne, I am 100% sure that I am provided with this year’s harvest. Anne tends to the soil, nourishes it and prepares it for each growing season. She is devoted to the science of organic and biodynamic growing and continuously expands her knowledge.

With large suppliers, I actually would never know. Corporate organic farming, often happens in old mechanistic ways. Nothing to do with the connection to the earth, caring and wellbeing. There is a demand, therefore it is profitable, therefore it exists.

During summer months, I can drop by Anne’s farm and I can visit with the plants as they are growing. This in itself is an incredible gift to a skin care maker. Witness what becomes my formulas while still in the ground is a wonderful mind trip:)

Did you know that WD receives fresh plant material from the farm the same day it was harvested? We rush most of it into the dehydrator to preserve its healing qualities using a very low heat process. When dehydration is complete, some plants are infused in oil and some are carefully stored for later use. Plants which need to be infused fresh, like St John’s Wort, are immediately placed in jars and covered with oil.

Plants infused in oils are called herbal extracts and they are the foundation for WD skin care formulas.

INVESTING IN OUR COMMUNITY AND LOCAL ECONOMY

I consciously want to support small producers like Anne and I am forever grateful for the support she provides to me and WD! It is an exchange not only of $ and product but a conscious exchange of energy in a pursuit of creating a more beautiful world for all of us.

I know Anne the human, and I know that she is a kind, caring person who loves feeling connected to the land and the plants. She excels at providing an incredible service to the local community by offering healing herbs, food from her gardens and the best maple syrup I have ever tasted. I want more of what Anne does in our lives! And my products are certainly better thanks to her efforts.

Supporting local has never been more important than today. I believe that in the coming years we will need to rely more and more on local growers, farmers and makers. Hopefully we will learn and understand that small organic growers are at the base of our wellbeing. Those who produce organic food and herbs in tune with nature are essential to our health.

As a small grassroots beauty company, it is WD’s goal to support our local community through providing the healthiest, most effective and accessible skin care products directly to our clients.

We also feel that products created with local plants are best suited for the local skin care.

Over the years we have been asked to sell our products in the US and in Europe. Even though it would assure an expansion and more sales, I refused. You may call me not business savvy but I have a very strong conviction in hyper-local service and although very important, $ is not a driving force for WD.

We have been also asked to wholesale WD products, and I refused that too:) Our price point is such that it has a modest markup so we can make a living:) and at the same time it makes our products accessible to everyday women.

If we would expand to the wholesale market then our price would have to double (or more) in order to make it feasible for us and for everyone else who would be providing our products. We would either have to drastically raise prices or downgrade to low-quality, cheap, raw ingredients. We will do neither:)

How can we ever make a shift to a healthier life for all, if high quality organic skin care and food is accessible only to high income earners? Not a chance! So this is how we choose to contribute to our local community.

Then in return you purchase WD skin care products and not only feed your skin with amazing quality ‘skin food’ but you also support a small business like mine and indirectly Anne’s as well. And in this simple way together we create a beautiful circle of exchange of wellbeing, beauty, healing energy, care and yes money. I trust this is the way forward and this is how together we sow the seeds for a new purposeful and expanded way of life.

Love & Light,

Magdalena xo

Summer is my absolutely favourite time for Woman Divine.

This is the time of bounty, when local healing plants are harvested for our formulations and for our treatments.

Every year, I impatiently wait for the days when I can visits our friend and partner grower, Anne Janssen of Creek’n Tree Farm.

It’s truly a blessing to visit Anne and her land, to get a peak into her day and to be part of the harvest. Even if for a few hours.

I make the point to do this every year simply so I can be close to the growing plants but also so I can always remember how much work goes into growing medicine and food. I find that this keeps me humble and fills me with gratitude both to the earth and to the people who work so hard to feed us and to feed our skin.

We were chatting with Anne while harvesting her beautiful plants and it is obvious that Anne does what she does simply because it’s her passion. It is a labour of love which is physically demanding and somewhat unpredictable as we never know what weather conditions we will be presented with during a given year.

Generally, organic growers are not in it for the money. Most find prosperity through providing a valuable service, through doing work which supports healthy life on the planet and they absolutely treasure their connection to the land and to the plant life.

when I say that local growers feed us well, I really mean it:) all grown with Anne’s hands and on her land.

Anne tends to the soil and grows plants with her hands. She doesn’t use any machines so the process is slow and as she says herself, it’s not efficient.

For Woman Divine, Anne picks flower by flower with her loving hands. She carefully plans how to group plants so they can support each other as they grow together. There is science and incredible devotion to everything Anne does.

I am honoured to know Anne. Woman Divine products wouldn’t be what they are without Anne’s love for the land and her hard work.

Nothing that we do, we do alone. Prosperity and success mean different things to different people. My hope for the world is that we will value that which brings wellbeing and sustains life over that which brings profits alone. I see it as the only way to move forward if we are to continue as part of life on Mother Earth. There is no time to waste. We each need to do our part. Voting with your $$$ is a good place to start.

Magdalena xo

Sowing seeds.

Visit to the farm.