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Rosehips are a beautiful sight in the fall and winter in the prairie landscape and are plentiful in the Edmonton river valley and parks. Have you ever foraged for them or thought about it?

They are a highly potent vitamin C rich wild food, having many times the vitamin C of an orange! 

I used to think the richest product for our skin was a lotion, but surprisingly it's not and I'm about to tell you why. Lotions have a high concentration of water (generally 50% of the content), which makes them cheap to produce, but also hard to keep shelf stable without spoiling, hence they have lots of emulsifiers, preservatives, and stabilizers, many of which are toxic substances and known carcinogens. Yuck. 

Our bodies are 80%+ water, so wouldn't a water-based product be nourishing? Surprisingly the answer is no. The reason is, our bodies were meant to be hydrated from the INSIDE out through drinking fluids and consuming healthy, juicy foods. Our skin doesn't really like water. In fact, our skin has a layer of oil that our own body produces to protect us from the environment. It's called sebum. Without it, our skin cracks, and dried out from exposure to wind and water. Think of professionals who have their hands in water all day or must wash them several times a day such as health professionals, cooking staff, etc. If water were nourishing to our hands, they should have the softest skin of anyone! But they don't, not without slathering on lots of creams, all day long etc.

So, if lotion isn't the most nourishing for our skin, what is? Products that contain mostly oils, plant butters, and waxes are the best for our skin as they mimic the action of the sebum. e.g's being salves, body butters, body oils, creams (with a low water content). Body butters are excellent moisturizers that work hard and provide lasting protection throughout the day. Check out our rich moisturizers in our online shop such as our Whipped Cocolicious Body Butter. It smells like chocolate heaven! 

Microbeads are becoming an increasing concern for environmentalists and conservationists around the world. Why? They account for nearly 20% of plastic pollution in some of our water systems such as the Great Lakes. Yikes! This means our oceans and waterways are become a plastic soup which affects wildlife and their habitat. That fish you are eating, well they may have swallowed lots of plastic microbeads before being caught. yuck, right?! So, what are they and how are they getting into our water? They are tiny balls of plastic added to many cosmetic and personal care products marketed as exfolliators. They...

Happy thanksgiving! This year has been an amazing year in so many ways. I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Iris in February on a very cold day and got to experience the joy of motherhood for the first time, I spent another season volunteering with Operation Fruit Rescue Edmonton (OFRE), picking fruit and helping people get registered as fruit pick volunteers and fruit growers, and I have begun to shift my business in a way that more greatly reflects what I am about and what I want to share with the world. For all of these things...

This may sound strange to many of you, but I really don't use much soap anymore. Your thinking gross, right? Relax, I still use soap to wash my hands, so don't worry! That is a good idea as it helps prevent the spread of germs around the house and with friends. We all want to keep our friends, right? My inspiration When I was growing up, I worked at a corn stand in the summers. It was run by a Dutch family and the owner's parents who lived on the property, insisted I called them Oma and Opa, which is...