Preserving Summer Flowers

Cracked fingertips, painful heels, dry skin, insomnia, bloating, stress, anxiety, mature skin, eczema, grief, doubt, anger, frustration, and more. Just a few minor things that affect your health that you could support at home without a doctor’s prescription.

Last fall I become a soap maker and this spring I become a Certified Aromatherapist.

Ever since, my home has been converted into a spa/giant therapy session. If I were to ask you, “How are you sleeping?” your response would tell me much about your current health. Then we’d have a conversation and you’d walk out with some concoction I’ve made for you to put on your skin, to smell before bed, take a shower with, or rub on your feet. Through this new knowledge I have a new relationship with the plants I thought I knew so well. And I’ve realized the way I’ve been gardening flowers is wasteful…or perhaps I should say, the potential hasn’t been fully realized.

Growing flowers for the floral design industry alone produces a lot of waste. Imagine rose petals shattering in the heat, lavender shedding from the ceiling, calendula too short for bouquets….. these scenarios are awful for cut flower farms but bottle them up and they are like gold in aromatherapy, the practice of using botanicals for medicinal purposes instead of just perfume.

Last October, I had the privilege of attending a soap making residency at SAIPUA in New York. I’d buy their soap whenever I could find it at a boutique. It was so special and made my skin incredibly soft plus the aroma was from plants I recognized. So spending a week on their farm was a treat that stirred something inside me. While there I lived for a week communally. Sharing meals, hallways, and spent all day talking soap, farming, and food. The hardest thing I learned while I was there was blending essential oils into an aroma that was balanced instead of making you cringe. I spent all winter smelling and developing my nose.

Then this spring a customer introduced me to Science of Essentials and Holly’s certified aromatherapy program. A program that I thought would just help me understand how to blend oils into something pleasant for my soap. Little did I know what I would learn would send me on a trajectory into the world of aromatherapy. Not just soap, but a whole slew of things that I have dabbled in for years without proper education. Now 100 hours later, I see those spent flowers in the garden and I’m inspired. They are ready to be collected. Nothing is wasted. I can distill them, infuse them, make products that I love for my family and maybe I could get good enough to share them with my community.

When I started SHEGROWS 7 years ago, I was adamant that the title under the logo would say “Lavender & Flower Farm.” Lavender first, symbolizing aromatics for health, and flowers , symbolizing cut flowers for design. This was a commitment to myself to grow flowers for healing purposes that I unconscious knew was part of my story. Lavender was the catalyst for the study of using plants way back in the day, and it was my catalyst for starting SHEGROWS in 2018. While it's taken twist and turns to figure out how it all works together, I am finally starting to see the edges of the puzzle.

Now I imagine a farmstore filled flowers AND products. Fresh flowers from our gardens that are used for design but then when they are spent, they don’t head to the compost pile instead they head to the distiller. Soap, oils, and balms that support your hygiene but also your emotions. Ones that are made from real essential oils instead of synthetics. Products that give you clear skin and also confidence, grounding, and energy when you need it most. Aroma’s that you’ll recognize from your own garden bottled up and made to support you on your journey.

So, how are you sleeping these days? I might have something for you. Shop now.

In Community,

Gina