We have been here at Millstream for over 25 years, and have nearly 4 acres of land. We had our house moved here, & originally we lived in the middle of a paddock. Now our gardens are maturing, it’s hard to imagine the place without trees everywhere. We have a commitment to organic gardening techniques wherever possible. The land includes a wonderful wild creek, (with tame eels we can feed by hand,) & some steep banks where a whole variety of trees grow.
The plants used in making our salves come from our gardens, are gathered wild from our land, & rarely from plant matter or extracts that we buy in. We do purchase Essential Oils.
Most of our ointments are made using herbal macerations in Olive Oil. Maceration is the process of steeping fresh herbs in oil & leaving in the sun for several weeks, or gently heating the mixture to transfer the herbal oils from the plant into the oil. Beeswax is added to give a firm consistency, & contributes healing properties. This makes application and storage, cleaner & easier. . This basic process is wonderfully timeless & probably varies little from the original methods that Wise Women & the early Monks used,(except that they used pig fat or goose grease!)
We are very happy to continue using Matapiro Olive Oil, which is great quality & local, also the beeswax which we get from Arataki Honey, in Havelock North. Adding to our local suppliers we are now getting Lavender Essential Oil from Stoney Creek, Maraekakaho. This is spray-free, organically grown, but not certified. It smells divine & has been seasoned for several years.
Another delicious smelling addition is organically grown Rose Hydrosol, this comes from Whakatane, made from Damask Roses, & is a far superior option to commercial Rosewater. As we re-make our ointments these new additions will replace our existing ingredients. We’re also sourcing a lovely Organic Cider Vinegar, from Levin. This is the basis of our Vinegar Hair Rinses & an ingredient in the Baby Wash Solution, & D Bug Headlice Removal Lotion. Luckily for us & you, these new additions haven’t cost the earth, (no pun intended, but it’s quite a good line huh?)
Aromatics and More, the company that supplies us with many of our oils etc. has a ‘Green’ listing for many of it’s products. The ratings are 4)naturally derived from renewable resources 3) made from natural ingredients which have been modified in some way, by chemical process, catalyst or reaction aid 2)a mix of natural & synthetic 1)Synthetic Looking at our more complex ingredients, luckily only a few; cetearyl alcohol & Polysorbate 60 are 3)s ( these are both emulsifiers) Of the preservatives we use Potassium sorbate is 2) & Naturaguard is 3) at present Liquid Germall doesn’t have a rating. There’s a new multi function preservative available now, called Geoguard rated 3) which sounds more user friendly, at this stage we are having a few challenges adapting our recipes to work with it. You can check out the site & info if you like at www.Aromaticsandmore.com
Containers: We’ve stopped using the 50gm Plastic Pots, so now the After-Shave Balm, Forty Plus & Galen’s Cold Cream are in 60ml brown glass jars. (50gm & 60ml work out the the same for oil based products.) We can no longer get a steady supply of the papier mache gift boxes, so we’re getting plain boxes which are white on the outside, & brown cardboard on the inside, we think they look really good, especially with our photos on the lid.