I didn’t want to put chemicals on my skin. I built this cream for myself and I am determined to stick with my original mission – produce a natural cream that is good for my body, and for the environment. Each ingredient has a story and I am proud to be able to include them in my lotions.
Our ginger is sourced by Thomas Tumbach – childhood friend from kindergarten. Thomas’s dad was a hard working, salt of the earth farmer from Saskatchewan. Farming has always been in Thomas’s blood. It’s special to be able to work with Thomas to source organic ginger from small, family farms in the tropics. Thomas owns localmotive.ca, which is an organic food delivery system and also the first store to carry our creams.
Formulating our first cream with my aunt and uncle deep in the Kooteny’s of BC.
My aunt is chopping beeswax from their beehives out back.
My skin cream adventure started with a visit to my uncle’s farm in Grand Forks BC. As a child, I looked forward to our summer vacations to my uncle’s farm in the BC Kootenays. I talked about my desire to make a that didn’t contain chemicals. My aunt made some lotion for me using my uncle’s very own beeswax. I “helped” and drank some cappuccino with my uncle as I became inspired to make my own creams. I left with some extra beeswax, and a single minded obsession to create my own natural cream.
I had the honor and pleasure of working with Seabalance during their initial product development and launch. The brilliant and compassionate team at Seabalance found a way to upcycle the seaweed that was clogging beaches in the Caribbean to create a sustainable cosmetic emulsifier with a silky texture.
Hard plants contain more Polyphenols. We proudly use Atlas Organic Cold Pressed Moroccan Extra Virgin Olive Oil in our lotions. These hardy olive trees live in the Moroccan desert. We source from a One Single Family Farm. Our organic olive oil is trusted by Michelin Star Chefs. We are delighted to include it in our lotions.
As a cancer survivor, I resisted adding a preservative, but it’s necessary in any cream that contains water. I chose a preservative that didn’t contact names I couldn’t pronounce. After talking to my high school chemistry teacher, I decided to use a preservative with one alcohol and three acids (Benzyl Alcohol, Salicylic Acid, Glycerin, and Sorbic Acid). Geo Guard is COSMOS and ECOCERT approved. I don’t always use preservatives, but when I do, it’s Geo Guard.
I don’t want my product to end up in landfills and I will only use packaging that I feel good about. We use sustainable, plant-based material, derived from sugarcane. This material is a renewable HDPE bioplastic.
The process follows harvesting sugarcane, extracting the ethanol from the plant, and converting that ethanol into a plant-based HDPE. The production of our sugarcane material is about 97% carbon neutral. This is due to the CO2 swallowed from the Earth’s atmosphere by the sugarcane plant. Another benefit of these containers is that they are 100% recyclable and can be fed into the material cycle together with other HDPE materials as it is classified as a #2 recyclable.
The Summerland food hub supports local farmers by helping them create and market value-added products, like jams and sauces, to reach wider markets in Canada and the USA. By providing resources for processing, packaging, and distribution, the hub enables farmers to increase revenue while enhancing food security by making locally produced goods more accessible. This approach strengthens the regional food system, ensuring a stable supply of quality, local products that contribute to both economic resilience and community well-being.