"The Box"

For those of you who ship freight on a regular basis, this is probably no big deal.  But to us, you'd think we were sending our grandchildren to the moon!  We've been planning our trade show booth space for Natural Products Expo West for several months now and it all culminated yesterday in the packing of  "The Box"....a 58 x 42 x 46 inch plywood crate that hopefully transports our goods safely all the way to California and back.  

Mind you, we've had the 10 x 10 booth set up in our warehouse for weeks.  Adding.  Subtracting.  Tweaking.  Perfecting.  But the real question now is....will it all fit?

Miraculously, yes.  But let's shrink wrap it to keep it snug.  

Add a few walls, a lid and voila.  I can't tell you how relieved we are in this picture!

Throw a tarp over it all to keep the 40% chance of rain off (and of course it did)...and there you go.

Ready for blast off this morning!  See you in Cali.

GMO A Go-Go!

Yes, But Is It Really Organic?

  

I recently saw this posted on a website..."if you don't see the USDA Certified Organic seal, the word "organic" doesn't mean anything. The important thing is the ingredients."

Well...yes...and no.  

I mean yes, the USDA certified organic seal is a pretty good indicator that the product is made according to the standards set forth by that agency. No one can deny that and that's all well and good.  But for those of us who don't have time to jump through all the hoops that USDA organic certification requires (and believe me, they are NUMEROUS and it's expensive too!)...does that mean our use of "organic" or "certified organic" doesn't mean anything?  

Well...no!  Of course not.  When we say an ingredient is organic, we mean it's certified organic.  That particular ingredient has been certified by one of the organic certifying agencies and just because the product as a whole isn't USDA certified organic, doesn't mean that some of the individual ingredients aren't.  In this case, as in all ethical businesses, organic means something.  

But yes, I wholeheartedly agree with the statement that "the important thing is the ingredients."  Check the ingredient list to see for yourself what's in there. We use tons of certified organic ingredients that carry the seal in our products. Companies like ours who incur the extra expense of using organic ingredients deserve to get some respect too.  I know that greenwashing is rampant these days, but that doesn't mean that every company who hasn't earned the USDA certified organic seal is doing it!

Sure, I hope we actually do have the time and money to get our organic soaps and body care products USDA certified someday (because they most definitely qualify)...but until then, you'll just have to take our word for it.  Things like honesty and integrity ought to count for something.  Don't you think?