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Prairieland Herbs is a mother-daughter team, Donna Julseth and Maggie Julseth Howe. They started Prairieland Herbs as an official, full-time business in September, 1998. In July, 1999, they moved into a renovated shop. They have almost 2 acres of land, which is filled by Donna's house, various outbuildings, and gardens everywhere. They grow a wide variety of perennial and annual herbs and flowers, and spend their summers planting, mulching, harvesting and drying herbs and flowers for use in their herbally infused oils and other herbal preparations, as well as dried flowers and bouquets and wreaths.
Donna and Maggie create, bottle, label, and package orders entirely by hand. All of their herbal products are made in small batches, using fresh, natural, food-grade ingredients (except the fragrance oils). Their kitchen is filled with bags of herbs, bottles of oils, jars of honey, buckets of oatmeal, salts, sugars, and much more--simple raw ingredients that are recognizable and understandable--no scary synthetics, preservatives, or petroleum by-products.
"Our skin is the largest organ of our body. It is
our protection from the outside world, but also our filter that allows us
to interact with our environment. Our skin absorbs and internalizes what
we put on it - from simple lotions to powerful medications (think about
many medications that are administered transdermally, or through the skin
- nicotine patch, birth control patch, morphine, and more!). Everyday we
have a choice - what are we going to put on our skin? Are we going to use
a cheap, petrochemical-laden lotion, or a handmade lotion chock full of
herbs, beneficial oils, and aromatherapeutic essential oils? Are we going
to use a mass-produced "detergent" soap full of synthetic dyes
and fragrances, or a natural, handmade soap made entirely of ingredients
you can pronounce and understand? The more we at Prairieland Herbs read
labels, learn about cosmetic ingredients, and understand the complex interactions
that our bodies have with the universe around us, the more we are inclined
to choose simple, natural ingredients to use on our skin and hair (and especially
our pets and children!)
Our shop kitchen is filled with the same type of
ingredients you might find in your own kitchen - salt, sugar, oatmeal, oils,
honey, milk powder. Our gardens, food co-ops, local farmer's markets and
beekeepers provide us with the raw materials; we combine them to create
natural, luscious bath and body products for you. We only use things we
can understand, pronounce, and hopefully even eat! (We figure if the raw
ingredients aren't edible, they're probably not something we'd like to put
on our skin. We figure it's a pretty good rule of thumb.) As you can see [on the product pages], we do NOT use any synthetic
preservatives, so please bear in mind that these are natural bath and body
products, and use them within a timely manner - generally, 6 months is a
good rule of thumb, but sooner is better! (We've had products last for literally
years without going bad, but unfortunately not all will last quite that
long!"
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