There is nothing quite like a luxurious handmade body product. They make the best holiday gifts! We're so excited to have Mount Pleasant Herbary vending at Holiday on the Square!
Tell us about Mount
Pleasant Herbary and what you do…
My name is Gudrun, and I am
the founder of Mount Pleasant Herbary. I learned a lot about growing herbs and
their beneficial properties from my mother, who is an active gardener. After
moving from Germany to the US in 2002, I desperately missed the wide selection
of herbal tea blends I could choose from in my home country - so I started
growing my own. My friends loved my teas and wanted more - that's how Mount
Pleasant Herbary came to life in 2009. Shortly after I added botanical soaps,
salves and Buckwheat pillows that can be heated up in the microwave. Creating
natural, nourishing herbal products is truly what I love to do, and I believe
your senses will notice the effort, creativity and love I put into my
creations.
90% of all herbs used in my products are grown in the Mount Pleasant Herbary
Garden without the use of herbicides or pesticides. Lavender buds for sachets
and the Buckwheat pillows are purchased from organic suppliers.
What kinds of products do you create and sell?
My best seller is the botanical soap. It is a cold process soap that is vegan
(the base is olive oil, coconut oil, cocoa butter & castor oil), and made
with essential oils only (with the exception of coffee soap), and herbs from
the Mount Pleasant Herbary Garden. All soaps are made with botanical
"chunks": dried herbs are grinded to powder and added to triple
milled soap. After hardening, the herb infused soap will be cut into stripes
and added to a fresh batch of soap (while it is still liquid). This process is
gentle on the herbs and keeps their beneficial properties intact.
One day I made a batch of
soap that was not very nice looking, yet it was perfectly fine soap. I
remembered a felting class I had taken years ago and turned the ugly looking
soap into a batch of felted soap. My customers loved it, and so the felted soap
became a part of my product line. (I am not waiting for any more for a batch of
soap that looks ugly though - I purposely make soap that has the same high quality
vegan ingredients but is slightly smaller).
As I mentioned before, I also
sell Buckwheat pillows in different sizes: There are neck pillows (great for
tense muscles in your shoulder and neck area), eye pillows (relaxing after the
end of a yoga session) and BooBoo pillows (little pillows that can be stored in
the freezer until a child needs this comforting and soothing touch in form of a
little pillow).
Not too long ago I also
started making herbal salves: Calendula salve, Plantain salve, Baby salve, Bug
repellent and lip balms.
What will you be featuring at Arts on the Square?
I will bring some molded
soaps with me that make great gifts for the holidays. There will be fairies,
star and tree shaped soaps, soaps that say "joy" and teddy bear soaps
for kids.
I also just created a new
felted soap for men. It is made with a darker color and scented with essential
bay rum, vetiver and cedar oil. Since felted soap is perfect for scrubbing off
garden dirt, paint, grease, etc. from your hands, it will be a perfect gift for
the handyman in your life.
There will also be gift packages available in all different price ranges, nicely decorated with ribbons pine cones.
Where else can our readers find your products during
this holiday season?
I will be selling my items at
local Farmer's Markets (Cooperage in Honesdale PA and Callicoon NY) and at
Holiday Shows in the area (Scranton Cultural Center on November 30th and
Cooperage in Honesdale on Dec. 14th).
Are you products sold in stores?
Tell us about the classes you teach. What do you have coming up?
I am planning on hosting some
classes after the holidays when everything calms down a bit. I am thinking of
teaching several classes about making your own creams and moisturizers,
deodorant, lip balms and other body products. Then I would like to teach a
class about making your own herbal cleaning products. Time and Places still
need to be confirmed, so make sure you like MPH on Facebook or sign up at my
booth with your email address in order to receive updated information.
Is there anything else you would like to share with
our readers?
What I love most about what I
am doing is the contrast between a quiet day at home, harvesting herbs or
making a fresh batch of soap in my kitchen, and then the hustle and bustle that
comes with an event like "Art on the Square". Meeting my customers
who appreciate the efforts and love I put into my products, is the reason why I
keep reloading my car over and over
again.
Follow Mount Pleasant Herbary
