"My, she was yar...It means, uh...easy to handle, quick to the helm, fast, right. Everything a boat should be..."   -Katharine Hepburn as Tracy Lord in 'The Philadelphia Story' (movie, 1940)

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The quest for yar! Thoughtful design and a quality build gives a sailboat her yar. Am I the only one who sees the connection to vegan botanical skincare?

Yar is an idea I use to create my recipes. I want each balm, serum, salve, mask and soap to be right and everything it should be.

A product's sustainability contributes to its being right so we're working with only a few select organically-grown herbs from small farms in the U.S. The seaweeds in our blends are hand-harvested from the Maine coast by a family owned & operated small business.

All the herbs used I know up-close-and-personal having grown them for years in my own garden. For topical use, my favorites are Calendula, Red Clover, Marshmallow, Rose, St. Johnswort, Rosemary, Yarrow, Sage, and Echinacea.

If you’ve raised an eyebrow at the idea of using Echinacea, an endangered herb, for skincare not medicine I want you to know I twisted myself up in knots over it. Seven of the nine species of Echinacea are listed as either Threatened or Endangered because of loss of habitat and uncontrolled, uncaring wild harvest.

Why use Echinacea then? Its antioxidant properties play a key role in skin's rejuvenation. It’s also anti-inflammatory and antiseptic, making it a valuable wound healer.

It’s a bit philosophical too. Echinacea is one of my favorite plants and I'd like to help spread the word it's much more than the "immune-stimulant" it's primarily marketed as.

Echinacea has been used to treat infections, snake bite, spider bite, bee stings, and lymphatic stasis.¹

This pretty coneflower is also my poster child for using the aerial parts of plants instead of roots. Both the flowers and leaves of Echinacea can be used. Why not leave those roots in the ground?

Weighing all these things, I feel good about using cultivated Echinacea for beauty. It supports farmers who by growing it are supporting pollinators; it takes pressure off the wild populations; it can help deepen people's knowledge about this multifaceted plant.

Hopefully it will make you feel yar too.

 ¹ "The Book of Herbal Wisdom", Matthew Wood (1997)