Welcome to the Personality Spotlight, Sally. Please tell
us about yourself and your background.
I grew
up in Ohio raised by two people who loved the natural world.
Our family time was focused on the outdoors and all it had to
offer. My husband was raised much the same. It was a natural
evolution for both of us, after experiencing life on both
coasts, to return to one of the places we loved most, Meadowlake Farm. It was here, on this 100 acres that we
decided to put down deep roots, build our last home and create
a peaceful sanctuary for ourselves and our bees. Our careers
and family have taken us from Ohio to California, Oregon and
back. I am a registered nurse specializing in neonatal
intensive care, a clinical preceptor for Case Western Reserve
University and have enjoyed a long and successful career as a
commercial architect. Together, we share life long passions
for ecological stewardship, and healthy, aesthetic living and
have built Meadowlake Farm Products with those principles in
mind.
Having a medical background, you bring a different perspective
to your product line. Please share that with us.
I suspect the
evolution of our business was predictable. The synergy of who
we are served as a foundation. My work in research and
my knowledge about natural therapies lead me to the
exploration of honey as a topical healer and the founding of
Meadowlake Farm Products after my husband decided to establish
an organic apiary on our beloved family farm. Working in
the worlds of science and business has afforded me with a
unique opportunity to apply my knowledge, resources and
experience to our product development and to know early on
what business model we would create, what ethics we would
embrace and who we wanted to work with.
I know that you have some interesting stories about chemical
sensitivities. Would you care to share about this?
I can not discount
the significance of a chapter in my life when I suffered
serious health problems directly resulting from chronic
exposure to environmental chemicals as contributing to my
convictions regarding synthetic chemical and their effects on
living things. In addition, I had a cousin and her unborn
child who died after she was diagnosed with leukemia. She was
a chemist in the synthetic fragrance industry. Her work was
considered the direct cause of her illness.
Another fascinating thing that you offer that most
manufacturers don't are bee products from your own farm, as
you are actual bee keepers there! We'd love to hear more about
bees, and how important they are in your manufacturing.
The organic
products our bees produce are the backbone of our products. We
use all of the substances found in the hive with the exception
of royal jelly. The queen has to be killed to obtain this
product and certainly we are not killing our queens. The
natural and organic ingredients we combine with them are
supportive. Our products are health therapies, something the
United States and its medical community, ruled by the
pharmaceutical giants, knows tragically little about. In my
research I came to understand the central role honey products
play in treating serious skin conditions, burns and
unresponsive wounds in clinical settings in other nations like
the UK and Australia. I saw the need for a U.S. company to
offer the same, but with a distinct difference... organic, raw
products created on the same farm where the bees live and
work. We offer 100% natural and organic products of the finest quality
imaginable.
You shared some very interesting information about the
disappearance of the bee population recently with our site.
I'd love to hear in your own words what is happening and what
we can do to help this situation.
We dedicate a
considerable amount of time and effort to addressing the issue
honey bees face. We are part of a very small minority of bee
keepers who practice organic management of our hives. Our
colonies are healthy. Honeybees and other pollinators are
dying because of our unsound environmental choices,
conventional management strategies, mono agriculture and our
growing dependence on synthetic chemicals. The search for a
solution is far more complex than the problem itself since we
have all come to rely on a system of agriculture that is by
essence of its very name, flawed. Living things can not be
forced to live successfully within a system. It goes
against the design and intent of nature. We have to learn that, all of
us, if this earth is going to survive our presence.
What people
can do on an individual basis is buy local and buy organic. If
you can't afford to buy all organic, buy some organic. The
collective impact will be huge. Do not use synthetic
pesticides or herbicides in your gardens. Mostly, do not sit
back and do nothing. Make no mistake. We can not survive
without the honeybee. In the words of one of the leading
scientists working on this problem, "This is a crisis on top of
a crisis." Those of us at Meadowlake Farm are working on the
development of a biological agent to help the honeybee endure
the alien environmental stressors they are facing. Pray for
our success.
Please tell us about your business, why you started it, and
what you see for its future.
Our business was founded for one reason. To help people and
the environment and to do so beyond the pitfalls of
conventional medicine and corporate industry. We are a humble
lot that shy away from glitzy words and campaigns. A lot of
our work is done through natural practitioners who understand
the unique properties our products possess.
We have many plans for the future. We have partnered with some
wonderful scientists who share our vision. One being,
establishing a medicinal plant sanctuary for research and
preservation.
Every business goes through ups and downs and makes mistakes.
What would you change if you could start all over, and what
did you learn? Also, what advice do you have for those that
want to start their own beauty businesses?
I have to be
frank. I am not a person who views life's challenges as
mistakes. If I were, I could not continue to hold the frailest
of human beings in my hands on a daily basis and say that all
our combined efforts to save them were a mistake. I can not
look at anything we've done thus far and see a mistake, and
this is not arrogance. Life is for learning. My advice to
anyone going into any business is the same. Do it for the
betterment of the world as a whole and you will not make
mistakes. The world can only be better for your having tried.
Every business faces challenges. My biggest challenge
in the beginning was getting people to understand what it was
that I was talking about and that remains the biggest
challenge today. It can be exhausting and frustrating to
retrain people to think differently about something as
familiar as honey. The best advice I have for anyone starting
new is to create products you are passionate about, know your
target market and be persistent. It takes time to create
something wonderful.
What kinds of products do you offer? Please tell us
specifically about your most popular items and your personal
favorites.
My goal has been to
formulate products that would offer exceptional
characteristics along with their therapeutic properties. I
formulate my own essential oil blends that lend wonderful
aromas to the creams. The superior carrier oils I use provide
an elegant glide and feel. The fact that I am being pursued to
formulate for other companies speaks to the success of my
formulations. Our Restorative Face Cream is an amazing
product. Our Wound Healing Salve is sitting in a lot of
medicine chests across this country and abroad. Our Hive
Isolates TM line of therapies, designed to deliver their
properties far beyond the skin, are already demonstrating
tremendous results in a wide variety of conditions and
consequently being stocked by naturopaths the world over.
Do you have any books that you'd recommend for someone that is
interested in all-natural beauty care?
I can't admit that
I do. I read about two to three hours every day and I feel as
though I will never know all that I should know. I am a born
researcher. My reading encompasses scientific publications,
journal articles and research findings. I would definitely
recommend that all information be backed by sound scientific
evidence if it is to be considered credible. This industry is
laden with misinformation because many of its participants
simply do not understand, or care to understand science, the
workings of the human body, the world of agriculture that
produces many of the raw materials they use or the chemistry
of all of the above. What I am proposing is a wariness of any
of the extremes when it comes to information.
And last but certainly not least, what would be your ideal
'spa' day?
My ideal spa day is
one I indulge in every day on Meadowlake Farm. We are blessed
to live here. This farm has a long and interesting history as
a place of serenity. It was established by a founder in the
Mormon faith. Later, a homeopath bought it, bottled its spring
water and operated Ohio's first nudist camp on the property.
Of course, that was all before my husband's family purchased
it in the 1950's at which time it became a gentleman's farm
dedicated to beauty and solitude. I have not found that any of
life's luxuries, special as they are, hold a candle to a walk
in the woods here, nor should they. God is the one true
creator of perfection and the greatest perfection I see exists
in the hives of Meadowlake Farm.
Please make sure to visit:
