Today’s giveaway is brought to you by Wooly Moss Roots Sponsor- Twysted Thystle.
I’ve enjoyed getting to know Deb, of Twysted Thystle, and love how passionate she is about what she does. I am sure Deb and I would find plenty to chat about over a cup of tea, if we weren’t living in different states. And I love Heather’s colorful, fun artwork, that adds so much character to each product. (You’ll hear more about that below.) It brings the heart joy to see people doing what they love, doesn’t it?
I’ve asked Deb to introduce herself and her business to you. In her words:
I would first like to say that we are very excited to be new sponsors of Wooly Moss Roots blog!!
Thank you for giving this opportunity to share our products with your readers.
Ok, on to who we are. We are a small home based herbal company based in the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, at about 9000 ft. elevation. My name is Deborah, and my passion for the last 16 years of my life has been herbs. I have 6 children, yep, that’s right 6 awesome homeschooled kiddos! Ages range from almost 2 – 21!! After 2 horrible hospital births, I finally smartened up and the youngest 4 of them were born in water, at home, and I would never have it any other way. I was a teenage mom, having my first baby at age 17 and I can honestly say that he was the best thing that ever happened to me ♥ At that time I knew nothing about Mothering, nothing about health, nothing about nutrition, and I had a LOT of discouraging “help”. Like when I slept with my baby because he was crying and it quieted him right down being snuggled up to me, I was told that I would smother him and/or spoil him…Or how I was told to put the baby down because it was teaching him to be held all the time (really)… Whatever. lol. I was a stubborn teenager; do you think I listened to anyone? ;o) I mostly parented him on pure instinct, which turned out to be something called “attachment parenting”. Maybe teenagers are on to something and we should give them a little more respect… Luckily he was a very healthy robust and healthy baby, my next baby 5 years later was not so lucky.
My next baby, was born healthy but the first year of her life was a disaster. She was sick ALL the time to the point that I thought the doctors must have thought I was a Munchausen’s mom. I went there so much I was embarrassed. The last time I was at the office they gave me yet another prescription for antibiotics for a massive ear infection and off we went to the pharmacy, where I was asked who the antibiotics were for. I pointed to the tiny, underweight baby in my arms and he told me that it was adult doses of some super antibiotics that I never even herd of. I left the pharmacy empty handed and went to the library where I checked out every single natural health and healing book that they had. In the next few days, I went to the local healthfood store for the very first time and bought some Echinacea tincture and some mullein and garlic ear oil. Within a few hours the ear infection was on the mend and she was comfortable. Simply amazing. She never needed antibiotics again (she is 16 now). You may be wondering why I am telling you all of this. Well, because this is where my life completely changed and we followed a new path of natural health and healing. Herbs were my new love. They healed my daughter in a couple of days, when the doctors could not in a whole year… I was hooked.
I read everything I can get my hands on. Information is my thing. I have not had any “formal” training, I am self taught. Mostly because there is really no such thing as a true certified herbalist in America. There is no official certification or licensing here. This is a choice that I made because I have 6 kids to educate at home and I can see how well learning on your own can work. There is nothing like getting your hands dirty and learning from the plants themselves! They have a lot to say, if we would only listen. I totally advocate self learning, as most of the great herbalists of our time were also self taught. Do I get grief from this? Yes. Just last week I had someone questioning my “professional schooling”… I consider my herbal path as a lifetime study, not something that is over in a few short years. I think most herbalist think this way as well. Major influences in my herbal studies are Susun Weed, Jim McDonald, Kiva Rose, Juliette de Bairacli Levy, Rosemary Gladstar, Aviva Romm, RichoCech, and Gail Faith Edwards. Now to contradict myself, I am a “Certified Aromatherapist” per say and have been since 2001, but again, there is no official certification for that either here, so I paid someone (who was self taught) a ridiculous amount of money, took a course for a year, and have a piece of paper to show for it. Worth it? Not really. I learned way more over the last 11 years experimenting with essential oils and reading every book I can get my hands on…Life learning rules everytime.
On to TwystedThystle: I officially started Twysted Thystle on August 31, 2011. I had been making herbal teas and body care products and selling them for a number of years to friends, family, and customers. I loved seeing a simple cup of tea turn a crying little one with a belly ache into a happy kiddo running around without a care in the world. While I knew I had some pretty great products that I felt confident in, my biggest downfall was labeling. The generic labels I was using were horrible. I wanted something funky and exciting. I wanted something to represent the beauty of the herbal goodness inside each product. I asked my artist friend and soul sister from California, Heather West of Peacework Designs, if she was interested in drawing some labels (from here to eternity). And that’s when magic happened!! Heather is the art, I am the herbs, and together, we WILL take over the world!! Bwahahahaha! (evil laugh!) I try to keep her locked up in a dungeon diligently working at all times, but she keeps escaping and running off to the beach with her 6 kids!! Yep, she has 6 kiddos too! Apparently art takes “time” and ”inspiration” and she needs something called “fresh air” every now and then…lol! So, some of our products will have some uninspired generic labels for a while, but in the long run, everything will be artfully designed. It is a process. We have some pretty big plans and we have some incredible product lines in the works. We have a mama & baby line, a children’s line, a men’s line, a hippie line – all on the back burners. Right now we have 8 totally radical organic herbal teas to choose from, some fantastic foot balm, a garlic salve, and a few other items that are all awesomely labeled with some funky art.
We only use organic and/or ethically wildcrafted herbs, organic virgin olive oils, local ethically farmed beeswax, and 100% pure essential oils in our products. All of our packaging is either recyclable or compostable, and we have chosen to use glass instead of plastic for all of our body care products (except for our outdoor line where we will use unbreakable brushed aluminum for safety issues). We strive for quality and purity in all of our products.
To see more of what we are doing and to view all of our product line, please be sure to visit us at www.twystedthystle.com
For this give away, we would like one special reader to try a few of our products. Since Mothers Day is this weekend, we will pamper one special mom out there with
a Love Your Mother Herbal Tea,
a Happy Hippie Bare Feet Not Arms Foot Balm,
and a Raw Vanilla Sweet Orange Body Oil.
(We always throw a few extra goodies into every box as well – who doesn’t like to be surprised??)
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Comments Closed.
Winner will be chosen at random on Wednesday evening and announced on Thursday, within this post.
United States entries only.
United States entries only.
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Thanks Twysted Thystle! And now, off to market.
(***Congrats to ScentualSoundtracks!!***)
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