There is something deeply nourishing and gratifying about making something for yourself, using ingredients that have a presence and story of their own.
It’s when you visit a little provisions shop and you come home with a brown bag of fragrant dried spices or a tub of hand-crafted yogurt – but it might as well be a block of solid gold you feel so enriched by it.
And that whole experience of discovering this ingredient, working with it and finally consuming it… it just does it for me.
I’m greedy for more of those moments and so I find myself shopping for suppliers, makers, crafters and producers of fine ingredients the way others shop for shoes…
I can’t help but to think that keeping these kind of ingredients in your home pantry, bring so much pleasure into the process – that it shows up in the flavour and the attitude of whatever you make.
In my kitchen, I make skincare and home care products the way I make food – from simple, good ingredients that make me feel inspired. So here, I thought I’d list three of my favorite suppliers, my heart is already fluttering:
Natural Ingredient Suppliers You Should Know
Floracopeia
Floracopeia is a husband and wife team, who source ethically produced essential oils from all over the world. He’s a prominent herbal educator, David Crow, and you can find so much on him online and see his talks and teachings on botanical medicine.
You’ll also find videos and articles about the origin of their oils – their travels to remote places, interviews with the farmers… the devotion that they have to finding and working with like-minded producers and sustainable farmers – it’s remarkable and it brings so much more into those little bottles of oils!
I recently purchased three essential oils from them to make my SIMPLIFY skincare – Rose Geranium, Frankincense and Helichrysum. All stunning quality and rich scents!
- visit their site Floracopeia
- see their story
- shop from Amazon
Wildroot Botanicals
This family run business produce hydrosols and essential oils from botanicals that they forage, grow on their farm, or source from nearby farms. On their website, they share photos and stories about spending days on the farm with their young son, hands in the soil…. and my heart just swells. Their passion shows up in their product. They’re incredibly skilled and devoted to working with and protecting nature.
I’m obsessed with their witch hazel, it’s like nothing you’ll ever find in a store. It’s pure and smells light and refreshing – a great astringent for the skin… But recently, I picked up their Rose Geranium hydrosol to go with my new essential oils!
- visit their website Wildroot Botanicals
- see their story
- shop from Etsy, International Shipping
Big Tree Farms
Nestled in the jungles of Bali, Big Tree Farms offers organic, raw ingredients like cacao, coconut, salt and cashews. They’ve set up a their business as a cooperative – that supports local farmers all around the island to provide income and opportunity.
They work with a remarkable 15,000 farmers and families, who grow the raw ingredients sustainably. Their cacao is especially amazing. Each small farm grows a share of the organic cacao, which is then turned into cold-pressed, raw cacao butter and powder over at the Big Tree Farm. You can see a video by the founder, Ben Ripple where he shows their facility and how they produce truly raw butters and powders.
I use their cacao butter to make skincare and it’s the best smelling, most luxurious. And I love knowing that it’s part of something so beautiful!
- visit their website: Big Tree Farm
- see their story
- where you’ll find them
- shop from Amazon
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Have you found a maker of natural ingredients that you’re loving? Tell us about it in the comments below!
