Smoke Signals

Over the course of formulating natural personal care products, I began crafting a line of True Soap for our tribe that I could feel good about using daily and actually like it. I enjoyed learning about oils and butters (a.k.a. ~fats~ and how we need them!), essential oils, and lastly (still learning) all the many wonderful herbs we are blessed with. As time would have it friends and family began “ordering” soap too and retailing the products became a reality. Just when I thought my journey had lost some of its "newness", I discovered an amazing thing taking place; people began asking me what kind of soap to use for this ailment or that. And then others were sharing their skin issues and health problems and looking for answers. As well as letting me know what products were working for them, to my pleasure and excitement. While I fully disclose that I have NO credentials in any kind of health care, it is humbling to know that so many are experiencing the same kind of is...

Before I get to the promised post on BHT (Butylated Hydroxytoluene) please let me give you some background information on us, our tribe. It was some years ago, around 2005, that we became concerned with our health, mainly what we were putting into our body.  Like many we zealously jumped on the 100% organic food train.  I, the mama, was making weekly 1 1/2 hour trips to an Amish farm where we were legally contracted to purchase raw dairy and raw dairy products as well as grass fed meat.  This trip also included a visit to our local CSA, where we were shareholders in exchange for fresh produce.  And the only other store we made food purchases in were the health food store.  Um yeah, we had become food snobs.  But in all of this we gleaned an understanding of farming practices and I as the cook became very adaptive in using what we had to come up with meals versus purchasing ingredients to make a said recipe.  This is a very different wa...