IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Yes! All of the ingredients used in our salves and bath mixers are certified cruelty-free. We have only tested the final products on ourselves!

Yes...although that doesn't matter because you should NOT be eating our apothecary items. Our founder, Rachel, has celiac disease and personally understands the severity of the disease; however, there is no research to suggest that people with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten intolerance would have any topical reaction to gluten. All apothecary products are for external use only.

Some of our apothecary products contain essential oils that may not be appropriate for young children, or pregnant people. Please check the label, and do not use any products if you are allergic or sensitive to any of the ingredients.

When a hen lays an egg, she naturally places a "bloom" or "cuticle" over the egg's shell. It is an invisible protective membrane over the shell. It seals the egg from oxygen and bacteria. There is no need to wash the eggs unless they are visibly soiled.

Do not wash your eggs until you are ready to eat them. To wash, simply rinse in warm water. There's no need to use soap.

Washed eggs last about 2 months in the refrigerator. Unwashed eggs can last about 2 weeks on the counter and about 3 months in the refrigerator.

If you decide to wash your eggs before storing them, make sure they are completely dry before placing them back in the container. If you are making hard-boiled eggs, the oldest eggs will be the easiest to peel.

Yes! According to the USDA, chickens and egg-laying hens must have continuous access to outdoor space for more than 51 percent of the animals' lives to be considered free range. Our chickens have continuous access to outdoor space 100 percent of the time as soon as they are old enough to no longer need continous heat. Our chickens enjoy free ranging all over the homestead (except when we fence off the garden!) and have several overhangs and even a coop-a-cabana to use!

The grocery store wants to buy and sell the most marketable and visually appealing produce. In the United States retail stores generate about 16 BILLION pounds of food waste every year. Home grown produce is allowed to fully riped on the plant, making it more nutritous and sometimes a little different looking. We do not use any pesticides, insecticides, or herbacides.

Fruits and vegatables start to lose their nutrients within 24 hours of being picked, so fresher produce is more nutritious.

Honeybees will fly up to two miles away to find and gather pollen and nectar. Although we have a generous amount of pollinator-friendly plants on our homestead, we cannot guarantee which plants our bees will choose to visit. Wildflower honey is made from whatever pollen and nectar our bees choose to collect.

Unfortunately, honey does not help with allergies. Bees eat nectar and gather pollen produced by brightly colored flowers. These are not the same pollens responsible for most allergies (trees, grasses, and weeds). Very little of these common pollen allergens would make it into honey. Also, the bees mix their food with enzymes to start digesting it to turn it into honey. This changes the pollen protein. And then processing, pasteurization, and even digestion by your own stomach’s enzymes would remove or break down pollen. You would not ingest enough intact pollen for your immune system to start becoming desensitized to it. Please visit the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America for more information at https://community.aafa.org/blog/aafa-explains-can-honey-help-my-seasonal-allergies

Pure, raw honey crystallizes naturally over time as the sugar precipitates out of the solution into crystal form. Honey is made up of glucose and fructose. Different honey varietals have different ratios of these sugars, which means different honeys crystallize at different rates. Heating honey will liquefy crystallized honey. If you overheat the honey during the decrystallization process you risk changing the quality and losing raw honey nutrients and benefits. To preserve the best qualities of that raw honey, you must melt it slowly in a glass jar using low, indirect, and constant heat for as long as the honey takes to decrystallize. Remember, crystallized honey has not spoiled! Honey does not go bad, and crystallized honey still has the same quality and flavor, just maybe a different color and texture.

Honey stored in sealed containers can remain stable for decades and even centuries! However, honey is susceptible to physical and chemical changes during storage; it tends to darken and lose its aroma and flavor or crystallize. These are temperature-dependent processes, making the shelf life of honey difficult to define. For practical purposes, a shelf life of two years is often stated. Properly processed, packaged and stored honey retains its quality for a long time. If in doubt, throw it out, and purchase a new jar of honey!

Honey may contain Clostridium botulinum spores that can cause infant botulism, a rare but serious disease that affects the nervous system of young babies (under one-year-old). C. botulinum spores are present throughout the environment and may be found in dust, soil, and improperly canned foods. Adults and children over one year of age are routinely exposed to, but not normally affected by, C. botulinum spores. Honey is safe to consume during pregnancy and lactation. While infants are susceptible to infant botulism, adults, including pregnant females, are not. The concern for babies stems from the fact that infants lack the fully developed gastrointestinal tract of older humans. Since the mother is not in danger of developing this condition, the unborn baby is protected. Spores are inactivated when manufactured food products (such as cereals or nuts) receive a roasting heat treatment. Graham crackers or cereal, for example, would not contain any viable microbial spores. https://honey.com/faq