Day to day running a business can seem like we are going nowhere, but as I look back on 2017, I realize that it was quite a busy year filled with accomplishments that sometimes I don’t see on a daily basis. Its good to reflect back and see what we did as a business in 2017 as we plan the new year.

Sales Increased

Our sales increased in all categories; in the store, online, wholesale and in the store. It’s good to see the business grow in actual sales every year.

Speaker Opportunities

Cindy was a speaker for several conferences and workshops this year. The first was a presentation on cosmetic safety and labeling for the United States Lavender Conference in January in Mesa, AZ. The talk was entitled “Your Product Smells Great but is it Compliant”.  In June Cindy presented for the Western Nevada Specialty Crop Institute on “Using Lavender in Cosmetics”. Then in September she presented in Spokane, Washington at Chemistry for the Distiller, an advanced distilling workshop put on by Annie Harmon of the Circle H Institute. She talked about the microbiology and chemistry of hydrosols. Again in October she presented at the Distilling II Conference in Grand Junction put on by the Lavender Association of Western Colorado.

Articles

Cindy wrote several articles for professional publications this year. These included “Essential Waters in the Spa” published in Dermascope Magazine.  “Hydrosols in Esthetics” published in the November/December issue of ASCP Skin Deep magazine, and a third article was written and scheduled to appear in the March issue of ASCP Skin Deep Magazine on ‘Using Herbs in Skin Care’.

Earth Day

In April we participated in the Longmont Earth Day Celebration by putting together a poster on sustainability.

Farm Dinner

Our first, and hopefully, annual Farm to Table Dinner on the farm was this summer in collaboration with GB Culinary.

Lavender Festivals

There were two lavender festivals we participated in this July. One put on by the Lavender Association of Western Colorado in Palisade and the second one put on by the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield farms in Littleton, Colorado.

Spa Night & Other Store Events

We celebrated Valentine’s Day with a Spa Night of facials and foot massages. In collaboration with several other local businesses we had some events at the store. The first was an essentrics  demonstration from Verve Movement Studio. We also had a Pilates demonstration from Club Pilates. Soundwell Music Therapy presented Music for Health and Well-Being. The Art of Healing was presented by Bradley Books and Ann Noble, Facilitators of the Art of Possibilities, part of the Firehouse Art Center. We also participated in events at our neighbors locations; Odyssey Yoga and Fit Chick Express.

Farm Tour & Farm Art

We had our annual Farm Tour this summer where we invite customers to the farm to see what we do. We participated in “Art Exhibition and Farm to Table Celebration” organized by Ollin Farms. We were paired with the talented artist Valerie Meyers who did several oil paintings inspired by the farm. Students from the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism spent a day on the farm as part of their program.

New Products

New product introductions this year included Dream Lake Body Butter and an Herbal Steam Facial. The Herbal Steam Facial highlights some of our most fragrant and beautiful herbs. Both were well received.

Giving Back

Giving back is important and we gave donations to several national organizations including the National Institute for Cancer Research, Movember Movement, Sierra Club and the American Red Cross. We supported International Womens Day, and GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math and Science) event as well as several other small, local events and charities.

Vendor Events

We were again members of the Boulder County Farmers Market which means that we vended at the Longmont and Boulder Farmers Market all summer, as well as the Holiday Market in December, and at the Slow Food Festival in Denver.

We also participated in a number of smaller, local events including, Aldawest Rockies Ruck, Boulder Valley Health Holiday Fair, General Electric Health Fair, Integrative Medicine Opoen House, Flatirons Pharmacy Summer Fair, and Denver Friday Night Bazaar.

Farm News

More lavender plants found their way into the ground on our farm this summer as well as expanding some of our other crops. Mike Meader of Full Circle Organic Farms did our farm inspection this summer for our recertification of Certified Naturally Grown.

Interns

We hosted one business intern and one herb intern this year and have an herb intern lined up to start next month. This is in addition to our 4-5 part time employees that make up our team.

Press

Over the year we were mentioned in several magazines and blogs. You can read more about them here.

We’ve also published several interesting blogs on our two sites that you may be interested in and can find our Colorado Aromatics blog here and our Sagescript blog here. We regularly sent out newsletters full of information. You can also follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

All in all I’d say it was a successful year, although very busy. We are very happy formulating the best possible skin care products for you based on botanicals grown on our farm. You can count on them to repair and protect your skin.  I’m proud of our team here and am looking forward to 2018. The first event of 2018 being the Outdoor Retailer Show in Denver this month.  Do you track your accomplishments annually?