Touring the cut gardens

On Friday, September 12th we were part of a tour scheduled for the Minnesota State Master Gardeners Conference.  At 10:30 Friday morning a large coach motor bus arrived with 48 gardeners aboard, most of them Master Gardeners.  We had been tuning up the yard and gardens for weeks, and converted our garden shed into a temporary ‘Soap Store’ for the day.

During the tour, Mike was busy fielding questions about organic farming while I focused on the cut flower growing inquiries.  Our daughters Shari and Julie took care of selling our Good Thymes Bath & Body products, and sharing with folks how we make all our own product right here on our family farm.  And my mother was there, too, helping to watch the little ones during the tour.

We had invited our farming neighbors, Daniel and Janel Lemke, over to promote their natural ice cream.  They scooped and sold ‘Sunny Road’ ice cream that they make in a cheese and ice cream plant right on their farm, with milk from their herd of pasture fed brown swiss cows.  We treated the tourists to organic coffee to compliment the wonderful ice cream and Italian ice made by Lemke’s.

I think it went quite well, though I was very, very nervous.  In fact, I was so nervous that I needed to hold my 7 month old grandson, Gregory, the entire tour, just to have something to hang on to.  A 7 month old in charge of supporting a grandma?  What’s this farm coming to anyway?

Selling soap in the garden shed

Lemke's natural ice cream

I recently had the opportunity to work with Kristen Miller, a journalist for our hometown weekly newspaper, on informing the public about the FDA Globalization Act of 2008.  I think Kristen did an excellent job of explaining how this new legislation could personally hurt Good Thymes Bath & Body, and also how small businesses can unite with organizations like Indie Beauty Network to work on this issue together.  Click on the title to read Kristen’s article, “Proposed cosmetic regulations act concerns small beauty industry“, published in the Enterprise Dispatch on September 15th, 2008.

In her weekly column, On My Mind, Kristen has shared in a three part mini series about her introduction into the natural bath and beauty world.  Welcome, Kristen!

I have a hard time comprehending that GOOD THYMES Bath & Body, my business that I have worked so passionately to build for the last five years could be taken away from me with one stroke of a pen!  I am doing what I can to advocate for my business; I have volunteered to work with the Indie Beauty Network however I can help, and I am trying to help my customers understand the effect the FDA Globalization Act of 2008 will have on consumer rights and small business owners.

If you would like to read an interesting explanation of what we are up against, please take a moment to read this blog post by Andrea Kane of Organic Beauty Expert Blog.

Then, please take a moment to join us and the 2,450 consumers and small businesses who have signed this petition against the FDA Globalization Act; please include your city and state.  Together we can make a difference!

On July 18th we hosted a Red Hat ladies group for a tour of our gardens and soap business. After touring the cut flower gardens, Loy Ann, Jenny, Penny, Marilyn and Char each made a bouquet to take home, and enjoyed ice tea and each others company while relaxing at the edge of the gardens. They also toured our soap business to see how a small company like ours makes everything fresh in small batches. The weather was lovely and so were the ladies!

The FDA has presented to Congress the FDA Globilization Act of 2008, an act that if passed in its present form could devastate small natural bath and beauty companies like ours. The issue that will affect most small bath and beauty companies is the registration fee they will impose on all businesses within the cosmetic industry, a minimum of $2,000.00 yearly and up to $12,000.00 per year. Those fees alone could put many small natural bath and beauty companies out of business, while it would have little effect on the big name brand cosmetic corporations.

Donna Maria Coles Johnson, founder of Indie Beauty Network, is spearheading an effort to fight enactment of the proposed FDA Globilization Act of 2008. It is our hope that with the advocacy of Donna Maria and IBN, small bath and beauty businesses will be able to stay alive and competitive in the marketplace.

If you enjoy purchasing products from small natural bath and beauty companies and want to know more about how you can join the effort to stop the FDA Globilization Act of 2008, visit and sign a petition here at Donna Maria’s blog.