Soothe The Hardworking

In the small town of Sutton, New Hampshire, set back off a long dirt road lies the Greenhill Collective Farm and makers of Soothe Hands Luke products. Kate Dobrowski and her three sons work together growing produce and developing a series of skin and body products that are hand made in micro-batches.

I'm a big fan of Soothe Hands Luke products, especially the lip balm. I interviewed Kate for this post to share some of the story of this micro-enterprise business.

Q: How does Luke's products differ from other handmade, small batch body care products?

A: We have what some would consider an unconventional way of selecting our raw ingredients. Our lip (Luke's Lips) and skin soother products are made from certified organic plants that are wild-crafted or grown on our land. Prior to harvesting the plant, we set an intention and a prayer to thank the earth and the plants and ask their help for those that will use the product. We feel this ceremonial respect creates the healing properties that are needed in the product.

If we were to ship in these plants from outside the region they would not have the same healing and soothing strength. As indigenous people and many herbalists teach us,it is the plants around us that are the most potent for healing. We carefully handle the plants and infuse them in olive oil and locally sourced beeswax. Unlike many products sold in the marketplace, we don't use essential oils because often the sources and extraction practices are unknown. It is very important to us to maintain purity standards.

Our products are used in different ways, but many of our customers are men who are looking for a hand salve to soothe their hands, hence the name Soothe Hand Luke. Our customers have told us they use the salve to pull splinters and thorns out of their hands. We often say, "The rugged and tough weeds and plants grown on the landscape are like the hardworking hands they soothe."

Q: You mentioned purity standards, do you have difficulties with sourcing the products you don't wild craft or grow yourself?

A: We do. We use olive oil in our products currently and are working on finding an alternative to this dilemma. We are seeking a small-scale olive oil or sunflower producer. The other opportunities we would like to work on are using recycled or recyclable containers for our products. Our salves are in tins, which can be recycled, but our lip balms are made of plastic which we would like to find alternative packaging for plastic.

Q: Any new products under development?

A: Yes, a new product to soothe tattoos that will be sold in tattoo salons. We have received a lot of feedback from customers who were using Soothe Hand Luke's on their new tattoos. They told us it stops blood and pain and helps the tattoo stay resilient while it is being created. I made modifications to the Soothe Hand Luke's hand soother focusing on greater healing properties.

Also, we are developing an insect repellent formulation.

Q: Where are the products sold?

A: Currently, our products are sold very locally at farmers markets, events, local area garden centers and independent stores as well as the annual Warner Fall Foliage Festival.

Q: How can people contact you to find out more?

A:They can contact us at greenhillfarmer@gmail.com or through our Facebook page Soothe Hand Luke's or on localharvest.org under Greenhill Farm. Our website is in the works at this time.

Thanks to Kate for taking the time to share a bit about the business, its soul, products and challenges. If you have used Soothe Hand Luke's products, know of an alternative to plastic or local sources of oils let me know here in the comment section or on my Facebook page. I'll be sure to pass the information on to Kate.

Thanks for reading