Our Farmers
The Heart of Our Ingredients
In the realm of skincare culture, it's astonishing how little reverence we show for the ingredients in our everyday products. There are lengthy lists of ingredients, each screaming in anonymity. This disconnect isn't limited to just skincare; it permeates our grocery aisles as well. How often do we pause to ask, "Was this grown in healthy soil? What was the farmer's mood that day? Did we disrupt an entire ecosystem just to mass-produce a single crop for use as a mere filler in a cosmetic product?" If the products we create fail to contribute to the betterment of our planet and the livelihoods of our farmers, then we must ask ourselves: Why are we using them at all?
Every component we incorporate into our products isn't just essential; it's sacred. We believe that the alchemy of our magical products is, in part, attributed to the environments from which these ingredients are born! YES WE ARE THIS CHEESY & EMOTIONAL about our ingredients and farmers all the time.
MEET OUR FARMERS
Allow us to introduce you to Beth, our treasured beekeeper!
Beth and her hives reside a brief 30-minute drive from the home of our founder, Stevie! She hand-delivers her beeswax whenever we need to re-up. To us, Beth is more than a beekeeper; she's a true steward for her hives. When we came to visit, we realized how much care she takes, delicately tending to them, making sure no bee is harmed. She’s the living embodiment of our commitment to earth - a testament to the symbiotic relationship between nature and human.
Sustainable Beeswax Harvesting
It begins with a careful check on the hive's well-being, ensuring the bees are healthy and thriving. When it is time to harvest, only the finest beeswax is used for our products. This beeswax is called “capping wax” and it is the thin layer of beeswax that is placed over the honey by the bees.
Beth’s Native Eco System
Beth’s bees pollinate beautiful native flowers and plants in her surrounding area - which also results in the beautiful range of colors of wax! These pollinators ensures that the local eco system and surrounding vegetation flourish.
And the women who provide our Shea Butter!
We are BEYOND honored to be sourcing our shea butter from an amazing impact initiative that supports women and communities in rural Ghana to make the highest quality, sustainably harvested shea butter. They use ancient techniques that are passed down through generations and everything is done by hand. Shea butter is not just an ingredient here at Yay for Earth, but a huge labor of love and truly a sacred piece of the earth that deserves gratitude all the way from the shea nut to the women that pick, process and craft the butter.
The initiative helps them integrate modern practices and they have pioneered a closed loop process. This ensures that the waste from the shea butter production is repurposed to provide 100% fuel energy that is used to make more shea butter. This alone mitigates climate change, supports biodiversity and healthy ecosystems, and provides local employment.
Waste to Energy Project
With our shea butter, the women utilize the waste water byproduct from the shea butter process combined with the organic shea nut leftovers to create solar-dried, hand made fuel blocks which are collected and taken to be used during the shea roasting and boiling process. The women prefer this to the traditional process which involves cutting down living trees as firewood. This circular principle of using the waste water by product as fuel means 90% less climate and carbon impact!
Supporting women & communities
Our shea butter suppliers are Community Certified Fair Trade, supporting local communities and women artisans. This inherently enables them to proudly support their children, families and communities through this work. They get paid significantly higher than the market value and are a part of a network that works with the women and community to identify and support additional development efforts and priorities. Anytime you purchase a lotion, you directly support these amazing women, families and communities in Northern Ghana.
And the harvesters who provide our Buriti Oil!
We are SO excited to be sourcing our buriti oil from the wetlands of the Brazilian Amazon, where local harvesters gather the fruit of wild buriti palms with deep care and respect for the forest around them. Known across South America as aguaje, moriche, or ité palm, this towering tree can grow up to 35 meters tall and grows naturally alongside açaí palms deep in the rainforest. Its ruby-scaled fruit holds a vibrant orange-red oil packed with beta-carotene, vitamin E, and nourishing omega fatty acids. Buriti is not just an ingredient here at Yay for Earth, but a true gift from the rainforest that deserves gratitude all the way from the wild palm to the hands that climb, gather, and press its fruit.
Every drop is wild-harvested, meaning nothing is planted or cleared to make room for it. The harvesters use non-destructive practices, collecting only fully ripe fruit, often by climbing to the top of the palm by hand, so the tree keeps bearing fruit year after year. This protects the long-term health of buriti palms and the wetland ecosystems that depend on them.
From Fruit to oil
Once the ripe fruit is gathered, the scaly outer skin is removed to reveal the soft pulp inside. The pulp, which is where all the oil lives, is carefully separated from the seed and then cold-pressed, with no heat and nothing added. This gentle method keeps the oil's antioxidants and nutrients intact, so it arrives 100% pure, vegan, and fully traceable back to its source. That rich orange-red color is the sign of a fresh, potent oil, and it's what helps give your skin a healthy, radiant glow while defending it against everyday environmental stressors.
Protecting the Amazon and its communities
Our buriti oil is sourced with a no-deforestation commitment, from producers who use responsible harvesting techniques that preserve the rainforest and support local initiatives. The buriti palm is a keystone of its wetland home, providing food and shelter for birds, insects, and mammals. Because local communities earn their living from the palm's fruit, they have a powerful reason to protect both the trees and the surrounding forest, helping keep the Amazon standing for generations to come. Anytime you purchase our Sunny Drops facial oil serum, you help support these communities and the incredible ecosystem they call home.
And the herbalists who provide our Douglas Fir & Red Cedar!
We are thrilled to be sourcing our Douglas Fir and Western Red Cedar from Ravensong, a small artisan seed and herbal business founded by herbalist Jessy Delleman in 2010. Ravensong sits on 2 acres surrounded by enchanting forest in Black Creek, in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, BC, and the farm is home to over 200 varieties of herbs, flowers, and rare and useful plants. Jessy works alongside Harmony Pillon, who has managed the farm since 2015, and with their small team of three, they grow and gather every single herb they use. Douglas Fir and Red Cedar are not just ingredients here at Yay for Earth, but a true piece of the ancient coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest, and they deserve gratitude all the way from the towering trees to the hands that gather and craft them.
Their conifers are ethically wildcrafted in the forests near the farm, and they gather only the most vibrant plants at the moment in their growth cycle when their qualities are at their peak. Because they gather everything themselves, they have first-hand knowledge of the quality and sustainability of every plant that goes into their products.
From Forest to Bottle
Ravensong works with fresh plants rather than dried ones. They believe fresh plants capture more of each plant's vital essence and a more complete profile of its natural constituents. The freshly gathered foliage is hand-crafted by steam distillation in their copper alembic still, made with love and care in small batches. The result carries the crisp, grounding scent of a walk through a misty West Coast forest right into your self-care routine.
Rooted in community and stewardship
Ravensong is much more than a farm. It's also a place where the community can come to learn about growing herbs and herbal medicine. They welcome students for farm internships and a season-long herbal apprenticeship program, and they open their gates each year for a plant sale where visitors can tour the farm and sip complimentary tea in the medicine gardens. Everything grown on the farm is raised organically without harmful chemicals or pesticides, reflecting their belief that building a relationship with the land takes many years of observation and dedication. Anytime you purchase our Hydrosol Spritzie, you directly support this small, woman-led farm and its mission to care for the land and share plant wisdom with the next generation
We LOVE OUR FARMERS!
Meet Stevie
Our Warehouse
