Today we’d like to introduce you to Michelle Dulansky
Hi Michelle, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Three years ago, my husband and I moved to the Upstate from Arizona. We purchased a two acre property with a 100 yr old farmhouse and a mobile home that both needed complete restorations. We purchased an RV to live in while we started work on the mobile home. While working on the mobile home, we began also to work on our dream of homesteading. I started a vegetable and herb garden, we built a coop and added chickens. I have always been interested in herbs and using them for healing and preventing illness. Now that I had herbs growing in my garden, I took a course in herbalism and started learning more ways to preserve and use the herbs we had. I add the pleasure of taking a salve making workshop at a homestead conference and I was hooked. I used the RV as my workshop and started creating my own formulations. I started with comfrey, chamomile, calendula and marigold I was growing. I sourced lavender from a local lavender farm. I infused coffee from a local roaster into organic oils to create a line using all the amazing benefits that coffee has for skin. I have now expanded the herbs I am growing and have added a hair serum and a line of face oils. I started at local farmers markets and pop up events. I then partnered with a beauty bar in CA and created a Lavender Grapeseed oil Face Serum with the head esthetician. It was the first salon to stock our products. From there, we decided that while the apothecary line was part of our homestead, it needed it’s own social media to continue to grow. We rebranded from my blog name Coffee Peace N Homesteadin, which follows our adventures homesteading, to our homestead name Hillbent Homestead. My mother in laws maiden name is Hill, and our hilly property plus the what has felt like an uphill battle at times to save this property was a perfect fit. HB Apothecary is our first line of products we are offering from our homestead. We now have an online store and are expanding into local shops. Throughout the journey of starting the business, we have competed the work on our farmhouse and moved in. The workshop has know been moved to the mobile home with an office and dedicated kitchen to expand and create. My husband enclosed a second garden for me so we have one just for herbs for the apothecary line and one for vegetables for our homestead. Being able to create products from herbs lovingly grown here, with locally sourced ingredients that supports other small business and using all natural, non-toxic ingredients is truly a dream come true.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Creating a brand that was easy identifiable and relayed our product clearly to our customers was our first challenge. When I started doing markets under the blog name, we were asked at markets repeatedly if we sold coffee. The coffee skincare line was not relating to our customers. I then tried calling it Peaceful Blends to play off the blog name but the long name was still not connecting . HB Apothecary is clear and concise. It can be an offering at Farmers Markets with our other products or a stand alone at pop-up events. Also important is having consistency in brand colors and fonts on all packaging and marketing. Making sure the fonts are easy to read and recognize. Another challenge has been finding the right events to connect with customers looking for our products.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
What makes us special is that we start with herbs grown right here on our property. When we need to source additional herbs, we work with local farms to know how they were grown. Our other ingredients, such as beeswax and coffee are also from local small businesses. Our packaging is all recyclable and reusable glass and aluminium to avoid microplastics. We are preservative free, non toxic and organic. We consider our impact on the environment, using regenerative gardening practices, buying local to lower our carbon footprint, and using compostable shipping materials. I am most proud to formulate products with medicinal herbs to help people heal their skin issues naturally.
What matters most to you? Why?
My family. I have been married to my best friend for 28 years. We have 3 amazing children and 4 beautiful grandchildren. Like any mom and nana, I want them to have the best, be safe and healthy. When I started looking into all the chemicals and additives in the products we use everyday, I knew I had to take matters into my own hands. Every product I make is lovingly handcrafted, in small batches. I know each ingredient is high quality, that we have retained as much of the healing properties of the plant matter used as possible because the people I love the most will be using it on their skin.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.coffeepeacenhomesteadin.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hb.apothecary/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hbapothecary.hillbenthomestead/
- Other: https://hillbenthomestead.square.site
