Comments (0) Best Gifts for Urbanites Who Miss Nature - 2009
Juniper Ridge
Some "green" companies squirt essential oils into a bar of Dove and call it a day (and an $8.99 bar of soap). Not Juniper Ridge. Check out how the company started: Founder Hall Newbegin went foraging in Big Sur, picking up this leaf and that needle, then incorporating them into his soaps. He wanted to make a bar that not only smelled like the natural bounty of the West, but was also made of it (trickier, and rarer, than you might think). In addition to sachets and soaps, Juniper Ridge makes smudge sticks and incense and Douglas Fir Tip Tea — yes, it tastes like a tree, and it's delicious. As in those early days in Big Sur, Newbegin still harvests the raw materials for his products from local mountains, now with permission of the landowners. He also took on staff — and a bigger truck. But, as always, it takes only one whiff to send city folk into woodsy microdreams.
