Archive for the ‘Moon Haven Family’ Category

So much to see @ Moon Haven, Cowaramup

Easter in Margaret River is always an amazing experience.  It’s even more wonderful at the  Moon Haven cottage in Cowaramup (just 10 minutes north of Margaret River in Western Australia) because we have so much fun this time of year.

We are full to the brim with natural soaps, herbal healing salves,  skin care and of course our wonderful range of fairies, dragons and giftware.

We spend our time bustling about finding different products for different problems, looking at skin and dealing with all sorts.  We love talking to our visitors and helping to solve issues.

But this is not the main reason why we love Easter so much.

The main reason we love this time of year is that we get to catch up with many of our long established and very loyal clients who call in to the cottage to stock up on soaps and potions as well as grab a reading or two and a fossick through what’s new.

The main problem we experience though, is that as you can see from the photo – we often get very crowded and it is difficult to spend the time we would like to with each or our visitors.

I explained this to Margaret, who has been visiting the soap cottage, almost from the day it opened in December of 2002 and she just laughed and said …
“what a wonderful excuse to come visit again later in the year!”

I love her style!

great for adults and kids alike

I just love the fresh bag of hops we have just received from Jeremy of the  Cowaramup Brewing Company. The aroma is magnificent and so yeasty.
This wonderful herb is not only great for making superb aromatic beers but is a wonderful addition to many potions and products.

At Moon Haven we use hops in our Sleepy Time Bath Tea – along with chamomile, lavender and majoram…such a soothing combination.  We also make some wodnerful “Hops into Bed”  pulse point potion as well as herbal soap of the same name for the Brewery as well.

We had a wonderful phone call from a lady last week who was looking for more Hops into Bed Soap… apparently she was enjoying great success dealing with her insomnia just by placing the soap under her pillow at night. She had given her soap to a friend to trial and her insomnia very quickly returned.  We suggested to her that if the soap worked well for her then the pulse point potion should be even more effective…and not so uncomfortable!

Colds, Flu and Sinus conditions can be easedwith Breathe Easy

Yesterday a young woman in her mid twenties came into the Moon Haven cottage.  She had dark circles under her eyes and the tell tale nasally voice that indicates blocked sinuses.

When we got talking she told me that she suffered from a chronic sinus condition which was made even worse by the latest flu she had picked up – hence the dark circles under her eyes.

Needless to say her long expected holiday was turning into a battle of endurance and fortitude as she popped painkillers and anti-histamines. Unfortunately the pills only took the edge off her condition and did nothing to help with the cause of the problems.

Of course we directed her to our marvellous Breathe Easy Pulse Point Potion.  We rolled a little onto each temple, under her jawline and at the base of her throat.

At first nothing much happened…then as the essential oils began to do their work.. she started to sniff…and then her sense of smell started to return and finally she was able to breathe freely – all in about 5 minutes.

10 minutes later she came back to the Moon Haven cottage… beaming.

Her headache was gone, sinuses were running clear and she felt significantly better- so she wanted another two bottles of Breathe Easy for her friends.

Phew… that was fun!

Eric, Chris and I have just returned from a week away at the Sydney Home & Giving Fair.

We met so many great people and had a lot of fun.

Our new cupboard keepers were a hit at the fair as were our designer series soaps and new bath teas.

We got to welcome many new Moon Haven stockists to the family – so it soon will be even easier to find a Moon Haven retailer near you wherever you are throughout Australia.

Keep a look out in our stockist pages for the updates as we ship out all these orders!

Earlier this week Julie (known as Julie Patchouli to the Moon Haven crew and our clients) was killed in a horrific traffic accident between Cowaramup and Margaret River.

She leaves behind two small children, Jade and Jye, and a shocked and deeply saddened community.

Julie worked in Moon Haven’s  front of house for an extended period leaving us just over 18 months ago to work at Brookland Valley.  Her vibrant champagne bubbly personality and extremely dry sense of humour will be sorely missed. As you can imagine at Moon Haven we are very sad and there have been many tears shed.

Julie had with her in the car, young Samuel who she was babysitting at the time.  Samuel, while badly injured is recovering well from all accounts.  Our thoughts are with him and his family as he continues to recover.

Moon Haven’s Cowaramup Cottage is 6 today!

We opened our doors 3 days before Christmas 2002, with all the hopes and ideals of new business owners. Little did Eric and I  know what we were letting ourselves into!

Six years later Eric and I can look back and all we can say is Wow…

Moon Haven has become something much greater than we could every have imagined 6 years ago.

What started out as a humble attempt to bring our skin saving soaps, our pain relieving Achy Breaky Rub and our aromatherapy preparations to a demanding public, has turned into a place of  creativity, friendship and healing,  where random acts of thoughtfulness happen on a daily, if not hourly basis.

Moon Haven soaps, lotions and potions can be found in countries around the world and across Australia.  We continue to be astounded by the thoughtfulness of people who write to tell us of their Moon Haven experiences and success with our products.

This feedback helps us to keep on producing and thinking and researching for  better ways of combining our herbs, oils and other ingredients to come up with even more solutions.

Of course while Moon Haven in our Cowaramup cottage may be 6 today, Moon Haven itself  is now well over 8 years old with our first products being made  in our kitchen.  How far we have come…how far we have to go!

A friend passed this on to me (courtesy of Dr Seuss) and it has been swirling in my head all day.

From:

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, Stood puzzling and puzzling: “How could it be so?”

“It came with out ribbons! It came without tags!” “It came without packages, boxes or bags!”

And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before!

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.”

“Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

Dr Suess

Scotty with Eric

Scotty the dog , my constant companion and friend, died in the early hours of this morning. As can be expected Eric and I are devastated at his passing. Yet we readily recognise that it was definitely his time to go.

Scotty was happy right up to his last moments, with his tail wagging at any sign of attention.  He even went on a lovely car trip to Little Meelup beach yesterday and had a small wander in the bush smelling all the great bush smells there are to smell.

At 21 years of age he was a long time member of the Moon Haven Family as well as a large part of our children Ben and Chris’s lives. (Though at 23 and 24 they might not appreciate being classed as children.)

Scotty will be remembered as Moon Haven’s doggy door greeter who met each visitor with a wag of his tail and a sniff of the ankle.  He loved children and was always gentle even when young ones pulled and pawed at him.

Such a good friend and now at rest.  It will take some time to come to terms that he isn’t here any more but then again that is just a measure of how much he was a part of our lives.  Rest my friend…you were certainly and will continue to be a very large part of our lives.

Moon Haven will be exhibiting at the Sydney Reed Gift Fair at Darling Harbour …next Saturday through to the following Tuesday (20 – 23 September).

Chris and I will be manning the Moon Haven stand (Stand 6820 in Hall 6) -after building it and setting up.  Amazingly it takes us a full day to set up.

This fair we are looking to meet up with our exisitng retailers and give them all the gossip on our NEW lines – like our fantastic body polishes and the NEW Purple Passion Designer Series Soap.

And of course we will meet loads of new retailers looking to place moon haven goodies in their stores.

So if you are a retailer coming to Sydney for the Fair – do call in!