Join us as we dive behind the curtain of running a truly eco friendly and sustainable business with Saarinen Organics.
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Eco, sustainability and Permaculture are the new words of today. But the couple behind Saarinen Organics, Gregg and Kay Saarinen, actually live and breathe them, for they live a fully eco, permaculture and sustainable lifestyle.
Their permaculture farm is in Wyndham NSW and is a stand alone, 100% off-grid solar farm, complete with a home built from straw bales, composting toilet, their own water, food, and energy source. Truth be told, it's their passion.
Overcoming adversity
On the farm they grow their certified organic herbs and from them, have created an entire eco skincare range, Saarinen Organics. It's no easy feat that's for sure, many times the couple nearly walked away, this year was one of them. After 20 years of building the farm it was devastated by the fires. They lost their farm infrastructure, but thankfully the home and lab were saved. Nine months on and the couple are well on the way to recovery, half the crops and fencing have been replaced in and they are back in full production of Saarinen Organics.
To become a truly eco business encompasses so much more than simply carbon neutral credits. Kay and Gregg believe 'eco' means not harming the environment, therefore all the herbs they grow are certified organic in the earth without chemicals. They sow, harvest and process their crops by hand. They also seed save for the next crop and use farm animals to manage weeds and allow wildlife corridors to keep the natural balance. Then, with these herbs, the couple have created skincare using nine generational recipes.
Permaculture as an all encompassing lifestyle
Permaculture encompasses so much more than just food. Saarinen Organics' systems are all without reliance on petrol and intensive mono cropping. The farm uses gravity fed water from a solar bore and fertilise their herbs through duck pond systems.
Permaculture is also about morals and community involvement, not to be a burden, rather to be an asset instead. So the couple volunteer their time to organisations, donate products for fundraisers, employ locals and purchase ingredients from local growers that they don't grow themselves like honey, beeswax, seaweed, oils, essential oils and hydrosols.
To Saarinen Organics, sustainability is so much more than just using a string bag or stainless steel straw. Sustainable means that a product is made with very little impact on the earth and atmosphere. It is so important to know where your “sustainable” products are being made and how; are they being made with renewable sustainable energy? being flown here? how many vehicles has it taken to get to that shop and at what cost? That's why Saarinen Organics make 100% stand alone solar made eco skincare, and why they also buy as many local ingredients as they can.
Looking to the future
While it's impossible to be perfect, the couple are always striving to better themselves, their farm, business and products. Next for the small business is buying a chipper machine to recycle all their single use plastic, combine it with ocean waste plastic and create their own plastic packaging for their skincare, with their own hands, on their farm and using solar energy.
You can check out Saarinen Organics' full range of beautiful organic skincare on Saarinen Organics and follow them on Instagram or Facebook at @saarinenorganics for more information about their products and ethos. They've also shared an exclusive discount code with the RY community: RYMYSTERY for 10% off Eco Mature Skin Bundle.