We are wild about roses!! We grow the hardy but less prolific rugosa rose and harvest the petals every day from June until the first frost, moving mindfully among the multitude of bees who worship this plant alongside us — bumblebees, honeybees, sweat bees, and many more! By harvesting the petals only, we leave the pollen for the bees. The rose petals are infused immediately in alcohol to preserve their scent, or dried before infusing in organic sunflower oil. You will find these roses in Rosewater Mist, Stay Cool Mist, and Gentle Hands salve.

Rosa rugosa

Witch hazel was an important herb for skin care long before the first factories were built, and we at Half Wild Arts believe that it is time to return to this universal skin tonic. Appropriate for all skin types, witch hazel tones the skin without over-drying it.

We coppice our witch hazel bushes, selecting young shoots and then extracting them in the traditional method by simmering them in water all day. The resulting extract is full of tannins and other plant compounds that are not found in the clear, distilled witch hazel you see in the drugstore. Our witch hazel is milder and more nourishing.

In addition to the pure Traditional Witch Hazel, you will find witch hazel as a base in many of our sprays: Rosewater Mist, Clear Skin Toner, Aftershave, Herbal Itch Relief, and Stay Cool Mist.

Hamamelis virginiana

We use both organic Maine-distilled alcohol and vodka distilled in Massachusetts to extract herbs for our products. In addition to being a great way to extract the active compounds in herbs, the alcohol acts as a preservative, to keep our witch hazel products shelf stable without the use of harmful industrial chemicals. You may have heard that you should avoid alcohol in your skin products, but ours are formulated to be non-drying even with a small amount of alcohol in them to preserve.

PLEASE NOTE: Half Wild products are for topical use only and should never be ingested. Herbs extracted in alcohol are very strong and may be poisonous if swallowed.

Calendula is one of the few annual herbs that we grow here at Half Wild Farm because it grows abundantly even in our short, northern summers. Whole flower heads are harvested by hand every third day throughout the growing season, shade dried, and then extracted in organic sunflower oil, raw organic apple cider vinegar, or alcohol. One of the best herbs for skin health and enhancing red, blonde, and gray hair, you will find calendula in many of our products, including: Gentle Hands, Clear Skin Toner, Facial Serum, Light Hair Serum, Light Hair Rinse, and Herbal Body Oil.

Calendula officinalis

We adore dandelion flowers! They lift our spirits in springtime and provide essential food to the bees at a lean time of year. Bursting with antioxidents, dandelions also reduce wrinkles and fine lines, and balance troubled skin. We hear a lot of talk about Vitamin C serums these days, and dandelion deliver on that front, too. We harvest dandelions in May, and then cold-infuse the whole flower heads in alcohol or organic sunflower oil for at least six weeks. You will find these beautiful blossoms in our Clear Skin Toner and Facial Serum.

Taraxacum officinale

We are rehabilitating the reputation of goldenrod here at Half Wild Farm. Although unfairly maligned for causing seasonal allergies, goldenrod is pollinated by insects and not the wind. It has so many gifts for us: beauty, food for pollinators, tea for humans.

Goldenrod is anti-inflammatory and boasts more antioxidents than either green tea or Vitamin C. Used topically, it offers relief for aching muscles and joints and support for damaged and aging skin.

We harvest the top third of goldenrod plants from our fields just as they start to flower, and then extract the plants in organic sunflower oil or alcohol for at least six weeks before adding them to our products. The plants remaining in the field feed the bees in the fall and the goldfinch all winter.

You can find goldenrod in our Gentle Hands, Après Ski & Sport, Clear Skin Toner, Facial Serum, and Herbal Body Oil. We hope you’ll join us in switching to bountiful goldenrod and leaving arnica to grow in peace.

Solidago spp.

Organic, high-oleic sunflower oil forms the base of all of our salves and oils. Sunflower oil is excellent for skin and hair, and unlike the more exotic oils that you’ll find in mainstream cosmetics, it can be grown in our region.

Sunflower oil is packed with Vitamins A, B, C, E, beta-carotene, iron, calcium, and oleic acid — all wonderfully nourishing for your skin and hair from a natural, whole-plant source.

We source our sunflower oil as close to Half Wild Farm as possible. With the recent closure of FullSun in Vermont, we currently work with Century Sun Oil in Wisconsin, but we are always looking out for new sunflower oil producers closer to home.

Did you know that it takes a dump truck full of rose petals to make one bottle of rose essential oil? This is powerful stuff that uses a lot of natural resources. However, plants have more to offer than their essential oils. If you use products with just essential oils, you are missing out on the full spectrum of plant medicine.

That is why we make all of our products by extracting whole plants in oil, alcohol, apple cider vinegar, or water. We use only a drop of organic essential oil in some of our products where needed to enhance the scent, and we always use an essential oil that is good for your skin or hair — like lavender!

For the health of our bodies and the planet, we encourage everyone to reduce the amount of essential oils that they use and focus on whole plant medicine instead.