Half Wild products are made by infusing our own whole herbs in alcohol, oil, vinegar, or water, and then adding beeswax and a drop of essential oil as needed. That’s it.
All of our herbs are grown using beyond organic, regenerative practices and human power. We do not use pesticides of any kind, and our farm is integrated into the local ecosystem with extensive habitat for pollinators and wildlife.
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
Comfrey is a powerful healer, working both at the skin surface and deeper into the muscle. We harvest comfrey leaf, stalk, and flower three times per year, partially dry it, and then extract the herb in organic sunflower oil before adding it to Green Wonder, Après Sun, and Après Ski & Sport salves.
For those who have heard that you should avoid comfrey, be assured that we use only aerial parts of purple flowering comfrey (not the root or the yellow flowering variety), which are generally considered safe for topical use. We do not recommend using any of our products on deep puncture wounds, comfrey included. And, as always, please consult a medical professional if you have any questions about which herbs are appropriate for you.
Symphytum spp.
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.
Jewelweed is aptly named — orange jewels hanging from light and airy branches. It is our best herbal treatment for bites and itchy skin. We harvest whole plants and extract them in alcohol that serves as the base for our Herbal Itch Relief spray. Stock up early so you are prepared when you accidentally run across a patch of poison ivy or swarm of biting insects.
Impatiens capensis
We harvest two main varieties of plantain: the native blackseed plantain, and common plantain which was introduced to New England by the Puritans. Plantain is a wonderfully gentle, soothing herb for all skin conditions. We harvest the leaves regularly throughout the growing season and cold-extract them in organic sunflower oil and alcohol for at least six weeks. Plantain can be found in our Green Wonder, Après Sun, and Herbal Itch Relief.
Plantago major and Plantago rugelii
Raspberry leaf makes a nourishing herbal infusion for women, but we use it primarily in our Clear Skin Toner because it is also filled with tonifying tannins that are great for oily skin. Each spring, we harvest young “volunteer” raspberry plants from all over our gardens that have planted themselves from our stand of raspberry canes that we keep for fruit. The leaves are extracted in alcohol for at least six weeks before we add them to the Clear Skin Toner.
Rubus idaeus x R. strigosus
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
Garden sage is so much more than an herb to flavor your chicken! Featured in our Dark Hair Rinse, Dark Hair Serum, Stay Cool Mist, Aftershave, and Beard Oil, sage is cooling, balances both oily and dry skin, fights dandruff, and enhances and strengthens dark hair. We harvest sage just twice per year before cold-infusing the leaves in alcohol, raw organic apple cider vinegar, or organic sunflower oil for at least six weeks.
Salvia officinalis
St. John’s wort has so much to give to us. Blooming just after the summer solstice here in northern New England, it is imbued with the heat and strength of the midsummer sun. We harvest the flowering tops and immediately infuse them in organic sunflower oil to be used in our products to relieve sunburned skin and sore muscles and joints: Après Sun, Après Ski & Sport, and Herbal Body Oil. St. John’s wort is a true ally for anyone who works hard and plays hard.
Hypericum perforatum
An ally for anyone who spends time outdoors in the summertime, sweetfern repels insects, soothes rashes and bites, heals skin ailments — and it smells great!
We sustainably wildcraft sweetfern during the summer and cold-infuse it in alcohol and organic sunflower oil for at least six weeks. You will find sweetfern in Green Wonder, Herbal Bug Spray, and Herbal Itch Relief.
Comptonia peregrina
Thyme blankets our walkways and spreads through the grass. It is a glorious, long-flowering plant that lifts our spirits and feeds countless insects from spring through fall. We grow primarily creeping thyme at Half Wild Farm, as it is hardier than English thyme in our northern winters, harvesting it regularly and cold-infusing the leaves and flowers in raw organic apple cider vinegar, alcohol, or organic sunflower oil for at least six weeks before adding it to Herbal Bug Spray, Clear Skin Toner, Dark Hair Rinse, Dark Hair Serum, Light Hair Rinse, Light Hair Serum, and Beard Oil.
Rich in Vitamins A and C, thyme nourishes, cleans, and protects skin and hair, and repels ticks! It is an all around ally.
Thymus spp.
White pine is our only ingredient that we harvest in winter. The pine trees are well adapted to cold weather and retain their leaves and their medicine all year. We cold-infuse pine needles in alcohol or organic sunflower oil for at least six weeks before mixing up Après Ski & Sport, Aftershave, and Beard Oil.
Pine needles are high in Vitamin C, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, astringent, and warming. Ally to inflamed skin and hardworking bodies.
Pinus strobus (Eastern White Pine)
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
Yarrow is one of our favorite herbs, and you will find it in many Half Wild products. It thrives in difficult places, always stands tall, and blooms even in drought, and it has so much to offer as a skin ally.
We harvest yarrow tops in full bloom before cold-infusing them in alcohol or organic sunflower oil. You can find yarrow in Green Wonder, Après Sun, Herbal Bug Spray, Herbal Itch Relief, Stay Cool Mist, Aftershave, and Beard Oil.
Yarrow heals and soothes skin, repels mosquitoes, cools the skin, and has a strong yet delicate scent. A favorite from our land to you!!
Achillea millefolium
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.
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.
We use beeswax from White Mountain Apiary in Littleton, NH, in all of our salves. Beeswax is great for the skin on its own, and it also helps our herb-infused oils stick around longer on your skin, so you get a greater benefit from the herbs.
We use only organic, raw, apple cider vinegar from Vermont Village in our hair rinses. Bottled just 38 miles from our farm, we are fortunate to live in apple country and have such high-quality raw vinegar available locally.
Raw apple cider vinegar is full of vitamins and minerals to nourish your hair and balance pH after washing.
Because our hair rinses are made with raw vinegar, they may contain sediment or mother of vinegar. This is perfectly safe and can be left in the bottle while you use the product.
We use sea salt from the Maine Sea Salt Company, which is hand harvested and solar evaporated on the Coast of Maine. No heavy machinery. No additives, whitening agents, or drying chemicals.
Maine sea salt is mineral-rich, sustainably harvested, and is a great natural exfoliant for your skin.
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.
We harvest young blackberry leaves from the edges of our field (very carefully!), extract them in raw, organic apple cider vinegar, and then mix them into Dark Hair Rinse and Light Hair Rinse. Blackberry leaves clean and shine hair while helping to fight dandruff.
Rubus spp.