Who we are... Simmons Naturals

What our soap shop looks like today, 2/29/12

Somehow life's whirlwind  has kept me preoccupied & I've neglected this blog.
In the spirit of a new beginning, I wish to start here with the story of our business, as that is pretty much the story of my life right now...

Here at Simmons Natural Bodycare it is our mission to provide for the basic needs of our skin and bodies in the best possible way. We strive to create luscious soaps and basic skin care that will Make EveryDay Special.

Since 1979, when we first began crafting soaps for our own family, we have always chosen the purest, highest quality oils & other botanical ingredients for their simple natural benefits. The basic care we provide works by assisting the natural processes of renewal and protection that keep us healthy and beautiful; care for everyday needs as well as for special needs such as dry, chapped skin, skin irritation, allergies, or congestion.

However, at Simmons Natural Bodycare, what we make is only half of the story.

We believe, practice, and promote a philosophy of sustainiblility. This encompasses the use of renewable energy sources and ingredients to create our products, and doing it in a way which does not degrade the environment or cause harm to us and its other inhabitants.
It is not so much the idea of 'doing the right thing', but simply that it is the right thing to do.

Our soaps

This is why we use minimal packaging incorporating as much recycled and recyclable materials as possible.. Even the beautiful handmade Thai papers that wrap our soaps are from trees harvested in a sustainable manner, limbed, so the tree keeps growing. And this is why our ingredients are biodegradable, renewable, and mostly organic, and why we do not test on animals.

Simmons Natural Bodycare is part of a self-sufficient family homestead in the rural mountains of far northern California.

The electricity for our home and business is self generated using solar (PV) panels, a 1kw wind turbine, and a small hydro-power system. Our goal is to live and run our business with as little impact on the planet as possible. The business began by crafting natural, nontoxic, soaps & body care products to ensure the mildness needed for our own family's sensitive skin. It now provides for our family as part of a working homestead in conjunction with our large organic vegetable garden, orchard, and poultry.

Our Solar PV Array

We contribute to our local community and the world community through volunteer work and donations. We have donated 2% of the sales of our bars soaps to Heifer International since 2004 and support other small businesses through our website. Since 2006 we have been 100% Carbon Neutral as we planted enough trees worldwide to offset our carbon emissions through Trees for the Future. In addition, we double our offsets annually by donating to CarbonFund.org to support renewable energy and energy conservation projects, and we continue to plant trees, 1 for every 12 of our 4 oz. bar soaps sold, over 4500 to date.

Please visit our online store and see what we have. 
You can take a short photo tour of our soap shop here.

Rolling Along...

I originally wrote this Nov. 18, 2008. There was a little tremor that evening. A small earthquake about 20 minutes before I wrote the post. The computer USGS Site told me it was a 4.4 situated 17 miles out to sea, about 92 miles southwest of us. I didn't feel a thing. But Dennis, he felt it, and immediately went to check our hanging lamp which doubles as an earthquake detector. Sure enough, it was slightly swaying.

Earthquakes are one of those things that reminds us earth is not just a solid rock, but a geologically active structure. Reminds us that we humans are just a part of a very big picture, of which humans and other living beings, even the multitudes of microbes, are only an element.

In southern California there are raging fires accelerated by strong winds. Tearing through communities without prejudice for wealth or age or rank these fires are very destructive of homes and businesses and those parts of the infrastructure in their path. In 2007 terrible floods ravaged the area around the great rivers of America's heartland. And lest we forget, weather, earthquake, volcanoes and tsunami continually shape the entire planet and affect the lives of all the worlds peoples.

And while all these things are able to disrupt, destroy, and fill us with fear, at the same time they are the actions of change which have created the habitable planet. Out of tumult comes the future: fertile; strong; and different.

In nature there are neither rewards nor punishments; there are consequences. -Robert Green Ingersoll, lawyer and orator (1833-1899)

I think we can get caught up in seeing these things as "good" or "bad". View them as actions to be tamed or conquered... as if we could. I think we have pretty much discovered that the forces of nature are without judgment and cannot be manipulated for human purposes. So we are left with the mission, as the inhabitants of a volatile planet, to learn to prepare for what may happen without fear and accept courageously the challenges. This is our opportunity to show our humanity by working as a community, local, regional, national and world-wide, to support each other in times of need.

Of course, this can translate over into the hardships of our own creation as well. The tight economic times also extend world wide. Each of us will have needs and/or ways in which we can contribute to others. It will be a time to see if we stand as a community and come to each others' aid or retreat to protect ourselves from the perceived need of others.

All things will pass, the elders say. All things are temporary. Change is constant and our strength is in how we choose to work with it. It is opportunity to work for the better - no?