Beauty Doesn’t Have to be Painful
By Kayli Corbin
Photography by Kimberlee Miller
Imagine herbs and flowers pushing their way through healthy earth, dense with life. The fragrance of growth drifts through a beautiful array of nature’s most prized possessions. Bees buzz and bumble around their pollinating partners. Welcome to another beautiful day at the farm for Apis.
As consumers, we have an incredible power in purchasing responsibly sourced, local products. Apis is rooted in sustainable farming and herbalism. Owner of Apis, Jessica Harrold, took a class from an herbalist at the organic farm she worked at. She started with lip balms and quickly learned of her love for the creative side of making beauty products. The next thing she knew, she had a business and it was flourishing like the herbs in her garden.
Once her small-scale garden could no longer support her growing business, she and her husband moved to two acres and Hen and Hare Microfarm was born. Apis is Hen and Hare’s apothecary line. It is such a rare treat to find high-quality beauty care products that are crafted from products grown right here in Idaho.
Jessica shared, “When people hear we’re growing our own herbs, they really appreciate it. We’re not certified organic, but we don’t use any kind of chemical or spray on our plants—just fertilizer from the rabbits and chickens when we clean out their areas in the fall. We include a lot of diversity in the gardens, and they’re more wild than farm-like. There’s always something blooming for the bees, and if we have an empty space, we just plant flowers. A lot of the herbs we let go to bloom to provide more food for bees. We keep tearing out grass and other non-flowering species to increase our growing space to provide habitat.”
A focus on sustainability is at the roots of Apis. They are taking steps to minimize plastic consumption at all levels of production. Growing their own herbs means that pre-packaged herbs aren’t shipped. For any product that must be delivered, they upcycle their shipping containers by giving them to a glass studio to repurpose. They use glass and steel containers for their products – only the lids are plastic. They’ve even launched a jar re-use option, meaning that you bring back your containers for store credit!
The product selection is phenomenal. Jessica gave us some insight, “There are five main product categories: beauty, healing, new momma, calming, and lip balms. My favorite two products are the clay masks and facial serum. I mix the mask up with warm water so it’s soothing when you apply it. Once it’s rinsed off, I follow up with the facial serum. This is a great weekly ritual, and you’ll wake up with dewy skin.”
You won’t regret checking out Apis. You can make a healthy impact on the community, find a product that really works for you, and improve the environment! Be sure to follow Apis on social media so you can hear about their upcoming events!
apisidaho.com
Instagram: @apisidaho
Facebook: @Apisidaho
