Throughout heat summers, beds of chamomile and calendula dot a five-and-a-half acre plot within the tiny city of Exeter south of Dane County, ready to be harvested and dried. These vegetation have supplied the premise of Monica Pastrana’s natural wellness enterprise and a lesson on the fantastic thing about domestically grown merchandise since she moved her household to Exeter 4 years in the past.
Pastrana owns Bellebrook Botanicals, producer of teas, lotions, soaps, syrups and different merchandise made with herbs she grows in her backyard. Bellebrook acquired its begin in November 2022, when Pastrana took her teas to the close by farmers market in New Glarus.
Since then, Bellebrook has expanded to promote in 5 shops throughout southern Wisconsin, together with Seven Nights Seize ‘N Grocery on Williamson Avenue in Madison and MJ’s Apothecary and Items in Milwaukee. Pastrana additionally sells her merchandise on Bellebrook’s web site, bellebrookbotanicals.com.
The enterprise grew out of a want to seek out domestically sourced, pure substances that may nourish the physique day after day, Pastrana stated.
“I all the time hope that they encourage pleasure, and folks get enthusiastic about working with them and dealing with nature,” she stated.
For instance, Bellebrook’s chamomile tea blended with lemon balm, ardour flower and strawberry is meant to assist folks wind down and go to sleep at evening.
“You possibly can have a easy natural tea proper earlier than you go to mattress that may show you how to unwind,” Pastrana stated. “It will probably show you how to usher right into a relaxation and rest and hopefully make that going to mattress course of a little bit bit simpler.”
Different merchandise embody hand salves and lotions to deal with dry pores and skin in addition to a spread of flavored honeys that pair with one of many teas.
Pastrana enlists the assistance of her husband and 4 kids to are likely to the herbs, however the formulation, model design and social media technique are all her. She spent two years finding out the ins and outs of herbalism, which, mixed along with her advertising diploma from Madison’s Edgewood Faculty, has allowed her to experiment creatively with vegetation she will be able to develop in her personal yard.
In the course of the growth of every new combination, Pastrana tweaks her recipes and substances after sending them to family and friends, permitting for testing and suggestions earlier than sending them to market. To this point, reception has been constructive, she stated.
Pastrana buys just a few substances that she can’t get in Wisconsin, such because the oranges she provides to a lot of her flavored honeys. Others, akin to garlic, she purchases from native growers. However many herbs style finest after they’re contemporary, which is why she cultivates as a lot of them in her backyard as potential.
“There are merchandise the place utilizing contemporary herbs is absolutely, actually necessary to the standard of that product,” she stated. “So my first aim is every little thing that I need to use contemporary due to the standard issue, I need to be sure that I can develop right here on my property.”
Pastrana is all the time in search of extra methods to develop Bellebrook. Since she will be able to solely hit so many farmers markets, she’s hoping to seek out extra shops in a position to promote her merchandise.
New teas and salves are additionally within the works, she stated, within the spirit of Bellebrook’s aim of offering “straightforward and approachable methods” for folks to include herbs into their each day routine.
“I’ve all the time acquired a number of concepts for brand spanking new merchandise, nevertheless it actually is balancing the present enterprise with the continuous progress of recent merchandise,” she stated. “However I do count on my merchandise to proceed to develop, to have the ability to assist giving folks straightforward, efficient, pure options for these frequent, on a regular basis complaints.”
