A plus for you - if you buy our Botanical Earth products on the Wonderland Retreat Etsy store??  I am covering the shipping to any domestic US address – so *free shipping for you!  All you do is pay for the basket and the shipping is free.  Now do be aware not all the items in the Wonderland Retreat Store on Etsy are offering free shipping, so read all the product descriptions carefully, or just email Alison and the gals at the store and ask if you have questions – they are super nice!  I was contacted a while back to see if I would donate items to help with a fellow crafter’s medical bills. Now that she’s up and going well again, I decided to leave our Lavender Gift Basket and Thank You gift on the Wonderland Retreat Store to help Elijah’s cause.

There’s lots of different goods in the shop all donated by other indie designers too.  I personally love the Vintage Obi Wallet by Kimono Momo and you’ll find paintings, necklaces, cards and much more.  Remember though, a lot of the handmade goods are one-of-a-kind pieces so if you like it, you better not wait.

Now don’t you want to feel good inside and out, plus get free shipping?? Go shopping at http://wonderlandretreat.etsy.com today!

For this trip over, we sent over some 50 pounds of our soap for the girls and mothers to enjoy.  Ms. Rooney sent me the picture of the ladies in their beautiful native dresses and then some of the girls.  Later in the month, I will post my letter from Farja, who is the young girl (age 9) that Botanical Earth helps sponsors through school.  It’s a long term commitment, but one that I don’t ever question.

I have to thank our customer, Alice Eberhard for getting us involved.  She has done the walk for the last 2 years – go Alice!  When she mentioned she worked with BEADS would take any donations of soap, I was more than willing to help.  As a child I grew up in the Middle East and on holiday we would go to Kenya.  It is the only place that I would cry when I had to leave – I love the Amboseli area in particular.  So to know that I could do something as a business too regarding helping girls in Kenya was an honor.  I had friends from Kenya in grade school and college, but all but one has died from the civil unrest throughout the years.

So for now, Botanical Earth sponsors Farja through school close to her home, and will assist her through college if she chooses.  Hopefully, as the business grows, we can sponsor more girls, and the girls in turn will educate their own people on environmental issues, humanitarian rights and AIDS education. If you want to read more on all the happenings at BEADs and to see some great pictures, including Alice’s – go to http://www.beadsforeducation.org/