News from the wild garden waxery where we run our small business...And Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week
This is a long read so pop the kettle on and cut a generous slice of cake… but to say thank you (and blatantly bribe you to stick with it!) there is an exclusive subscriber discount at the end!
Hello! I hope you have been enjoying the glorious weather! Long may it continue as it’s the perfect time for us to gather petals and leaves from the wild garden outside the waxery, to dry and press to use in our products - don’t worry we are leaving plenty for the platoons of pollinating insects that we are lucky enough to have in our garden!
Some of the flowers we will press and use in our products
We will use the petals and leaves to decorate our wax air fresheners, a completely plastic and chemical free alternative that are made from the same wax as our candles and scented with essential oils and fine fragrance oils. They provide a lovely safe, gentle, long lasting perfume for small rooms and cupboards and are fully biodegradable.
With wedding season upon us these hand decorated lovelies also make great gifts and favours as each one is unique and decorated by hand. They are sold in pairs and come in a lovely cotton bag that can be re-used for storing small items, seeds or made into a lavender bag. They look and smell lovely!
Next up …MELTS! After lots of requests for these we now have them on the website and available in most of our fragrances with more to follow. Made from the melt version of our rapeseed & coconut wax these will work in all types of melters and waft a fabulous fragrance throughout your home.
Our new wax melts
This week is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week
We are delighted to be supporting this very important week with the fabulous team at the maternity department at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.
When Mental Health Midwife Caroline Woodall got touch to see if we could help we were so pleased to be able to get involved.
Caroline said: “Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week starts on May 5, and as part of this, we are looking at how to promote well-being, self-care and empowering women and birthing people to express their needs, feelings and experiences, in order to improve Maternal Mental Health outcomes.”
”Unfortunately, maternal suicide is still one of the leading causes of death in the year following birth, and we know that around 1 in 5 people nationally struggle with their mental health in the perinatal period. Locally, those statistics are actually 1 in 4.”
“Many people do not feel they are able to reach out, resulting in silent suffering and deterioration, because of the social misconception that pregnancy and the postnatal period is a time when people have to be happy and grateful, and ignoring the overwhelm of other struggles that come along with it including loneliness, depression and anxiety.
Although our services work very hard to break down barriers and stop this subject being a taboo in society, there is still a lot more work that needs doing.”
Maternal mental health refers to mental health during pregnancy and up to 2 years following birth. You may have also heard it referred to as ‘perinatal mental health’.
This can include depression, anxiety, OCD, PTSD, personality disorders, bipolar, schizophrenia, postpartum psychosis and many more.
During this week, organisations around the world come together to raise awareness for and reduce the stigma of maternal mental health. For the UK this is the #maternalmentalhealthalliance.
The aims are: to encourage and empower people to reach out for help and identify necessary resources; to enable people to care for and nurture their children; to support healthcare professionals to be confident in providing support, because everyone should be able to access high quality care in their pregnancy.
There are many ways for you to get involved!
Using the hashtag #maternalMHmatters or #StrongerTogether
Following @WMMHday account
Sharing your own story to help raise awareness
Joining in any activities or supporting events that are helping to raise awareness
To raise awareness about this very important work we have donated some products to be included in a number of wellbeing packs that will be distributed across Oxfordshire to new parents who need some extra support. Please do spread the word and share our social media posts about this week if you can.
A note about our little business…
Herberowe Candles
Apothecary inspired, nurturing and gentle home fragrance products made from safe, sustainable ingredients, suitable for vegans, our candles and diffusers are soothing and relaxing and offer a long lasting, excellent safe fragrance throw.
Our candles are individually hand poured in small batches in our wild garden waxery in rural Oxfordshire from a luxurious blend of coconut & rapeseed wax, one of the most sustainable waxes available and free from soy, paraffin, palm oil, beeswax and additives. We use an exclusive recipe and process for our candles and precise melting, pouring and mixing temperatures to create perfectly balanced beautiful products.
Our diffusers are hand poured using an eco friendly, vegan base. Our fragrances contain extracts of herbs and flowers such as lavender, bergamot, geranium, rose, lemongrass and eucalyptus and have therapeutic and nurturing properties.
We make all our products by hand in small batches in our micro waxery. From designing our own labels to hand pouring, wick snipping, packing and shipping - it’s all done by us and it takes time! When you place your order with us you KNOW that we are making everything just for you as our products are made to order. This is why it may take a little longer to receive your products.
Please shop with thought and care and support small artisan makers - your support for our products and other small local businesses makes A HUGE difference, not only to us but to the local economy and community so Thank You a million times for all YOUR support - it means SO MUCH - please tell all your candle loving friends about us!
We will be at the Market & Music Event taking place at LeoQuent at Hinksey Heights just outside Oxford on May 26 from 12-5. As well as a good chance to stock up on Herberowe products, you can also browse for vintage clothes, furniture and art and enjoy some great food and drink and live music!
Come and see us on Monday May 26!