About

ABOUT BOLINE

We believe everyone has a right to affordable, safe, and healthy care.

Boline was born to address common needs that many people have but cannot afford to treat. We use plants and other ingredients that people have used for generations for specific maladies and conditions. Over 48 million people in the United States do not have health coverage, and many of those that do cannot afford any treatment even if they do have coverage. Prescription coverage is minimal and on the decline. Hospital and doctor's visits cost more and more out of pocket. The result is less people are seeing health care professionals regularly and less preventative medicine is being done. People only seek medical care when there is a crisis- and many crises can be averted!

Herbalism is different. It is affordable, accessible to all, and works *with* the body- restoring it to optimum health. While it has remedies for things like migraines (remedies are things that you take as maladies occur), often with herbalism you will instead take "tonics" that nourish and prevent dis-ease and gently shift imbalances- such as herbalism's approach to allergies or hormonal imbalance. Indeed, herbalism is all about moving into balance- both within your own body and on a larger scale, humans in relation to the planet.

We believe that natural is better.

What do we mean by natural? That word has been misused by corporations trying to trick consumers into buying things that are far from what WE mean when we use the word. So we will define it for you:

• Natural means all the ingredients are easily identifiable (and close to their original state as you find them in nature) and easy to pronounce. Nothing harmful, ever. No chemically extracted isolates. We employ no one in a lab coat! We use ingredients safely used by generations of humans.
• Natural means Boline knows where all the ingredients came from.
• Most are local and Lily, our herbalist, either raised the plants herself or saw the plants as they were growing (before harvest).
• Other ingredients were raised by people that we know and trust or wildcrafted ethically, according to United Plant Savers standards.
• Natural means organic whenever possible. No chemical pesticides or fertilizers ever when using cultivated plants and wildcrafting in chemical free areas.
• Natural means every batch is made in small quantities, artisinally. This way, we have ultimate control over what goes in and what does not.
• Natural means that Boline products that have bee products (honey, beeswax, pollen, or propolis) in them come from beekeepers whose emphasis is on bee and hive health- not rampant production.
• These ethical beekeepers also do not treat their bees with chemicals and do not move their hives for monoculture pollination purposes. You may have heard that bees are in trouble, and by keeping bees organically and not moving their hives, we can do our part to save life on this planet. We only work with beekeepers dedicated on working WITH bees.

We believe that small is better.

We do not want to be a massive apothecary. We do not want to cheapen our formulas, package in plastic, and "sell out". We want to do well by doing good- in our community. If we make a living serving the needs of our community, we are satisfied. We will never expand by using cheaper, less quality ingredients. We will never stop making our own products in small batches in lieu of an outsourced factory. We will never be surprised to find harmful ingredients in our products, because we acquire all our own ingredients and make each one, by-hand. This may mean that our product is more expensive than the one you can get at the drugstore or supermarket. But we can guarantee you that ours is better. Better for you and your health and better for the planet. We use reusable and recyclable packaging. We have ingredients that are consumable. Yes, you could eat our facial scrub (It's rather gritty, so I don't recommend it, though!).

Hand-made, artisinal products are simply better. We test everything before it is sold. Our eyes are on a product at every step of its production. Did you know it takes a year for a new batch of calendula oil to be made for our lotions and salves? First, we grow the calendula all season long. We harvest and dry the flowers as they come up. Once we have a complete harvest, we infuse the oil for months to have it take on the healing potency of the flowers. Once we have the oil, we can use it in products (which may have other ingredients that took months to create!). This means once my stock is gone, it is gone for a year. But that is better for you, the user. It means my products are fresh and potent. Yes- you could buy "calendula lotion" down the block at the drugstore, but it will not have the healing properties that Boline's will. Who knows how long those flowers sat in a plastic bag, aging in a warehouse? How long the company infused the oil? What other ingredients in the lotion counteract the healing effects of the calendula? If the plastic packaging is leaching BPA into your product? Buy Boline- we know the answer to all these questions!

About Lily, the owner of Boline:

Lily is a trained herbalist who studied in California. She has been making herbal remedies and toiletries for decades. She is also a Reiki master and a student of acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (which includes Chinese herbalism). She is called to be a healer and is happy to work with folks one-on-one to create custom tonics and remedies that suit their specific needs (in addition to the off-the-shelf medicines that she makes for Boline).