The article was included in the first newsletter of the Ozarks Sustainability Community Center ('A place to discuss sustainability and schedule events within our beautiful Ozarks!') that was launched earlier this year in West Plains, Missouri, near Sara Firman's (Director of Vision Spa Retreat) home-base.
We're hoping to extend this small initiative further to another Ozarks community action The Well-Fed Neighbor Alliance - 'a grassroots movement working toward a vision of a peaceful, abundant and sustainable future' - also launched recently, and very successfully, from the city of Springfield, MO.
Look out for forthcoming posts on ways in which spa community could be integrated with local community initiatives like the Transition Town Movement that started in the UK and has recently begun nationwide in the US.
If this is a topic that interests and inspires you, please do comment on any of the blog postings or write to Vision Spa Retreat directly.
Quoting the Well-Fed Neighbor Alliance: Together, people of the Ozarks are fostering neighbor-to-neighbor partnerships to re-establish our local food supply by planting community gardens, supporting local family farms and area farmer's markets.Let us not stop until we’ve achieved a vertical integration of our farm to market products, the relocalization of good-paying jobs, the creation of an all-Missouri buy Local Directory, and the widespread installation of alternative energy sources by and for the people. In the process, we’ll be reuniting neighbors, engaging the better angels of our public officials, and reskilling our kids to face the future.
Growing for Spas
Food cooked and presented with love has always been appreciated. Spa treatments conducted and presented with heart are no different. And these things tend to be home-grown and timeless. They don't depend on ethnic or exotic imports but rather on creative and caring aspects of human community. Spas can both support and inspire sustainable local communities.
At the spa-retreat I used to run in our area, I once served some guests a pasta sauce I'd made with tofu and lavender (from the retreat garden). I had followed a recipe and they were polite enough to eat it . But it would probably have made a better sunburn soothing mask in the spa - lavender is a well-known anti-inflammatory!The point is that a spa product that is also edible is likely to be safe to use on someone's skin. Basic products can be made from cold-pressed and unrefined oils, freshly prepared certified organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds etc., therapeutic grade herb and flower extracts, and pure water. Making a product directly before use in the spa or in the treatment room can give it a further potent quality.
With freshly made products there is no need to worry about shelf-life which can involve all manner of less desirable ingredients in manufactured products. (It's important to note though that some natural substances can also cause allergic or other unpleasant reactions in some people and knowledge of this is extremely important if for anyone who plans to make up their own products.)
The underlying elements of any spa treatment can (and I think should) be appropriately and effectively adapted to suit and enhance whatever setting a spa is in. Including locally grown ingredients, local suppliers, and local flavor in spa offerings certainly blends these treatments more naturally with a particular setting than if they are outsourced.
The demand for body care products has proliferated dramatically, along with the growing spa industry. 'Green' products have commanded a premium (and not always justifiable) market price. With increasing evidence of green washing, body care product manufacturers face scrutiny from conscious consumers who also represent a significant percentage of spa consumers.
This ought to encourage spas and other related venues to examine their choices and offerings more closely. The best and most creative solution, I believe, is to source local and to involve the community - from suppliers, to staff, to customers - in the creation of a unique and varied spa menu. For a spa venue, making food-based spa treatments, including sourcing local materials for these, will require either:
- establishing their own on-site organic garden, perhaps with bee hives for honey and wax, or
- researching and networking to find good and reliable local suppliers
Also:
- training of staff and set-up of a space/ facility for the making of products
- creative design of a range of services involving these products
For spa venues that do choose to sell products they make onsite, it is essential to look into local and state regulations regards retail of 'home-made' beauty products. There are many websites and blogs on the internet promoting this kind of business that will also provide lots of good ideas for recipes and equipment and supplies needed.
As part of a program I'd like to develop for promoting local spa products and services, I'm interested to hear from (or about) anyone who is already making locally grown and produced body products, would be interested in making them, or would like to offer them as part of their existing therapeutic services (massage, spa, etc.). Please contact me (Sara Firman).
This article was extracted from the series of six related posts about spa products and the powerful potential they have for enabling sustainable spa culture already posted on this blog.
- Spa treatment menus: authenticity and audacity
- Eco-spa-chefs: cooking up a better future
- Savvy and creative spas grow their own spa products
- The value of growing and making your own spa products
- Natural, organic? Spa products under scrutiny
- How to make your own 'soulful and sustainable' spa products
