Dear Friends of Raven Hill Botanicals,
​In December, I sent out a newsletter with the news that I would be closing my doors. However, I heard such an outcry from my customers that I thought I should re-access my options and see if I could save it, or at least save it at some level. After Christmas, I usually take some time off for much-needed rest and recovery after the long holiday season. This year has been doubly hard for me after the loss of my dear mother, and it has taken me longer than usual to get to this matter of my little cottage industry. The story of my business began seven years ago. On January 1, 2022  I entered the eighth year of business. I thought that a full seven years was a good long run for a business into which I have poured my heart and soul. We are already into February, and I apologize for not getting this newsletter out earlier. If I try to resurrect my business or a part of it that has the most interest, I would greatly appreciate your feedback in order to know if I should try to keep it going.

Many of my skincare customers are wondering when I will be able to get inventory in stock. Things may change, as far as bottling and packaging, but rest assured, it will be the same quality product you are accustomed to receiving. Do not hesitate to contact me at info@ravenhillbotanicals.com or by responding to this newsletter. 

I was feeling very devastated by the decision to end the business. I have always felt so wholly invested in it. Still, I needed to do something soon because I have significant expenses with the website coming due again with the e-commerce for the year and reinvestments into supplies for running the business. It is amazing what it takes even for a cottage industry like mine, but dealing with every aspect of a business without help is part of the issue. I was hoping to be able to branch out and have needed some representatives, but with the on-going pandemic everything has been even more difficult. There was a great outpouring of love from my customers pleading with me to find a way forward and then came the award from LuxLife. So I find the next step will be to find out people's favorites and preferences. I must know this to prioritize what I will be able to do. I would appreciate whether you could also communicate to me whether you would be a month or bi-monthly supporter of the skincare lines. Thanks for getting back to me in a timely fashion. 

Some of you may have heard that I won a prestigious award from LuxLife luxury magazine at the end of 2021~The Global Excellence Award~ if you would like to see it:  
https://www.lux-review.com/winners/raven-hill-botanicals/

Following is a list of my products. If I continue with this business, it is critical to have customer feedback on this. The matter will have to be laid to rest, once and for all with your feedback or lack thereof. Find the complete descriptions and ingredients lists on About Our Products and under the product descriptions. 

1. SIRIUS SKINCARE COLLECTION includes Supreme Facial Serum, Facial Cleansing Creme, Daytime Moisturizer, Nighttime Moisturizing Creme, Nourishing Face & Body Creme. 
2.  LUMINOUS SKINCARE COLLECTION includes Equalizer Facial Serum, Day Creme, Cleansing Creme, Lavender and Rose Facial Toners
3. AROMATHERAPY NOURISHING WHOLE BODY LOTIONS & CREMES includes several aromas and no scent upon request, Blue Lotus, Citric Bloom (Citric and Magnolia Blossom), Gardenia, Cheer Up, Euphoria.
4. HERBAL HEALING SALVES AND BALMS include Herbal Healing Salves, Lip Balms, Heel Heal, Sacred Herbs Healing Salve.
5. GOAT MILK SOAPS in several scents using only pure therapeutic grade essential oils (no fragrance oils) 
6. PURE-FUMES ~Essential Oil Blends (Roll-on)Essential Oil Blends

INFO@RAVENHILLBOTANICALS.COM OR BY REPLYING TO THIS NEWSLETTER
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​Raven Hill Botanicals has had a good run. Now it is time to close a chapter on what has absorbed every ounce of my love, attention, and energy over the last eight years. I have given my body and soul to my little business, but a person needs to know when to step back and not prolong an inevitable ending.
 
My products are handcrafted with the freshest and purest of ingredients and love! I carefully select and harvest organic and wildcrafted ingredients with each formula, including herbs and flowers from my botanical gardens and wildcrafted from the surrounding mountain meadows and woodlands. I then infuse selected herbs into aloe vera and skin-nutritive oils for a minimum of 4-6 weeks. To make the most active and effective natural products available, I add additional plant extracts, antioxidant plants, seed oils, and skin-supporting nutrients. Only organic ingredients and pure therapeutic-grade essential oils are used in my formulas. It is very costly, to say the least! 

Over the years, I have carefully developed each formula in my repertoire with my customers in mind. My brochure states: Raven Hill Botanicals is a cottage industry born out of the need to lead an existential life in nature, surrounded by beauty and nature's bounty. It was also born out of the need to know what was going into my body and skincare products. I assumed others might feel the same. Our formulas are unique! The oils alone are known for their amazing healing, conditioning, and anti-aging properties to revitalize the skin. Add to that the botanical extracts, and most importantly, the exquisite and rare healing essential oils, and you have excellent nature skincare. Our products feel so different--so alive with a distinct energetic vibration! I have tried my best to educate people on what goes into making these exquisite products. However, still, people do not want to buy because they believe my products are too expensive. With this in mind, I must say that I am not even breaking even anymore. 

I started Raven Hill Botanicals with my Signature Herbal Healing Salves & Balms and began making soaps, lotions, and eventually facial skincare, later on I dabbled in aromatherapy by signing up as a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA.  I wanted to share these products with others and establish a synergistic way of life with my career. I have been responsible for each step of the process, from the herbal infusions to the bottling, labeling, marketing of the products. The exhaustive work of the gardens, the freedom of walking in nature foraging for herbs, barks, and wildflowers make my products unique and beautiful skincare that grace your face and body~all of this I do alone without assistance and on a minimal budget. As hard as I try to market with all of the limitations and supply and shipping issues of the worldwide pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. It is not sustainable for me to continue like this. I have only continued on this last couple of years because of my stubborn tenacity. I have done it for my loyal customers who depend on my unique formulations, but I cannot do it anymore. I am sorry. 

You will still be able to shop in my online store until we have sold everything in stock. I made a lot of goat milk soaps, beautifully packaged for the holiday season. When the current inventory is gone, I will close the store. I will still have the website to connect with people who would like to come out and visit in the Spring, Summer, and Fall. I will possibly start giving classes on foraging and Aromatherapy. For now, I will close by saying that the last eight years have been some of the most fulfilling years of my life~living the life I love and loving the life I live. It is time to do something different now. Blessings to all of my beloved and loyal customers. I will miss you! 
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Namaste. 
Evelyn Brugger, 
Proprietor of Raven Hill Botanicals 

Dear friends of Raven Hill Botanicals,
The holidays are upon us, and it will be like no other year in our lifetime because of the pandemic. During this unprecedented time of social isolation and the hardships that so many of us are enduring, I felt it essential to let you know the developments here at Raven Hill Botanicals. First, I'd like to explain my humble beginnings and why our products' integrity means so much to me, and why I feel the need to take a step back after the holidays for a bit until the economy begins to recover. I am very proud of my cottage industry, where I  am responsible for all aspects of my business, from wildcrafting the herbs and formulation of the products to production and marketing. I also formulate all of the unique proprietary essential oil blends. The products' integrity is my bottom line, so I will need to take the appropriate actions until the situation changes. Please feel free to contact me at info@ravenhillbotanicals.com with comments, questions, and feedback. 

Throughout the year, starting as early as February, I have already been experiencing a lower than usual sales volume due to the situation's general instability. However, I continue with my business's struggle to survive this crisis, but it has not been easy. Together we can get through this because with every purchase you make; you are given a choice, not only about what you want to put on or in your body, but who and what you want to support and what defines us as a community. Thank you for your on-going support of my cottage industry. Your purchase ensures its existence. 

Some changes in my life circumstances have proved challenging but manageable up to this point with the on-going rigors of the pandemic and dealing with family matters that include the full in-home care of my elderly parents in their home. I will try my best to continue to offer most of my Signature products but bear in mind that the turnaround time on shipping will be a little longer. Some products will be unavailable for a period, so order early if ordering Christmas or Hanukah gifts. 
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I have a fantastic selection of my Signature products, which include facial skincare, body care, healing salves and balms, essential oil blends, as well as goat milk soaps. I encourage my loyal customers to take advantage of the discount coupons that I have nearly every week through my newsletter. If you are not yet a member of the Raven Hill Botanicals family, please sign up for our weekly newsletters and look for news, new products to be launched there, as well as weekly discount codes and special sales. Raven Hill Botanicals products make wonderful gifts. 

Inspired by the brightest star in the sky, the SIRIUS Collection was expertly formulated to let your natural beauty shine bright all year long. These cremes are packed full of the most potent ingredients available to make your skin look it’s naturally beautiful best as it ages. The stars in this line include CoQ10, Alpha Lipoid and Hyaluronic Acids, Vitamins C, A, B3 and pro-vitamin B5, and DMAE all in a delicate rosewater base.

Supreme Facial Serum~The name says it all! This serum is packed full of the most potent ingredients available to make your skin look it’s naturally beautiful best as it ages. The stars in the serum include CoQ10, Alpha Lipoid and Hyaluronic Acids, Vitamins C, A, B3 and pro-vitamin B5, and DMAE all in a delicate rosewater base. Fruit extracts of bilberry, lemon, cranberry, orange and sugar maple add more vitamins and minerals for healthy, beautiful skin. A tiny pea sized amount of this serum will make a world of difference for your skin! 
Light and silky smooth, Daytime Moisturizer is perfect for locking in moisture, so your skin looks and feels absolutely fabulous! With Hyaluronic Acid for deep hydration and DMAE, OptiMSM, and extracts of rooibos and pomegranate this moisturizer is perfect for everyday use! Lightly scented with the Essential Oils of - Clary Sage, Jasmine, Bulgarian Rose, Ylang Ylang II, Neroli, Geranium, and Lavender—fabulous EOs that help balance and calm! Pumpkin, cranberry and pomegranate all come together to celebrate as a perfect blend for the face. These oils blended for their complex nutrient profile creating a galaxy of vitamins and nutrients. Your skin will exhibit an etherial brighter than a supernova!
Want to level the playing field? Our Luminous Line was designed for sensitive, aging, combination and normal skin types. This line is packed with moisturizing vitamins, soothing extracts and gentle oils to tone the skin. These exquisite crèmes are packed with moisturizing vitamins, soothing extracts and gentle oils to tone the skin. Ingredient Superstars  include Organic Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, Calendula Butter, Organic Olive Oil, Carrot Seed Oil, Vitamins and Antioxidants like Rosehip Seed Oil, Borage Oil and Evening Primrose. This serum/day crème combination is amazing! Organic Essential Oils: Lavender, German Chamomile, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Melaleuca and Wildcrafted Bulgarian Rose
Luminous Equalizer Creme Facial Cleanser  is a gentle, hydrating and replenishing cleanser for sensitive, normal and combination skin types. Your skin will reap the benefits of a generous concentration of Super Anti-Oxidants. This cleanser has a creme texture, which leaves your skin soft, smooth, clean and nourished. Organic Aloe Juice, Organic Olive Oil, Lavender, Calendula Extract, White Tea and Rooibos tea have a soothing effect on the skin. Rooibos and white tea are powerful players in the team of antioxidants this creme brings to your skin 

Lavender Facial Astringent is long on Organic Lavender and all it’s known calming, relaxing and harmonizing properties~with soothing Organic Aloe, toning DMAE and strengthening MSM. A toner or an astringent is an integral part of any serious skin care regime. Luminous Facial Astringent helps the skin by balancing the pH, minimizing the look of pores, removing residuals missed during cleansing and preparing the skin to receive the serums and moisturizers to come. 

Equalizer Facial Serum~Equal. Even. Balanced. That’s what Luminous Equalizer Facial Serum delivers, equal benefit for many skin types – Sensitive, mature, oily and combination – to soothe and nourish skin helping to recover from daily exposure to the elements.  Ingredient Superstars  include Organic Jojoba Oil, Shea Butter, Calendula Butter, Organic Olive Oil, Carrot Seed Oil and of course, vitamins and antioxidants from Rosehip Seed Oil, Borage Oil and Evening Primrose. This serum is amazing!

Luminous Day Crème~designed for sensitive, aging, combination and normal skin types. This exquisite creme is packed with moisturizing vitamins, soothing extracts and gentle oils to tone the skin. Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils: Lavender, German Chamomile, Cedarwood, Sandalwood, Melaleuca, Wildcrafted Bulgarian Rose

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I love autumn, my favorite season. Depending on your autumnal regimen, there are pagan rituals to partake in, football homecoming games, harvest gatherings of friends and neighbors, fruits and gourds to be picked, canning, pickling and preserving and making pies, seasonal homemade wines and beers to be racked, knits and flannels to be worn, harvesting crops, firewood gathering, putting the garden to bed for the winter, walks with dogs in the forest of subtle lights. Even the smell of the air has changed and we are alert to the changing season in our bodies and minds.  
There’s also something ineffable about the fleeting transition from summer to winter, making this time of year strange, sacred, and irresistible to poets. As Rilke put it, “At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.” Something of the grave, indeed. A time of culmination for plant life, preparation for the animals, and rumination for us humans, fall isn’t just pumpkin spice latte season and sweater weather — it’s the threshold between life and death. 

In 2008 our beautiful pine forest on the edge of the wilderness in the Garnet Range near Potomac Montana was invaded by the Western Pine Beetle. It devastated our forests. I built a log home in 2005 which was hidden from the road by the thick forest. We romped and played and had our gatherings. People camped out, we had a tipi set up year around for guests. This hasn't happened for years because we had to have our forest cut down to save the rest of the remaining trees especially around the house. What used to be a forest is now an open meadow. On this 10th year anniversary we celebrate what the Healing Hands of Time can do and how Mother Nature will heal all wounds.... Dedicated to all of those who helped with the project and all of my family and friends who have visited, camped, helped out and had good times here on the mountain!

​WHY WILDCRAFTED PRODUCTS?
A selection of the herbs used in our line are hand picked in the mountains where they grow wild, ideally without human intervention and harvested following wildcrafted guidelines. When we use wild-crafted herbs, we know that no commercial farming methods have been used, and that the plants are hearty, vibrant and full of skin-nourishing nutrients. These herbs are collected in areas where pesticides have not been sprayed and ready for use in our formulas.  Our Signature Herbal Healing Salves & Balms are Handcrafted in Small Batches of the Finest & Freshest of Ingredients...and Love!
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Our Signature Herbal Healing Salve and Lip Balms are made with the purest of ingredients starting with fresh herbs such as garden fresh comfrey root, leaf and flower, common garden plantain from our botanical gardens, organic goldenseal root & leaf, wild crafted herbs  such as wild geranium & yarrow from surrounding mountain woodland, meadows and valleys in a base of pure Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil,  Argan Oil, Golden Jojoba Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Apricot Kernel Oil,  Montana Bees Wax - and now with Shea Butter and freshly pressed Organic Nicaraguan Coconut Oil straight from the source~to make this an exquisite Herbal First Aid All Purpose Ointment and your lips will smile all day with our succulent Herbal Healing Lip Balm!

So many uses!~ including natural first aid for wounds, burns, cuts, abrasions, skin rashes and irritations of all kinds. It is an excellent natural first aid cream for wind and sun burned skin, rough knees & elbows, chapped skin and lips, and not to forget diaper rash.  A wonderful hydrating and healing cream for hands and feet, cracks on fingers, cuticles, cracked heels and so much more. It has been used as a night cream, eye cream, and as an intensive skin moisturizer for everyone young and old, as well as your animal friends. I have heard some use it as a leather conditioner. Use as you may, but enjoy!
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Meet Your Herbs
Comfrey has impressive wound healing properties due to the presence of allantoin, a chemical that stimulates cell proliferation. It is a demulcent mucilage making it a powerful healing agent. For those familiar with natural medicine and chronic pain, comfrey is likely on your list of remedies. This herb has been used for centuries to treat a variety of pain- and inflammation-related issues.Among its clinical uses, comfrey can help relieve pain, reduce inflammation of muscles and joints, speed the healing of bruises and contusions and potentially aid in the treatment of fibromyalgia.
 
Goldenseal Root has natural antibiotic and antiseptic properties and is used for all inflammations. Goldenseal contains berberine, which has been proven to be antimicrobial, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory. Native Americans historically used goldenseal for various health concerns including skin diseases.
 
Common Garden Plantain, also know as ‘Mother of Herbs’,  offers many health benefits. It has traditionally been used for cuts, skin eruptions, rashes, hemorrhoids and for aiding the healing and recovery of skin. The astringent, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory effect of the plant makes it helpful in treating minor wounds, cuts, and scrapes.ts natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties make it great for speeding recover of wounds, and for itching or pain associated with skin problems. Plantains has traditionally been used in ointments for cuts, bruises, skin eruptions, hives, rashes of all kinds, hemorrhoids and so much more.
 
Wild Geranium was used by early Native Americans for its many medicinal purposes including anti-hemorrhaging and anti-inflammatory properties.Wild geranium medicinal uses. A poultice from the base or pounded roots of the plant was used to treat burns and hemorrhoids. The leaves and roots were used to treat sore throats, hemorrhages, gonorrhea, and cholera. Like many other tannin-containing substances, Native Americans also used Wild Geranium (Cranesbill)  as an anti-diarrhea treatment.

Red Clover The use of red clover as an herbal remedy goes back centuries, and the plant enjoys a history of both topical and internal applications. As a topical aid, red clover is often an ingredient in liniments and balms, for relieving the pain of both eczema and psoriasis, for sores, burns, and as an aid against skin cancer. The pain-relieving properties of red clover are likely due to the presence of the anti-inflammatory compounds eugenol, myricetin and salicylic acid in the flowers. Salicylic acid also demonstrates activity against eczema.