Juniper Ridge, My Wild-Crafting Heroes

Juniper Ridge is a company that I’ve taken quite a liking to, if by “liking” you mean “total obsession.” The company was founded by Hall Newbegin, who desired products that smelled like the Western regions he loved. I know these scents well; when I drive to the coast, I can clearly smell the bay laurels and coastal chaparral that I love so much. I first became interested in Juniper Ridge for this reason, and my initial interest led me to discover just how great this company truly is.

Newbegin’s soaps and other goods smell like the real thing because, well, they ARE the real thing. Juniper Ridge’s team of wildcrafters work with private landowners to ensure access to good-quality wild plants and herbs on their land. Wildcrafting is a method of gathering wild plants and herbs ethically and sustainably. Juniper Ridge’s wildcrafters go to places like the mountains of California and the deserts of Arizona, where they essentially prune the wild plants that grow there. All of their gathering is done on private property with the permission of the landowners. Basically, the company prunes people’s trees and plants for free, and in turn they use the trimmings to create beautiful products. It’s an amazingly simple concept, yet I’ve never seen it done before.

The quality of Juniper Ridge’s products is excellent, and the care and pride that go into making them is obvious. Nothing is added to these products to enhance the scents; they contain no fragrances or dyes, not even essential oils. What you smell when you’re up close and personal with one of these products are the wild-harvested plant trimmings they contain.

Juniper Ridge gives 10% of its profits to organizations that preserve the Western wilderness, such as the Sierra Club, the Center for Biological Diversity, and The Wilderness Society. This means a lot to me; I grew up in Southern California, where I slowly watched the last few open spaces in my hometown turn into development projects. There used to be a modest buffalo ranch near where I grew up, but over time the animals were moved to other locations, and the farm buildings on the property were either moved or torn down. Today that land is covered in suburban housing units and paved streets; besides backyards, not a single acre of open land remains.

It wasn’t until I moved to Northern California that my hopes for the preservation of Western marshes and habitats were realized. Development regulations are much more strict here, with some counties imposing an altitude rule that regulates how many buildings can be erected on the beautiful peaks that surround us. There’s a greater appreciation for wildlife in the Northern part of this state, and so I’ve come to associate the smells of the local plant life with my own hopes and dreams.

The scents of the plants I love so dearly are often replicated in labs and applied to lesser soaps on the market. I’ve also seen several products containing the essential oils of this flora, which lend themselves well to body care products. Still, it’s just not quite the same. But when I smell a Juniper Ridge soap or sachet, it’s as if I’m sticking my nose into the very plant itself. It’s not an approximation of the plant’s scent: it’s the actual plant in one form or another.

I read a message from Hall Newbegin on the company’s website that talks about how he first had the idea to create these products:

The shelves at the Wild Oats store in Berkeley, for instance, are filled with cinnamon and lavender scented soap bars, incenses with names like “Personal Awakening” and “India Sunset” but where, I would wonder, are the real smells of wild plants that I encounter when I’m out hiking and backpacking?… I became obsessed with the idea of making a soap that smelled like the wild sages that grow in the coastal mountains of California. When I’d buy sage soaps at the local organic grocery store, they smelled more like perfume than anything I’d ever bumped into on the trail. Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, if someone made a soap that smelled just like the real thing?”

Yes, yes it would.

As a result of Newbegin’s quest to create real-deal products, I can’t stop thinking about the various offerings from Juniper Ridge. I have one of their Douglas Fir sachets, which I keep in a basket by my desk. At least once a day I hold the sachet in front of my nose and breathe deeply; I just can’t get enough of it. I also enjoy their Douglas Fir Tip Tea, which I know sounds strange, but it tastes divine. It’s surprisingly lemony, and when I drink a steaming cup of it I’m reminded of the Pacific Northwest. It’s like standing in a forest full of fir trees dripping wet with fresh rain. Does it get any better than that?

I particularly love the company’s Wild Herb Wreaths. The lush Siskiyou wreath is lovely, though it’s the Mt. Tamalpais wreath that first caught my eye. I have family in Marin, and I can see the peak of this mountain from their back porch. I’ve been to Mt. Tam and I’ve smelled its bouquet, so this wreath is especially exciting to me. It’s also striking in appearance, unlike most wreaths I’ve seen; it’s a thing of beauty.

There isn’t a Juniper Ridge product that I don’t love. You should seriously try some of their products, I’m not kidding. They’ll make a believer out of you. And if you live (or are familiar with) any of the regions where Juniper Ridge harvests their plant materials, you’d be particularly appreciative of the various goods that use plants from your area. You can search for products by plany from their home and product pages. If you’d like to read more about the company and their wildcrafting adventures, check out their blog.