I grew up on a farm south of Hastings. As an only child I spent hours alone in the hills and the bush and by the creek on the farm, which laid the foundation for my lifelong passion for botanic wisdom, healing and nature.
I always wanted to work with plant medicine, but needless to say, life doesn't always go in a straight line and so I have worked my way towards that via an international career that traversed the arts, corporate sector and conservation.
It was a role with the United Nations Environment Programme that got me thinking about how I could build a business that works with nature, and then gives back to it by using some of its proceeds to establish plant conservation projects. It also made me realise that the place I wanted to do that was right back here, in Hawke's Bay.
Changing career can be scary, but there is a certain pleasure in turning a private passion into the basis for a business. Over the past few years I have been developing a herbal skin care and remedies business called Archeus, which is a word coined by a physician and alchemist in the 16th century for the 'vital force' in people, nature and the universe.
All the ingredients I use are natural, mostly organic, and everything is handcrafted in very small batches. Like 'slow food', my products take time to craft; as I write this article there are some herbs gently macerating in organic camellia oil which, in a few days, will be ready to use.
