Operation Grassroots Alaska: Salmonberry Origins, Dreams and Thoughts

Today's edition of "Operation:  Grassroots Alaska", is by far one of my favorite businesses that I've had the pleasure of running into so far:  Salmonberry Origins, Dreams and Thoughts (3 different shops...we'll get into that in a minute :).  Why was it such a pleasure?  Because it is a business that combines some of my favorite things:  soap and beauty supplies, herbs and teas, food (oh yeah!), and beautiful items focusing on Alaska's wonders!

When I got an e-mail a week or so ago from the owner, Rainey Hopson, asking if I'd review some of her products from her Etsy shop I thought it would be cool to get to try out a new type of soap, because I just assumed that's probably what I'd get for a sample.

Boy was I wrong *laugh*.  She sent me a kit with everything in it that you see above.  When I opened the book, and I kid you not the BOOK describing all of the different scents of perfume I knew I was in for an experience.

In the past couple of days I've tried out the soaps, smelled all of the perfumes (since I can't really wear them with the kiddos) and have drank...well let's just say there's a lot of tea bags waiting to be reused in my tea bag holder.  The lip balm is quite a neat deal too and works great.

Anyone who shops on Etsy for any type of soaps and/or beauty supplies quickly comes to know quality vs. a business that is just "phoning it in" when it comes to their products.  When I just checked out the Etsy shop before I even got the samples in the mail I knew I was dealing with an Etsy shop that was BASED on quality.  Once I received the samples I KNEW I was dealing with a shop of really high quality items.  When you see customized scents EVERYWHERE instead of the same 8 different "box" scents that seem to pop up over and over again on Etsy shops and you see the care that someone puts into their photos and descriptions you know that if nothing else the owner of the business has something different going on.

My favorite scents out of the perfumes were the pilot bread scent (you have to smell it for yourself...it's a very comforting smell to me) and the cloudberry scent is just awesome (never had even heard of cloudberries until I read about them from her descriptions of her perfumes).

By far though, out of all the products I got to try, the teas...my goodness the teas were just so awesome to try!  I'm not even really what you would call a "tea drinker" and I enjoyed them a LOT trying them out the last couple of days.  They are flavorful without being overly pungent and are just really wonderful to experience.

Here is what Rainey has to say about herself and her business and how it all got started for her.

"My Name is Rainey Nasugraq Hopson and am the lucky owner of a few very special Etsy stores. I grew up in Point Hope Alaska, a tiny village on the northern coast and since then I have followed my nomadic roots to a couple of villages, including some in California where I got my degree.

One of my first memories as a child was of my mother pointing out plants and naming them for me, telling me of their many special attributes as we gathered 'tundra salad' for dinner. This simple love of nature has carried on into my adulthood and was the seed for my arctic inspired products.

It actually started with a couple of small happenings in my life. First I moved to Anaktuvuk Pass Alaska, where my husband is from, and as anyone who has experienced the Brooks Range knows it is a place of magic and abundance. Second we both quit smoking cigarettes and were rewarded with the return of a couple of sensory mechanisms ie our sense of smell and taste! That was the beginnings of my line of tundra inspired scents, as I was amazed by what our world smelled like! The other event occurred was while ice fishing, I pulled a muscle in my back and was met with a very limited amount of things I could do for the pain. Talking with the local elders here they recommended I try using Willow bark. I was amazed with how well it worked and thus began my adventures into the adaptations of traditional knowledge and of modern delivery systems.

These stores allow me and others to be proud of our heritage and to fit it into our increasingly modern world. It also allows me and my husband to practice a subsistence life and to preserve older knowledge. I am lucky to have found a way in which I can celebrate my culture, promote natural science, by doing something I absolutely adore. I hope people can see this in my products!"

I would say that her products speak for themselves. Rainey runs 3 shops on Etsy and I encourage you to check all three of them out...

Salmonberry Origins Health and Beauty products, first aid products (tinctures, healing teas, foot soaks, etc) and food (jams and mustards...can't WAIT to order me some of those :).

Salmonberry Dreams. Arctic Body Adornments (jewelery). Beautiful stuff!

Salmonberry Thoughts Artwork (once again lovely stuff!).

You can also find her on her blog and on Facebook.

Makes me wish I had as much talent in my whole body that this talented lady has in her little finger *laugh*.

Like what you see? Well, Rainey was nice enough to offer a discount to my readers this fine day. Use coupon code AKBARGAINHUNTER at checkout to get 10% off your order.

How's that for cool?

So, next time you want to try a new type of soap, tea or just try something cool, please check out her shops on Etsy and help support an Alaskan business!

Operation Grassroots Alaska: Human Milk 4 Human Babies!

This week's edition of Operation:  Grassroots Alaska, focuses on a pretty unknown resource available to Alaska's parents.  One that I wish had been around when I was trying my hardest to breastfeed my children and nothing I tried worked:  Human Milk 4 Human Babies.  This organization is just the greatest if you want to be able to breastfeed your child but you can't (due to health reasons, you being the wrong sex, or because, like me, your breast milk production was either non-existent or just not where it should have been).  This is also a great organization if your breast milk product is fine, or better than fine and you would like to help others who aren't like you.

What is Human Milk 4 Human Babies?  Direct from their own description...

"Human Milk 4 Human Babies is a global organization dedicated to commerce-free, peer-to-peer breastmilk sharing relationships based on informed choice.  We use Facebook as the meeting place - moms who have milk to spare post their offers and families who need breastmilk post their needs, and hopefully they'll find a match!  There are about 300 chapters of HM4HB around the globe right now, and we're always expanding.  HM4HB was launched in March 2011 (prior to that, we were known under a different name - Eats on Feets - which has since been abandoned)"

I just think this organization is so darn cool.  It would have helped me, a woman who had problems with breast milk production and was forced to formula feed my kids, get in contact with people like my sister-in-law (who thought of actually selling her breast milk at one time because she had to pump and throw away so much of it when she was weaning her twins onto regular milk).

Here's some back story and current stats on our local Alaska chapter (via an e-mail Sarah Lewis was nice enough to e-mail me :)...

"The Alaska chapter is run by several local admins - I'm in Fairbanks (Sarah), Denise Hibben is in Anchorage, and Emily Taylor is in Sand Point (on the Aleutians).  We maintain and moderate the Facebook page and try to publicize the organization.  We really want people to know that we're out there, and that donor milk is another option - even if one decides it's not for them personally, it's still great to at least be aware of the option.  I also like to stress that it's a great community to be a part of, even if your breastfeeding relationship is problem-free: the first person I donated milk to was a mother who had to have unexpected surgery and would be away from her two-month-old; she hadn't had the time to pump enough milk for the baby.  Our HM4HB page has made some other incredible matches - the Alaskan community has donated milk to help the mother of a newborn who was hospitalized with an infection and placed on medication she could not breastfeed on; organized a shipment of milk to a mother in Washington state who was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and put on chemotherapy, on which she could not breastfeed; and provided donor milk to a seven-month-old baby who was hospitalized with RSV and intubated when his mother wasn't able to pump enough - and more!"

Here's a little bit more information on what the organization is trying to do to...

"HM4HB is a global milksharing network, a virtual village, comprised of thousands of people from over fifty countries. We are mothers, fathers, adoptive families, grandparents, childbirth and breastfeeding professionals, volunteers, supporters, donors, and recipients that have come together to support the simple idea that all babies and children have the right to receive human milk. We use social media as a platform for local families to make real-life connections and come together as sustainable milksharing communities where women graciously share their breastmilk. HM4HB is built on the principle of informed choice: we trust, honour, and value the autonomy of families and we assert they are capable of weighing the benefits and risks of milksharing in order to make choices that are best for them. We hold the space for them and protect their right to do what is normal, healthy, and ecological.

Breastmilk, the biologically normal sustenance for humankind, is a free-flowing resource and mothers of the world are willing to share it. Milksharing is a vital tradition that has been taken from us, and it is crucial that we regain trust in ourselves, our neighbors, and in our fellow women. Feeding any breastmilk substitute is not without risk and we support the families who know there is another option. We are the bridge that connects local families and brings them together again as milksharing communities. Indeed, the future of humanity depends on our return to sharing in a local and tangible way with one another.

We want milksharing and wet-nursing to be commonplace and babies to be fed at women's breasts whenever and wherever they need it. We dream of a world where mothers from previous generations pass on the tradition of breastfeeding and are a wealth of knowledge and support. We can forsee a time when women protect each other and help one another feed their babies so that every mother feels whole and no mother feels broken or that her body is failing her. We imagine a world where family members, friends, lactation consultants, doctors, and midwives do not hesitate to recommend donor milk when it is needed. We envision a future where families come together to raise this generation, and the next, by nourishing human babies everywhere with human milk and unconditional love.

Every person of the world is invited to join HM4HB. Page administrators, members, donors, recipients, and supporters are all important for building local, real-life communities where acquiring donor milk is no different than asking a trusted neighbor for an egg. We hope that one day in the future all babies in the world will thrive and grow on mother's milk, and HM4HB will no longer be needed because wet-nurses and breastmilk are available on every street, village, town, city, and island around the globe."

For more information, HM4HB actually has a great website: http://www.hm4hb.net/ that describes the history of the organization, etc.  The FAQ is at This Link if you are interested in learning more about how to become a donor or a recipient.  And you can join them on Facebook HERE.

So, for all you expectant or new mom's, or for those who just didn't realize an option like this was available, I wanted to pass along this information to you.  And thank you to Stephanie D., one of our blog members, for taking the time to e-mail me about this organization so I could pass this resource on to you!