West Coast Hydrosols

A testament to the growing climate of the Southern Gulf Islands - our Rosemary is still blooming in mid October!

The next couple weekend distillations will be vibrant!!

Quick reminder to our Eastern-based customers: get your winter orders in now since we can’t ship once it’s too cold!!!

:) Happy Fall Gardening!

Hey Everyone.

Today is National Truth and Reconciliation Day here in Canada, so today’s post will be an unusual one for us.

In honour of today, I thought I’d post my own little Canadian Heritage Minute.

In the photo above you see a group of handcuffed Metis men, all under arrest and about to be tried for their part in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885.

The handsome fella that’s fourth from the left in this photo is my great grandfather, Pierre Gariepy.

Pierre was being tried for “felony treason” against the crown, as were most of his pals. Pierre’s specific crime? He was asked by Louis Riel to become a member of his Exovedate (government in exile) and to bring Riel’s personal papers back into Canada from Montana.

At his trial, a Catholic priest named Father Alexis Andre testified that Pierre was “a giant and gentle man” and while only “one or two degrees above the Indian” was a “leader among the Plain hunters”.

I’ve always appreciated the part about him being gentle and giant and a leader among his people - it makes me feel good and proud to be his grandson. The other part of the testimony, where my grandfather and an entire race of humans are dehumanized, is just not cool. And today is the day we should remember that it happened a lot. For a long, long time in Canada.

Pierre ended up doing 3 years in jail for bringing his friends’ papers across the border and fighting for his people’s right to farm and hunt their own lands.

My thoughts today are with Pierre and the countless Indigenous children, including members of the Gariepy clan, that we lost to residential schools. Let’s be better to one another.

We've Missed You! (And a Special Thanks.)

Hi Everyone!

Well - it’s been 307 days since we last posted to our social media accounts!

This has made us a target of the shame-inducing “You haven’t posted in a while” message from Facebook for so long that we’ve finally decided to cave-in and come back to say hello.

Would it be weird to ask how everyone is doing?



Like everyone and everything else, the pandemic changed our 2020 plans in an instant.

All of our farmer and public markets were shuttered and uncertainty lingered when the first wave hit. Our last post was on March 16 of last year imploring everyone to wear a mask and stay safe.

So why did we stop doing social media if we were still making Hydrosols?

The naked truth is that we didn’t feel comfortable engaging in any kind of grand self-promotion and marketing while watching so many people and business suffering around us. It seemed trivial to try and create “engaging content” and – frankly – super difficult.

At the top of our minds this last year have been the health and safety of our families, loved ones, and community.

Lucky for us we have an *incredibly* loyal and amazing group of customers who continued to order our fresh distillates despite not doing any new online advertising or live markets this year.

These customers really carried us through a tough time and we are eternally grateful for their support and would like to send them all (you know who you are) a very special thanks.



What’s Next for West Coast Hydrosols?

As vaccine efforts continue to ramp up, we feel that the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” might just be coming into view.

Some of our markets that are tentatively planning partial re-openings this summer and we are hopeful that “normal” may soon be back.

In the meantime, we encourage you to stay safe, continue following the advice of the experts and scientists, and remember that kindness and love are limitless allies when fighting back the darkness.

Also – find a tree to hug. They’ve seen all this before. 😊



PS – I've missed being at the market table for so long that we got inspired to make a small video series called “Quarantine Market” that we’ll be releasing shortly. Stay tuned!

One more shopping day... but then for a few days after that too... (until December 30th!). Come by and say hello at the Granville Island Market!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B6b5EMLldzd/?igshid=ndrm9j2rcgta

Time to come see us! We are at the Granville Island Public Market until Saturday December 7th. Holiday gifts and self care!

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5tG5CSFPv7/?igshid=1qgybpkcuysei

Have you come by to see us yet? We are at the Granville Island Market until Saturday December 7th over by Lee’s Donuts! Stop by, try a mist and get hooked; great Christmas gift giving and we will keep your secret if you also get a treat for you! @granville_island #holidayshopping #granvilleislandpublicmarket #naturalbeauty #sgi #penderisland #natureisbeautiful

Spring fir tips are emerging with the rainfall! Mmmm.
We're making new distillations for our upcoming tables at Granville Island and Fall For Local Markets

Fall for Local is April 27&28 in North Vancouver.

I spy with my little eye...the greenest spring fir tips in the rain today! We’re counting down the days until @fallforlocal on April 27&28th in #northvancouver SAVE THE DATE! #shoplocal #holidayshopping #plantsmakepeoplehappy

:) Back to Nanaimo this weekend. Looking forward to seeing everyone.