Certified Organics
This Certified Organic product means that it is QAI Certified. The National Organic Program develops, implements, and administers national production, handling, and labeling standards for organic agricultural products. The QAI also accredits the certifying agents (foreign and domestic) who inspect organic production and handling operations to certify that they meet USDA standards. I can send you a PDF Compliance Certificate (10 pages) if you like if you specify this and the product with your order.

Organically Farmed
This Organically Farmed product has been grown and processed without artificial pesticides or fertilizers in a sustainable manner. The farmer cannot afford the certification process and fees, so I rely on my close connection to the producer and distributor to verify the quality. In this way, I am able to trade fairly and help farmers take care of their land and their families.

What do I mean by "close connection"? Here is what my supplier of Organically Farmed patchouli wrote:

We steam distill the plants that are grown without pesticides at our plant in Indonesia. Its curious that one of the magical applications of this oil is to attract money. First they rupture the walls by slow fermentation of the plant by stacking the dried leaves in bundles until the master distiller, by smell alone, determines that they are ready. I've seen it done scalding the leaves with steam or fermentation but this results in an inferior end product.

I did not fully appreciate the life force of the plant until I stood in a field of these bushy sage-like three feet high beings at dusk and felt like I walked back in time. Some perfumers consider its odor to be the most powerful of any plant derived essential oils. The oil, like wine, significantly sweetens with age. Since we just started ours is a year old but we are setting aside and dating barrels to be compared in the future.

My supplier has walked the very fields where my/our patchouli grows, and met the very same skilled farmers who've nurtured it for generations. This is the "right relationship" I seek in my work.

Sustainable Palm Oil
My supplier issued the following statement in response to my inquiry about what the ethical sourcing of their palm oil entailed:
In keeping with our desire to promote ethical and sustainable harvests, our palm oil is produced by a company that is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil.

Palm is a blessed Tree of Life!

My palm wax candle supplier, who also partners in the production of my best essential oils says:
Eco Palm Wax from United Plantations and Golden Hope Plantations is no threat to rainforests or orangutans' ecosystems. We prefer palm based candles to genetically modified, chemically distilled, commercially grown soy wax. Palm oil uses one-tenth of the land as compared to soy production and is a sustainable tree crop that enhances biodiversity and carbon sequestering. Please learn more here to discover facts about palm oil. http://www.alohabay.com/planet/index.html

We travel to our global fair trade partners in Pakistan, India, Brazil, Indonesia, Bali & Malaysia to source certified organic essential oils, wild crafted herbs, eco-palm wax, and naturally occurring Himalayan salt.