When you build a skincare company on a working farm, you develop a different relationship with ingredients than you might in a corporate lab. You understand that quality starts at the source—that the care put into growing, harvesting, and processing an ingredient affects everything downstream. This philosophy guides every product we make, and it shapes how we approach the arnica in our Active Cream.
The Sourcing Decision
Not all arnica is created equal. Arnica montana—the specific species with the longest history of traditional use—grows wild in European mountain meadows, but commercial demand has led to cultivation in various regions. The growing conditions, harvesting practices, and processing methods all affect the final quality of the botanical.
For our Active Cream, we use USDA Certified Organic Arnica Montana blossom oil. This certification matters. It means the arnica was grown without synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, in conditions that support both plant health and environmental sustainability. It means a verifiable chain of custody from field to finished product.
We chose organic arnica because we believe in organic principles on our own farm, and we extend that belief to every ingredient we bring in. The goats whose milk forms our product base are raised on organic practices; the arnica that joins them should meet the same standard.
Why Blossom Oil
Arnica can be processed in various forms: dried flowers, tinctures, extracts, oils. We use arnica blossom oil because it provides excellent delivery of the botanical's active compounds in a form that integrates beautifully with our goat milk base.
The oil extraction process preserves the sesquiterpene lactones, flavonoids, and other bioactive compounds while creating a form that blends smoothly with the other oils and fats in our formulation. The result is a cream that absorbs well and delivers arnica's benefits effectively.
Some products use arnica extract in water-based formulas, which requires different emulsification approaches and often more synthetic stabilizers. Starting with an oil that naturally complements our fat-based goat milk formula keeps our ingredient list cleaner.
The Farm Formulation Philosophy
Living and working on our Washington State farm has taught us that nature provides what we need—we just have to pay attention. The goats that arrived during our family's crisis in 2009 became the foundation of a skincare line. The active lifestyle of our family athletes revealed what recovery products needed to do. The practical demands of farm work showed us what ingredients hold up under real-world conditions.
Formulating on a farm means testing products in the context of actual use. When our D1 track and field athletes tried early versions of what became Active Cream, their feedback shaped the final product. When we worked long days tending animals and found ourselves reaching for certain products over others, that told us something.
This isn't focus-group feedback from strangers trying samples once. It's the accumulated knowledge of a family using products daily, year after year, through seasons of training, competition, and recovery.
The Integrity Commitment
We've been offered cheaper arnica options. There are suppliers who'll sell you arnica extract at a fraction of the price of USDA Certified Organic blossom oil. The resulting product might look similar on the label—"contains arnica"—while being fundamentally different in quality.
We've declined those offers because we can't build a company on compromised ingredients. When you commit to making genuine products, you have to maintain that commitment when cheaper alternatives appear. The arnica in our Active Cream is the arnica we would choose for our own family, because we are our own family's customers.
The Bigger Picture
In a market full of products making impressive claims, the difference often comes down to what's actually in the bottle. Marketing can say anything; ingredient quality speaks truth.
When you apply Active Cream after a workout, you're getting arnica that meets organic standards, processed to preserve its beneficial compounds, formulated in a goat milk base that enhances delivery, and produced by a family that uses this exact product ourselves.
That's what mountain grown, farm formulated means to us. It's not a slogan—it's a description of how we actually operate.
