Merry Christmas to all you wonderful people and thank you for your business over the years. Apologies for being late again with the newsletter, (excuses coming), this is our busiest time of the year but to top it all off we had a flood. The dishwasher burst a pipe and it has been chaos ever since. Fortunately we had a place to move in to while it was getting sorted.

 There seems to be more fraud, misleading marketing and not good business practices going on now than when we started Green Valley Aromatherapy almost 20 years ago. This week I have had a call from a lady who purchased $2000 worth of essential oils from India which wasn't essential oil when it arrived. In order to start a legal proceeding she will need to go to a registered lab for testing which can be quite expensive. Another man I spoke with had been told that 1,3 dimethylmaylamine is Geranium essential oil. It is actually a lab made product. Fraudulant emails are also on the rise. However, in 20 years of business we have only had 1 credit card fraud which is amazing in this day and age. This proves that aromatherapy people are good people.

Green Valley has found another way to help the environment. We are always so happy if we can save a tree or help in some way. Woody Harrelson, the well-known actor and environmentalist has been involved with creating paper from the left-over straw that farmers usually burn. A new paper plant is being set up in Manitoba. I am sure you will look at your invoices in a new light; all the trees that went into making the paper are now going to be saved.

September is usually the month when our new pricelist comes out. This year, essential oil prices have remained pretty steady. Some products, however, have gone up considerably. So far, Green Valley has been absorbing this cost. At the end of January we will be raising the prices on a few items. Jojoba, Moisturizing Base Cream, Emu Cream and Hydrosols are a few of the ones that will be changing.

Talking about carrier oils reminds me about something I heard recently in a discussion about peanut allergies. Years ago people died with allergic reactions to peanuts. Due to modern medicine people rarely die these days. Those genes are being passed on, so more and more people are born with peanut allergies. I do not know if this is true or not but it does sound logical.

Our office will be closed over the holidays (Dec 21-Jan 1st), and we will be returning to work on January 2nd. The website will still be running over this time and phone messages will be checked.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

All the best,

Barb