Happy New Year!  How may times already have you had to add a little loop to the bottom of your two to change 2012 to 2013?  I admit to having done it a couple of times already.

    Things are kind of quiet around the Cove this time of year.  The rush of making and sending out Christmas presents is over, and there are no craft shows to prepare for or go to in the cooler weather.  It's as though everyone is taking a little breather before getting ready for spring.  Usually about this time I reflect over the last year, what I did, what I wish I would have done, and what I can do differently this year.  Not just in life, but also for Coyote Cove.  One thing I have been thinking about is the question I get asked over and over by potential customers---"Does this stuff really work?"

    Usually the person is asking the question about a particular product, and he is holding it in his hand, reading the label, at the time.  Probably he has been plagued by a particular problem for a long time, and finds it hard to believe that the unassuming little bottle he is holding holds the solution to that problem.  Maybe he has even been to doctors for the problem, or tried multiple medications without relief.  I understand his skepticism.  He has never heard of Coyote Cove before, the prices are fairly low, and I certainly don't look like any kind of an expert.  It can't be as simple as stumbling across the answer to his problem (be it eczema, headaches, sinus problems, poison ivy, etc) while at a craft show looking for a leather wallet, can it?

    But yes, it can really be that simple.  The natural world does supply all the answers, we are just not trained to look for them.  Or rather, we are trained to look in other places.  We are trained from childhood to look to institutions for the answers--to pharmaceutical companies, to doctors, to drug stores--everywhere but to nature.  Much of this just has to do with marketing.  The drug companies don't just want to make you better, they want to sell you something to make you better. 

    Now it's time for a disclaimer.  I don't want anyone to turn their backs on modern medicine entirely.  I am an RN, I work in the modern medical world part time, and it definitely has a place and a purpose in each of our lives.  And the other half of the disclaimer--I also have a business, and would like to sell you some products, so a case could be made that the pharmaceutical companies are my competitors, and I therefore have a vested interest in maligning their products.  But I just have to ask you to believe me that the purpose of this newsletter is educational.  I not only told you last year that my jewelweed soap would soothe the itch of poison ivy, I told you how we gather the jewelweed plants and make them into soap.  I told you about making jewelweed salve.  Clearly, you could gather your own plants and make your own salve.  It's the same with all of our products--I tell you what's in them and how they work, and you can certainly make your own versions of our products.  Yes, I like to sell products and make a profit, but I am never going to get rich from Coyote Cove, and I really want to use it as a stepping stone to get people to think about their health.

    When the person holding my product asks, "Does this stuff really work?" I want to give him an honest explanation of how and why that product works.  I also kind of want to laugh sometimes--does he really think I might say "No, that stuff doesn't work at all!"  And I will usually respond that no Coyote Cove products were tested on animals, but they were all tested on people.  And that the ones that didn't work on the people I tested them on don't make it onto the shelves for sale.  (I do have a little group of failed products--things that sounded like good ideas at the time but didn't make the cut.  I still like them and keep some of them and still use them myself.  But they don't come out for sale unless they've been proven to work.)  So yes, all of my products do work.  But how do they work?  Sometimes it may seem very subtle, if you are used only to modern treatments.  In a class I took on herbal medicine, my teacher told me that modern medicine is like treating an ailment with an atomic bomb, and natural medicine is like treating it with a bow and arrow.  The bow and arrow gets the same job done, but in a low-tech way, with much less fanfare, and less collateral damage and far fewer side effects.  It also may take longer, and work better for some folks than for others.

    Here are a few of my more skepticism-promoting products:

Eczema Cream.  Eczema is a chronic problem, and most people with it have tried many different medications and medicated creams, usually with modest results.  I can't tell you how many people have hesitantly bought a jar from me, sure that it wouldn't work either, and reluctant to part with their eight dollars.  And how often I get an email and a order from them two weeks later, praising Coyote Cove Eczema Cream as the only product that ever helped.  Yes, I understand their skepticism, and their reluctance to believe that a homemade product can help when so many powerful prescriptions have failed.  What can I say?  It works.

Headache Ointment.  I really understand the skepticism here, because while I don't have eczema, I do get headaches.  And when you do have a headache, you only want it to stop, and to stop soon.  And our culture relies so heavily on aspirin and acetaminophen that it just doesn't seem like a little salve applied topically could possibly work.  At almost every single craft show that we have ever done, someone comes into our booth with a tense face, picks up a little jar of Headache Ointment, and asks the question--"Does this stuff really work?"  I always ask them to use the tester, and go back out to walk around the craft fair.  If it works, they can come back later and buy it.  If it doesn't, they haven't lost anything.  They always come back.  (One little caveat, it works better for tension headaches than for migraines or sinus headaches.)

Anti-wrinkle Oil and Lotion.  First of all, the name makes people laugh.  (I may have to change it at some point.  Be thinking up ideas for a better name, and I will have a re-naming contest in a few months.)  Second of all, I understand their disbelief.  Selling youth in a bottle is a billion dollar industry, and here I sit with my little blue bottles. What can I possibly know that the cosmetic giants don't?  And, how can we measure results?  It's not like a headache or a rash that can disappear with use.  My belief is that the Anti-Wrinkle Oil and Lotion will not make much of an impact upon the wrinkles you already have (sorry.) It does help prevent the appearance of new ones, and I use it daily.  However much I want to prove its effectiveness, I don't plan on treating half of my face, so we can look for measurable results!  If you read the product description on the website you can see what types of ingredients I use and how they work, other than that, I guess you just have to try it yourself or take it on faith!

    There are other products that I make that produce skepticism, but you get the idea.  Everything I make is based on fact, with science to back it up.  Everything has been tested and found to be effective before I make it to sell to others.  A very few products have warning labels on them, usually referring to people with uncontrolled high blood pressure, or to pregnancy (there are a few herbs not recommended for people in those categories).  My newsletter next month will address those issues.