Hand-made skin care
with Demeter certified calendula.
Ecologically sound, hand-made on the farm, artisan created with finesse and passion

Who are we?
The Herbal Gardener is an eco-conscious mini-farm certified bio-dynamic with Demeter and set on two acres on the Gold Coast.  

Here we cultivate herbs that are individually hand-picked after being carefully selected for their radiance and vitality.  We then transform them on the property using traditional herbalist techniques and enter them in the composition of our products.


The owner
The owner is Lise Racine.  She established herself on the property in Tallebudgera in 2003.  She started the process of bio-dynamic certification in 2004 and was first certified in-conversion in 2005.  She gained full certification with Demeter in 2008.  Lise came over from Canada in 1989.  She completed a degree in nursing in 1985 and is currently completing the last year of a correspondance traditional herbalist course.

Organic practices on the farm
The mini-farm has been fully certified bio-dynamic Demeter since 2008.  To gain and maintain such a certification no chemicals input are allowed.  The weeding is done by hand while the fertility of the grounds are achieve through different practices such as: 

• bio-dynamic compost
• green manure crop
• rotation of crop
• diversity of crops cultivated

The Herbs
The herbs cultivated are selected based on their qualities for soothing, moisturising and promoting the skin's integrity.

We are currently growing calendula, lemon balm, mallow, comfrey and yarrow.

Each year new herbs are established in the gardens.



The Products
All the products are hand-made on the farm on a small scale.  They contain herbs that have been hand-picked and dried at a low controlled temperature to preserve their qualities.  They are then transformed by infusing into Australian first cold pressed extra virgin certified organic olive oil using traditionnal herbalist techniques before entering into the composition of the products.

No synthetic preservatives, petroleum ingredients or fragrances are used.
When choosing the other ingredients that we don't grow ourselves, the priority is given first to Australian certified ingredients then Australian ingredients.  Only in the last resort will we use certified organic ingredients from overseas in small quantity as to be mindfull of the carbon footprint of the products.

Download article: Biodynamic Medicinal Herbs - by Lise Racine