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Good Stuff Botanicals co-founders Maranda and Michael Johnson said their business ideas follow a common ethos.

It’s hard not to see this across their 2020 acquisition storefront on Grand Drive in Bigfork. The shop has a wide variety of products, including small jars and bottles, skincare, makeup, and rollerball scents. Everything the Johnsons make is sustainably sourced and all natural. No synthetic chemicals, GMOs or artificial colors. The Johnsons say finding sustainable and ethically sourced ingredients is more important than ever as the popularity of their products grows not just locally, but nationally and globally. increase.

“Everything we get is sustainably sourced and certified organic unless it’s made naturally. We really care about where we get our stuff. I have,” said Maranda.

The business was inspired by Michael or MJ’s psoriasis and a family recipe in 2012. Malanda suffered for a long time, taking steroids to ease her symptoms.

Over the course of two years, the couple tinkered with family recipes, adding different types of oils and settling on cold-pressed hemp seed oil and mineral water from Montana Hot Springs. This made a big difference in MJ’s condition and it didn’t take long before they started giving jars of Gypsy Cream to friends and family.

“His parents encouraged us to turn it into a business, so we quit our day jobs and started going to farmers markets. Two weeks later, I had my first child. I found out I was pregnant.

They started going to the local farmers market, keeping them busy five days a week. MJ then created his one of the first big wholesale accounts. To sell products in Rosauers supermarkets available throughout Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. It continued to grow and now sells products in his 130 stores nationwide.

They also donated some of their products to veterans and hospitals, and worked with Whistling Andy Distillery to become the first in the state to provide sanitizers to first responders and the general public during the 2020 pandemic. became one of the companies.

couple We are constantly coming up with new ideas for products. Most recently, he’s been working on making a Rollerball scent and says he hopes to sell more loose leaf tea blends in the future. MJ said she also gets her inspiration from her customers, but when she thinks of creating a new product, the couple thinks about their lives and what they want.

“That’s where the whole business started. We make it the way we want it and use it, like how the whole gypsy cream was born,” said MJ.

After a slurry of new residents took an interest in foraging, the couple said they became more cautious about their sustainability practices. Maranda said it’s important to look out for those in need of plants in nature, and she added that there are non-invasive ways to collect items when foraging.

“When we collect the cottonwood buds, the buds start to grow in the winter, so we wait until the winter storms are over to go outside – they start to produce resin, they fill the resin, and they start to grow.” These cottonwood branches that we can reach, deer can also reach, it’s one of the first leaves to come out in the spring, and it’s an important food source for the deer,” Malanda says. I was.

Their practices follow the 80/20 principle of foraging. This means you can collect 20% of what is available and leave most of what is left over to keep your plants healthy. They rotate various foraging spots and are somewhat prone to certain patches to find growing when they return.

“Our nettle field is in a secluded area and we’ve been growing it over the last few years,” Malanda said. There is no place you can’t go back,” says Maranda.

“We cut off the top of the nettle and little bits here and there and watch it grow and get healthier over the years,” MJ said.

There are some ingredients that are not found in Montana, like shea butter. This is sourced by the couple from an organic and fair trade women’s group in Ghana.

from the side The Johnsons want their store to be a welcoming place for community members to showcase their merchandise and invent new products. They’re working on an outdoor garden area and everyone is welcome to come in and sit down – there’s no pressure to buy products to stay.

“It’s a great space out there. We’ve got a sandbox for the kids to hang out in. We’ll be doing more workshops and little fun things like Friday feet soaking by the fire,” Maranda said. .

Malanda grew up in Bigfork and said it was important to keep the quiet, secluded hangout alive for the locals.

“When Big Fork got crazy downtown and it got really hot, there was a secret little spot we would go to. It was all mossy and shady…so, especially as we got bigger, “We wanted to make sure there are still spots like that here,” said Maranda, “with more people and some of the secret places may not be so secret.”

Good Stuff Botanicals products can be found in stores throughout Montana, especially in the Flathead Valley. See a complete listing of the retailer and his store online at thegoodstuffbotanicals.com.