By Joe Yancey, former Carrboro Store Wellness Manager, who visited the Gaia Herbs Farm in 2012
I quickly accepted an invitation from Gaia Herbs to visit their lovely farm for lunch, fellowship, and a training with National Trainer Bill Chioffi and Gaia Founder/CEO Ric Scalzo.
The Gaia farm and manufacturing plant are located in the land of waterfalls in Brevard, NC, adjacent to the Pisgah National Forest. For 25 years they have been creating what I feel are the best herbal products on the market. Gaia uses only certified organic and ecologically cultivated herbs, free of heavy metals or any other contaminants and concentrated to authentically therapeutic levels. Weaver Street customers can trace the Gaia products they buy from when the herb was planted as a seed, then trace that herb all the way through the manufacturing process to the final product on the shelf.
Gaia’s integrity extends beyond its core mission with programs that sustain their employees, community, and the world in a progressive and positive way. The employee farm produced 37,594 pounds of produce given to employees and the local community kitchen in 2011. The company’s refuse cardboard is given to the company that makes their shipping boxes so the products shipped to Weaver Street are packaged in 100% recycled boxes. The most impressive feature of Gaia Herbs is the 250 acre farm that explodes with beauty and vitality. The crystal clear Cathy’s Creek flows from the protected national forest and through the center of the farm and provides a pure source of irrigation.
My visit to Gaia did much more than educate me about one of our vendors, it fed my soul and connected the Gaia products on the shelf to the place and people who created them.
Read more about Gaia Herbs on their website, http://www.gaiaherbs.com/. All Gaia Herbs products are 30 % off this week!