The short version:
Our creator, Christie, is a former elementary teacher from the island of Put-in-Bay, Ohio in Lake Erie, where her family has lived since 1855.
Christie began her life as an alchemist on January 16, 2013, when she remade her Great-Grandma's Healing Salve. She then shared it, as well as a few other products, with the islanders & her students. Her students were the ones who convinced her to sell these new concoctions in the holistic shoppe that “Miss Christie” ran during the summers on the island.
After leaving teaching, Christie took a few formulas with her to Maui and continued to create during the winter months. She sold her products weekly at the Upcountry Farmer's Market in Kula. Her product line grew into dozens with the help and inspiration of the locals there. Back and forth from Put-in-Bay to Maui she traveled for four winters until the covid pandemic.
She makes & pours every product in her organic lab without the use of chemicals or fragrance oils. She grows & harvests her own lavender, which is included in many of her formulas, along with other herbs & plants that are infused together to create Skin & Body Care & Vegan soaps. Christie now resides near Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, 4 dogs, a cat, & 5 hens.
Christie wrote a book about her island girl life ! Click here to get it!
The longer version, written by Christie:
I grew up on an island in Lake Erie, called Put-in-Bay and am a fifth generation Island Girl. My great-grandmother raised her 12 children there. She made a medicinal salve, that we simply referred to as "Gramma's Salve." We didn't have fancy Neosporin for cuts and scrapes, but instead, we had the salve. It was gooey and had such a distinct medicinal scent and anytime I scraped my knee or wrecked on my bike, this bottle of salve would come out of the medicine cabinet. It always made me feel better and healed all our family's ailments.
Much later in my life, I was teaching elementary school and raising my two daughters on the island, and my oldest, Anna became very ill. She was allergic to many foods, preservatives, and colorants. Even fluoride! During this healing journey, I also realized I had high levels of mercury in my body, most likely due to the fact that I grew up in Lake Erie, that at one time, was heavily polluted. Something had to change.
During this healing journey, I started bringing myself to the TRUTH of what is in our food, cleaning products and finally, body and skin care. The journey toward better health began.
I recalled my great-grandma and how they must've all lived on the island all those years without the products we'd all been using. So, I called my mom, who called her sister, (both still lived on the island) and I got the secret family recipe for my Gramma's healing Salve. I thought this would be a better product to use, versus other store bought "healing" ointments. After gathering the ingredients, I made it and that familiar healing scent came back to me, bringing back my childhood memories along with it. This gave me confidence. I could make stuff and control the ingredients myself!
(Because, I'm a control freak, really.)
At first, I shared my products with teachers and even my students. It was my students who convinced me to sell my stuff. So, I did! I left teaching to focus full-time on creating & my business, spending 4 winters on Maui, too. The locals taught me so much.
Years & many small batches later, Your Only Earth was born and now has over 40 products with more being created on the mainland near Cleveland, Ohio.
Love, Christie
