I am grateful to Karen Van Vuuren for giving me a tremendous opportunity recently. Karen is one of the main movers behind The Natural Funeral, a green funeral education center in Lafayette, and the local ABC affiliate approached her to help them on a feature story on this relatively new topic of green funerals. I had been asked a month or so ago if I would consider selling BH’s products in the Natural Funeral store, and now she wanted me to be part of this TV story. Yikes!

What an incredible opportunity for a little Blair’s Herbals’s exposure! …did I just say yes? I apparently did! Then, I learned I had only a day or two to get ready – OMG! Having never done something like this before, I was excited, nervous, scared and giddy. What should I wear? Hair up/hair down? In garden grubs or dress? Plain or patterned? What are some possible questions I might be asked? How do I tie it into Karen’s project? Will there be do overs if I stumble with my words? What if I can’t remember what I want to say? Would plants be in bloom? Would the snow have melted? Does the yard need mowing? Will they need or want healthy snacks and water?

Well, it is over — all that worry and good stress. I can breathe again and reflect on the courage it took for me to put myself and my brand out there. Not having any control over what they would chose to show was terrifying for a self described introvert. I spoke a lot about the healing properties of the plants and how I make the products, but that did not make the cut. They loved the chickens though 🙂 I was pleased overall and I am still replaying the way it all came together and the new people I met in the process and the laughs and the pre arrival jitters. You got to see a peek into my life, my home, my yard, my plants, my chickens, and my passion for herbal crafting and connecting with the power of the natural world.

I am so glad that Natural Funeral will be welcomed into our community and be in service to people and families that will face the inevitable loss of loved ones. The time is now to have these open conversations. This subject of death is a difficult one and yet there is mounting interest and pressure to allow for more personal options in the business of death that make room for those seeking new ways–maybe dying that more closely resembles choices we make while alive. I am grateful to be included in Karen’s vision for a world that honors beauty, service, truth and transparency and empowerment of all people because those are values that I hold too.

Stay tuned for Natural Funeral’s launch at http://www.thenaturalfuneral.com/