Who are you?
My name is Cory Trusty. I'm an herbalist, soap maker and gardener. I like to grow wild craft herbs and grow herbs organically. I am originally from the Seattle area where I studied Biology at the University of Washington and Traditional Chinese medicine at an herbal college.
I give community herbal workshops, consultations, and teach community herbal classes in St. Augustine at Maggie's Herb Farm.
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I have a five year old daughter who I am home schooling. She and I take care of five hens who free range in the back yard and give us high quality eggs. My husband is very supportive and encouraging of my business and designs Solar Powered Computer networks called SolarNetOne.
What do you create?
I make a variety of natural soaps and body products from scratch with all natural ingredients. I also make herbal remedies with home grown and wild harvested herbs, and sew lavender flax neck pillows. Recently I added natural perfumes to my etsy store. I also make jewelry, but I haven't had time yet to set up and market a new etsy shop for that.
How did you get started?
I had two years of professional herbal training which was primarily lectures and book learning. I taught myself the hands on aspects with the help of various books, websites and herbal communities. I think it helped that before that I worked in a biology lab as a research technician for a number of years. Calculating concentrations, converting units, using scales and formulating is relatively easy for me.
What is unique about your products?
All of my products are made from scratch and formulated by me, so they are unique by definition. I don't use melt and pour bases or premixed oil blends. All of my products are also Orangutan and Rain forest friendly which means that they do not include palm oil or sodium palmate. .
What other interests do you have?
I volunteer in a community garden called Fair Share once or twice a week (http://wedigfairshare.org). The purpose of the project is to create sustainable local food sources in our urban communities. Right now I am selling raffle tickets for our fundraising event we are having called Hallowgreen, which will be a free family event held at the City Island Farmer's Market in Daytona Beach on Halloween morning. We are hoping to raise enough funds to dig a well for a large cultivation area on which we will raise food for low income families in need. At this time we have a demonstration garden in which we grow vegetables, give free workshops focused on how to grow organic vegetables and use herbs.
Where in Florida do you live?
I have lived in urban Volusia County near Daytona Beach for the last six years. My husband is a Daytona native. It is nice that we have his family here in town. I love the beach and have the feeling that I'm on a permanent vacation.
What are some other sites to find out more about you ?
My main website is AquarianBath.com.
On it you can find :
My blog
my local events and classes
my twitter page
My flickr page
What was you worst crafting disaster?
There have been a few disasters for certain. One of the worst was a couple of years ago when I made a batch of Dark Stout soap with some Guinness that had not gone completely flat. When I added the sodium hydroxide to the beer, a caustic volcano erupted in my kitchen and poured down my counters and onto the floor. Yikes!
What makes you laugh?
My five year daughter brings a lot of joy to my life. She has so many amazing observations and cute ideas. I can't help smiling and laughing about many of her antics or clothing choices.
What was an embarrassing moment in your life?
I was at a show selling as usual, when I accidentally sat in a container of cheesy nachos. What a shock! I felt like an overgrown baby who needed a diaper change, but it was a great excuse to buy a fancy new lavender dress from the vendor next door.
Need to treat yourself to something special or get started Christmas shopping? Visit AquarianBath!
