02 July 2008

Burt's Bees

My Burt's Bees order arrived today, and I am aglow with excitement.

Endless concoctions involving sunflower seed oil, coconut oil, and olive oil mixed with various other glorious oils from nature. So many different products that nourish your body with real ingredients.

I'm not sure why I'm so romantic about it all. Perhaps it's the smell. Growing up, when we went to the Barretts' to help harvest apples, it smelled like apples. When we walked along the fencerows cutting asparagus, it smelled like grass. When the sky clouded over and began to rain, it smelled gloriously like rain.

What do I smell these days? When I walk downtown, I smell the lack of public facilities for the homeless. At work, I smell my designer perfume, the institutional pink soap found in all bathrooms, and the last bit of coffee someone left that is now burning onto the bottom of the pot.
At the grocery store, I smell nothing, because all the flavor, smell, and nutrients have been bred out of the produce to maximize profit.

Why do I love Burt's Bees? For the same reason I love Mrs. Meyer's cleaning products, going to the farmer's market, and getting raw milk. Because it's real, and it's honest, and it gives me hope that a smidgeon of those qualities still remain in our fake, sterile world.