Winter essential: Wild harvested Baobab oil

There is a beautiful African folklore story about how the Baobab tree came to be African and also known as ‘the upside-down tree’.

According to the story told by indigenous people, God planted Baobab in the wetlands and the tree complained it was too moist. God then planted Baobab high up in the mountains in the snow and again he complained it was too cold. Then God decided to plant Baobab in the deserts of Africa but again the tree complained that the conditions were too harsh and the sun too hot. God then plucked the tree out of the soil and threw it across Africa to grow upside down as it still does today.

Wrong way up or right way down we really don’t mind. What we do care about is that the super fruit of this tree holds the secret to nourishing your skin during the cold, harsh winter months.

Baobab oil has naturally-occurring omega 3, 6 and 9 fatty acids which improves the elasticity while restoring damaged skin. It’s rich in vitamins A, D, E and F and combats early signs of aging. It absorbs easily and does not clog up pores and leaves the skin smooth and touchable. It is particularly good for dry, damaged skin and can be beneficial for eczema and psoriasis with relief from minor burns.

Try our Baobab and Rooibos Body Butter from the Biologie range or for baby the very popular Monkey Breadfruit Butter from our rainbaby range. 

Woman from the Venda area collects the fruit and sells them to us to use in our products that in turn creates work, life and hope for this community.

Have a look at our YouTube video narrated by our founder Bev Missing on her visit with Dr Sarah Venter and the majestic Baobab trees.

This month our African rain range with Baobab actives are on promotion. Due to the blue tones and nautical theme of the range it makes it the perfect gift for the man in your life and will be a thoughtful gift for a Father.

Shop online with us for your winter essentials here

Wild harvesting waterlilies

The cape waterlily blooms at the height of summer, when it is jolly hot  and one does not mind getting 

wet wading out into the dams to pick the blooms. 

Rural waterways come to life with the elegant blue blooms which emit a sublime aquatic floral essence 

- only discernible before the heat of the day vapor rises it.

This highly elusive fragrance can only be captured through the ancient perfumery technique of 

enfleurage - a labour of love.

Fresh blooms need to be harvested daily ( yes every day ) ...and placed upside down into a fatty 

medium. This is then covered and sealed  to create a kind of a womb - like environment  in which 

all the perfume vapors are captured and trapped in the fat. 

Animal fat was used in ancient French perfumery ... but I prefer to use  vegetable butter. 

The blooms are then left for twenty four hours in the butter at room temperature , after which 

they are discarded and a fresh round of blooms placed into the same butter. 

Yes - that means going back into the dam and fetching more blooms - every day ! 

After roughly twenty repetitions of this process , the butter is then  sufficiently impregnated with 

floral essence to enable the blending of a perfume .

The butter is then washed in alcohol to transpose the floral essence into the solvent - from whence 

a perfume is born.

The laborious process of daily harvesting and infusing , seemed somehow symbolic of the pregnancy 

process -  a journey of time and energy to create and birth a fragrance

Summer is served

SUMMER IS SERVED

Imprinted in my memory bank from a glorious childhood, are the sounds, tastes  and smells of summer.

If anyone happens to open a bottle of suntan lotion - even in a grey European winter - it instantly transports me to summer. To sea sand, sunshine , seagulls..... oh and soft serve icecream on a wafer cone.

I so love the variety of sleep one can achieve lying on a beach under a sun umbrella on a glorious summer's day.It usually comes after reading some pages of an evocative novel - that sleep that is shallow but restorative - more like a doze - gentle with a muffled background soundtrack of waves breaking, children laughing and muffled conversation. It is just too decadently lazy and comforting. 

The only real downside is sunburn. I am particularly prone to skin damage - being extremely fair skinned.  If, after taking all the precautions against burning, the inevitable happens - here are some tips in managing sunburn aftercare :

- cool your skin as fast as possible with yoghurt, aloe leaf juice  or cucumber slices - it helps relieve the burning and stinging

- run a cool bath to soak in ,but add a few tablespoons of cornstarch (Maizena ), and baking soda to your bath water for further soothing

- take a pain killer to help ease the pain - aspirin or ibuprofen ( something with anti inflammatory properties )

And most importantly of all - MOISTURISE intensively

- rehydrate the skin with shea butter based products to avoid or reduce peeling  our Bee Range Sunburn Salve  is ideal for this containing the following actives :

* shea butter for skin softening, contains vit a, e
* beeswax for locking moisture in , anti-microbial, wound healing properties
* carrot oil to help stimulate and rejuvenate skin cells
* rosehip oil which  contains retinol and vit c to help repair skin tissue
* marula oil to help  reverse sun damage &boost cellular activity
* evening primrose oil containing  omega 6 and anti-inflammatory
* st john's wort for wound healing properties
* cape chestnut oil which is high in essential fatty acids & antioxidant
* aloe ferox to  stimulate cell renewaland to help soothe
* sweet orange oil which increases blood flow to skin surface
* lime oil as an antibacterial &  antiseptic
* neroli oil also an  antibacterial &  antiseptic & to help  soothe

 wishing you a happy summer 

Our Green Moral Contract - biodegradable

Rain Artisan and Olive Oil soaps   are formulated to be fully biodegradable as they are 100% natural with no artificial chemicals or additives. Ideal for hiking and camping trips.

However........

any soap that is used directly in a rock pool or stream , alters the surface tension of the water and the little water spiders and bugs can no longer use the rock pool.
So when washing , do NOT wash directly in a rock pool or stream - instead follow the good advice below

“The correct way for camping and hiking is to use your biodegradable soap/shampoo , collect water in a container, do your washing in the container and pour the water out at least 30m away from any river in a spot from where the soap residue will not be washed into the river by the first rain.

The rule is: allow nothing to get into the water which you are not prepared to drink yourself.  Such substance can destroy all live in a mountain stream; in addition, rivers are often farmers’ only source of drinking water”.  

Page 26 The SA Mountain Leadership Guide – a handbook for leaders of hiking and Mountaineering parties by Mountain Club of South Africa.

Soap for the Museum

Whilst  cleaning out cupboards and offices lately to make space for more desks and more 
people, I found a box containing my very first soaps I made in 1999. 
Fifteen years ago and guess what .............they are still perfect 

We have got a little more sophisticated over the years , but that same quality stands. 

Using only the very best raw materials we can lay our hands on  - to nourish and feed your skin

BUYING FOR RAIN - Components for slippers

I knew NOTHING about shoemaking. But I was intriqued and inspired to try it out.

One day , while on a fabric buying trip in Bangkok , I found myself in a shoemaking district with shop upon shop of intriquing stuff for making shoes.

BUT - no one speaks English !

 In fact , tourists never venture here, so one is generally stared at with amusement and curiosity. When you try to ask for help, the Thais just giggle and shake their heads.

And then , out of the mainstream , while wandering off looking for transport - I found CHAI. Yes his name is CHAI - tea .And , like a good cup of hot tea , he came to my rescue .
as you can see from his shirt - he really is batman or my superhero because he not only speaks comprehensible English, but he sat with me and guided me step by step - with drawings  - on the art of shoemaking . 

Telling me about the dye cuts I need and the materials and glues I must use , and what slopes are for. 

He  now cuts and supplies all the parts for our Rain slippers which we  manufacture back home in our Rain factory in Swellendam.

This is Chai's  very full store, where he and  I sit on rubber mats in front of the cooling fan to discuss my needs each time I visit.

BUYING FOR RAIN - Rope Hunting in India

Oh I do so love India- the land of opposites and extremes
Beauty and decay, bedlam and peace, filth and fragrance
I am privileged enough to be able to travel to India to buy textiles and yarns for the Rain factory. 
Sadly none of which is manufactured in South Africa and must be brought from a far away land

This rope shop is one of my very favourite haunts. discovered quite by accident while making way for someone to pass me in a tiny Old Delhi alleyway, I stumbled into this Alladins Cave of ropes, strings, twines, wools, yarns.

It is a beguiling store - luring you further and further into it's cavernous depths as you discover little staircases leading up and up , and little passages leading you into further chambers filled with disorderly chaos with every imaginable type of rope and string.

A myriad of tiny rooms are packed floor to ceiling with every conceivable sort of yarn, twine and rope, and  of course there is the fetid odour of rats living side by side with the stock.

The owner is Tarun - the stout gentleman in the picture and alongside him is Prabu - my porter , who can only speak Hindi , but who carries my wares, shields me from rabid beggars, hails the rickshaws and who makes sure I don't get lost in the mayhem

After weighing every bundle and haggling over the prices , the goods are then loaded onto the local rickshaws to be transported .

I retreat to my clean cool calm accommodation with dear friend Bianca -  away from the craziness that is India 

At Rain , we use these ropes to make  window displays, bee skeps, bath mats and the various jutes and strings get crocheted and knitted into shower mitts, back scrubbers, wash gloves and tissue box covers.

Intensively handmade products with beautiful all nature fibres 

In Sync with the Seasons

Living in harmony with Nature -

that is our credo at Rain

When nature whispers - we listen, when she floods the air with her volatile aromas, we rush to capture them. 

Our jasmine is in full bloom - filling the evening with a sweet floral melody - one which we want to capture for our perfumes. 

We are hard at work each evening , picking the delicate open flowers in order to lay them in palm butter , to perform the ancient french perfumery technique of enfleurage - used to capture the essence of flowers

This is a time consuming task and the flowers need to be replaced every single day for at least 8-12 days. One has to be very sure of a good supply of flowers before beginning 

The Yesterday ,Today and Tomorrow is also blooming at just the same time. this bush is extremely generous with its glorious fragrance and abundant flowers 

The flowers start off deep purple today, then turn lilac tomorrow and are white by the next day

The Palm Butter gently coaxes the aromas from the flowers over time . It is a lesson in patience , respecting time and nature as it gently yields its perfume to the fat medium. 

After loading the fat for as many days as you are able to repeat the process without the fat growing nasty moulds, the fat is scraped into jars to be washed for three weeks with natural sugar cane alcohol.

This washing process entails daily shaking of the bottle to transfer  the fragrance molecules from the fat to the alcohol.

After more than 6 weeks, of daily interaction , this will be ready for use.

No wonder natural perfumes are costly and precious.

Hot Find - a Coal operated Iron

Welcome to Africa 

Sometimes we have electricity and sometimes we don't...... 

The reasons given by the powers that be are complex, but they go something like this :

- somebody stole the cables
- the infrastructure is on the brink of collapse, so we have to share what little power there is ( load shedding )
- the people who run the national electricity provider have stolen all the money and now there is no money to upgrade the networks and conduct maintenance
- the average salary at the national electricty supplier - Eskom-  equals what I earn in three years, but they are idiots and have destroyed a perfectly good infrastructure through corruption, nepotism and sheer incompetence 

Having been warned by people who are " in the know " to get prepared for electricty outages - I am on a mission to do just that . I dont want to be caught short !

My options - buy a bicycle operated washing machine, convert my appliances to gas, diesel, wind, wood fired, anything but electricty and all will be ok.
To this end, I have been keeping my eyes open for solutions to beat my nemesis - the national electricty supplier Eskom.
Then one day recently - while strolling through a kitchen market in Chiang Mai Thailand ........

Eureka ! I found a coal operated iron ! Not even an antique but a real brand new one !

My mind flashed back to a remote Jain temple courtyard in Rajasthan where I had seen one of these in operation by laundry wallahs doing piles and piles of white cotton sheets under a massive fig tree .

Operated with hot coals which have to be replenished from a gently burning wood fire nearby , this style of ironing seemd romantic and slow like the days gone by. I was sure my maid would LOVE me for this.

And so I arrived home with my trophy find in my luggage - my first non electricty dependant appliance. This was a few months back - my maid Samantha just graciously smiled, nodded knowingly and then put the iron on display on the kitchen window sill where it sits today - as yet unused. 

Wild Harvest in the Overberg

Winter time in the Cape region of South Africa, and it is the rainy season. The wild fynbos plants are experiencing a growth spurt from the season's rain, and this is when they form fresh new leaves and their veins run thick with fragrant and healing oils, their flowers emerge and growth is lush and abundant.

This is the time for wild harvesting in this area .We begin our season's harvests one fresh cool morning in July. Up before dawn, we drive to the area where we plan to harvest, enjoying the exquisite scenery en route. The aloes flower at this time too - and this is Aloe Ferox - also used in Rain products in the Aloe and Avocado range

Proteas ( our national flower ) are blooming in great swathes and there are groups of hungry sunbirds feasting on the sweet new nectar. We pick some proteas for mom as a thank you for the crunchy cranberry rusks we enjoy with the early morning coffee.

The trusty landrover has been kitted out, serviced, oiled and greased - even new shocks fitted to cope with the rough terrain and the extra load of water tanks on the roof. We are ready to harvest

The fynbos plant kingdom is the smallest and richest in the world - one of seven plant kingdoms globally with around 8000 species- 70% of these plants are found nowhere else in the world.There are 1300 species per 10 000 sq.km compared to the South American rainforests which have 400 species per 10 000 sq.km. This is an exceptionally special and unique place. 

We have our factory located in this region, and are thus  privileged to be able to wild harvest our raw materials from our "backyard" so to speak.

John, our Fragrance Forager
has the distillation kit firmly bolted to the sides of the landrover with tanks of cooling water on the roof to enable us to distill the plants on site - right in the wild - fresh straight from picking

And of course, there is always time for tea and those rusks of mom's.We are up the mountain and it is chilly - nothing like a hot cuppa to warm the hands and heart

This is Joe - our KhoiSan medicine man. He knows his plants and keeps a lookout for them from the sides of the Landy as we drive - banging on the roof to alert us to stop when he spots something

The terrain requires four wheel drive - it is steep and rutted and the tracks run as mini streams from  all the underground water during this wet season

We harvest Aasbos - or Bait Bush - so called by fisherman as they use it to clean their hands after handling their bait. This plant we are harvesting in the coastal dune belt where these plants occur in abundance

It is an olfactory journey - 
with Joe handing us bushels
 of plant materials to smell
 and identify. Some of them 
are sub species and we have 
to continually refer to our
reference books as we go

The mobile office with a basket of plant books for backup.We consider 
ourselves as pruners - we never cut everything from a bush , but use a rule of thumb of no more than a quarter. Pruning stimulates new growth and it means we are harvesting sustainably

Joe and John prepare the still for operation , attaching all the pipes for the cooling water flow from the roof, connecting the gas burner and setting up the catchment flask. The guys head out with their picking baskets and secateurs and then gradually return with the plant materials to be distilled.

The drum of the still gets filled with freshly picked organic plant materials, and we sit under a tree and wait while the heat builds and the hydrosol slowly starts to drip from the tank. It is wonderful being immersed in the still calmness of raw nature , the pace is slow and there is time to watch the birds and the ants, feel the warm winter sun on our faces

We make tea and sandwiches for the pickers and we laze around waiting for the golden oil to emerge from the plants. This oil which is fresh, pure, wild and organic will be used in Rain products throughout the year

At the end of the day ,weary , but also filled up with a sense of replenishment that only pure nature can deliver, we head back down the mountain and home.