Small Business Week

It’s Small Business Week this week, so I thought I’d do something a little different, a little more personal, and share why I started this business.

Grandpa B is a Desert Storm veteran, and when he came home, he brought with him a host of health concerns. One of the most difficult was a severe chemical sensitivity that left him needing an inhaler. At the time, I was a 24 year old, stay-at-home mom with dial-up internet and more determination than knowledge, so I started researching how to make my own cleaning products and household staples.

Anything with fragrance was banned from our house, no perfume, no fabric softener (looking at you, cuddly teddy bear), no candles, heavily scented soaps, or lotions. I learned how to replace them with homemade alternatives.

As the years passed, thankfully more commercially made fragrance-free and dye-free products became available, so I didn’t have to make absolutely everything from scratch anymore. But our home still stayed mostly scent-free or very lightly scented with essential oils because, when used properly, they don’t cling to the air or overwhelm a space.

Fast forward a couple of decades.

The kids are grown now, we’ve welcomed numerous grandchildren and Grandpa’s health struggles have become more complicated as we continue navigating appointments, specialists, physical therapy, and the long process of pursuing answers connected to Gulf War Illness.

There’s no magic pill to fix it. In many ways, doctors still aren’t even sure exactly what caused it. So we do what we’ve always done, treat symptoms, adapt where we can, and keep moving forward together.

But somewhere in the middle of all of that, I realized something else too:

I still needed a creative outlet.

I love creating; natural cleaners, candles, herbal blends, crafts, cooking, baking from scratch. I started sharing things with friends and neighbors, and whether they were simply being supportive or genuinely loved what I made, the encouragement slowly grew into the formal creation of Granny Goodwitch Notions and Potions.

I still dream of, someday, having the storefront for the “Potions” side of things, a cozy tea and coffee shop full of herbs, books, warmth, and conversation. But for now, I’m focusing on the “Notions,” while also reworking our tried-and-true homemade recipes to function in modern life. For example, our old laundry soap recipe worked wonderfully years ago, but modern washing machines had other opinions and left me troubleshooting residue issues.

So now I’m reformulating, testing, learning, and even experimenting with ways to help essential oil scents linger a little longer because Grandpa actually misses scent now.

And maybe that’s really what this business has become.

Not just a shop.

But a reflection of the changing seasons of life.

Because the turning of the wheel isn’t only something we see in nature. It happens in us too.

We move through seasons of raising children, seasons of caregiving, seasons of grief, rebuilding, exhaustion, rediscovery, and sometimes even unexpected joy.

This season of my life looks very different than I once imagined it would.

But there is still beauty here. Still purpose here. Still magic in the everyday.

And maybe that’s what Granny Goodwitch was always meant to be.

If you find yourself in need of someone to talk to, please reach out,  I can’t promise anything more than a listening ear and a little hand-holding, but sometimes those simple connections help more than we realize.

From my hearth to yours, may you find the magic in the everyday, no matter what season you are in.

~Granny B