Countrylife – Homemade organic toothpaste

Have you ever felt that intense explosion of happiness associated with opening a parcel that far exceeded your expectations? I experienced that rush the other day when I took myself off to the farm of Mike and Fiona Francis to write this story on their homemade organic toothpaste. Along the way, I discovered a magical gift of life, love and belonging.

I immediately felt comfortable as I pulled up to their 16ha farm on an unsealed road overlooking the ocean and the beautifully petite township of Leigh. Mike offered me a front row seat with a view of heaven for our interview. At first, the organic toothpaste was front and centre of my interview, but as conversation began to flow freely, I realised that my time with Mike was going to turn into one of those parcels of exceeded expectation that I mentioned above.

Great ideas are often born from a sense of adventure, and a longing to find and explore. Maybe it was this point when our conversation transcended business, and even toothpaste, and erupted into an adventure that my willing imagination, along with Mike’s memories, were about to take me on. With Mike’s voice clear but softening, I was suddenly being towed along on a wild adventure of epic transcontinental proportions. I was so immersed within Mike’s storylines that the scorching sun in the middle east was ravishing my pale southern skin; I was bathing in the perfume of aromatic spices infused within the food of Turkey; my eyes wept with delight at the intense sights and colours of India. Like tumbleweed in a whirlwind across desert sands, Mike’s stories had me spinning in a state of euphoria.

Then, almost magically, I was sitting back on Mike’s porch learning about the healing powers of reflexology. I believe it’s this deep sense of spirituality and their etched memories of roads long travelled that has anchored Mike and Fiona’s caring boots firmly into the soil of their farm and our community. They are spending their time deriving ways to weave their brightly coloured life experiences into our communities for the betterment of all, but, like all of us, living on love and the land must coincide with finding creative ways to pay the bills. So, what about that organic toothpaste? As it turns out this brilliant idea, painstakingly perfected over two years and lovingly prepared in their home, had me in overdrive – ditching those sticky tubes of toothpaste and replacing them with the beautiful glass jar of handmade Baking Soda Toothpaste; curating it alongside my expensive jars of anti-aging creams on my bathroom vanity. The verdict? Well ask yourself, would you forgo that familiar taste of toothpaste for a replacement that gives you an insatiable urge to plunge a thousand passionate morning kisses on your loved one? So, in the familiar words of Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of organic toothpaste; you never know what you’re going to get!” Mwah xx.

Julie Cotton
admin@oceanique.co.nz