Eight Years of Growing Something Good

Eight years ago, Plantiful Apothecary was a tiny batch of balm made in Meredith’s kitchen, shared with friends, and eventually brought to a farmers' market where she had asked for a little space to set up a table. With just a few products and a teeny tiny setup, she spent her Saturdays introducing people to something she had poured her heart into.

One of those products was our Comfrey Tallow Balm. If you have a jar at home today, you’re holding a little piece of where we began. The label has changed, but the formulation is exactly the same, still offering that deep, nourishing comfort for dry, damaged skin. Eight years later, it remains one of our best sellers, a familiar favorite that has grown right alongside us.

A little curiosity, a kitchen, and a local farm

Before there was a business, Meredith was making skin care for herself and learning everything she could about plants and formulation. While working at markets with Simpson Family Farms, she was introduced to an ingredient she hadn’t worked with before: tallow.

Darby Simpson offered her some suet from the farm to experiment with, along with the reminder that she would need to render it first. With help from her husband, Matt, an unfamiliar lump of fat became a smooth, golden ingredient full of possibility.

Around the same time, a friend was searching for a simple balm that would suit her son’s sensitive skin. Meredith had someone she cared about in mind as she began experimenting, paying attention to the ingredients, the texture, and how each batch came together.

There wasn’t one big moment when it all became a business. There were small batches made late at night while her children slept, jars shared with friends, more questions, more learning, and eventually that little table at the market. Plantiful grew slowly, through the work itself and the people who kept coming back.

So many hands, so much heart

Today, we are a small but mighty team of four. Meredith keeps the business running, tending to all the behind-the-scenes details that allow us to keep doing what we love. Amy handles our balm production, bringing care and attention to every batch. Maddox makes our soaps and shapes the way Plantiful meets the world through our website, photography, and designs. Robert spends much of his time in the garden, gently tending the plants we grow, harvest, and infuse into our balms and soaps.

For Amy, working with ingredients she trusts is part of what makes those daily rhythms so meaningful.

“I have always loved using natural products, and there is something so comforting about making things from scratch with ingredients we trust, then sharing them with our customers. I feel incredibly lucky to do this every day, and to be part of a business that puts so much thought into how our products are made, their impact, and how they feel on someone’s skin. We want to make things that work beautifully and are a joy to use.”

That feeling runs through each corner of Plantiful. It’s there in the carefully cultivated plants and meticulous formulations, in the botanical drawings on our labels and the sweet messages from customers. We get to keep learning, challenging ourselves, and finding new ways to bring everything we love about plants and skin care into something you can hold in your hands.

As we have grown, our commitments have stayed rooted in the same place. We grow everything we can. We source from farms whose practices we feel good about. We continue exploring herbal ways to nourish and care for skin, and we believe deeply in quality ingredients and the time it takes to make something well by hand. That care is part of every jar and every bar that leaves us.

Speaking of jars, year 8 has brought us two fun production statistic we are proud to share with you!!

Batches of Balms Created: 2,480 (529 in 2026!!)

Transactions Completed since 2019: 20,476 (nearly 8,000 in 2026!!)

We are just so proud of every batch, every balm, every bar of soap, and every order that goes directly from our hands into yours.

You have made us part of your lives

One of the sweetest things about spending years at the market is getting to know the people on the other side of our table. We have watched dozens of longtime customers come to us for their own skin care needs, have watched their families grow, and now get to be a nourishing part of their whole family's daily routine. Getting to know each of them through those different seasons and being trusted with a small part of caring for so many different families, has meant so much to us.

There is the sweet couple that consistently comes for their bar of Spearmint and Clove Soap, the lip balm fanatics who come running over when they've run out (or lost yet another tube!), the longtime customer who remembered a discontinued soap we carried and asked to have a whole loaf made just for her, the toddlers propped on hips who wants to smell every deodorant variety week after week, and the customers who are well stocked on their favorite tallow balms, but still come over to say hi.

Then, there is the mom who arrived with a hand drawn map on a little sticky note from her son. Our booth was starred and labeled “soap!!” so she could find his favorite and send it to him at school. Their whole family came by to say hi last week when he was home visiting :) We still think about that little map, and the thought that something made in our soap room has become a bit of home someone wanted to take with them to college.

When we are making soap or filling jars, we don’t always know where they will end up. Then someone comes back and tells us. A favorite bar has become something worth mailing from home. A balm has earned a permanent place on the bathroom shelf. Dream Cream becomes the center of a nightly ritual that brings peace and deep sleep. A customer brings a friend to the booth because they want to share what they found.

Those moments stay with us. They remind us that what we make has become part of someone’s daily life, and they make us want to keep putting our whole hearts into it.

Your skin belongs here

Our hope is that you leave our booth feeling seen, welcomed, and a little more connected to what you put on your skin. We want thoughtfully made skin care to feel approachable, and we want you to feel comfortable asking questions, exploring ingredients, and finding something that suits you. Every skin color, every skin type, every person is welcome, loved, and valued at Plantiful Apothecary.

We also hope that using our products offers a small connection to the earth that makes this work possible, to the plants in the garden, the farms we partner with, and the hands that bring those ingredients together.

Our roots are here in Indiana, and we love the relationships we have built close to home. As more people discover us across the country and in other parts of the world, it is exciting to imagine how far something grown and made here can travel. Wherever you find us, we hope you feel that same care.

Come celebrate with us

To everyone who has stopped at our table, asked a question, shared us with a friend, placed an order, or returned to tell us what you loved: thank you. You have helped a tiny kitchen experiment grow into eight years of making, learning, gardening, and connecting. We are so grateful to keep doing this work and to have you here as we grow.

To celebrate, enjoy 20% off sitewide, online only, October 28–31, 2026. Your discount will apply automatically, with no code needed.

Stock up on your favorites, try something you’ve been curious about, or send a little care to someone you love. Thank you for making room for us in your routines, on your shelves, and in the packages you send to people you miss. It is a privilege to make something you keep coming back for.

With love,

Meredith, Amy, Maddox & Robert

Plantiful Apothecary