Introducing The Thoughtful Gardner
Jesse: I'm here with my wife Jessica we've got something that we've been working on for a couple months. We're very excited to announce The Thoughtful Gardner which is our line of homemade goods.
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A quick backstory on why we started The Thoughtful Gardner. Most of what I do all day requires me to sit in front of a screen—and I love what I do—but when you sit all day like that, it drains on you, and it's really bad for you. So I've been looking for ways to get away from the screen, to start doing stuff that would force me to get up and move around. And since we just moved to this really beautiful home in the country where we've got a little more space to plant a garden and grow fruit trees and raise chickens... the idea of doing this, but doing it in a really conscientious way, appealed to me. We've got big plans for The Thoughtful Gardner. I'm going to be writing about adapting to rural life, growing our own food; but our first big step is our line-up of 100% soy candles that we announced today. We pour them in our own home... actually, my wife pours them. She's the chief alchemist behind the candles, so I'll let her tell you about them.
Jessica: We wanted to go with soy because it's renewable, and it's not made from petroleum like most traditional candles are. They burn a whole lot cleaner, and they hold their scent really well.
Jesse: What kind of scents do we have? Jessica: We've got Orange Chili, White Tea and Ginger, Dandelion Wine, French-Pressed Coffee, Champagne and Pear, Blood Orange and Fig, Coconut Lime Verbena, and Bamboo and White Grapefruit. (Note: We've added more since.)
Jesse: Which is your favorite?
Jessica: Well, I think my favorite would be Blood Orange and Fig—it's got a nice light scent with a nice orange undertone. But I also like the French-Pressed Coffee. So it would be a toss-up between the two.
Jesse: I don't know if you can tell, but all of our kids are here. My 1-year-old is here and being kind of noisy. My son Ethan and my daughter Anna both have favorites, so I wanted to let them share. Ethan, what's your favorite?
Ethan: My favorite is Orange Chili.
Jesse: Anna, what's your favorite?
Anna: Dandelion Wine.
Jesse: Awesome. Well, they're $20 each, and you can only get them if you visit Funcycled in Downtown Troy, however, we're hoping to begin selling them online soon. (Update: They're now available online!)
Jessica: And we forgot the most important part: they're gluten-free and vegan! *laughs all around* I don't think there's a candle around that can boast about such things.