I realized that while I have offered up many glimpses into the home life, social life, homeschooling life of the five carmonas, I have not yet opened a window to my/our working life. Seeing as I need to work to pay the bills and put food on our table, I thought that maybe I should give my employment some credit by bringing my blog to work.
Here it goes...
After a few quick hours of homeschooling, making lunches, feeding the 5 of us, grooming the 5 of us, milking goats, feeding dogs, and attempting to leave the house in some sort of order, three mornings a week I hop in the car (I love to walk to work but I am also on carpool duty for kids these mornings..although when hunting season is over, we can resume the beautiful 2 mile walk through the woods) and drive about 10 minutes down the road to work. About 1/2 of the drive is on gravel roads, and the rest is windy, rural, mountain roads.....with some amazing views....
I park the car in a little gravel parking lot, grab my bag, and head up the hill to Red Moon. The building is located in the middle of an agricultural area so we are often distracted by ducks playing in puddles outside of the windows. This photo is taken from the front door of the office. The stairs lead up to some residences and the picnic table to home to many staff meetings.
The Red Moon Herbs "facility" is quite beautiful. It is located in a building that is off-grid, powered by the sun and hardworking individuals. It certainly has its quirks including no "ladies room" and inconsistent temperature (freezing polar winter or sauna) (always dress in layers when getting ready for work!). But all in all, I think I must have one of the better working environments. I feel lucky!
Here is my little nook...my desk, my chair that is really one of the worst rolling office chairs ever created, my phone that refuses to stay charged no matter how long it sits on the charger. This has been my little office world since 2004. I worked here while pregnant with Gita, took 3 months off, then brought Gita to work with me for her first year. I have received heart breaking news on the phone while sitting at this desk. I have made some of my closest friends in this office. And I transitioned from stay at home mom to breadwinner for the family in this office. It is a good place.
Here is our little packing area. All of our orders are processed and packaged here then left for the UPS driver (Tommy, who is the object of many school girl type crushes) who picks them up and sends them on their way. Sometimes this area becomes a sea of puffies and bubble wrap. And we always get a good laugh when a customer calls and says "can I please speak with your shipping department?" The company is run by 4 women, so the thought of an anything department makes us giggle.
Here is one of the other two office desks (Carmen's) and then behind it the manufacturing area of the office. This is where all of the products are made. Notice the stool at Carmen's desk. We love this stool. The way is rolls with ease. The way you can access it from any angle. We asked if we could get rid of our crappy rolling chairs and replace them with these stools for Christmas. Corinna is thinking about it. We are keeping our fingers crossed.
And a peek into the brewing shelves. These tinctures were made with fresh plants, and now sit for 6 weeks before pressing the plant material out and moving over to the bottling shelves.
And that, my friends, is my quick tour of work.
Maybe I will bring you back again. I would love to capture Carmen swearing at the vitamix, Julie in her sea of puffies, the 3 of us huddled around one of the computers for some comic relief on you-tube, Corinna walking around the office saying "what I am doing now is...." to herself.
redmoonherbs.com
