More than a quarter century ago, Helen Norman and her husband Mark Elmore discovered and purchased a crumbling farm in Maryland with the dream of raising certified organic crops, caring for the land, and raising their family. Today, the couple’s children are grown (and active on the farm) and Star Bright Farm has become a model of organic and regenerative farming practices, widely acclaimed for farm-to-home products made from USDA certified organic ingredients that are grown, harvested, dried, and blended at the farm.

The farm sites, the way the buildings were all sited — it was all beautiful. You could see the potential.” The couple had one more unique advantage: “What's blissful about being young is you don't see that it's going to cost you every penny that you have,” she says, with a laugh. “So we bought it, and then we just slowly started renovating — the house first, so we could move in. Slowly, over the years, we rebuilt all the other structures, with the barn being the last one.” Now, the couple’s children are grown, but not far from home: Peter, who left the farm to study agriculture at the University of Vermont, is now Star Bright’s head farmer. Patrick, based in Brooklyn, shoots their videos.

One of the farm’s main preoccupations came as a result of one of Norman’s assignments, photographing a lavender farm. “I decided I really wanted to grow lavender,” she says. “And Peter said sure, but not only that — he also wanted to grow aromatic and medicinal herbs.” Now the pair grow two dozen herbs on the farm, from parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme to yarrow and marshmallow root. Those herbs are used in a product range that includes herbal teas, bath teas, and bath salts. They’ve also given mother and son a chance to closely collaborate.

For Norman, it’s just the latest step in an ongoing practice that honors the materials we use — especially those we apply to our bodies, in our skin and beauty products. “There's so much emphasis on what people put in their bodies — food — and there's so little emphasis on what people put on their bodies in our skincare,” she says. “It's like, why would you put good stuff in your body and not good stuff on your body?” The key, she says, is sharing a greater appreciation of herbs and their powers. “People think yarrow is just a pretty thing in a bunch of flowers — but it’s incredible on your skin,” she says. “If you were to nick yourself, yarrow can help knit your skin back together. That’s the power of herbs.”

Left: Assembling the still and sealing where the "hat" meets the column" Right: Peter packing the "column" of the copper still with freshly harvested lavender to make hydrosols