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Why It's Good:
The terraced gardens of Couvent des Minimes, founded in 1613, are located in the French Alps. There, Franciscan nuns grow a bounty of botanicals for the Couvent des Minimes product line of dozens of creams and scrubs. The Original Gardener's Hand Healer Recipe, $15, replenishes with a savory (and fragrant) mélange of mimosa, verbena, chamomile, marshmallow, calendula, lemon balm, rosemary and shea butter.
Why It's Green:
All the products feature lavish doses of plant oils and minimal use of petrochemically-based mineral oils, and no animal byproducts (with the exception of beehives). The packaging is Alga Carta paper, a novel material made by the Italian company Favini from the pollution-fed algae that chokes the Venice Lagoon. How great is that: paper from overgrown algae! And Alga Carta is FSC-certified, acid-and chlorine-free and is produced using renewable energy.
Where To Get It:
To purchase Couvent des Minimes Original Gardener's Hand Healer Recipe, click here.
Pretty Hands, Pure Skin
As birds chirp, worms turn, and peonies are popping in my backyard, it's perfect timing for me to hear about a recent study published in the journal of Neuroscience showing that contact with certain types of bacteria in dirt has a Prozac-like effect on mood. It worked for mice in the experiment. And it's already working on me. I have been eagerly doing some good, healthy gardening. I am less eager about having a pair of red, raw, over-scrubbed mitts. After planting a drift of raspberry and blueberry bushes (my gardening gurus tell me: Never plant just one of anything!) or a row of hydrangea bushes or a jungle of basil seedlings, I can slip off the garden gauntlets and slather on this softening lotion. Now I've cast aside the gardening catalogs, and am up to my elbows making mud pies. Bliss!—Maria Ricapito
