Faces in the Field: Kelly Benson of Mindful Earth

BY CARINA CLAIRE PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHELSEA BEAN

We all knew it would happen - that moment when Groupon would get in on the CBD craze. What once was a hand-crafted product designed to heal pain has now become a product ready for mass commercialization. It’s only a matter of time before Monsanto corn farmers are going to be looking for ways to grow “Roundup Ready” cannabis.

Even quick to card gas stations are happily offering bags of CBD gummy bears with 300mg for just $8. The 500mg of sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and tons of weird chemical dyes are free with purchase.

Faced with Groupon and gas station CBD, I went in search for someone who cared as much as I do for the old school way of creating CBD-infused products.

Is there anyone holding to the holistic approach for our most recent health panacea?

Kelly Benson, founder and owner of Mindful Earth Wellness based in Raymond, Maine, is holding strong to the values we share in the local cannabis industry. When I told her about my gas station goodies, she exclaimed, “Gross! I’d never buy CBD oil from a gas station!”

Right on, girlfriend. Gas stations are great for microwaved burritos and liquified dinosaur bones, but they ain’t so great for health supplements. Kelly explained that most companies’ products you’ll find in gas stations don’t adhere to the high moral, environmental, or quality standards of small producers, like herself. The owner of a unique business spearheading the cottage industry of hemp-based herbal medicine, Kelly doesn’t consider herself to be a pioneer. Instead she gives credit to her friend Ang and her husband Tucker for inspiring her full transition to plant medicine.

Sitting on a trampoline, we chatted about Kelly’s passion for creating hand-crafted CBD-infused products to help her clients find healing. Like so many of us who seek alternative healing modalities, Kelly has enough life experience to really know (and care about) what she is producing.

When asked about how she got started with herbal healing, she pointedly quipped, “I’m crazy!”

“I’ve been on something since I was 10,” she says, recounting how her strong emotions and anxiety level have always been seen as “something wrong with [me].”

Western medicine claimed there’d be a pill to fix her ills. Instead, that same Western medicine that was supposed to cure her led her down the path to opiate addiction. Kelly overcame her addiction and became a yoga teacher. She sits cross legged just like you’d expect a yoga teacher to sit, with her spine straight despite the sag of the trampoline. Her quest for quality came from her own desire to heal and then to help others receive the same maximum benefits she did.

In 2012, Kelly made her first tincture, “with lemon balm from my garden.” At first, she only worked to create products for her friends and family. When she saw how much of a difference her tincture was making, she started her own company. The same drive for high quality ingredients sourced locally is the backbone of her business today. Everything she can’t grow in her garden is sourced from a sustainable farm just 20 minutes away, supporting the earth, local farmers, and the health of her clients. There is definitely no high-fructose corn syrup in her tinctures and no tetrahydro glycol in her facial masks.

Facial masks?

Yes, ladies, listen up. CBD isn’t just about gummy bears and lollipops. It’s good for your skin, too. Really good.

Kelly is pointing out her garden, on the right, with its stunning purple cabbages, and turns her head. I notice she doesn’t have makeup on, just clean, fresh, and healthy skin. To my delight, Kelly slipped a few samples into my bag as I left, including her Garden Goddess facial mask, which I of course tried as soon as I got home. After one application, the honey-based mask left my skin radiant and smooth. The Moontime Tincture also proved to alleviate cramping and discomfort during my cycle.

The product line is designed for the countless women who are turning to CBD products for the health and wellness benefits now that it is becoming legal and accessible. Kelly herself has replaced the opiates of Western “medicine” with cannabis medicine and conscious self-care. Together, they are keeping the anxiety at bay and her mind focused and centered in the present.

And that’s good news for women everywhere who want to channel their inner goddess.

CARINA CLAIRE is a traveling Bikram Yoga teacher, dividing her time between Indonesia and New England.