Nourished by Nature Opens in Mariemont

By Suzy Weinland

Holly Bostle and her fiance’, Dustin Hoffman (no, not that one), moved to Mariemont with their kids (Savannah, 5 and Noah, 14) late last year to be closer to The Cincinnati Waldorf School for their daughter, who attends kindergarten there. Holly and Dustin quickly fell in love with the area. “The walkability, the history, the small-town charm, everything,” said Holly. “Our neighbors are so kind, and the area is everything we could have ever dreamed of.”

While on a walk to grab coffee at the strand the week of moving here, Dustin saw the “For Lease” sign and made a call inquiring about the space available. At the time, Holly was running her soap company out of their home and only taking online orders while also juggling a full-time job. A few days and phone calls later, Dustin told Holly he had spoken to someone, and he thought this was an opportunity worth looking into.

“Soon after, we were holding the keys to what would be our very own storefront for Nourished by Nature. I could never thank him enough for talking me into taking this leap. He has fully supported me and this business from the start, has always believed in my products, and spreads the word any chance he gets,” shared Holly.

The couple ended up doing all the buildout work at the storefront themselves (installed floors, built a partition wall, painted, sanded/ stained/hung shelves etc.) using Dustin’s 20-plus years of former construction and woodworking knowledge to their advantage. “He even hand-built my checkout counter, which is my favorite thing in the store - it’s so beautiful,” Holly said, enthusiastically.

“We spent quite a few long days and even pulled some all-nighters there. We had the kids pitching in where they could, too. They had so much fun learning how to build things, how to install floors, how to paint a wall properly, and so much more. I think they’re a bit sad now that the store is open and there isn’t much left for them to work on construction-wise,” she laughed.

“I breastfed Savannah until the age of 3.5, almost 4, so we had a large supply of frozen breastmilk on hand. In the past, milk baths worked wonders for her skin and for minor ailments, so I figured we would give it a try. It soothed her skin almost immediately,” said Holly. “The hives would go away at night with milk baths, and come back the next morning, so we were working through our stash of frozen breastmilk pretty rapidly.

Holly searched for ways to make the breast milk last longer and stumbled upon breast milk soap. She ordered some to try, and it worked well for Savannah’s skin, but had added ingredients that Holly didn’t like. “We prefer to use clean, organic ingredients in our household, especially on her sensitive skin.”

Nourished By Nature was inspired by Holly and Dustin’s five-year-old daughter, Savannah. In 2021, she broke out in severe rashes and hives head to toe that lasted for weeks on end before disappearing, and then reappearing days later. The doctors and specialists she saw were puzzled, and after trying a multitude of medications and steroids to no avail, Holly decided to take a more natural approach.

After a lot of research, Holly tried her hand at making cold process soap herself. “I wanted the last of the breast milk I had saved turned into soap and I wanted complete control of the ingredients it contained.” After making her first batch of breastmilk soap and waiting six weeks, it was ready to use. She said it was “amazing.” “The feel, lather, the creaminess of the bars was unlike anything I had ever used,