A small, home-based business, first conceived in 1986, for the express purpose of collecting unusually high quality, natural, pure, personal care, health, and even pet food products and distributing them to persons interested in having independent access to this level of product quality.

Statement of Intention

We support independence in self-care and in life-style. We support searching for products and lifestyle habits that support your own health and a constant sense of well-being. We support the concept of balance, of filling in equal measure all of the major areas of our lives: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We believe in a sense of community, of sharing with our neighbors the good ideas and decisions of our lives. We ask that you explore our product lists and select for review any products toward which you are drawn and which would fill a lack in your health-care or self-care program. When you have decided, continue to use the products that work for you. We will assist you in developing autonomy in ordering, which will present possible price or financial advantages.

Here Are the People Involved . . .

Essie Hull, Ph.D. is the founder and director of The Essence of Things. A clinical psychologist by primary profession, she is invested in supporting healthy lifestyles and conscious choice. Her dogs, the now-late Aura, Mishka and Nakia, adorn the Flint River Ranch product and opportunity pages (as do two of her three cats), and the fruits of her organic, increasingly biodynamic gardens adorn many of the other pages. The family has grown to include chickens, guinea fowl and turkeys.  We'll have pictures of these new family members up soon.

Mary Ellen MacCoy has joined The Essence of Things! We are excited to have her on board. Mary Ellen brings a sweet essence to The Essence of Things as she and her husband made maple syrup for many years. She has 35 years of experience in the typesetting and printing field, and will be happy to answer your questions and fill your orders. Mary Ellen is a marvelous new addition to our staff, has an outstanding sense of design, a creative mind and she recently inserted a new cat into the household. More recently, she and her husband went on a 3-month adventure to Alaska. While she was gone we limped along. Thank goodness she's back!

Benjamin Bynum joined the business with Jonna to help fill Carol's shoes. His primary job right now is staying home with his two children, but after a year of doing that it was time to get out in the adult world again at least part time. He's now one of the administrators in the Town Offices. Any spare time is spent woodworking and responding to emergencies as part of the Canterbury Volunteer Fire Department. He's a positive, creative person with a wonderful sense of humor.  We'll miss you Ben!

Our Backyard Helpers

Three years ago, Colin, then an eighth-grader and now in his third year of high school, joined the crew. Colin has been learning about organic gardening, and does a wonderful and thorough job of cleaning the hen house. Last summer, the outdoor staff expanded to include Kaitlin and Megan. This spring, Ben joined them. Ben is a high school sophomore, a civil air cadet and proficient in science. He's going to be becoming proficient in horticulture, too. I'm looking forward to his help.

Colin is sharing the mowing and is learning to weed, to plant and to harvest. He's becoming sort of an expert with the chickens, and is unusually effective at catching them. These young men are wonderful and kind. It is a pleasure having them around. The young women are a fantastic new team! Originally under Kathryn's energetic, positive and humorous guidance, Kaitlin and Megan learned how to work effectively (for example, continuing to work while talking, weeding at a good pace, etc.). Whenever Kaitlin and Megan come to work, they bring the equivalent of a full meal with them - lunch boxes stuffed with food and drink. It's an interesting gender difference. Ben is just beginning, but he gives evidence of an accurate eye and thorough work. It's going to be a great summer!

Kathie Fife is a Botanist and consulting Natural Resource Specialist and has worked for 10 years providing service to organizations in NH. She serves on the Conservation Commission and Recycling Committee. She backpacked the Maine Appalachian Trail in 2001 with her best friend, a gorgeous and sweet husky shepard mix she rescued from the Humane Society - to raise money through sponsorships to help build handicap accessible facilities for the Elkins Public Library.  Good luck Kathie!

Carol Landry was the creative mind and accurate work reflected in the bulk of this web site. She was the nuts and bolts of this operation. Carol maintained balance (well, she usually maintained balance), through the utter chaos of the construction of this internet presentation. If that were not enough, her addiction to greyhounds, greyhound rescue and the welfare of all dogs has led to a new adventure. She and her family have opened Brookwood Pet Resort, a day care and boarding resort in Canterbury, NH. This will be taking all of her time, so she is no longer with us. We are sad to see her go but we know that she is very excited about her next adventure and we wish her the best of luck

Sue Baxter an original staff member, departed from Essence in September of 1997 and returned to California. She spent countless hours typing text into this site, and organized many of the original charts and tables. She was the mainstay of the Flint River Ranch operation here, and is gifted in her ability to organize beautiful and creative presentations. We certainly miss her but also celebrate that she has begun the next segment of her life path. We hope that her journey will be one abundant with Grace and fulfillment. Thank you, Sue, for helping us get started.

Youthful Dearly Departed

I want to take this opportunity to thank Kevin. Kevin worked here for 5 summers, from eighth grade through graduation from high school. It is important that he know how important his work was to us. He dug hundreds of holes for trees, turned compost endlessly, hauled dirt, and shoveled and snowblew tons of snow. To the left is a picture of Kevin and his buddy, Ivan the Terrible. They were a great pair. Ivan was eaten by (most probably) a fox five falls ago. Ivan was white and deaf, a real handicap. He insisted on going outside, knew no fear and had no common sense. We really do miss him. There is a new cat in the household, however, LB . He is very dominant but very friendly. We just put a picture up of him above.  He knows that he's amazing.

Dearly Departed

Jonna Wormald manages Essie's psychology practice, did some work, primarily involving numbers, with Essence. Jonna enjoys being a mother, had her second child last spring, and, we are very happy to say, is back working with us. The office is significantly more orderly with her around. She has a keen ability to master new tasks and we gave her several important ones to take charge of. Her trademark, when she was learning a new task, was reminiscent of the deer-in-the-headlights look. Once the task was mastered, she looked nothing short of smug. Her proportion of smug looks increased a lot during her tenure with us.  Best to you, Jonna! It's wonderful to have you back!

Kevin and Ivan communing together

Steve (who used to be but now is no longer accident prone), is a world champion wood stacker and potato digger. He has a very good spatial-perceptual sense. He recently graduated from high school and is making plans for his next big chapter in life. Steve loves baseball and thinks of studying sports management. He will also be helping his mother open and operate a cafe in a nearby city. Good Luck to you, Steve, and thank you for all of your help over the past four years.

Kathryn worked with Megan and Caitlin when they first began working here. An experienced organic gardener, she trained and supervised them. Unfortunately, she lives on the coast, and could not continue to commute here from there. Our last event together was transplanting a mulberry tree, working with 4 teenagers in an icy, driving rain. The mulberry tree survived the transplant. Our wounds healed........ Best to you, Kathryn!

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