2021. What a year friends. Despite the hardships the world faced, and the challenges every industry dealt with, at Adored Beast we met those challenges head-on. As we look back at the past year, we’re so thankful for what we’ve been able to achieve, even in the face of a worldwide pandemic.
In fact, some of our biggest challenges pushed us to put in motion some of our long-term goals much sooner than we’d originally planned. Adored Beast followed in the footsteps and was guided by our true and most important teacher, Nature. We have become more resilient and adaptable, and we continue to work hard to ensure that our products are sustainable and to bring the entire ABA process closer to us so that we personally have our eyes on everything.
We met some incredible milestones this year, started out on some amazing new adventures, met new friends, and grew far more than we expected, all while fiercely protecting our planet in the process!
Join us as we take a look back at 2021 at Adored Beast Apothecary.
Going Organic
We’ve always had the goal to get to a point where everything we have is organic. And this year, we got so close to that goal.
We really started to look at ways to really make sure the ingredients we are putting in our products are clean, as organic as possible, with total nutrition at the forefront. We’ve been sourcing ingredients grown in healthy soil that nourish the body.
We’ll start with this: Every single herbal component is organic. Every single herb. Some of them are even organic and wildcrafted! And not only are they organic, they’re grown in the Pacific Northwest.
We’ve set up our own manufacturing in the U.S. and that has really allowed us to have better control over each process – from concept, to formulation, to bottling, to delivery. We oversee and own every link in the chain.
Even single ingredients that are only found in small amounts in a few products have received special treatment. For example, we wanted to move away from natural beef liver flavouring in products like our Feline Gut Soothe. That led us on a hunt for something more biologically appropriate and nutritionally valuable. What did we find? 100% freeze-dried, grass-fed, ethically, naturally-raised beef sourced directly from New Zealand. This is no ordinary beef liver glandular!
Joseph’s Field
We know that most of you are aware that animal rescue has always been a huge part of Julie’s life, ever since she was a small child. Her passion for all animals, big and small, has influenced her all throughout her life.
What you may not know about is Julie’s rescue farm, Joseph’s Field, named for her beloved horse Joseph. This 100 acre ocean-front farm in Nova Scotia has become a haven for all different types of animals, from dogs and cats to chickens and ducks to pigs, cows, horses and donkeys. These animals all come as end-stage animals, where they’ve been too sick, neglected, or abused to go anywhere else. The many animals who now call Joseph’s Field home were saved by Julie and her rescue team to live out their best lives in peace and harmony.
Joseph’s Field is so important to Adored Beast because it serves as Julie’s veterinary clinic. These animals are dealing with acute and chronic disease every, single day. It keeps Julie on the cutting edge of disease and working with sick animals. It is part of her every day life.
“When I talk about my veterinary clinic in the past, this is my veterinary clinic of today. It’s what keeps me close to the animals, and motivates me to continue learning. I am always immersed in the current research, and Joseph’s Field is Adored Beast’s Research and Development department.” – Julie Anne Lee DCH
In 2021 we welcomed several new animals, including cats, dogs, and horses. These animals, as well as those who’ve been on the farm for years, have played a critical role in new formulations, including a few we’re really excited about for 2022 (you’ll have to stay tuned for that)!!
Looking Forward to an Even Better ABA
One of things we’re very passionate about at Adored Beast is doing everything we can to help protect the environment. In 2021 we’ve also taken a good look at our manufacturing and packaging processes to find ways to improve them to better help Mother Earth. One of the things we’re most excited about is moving towards more sustainable packaging, and we’ve sourced out new bags for our powdered products that are completely biodegradable! These are in the works and you’ll see them early in 2022!
We’ve also made some changes to partnerships. Many of the Adored Beast Products are homeopathic remedies, and this year we partnered with OHM Pharma, a purpose-driven company serving the homeopathic community for more than 50 years, providing products, services, and education. What does this mean for our customers? We’re trying to do better. They go above and beyond what the FDA requires. They’re a true pharmacopeia. Their regulatory practices and measures are way more stringent, and more closely aligned with the “original rules” of homeopathy from Germany and India. Their higher standards are in alignment with ours.
New Spaces
Thanks to YOU, we experienced immense growth in 2021. And with that growth we welcomed many new team members to the Adored Beast family!
We grew so much, in fact, that we had to move office 3 times, getting bigger each time! (We’re hoping the latest space is our forever home!) Busy worker bees got down to business renovating, and the team moved in and set up shop!
But it wasn’t just at home in Canada that we expanded. We also opened up two new warehouses in the U.S. to better meet the needs of our U.S family! The beautiful Montana landscape sits just outside the windows of both buildings, and our U.S. teams were hard at work getting things set up on their side of the border! Stay tuned for moved-in, settled pictures.
Adored Beast Apothecary Equine Line
Horses have been a huge part of Julie Anne’s life since she was a child, and remain so. It’s part of the reason she initially established her Joseph’s Field. And building out the Adored Beast Apothecary product line to include equine products was always on the board.
This year, the hard work finally came to fruition!
After years of research, development, formulation, and hands-on application in the stables, the equine line was launched, featuring:
- Gut Soothe
- Jump for JOYnts
- Liver Tonic
The ability to provide equine species-specific formulations for horses is huge for us. Our horses need the support we’ve been giving to cats and dogs for years now, so we’re thankful that we’ve been able to finally give people and their herd access to that!
What makes this even more special for Julie is the partnership in the equine line with her 20-year colleague Sarah Griffiths, Equine Nutritionist and Homeopath. Sarah brings decades of experience with animal nutrition and is going to rock the health of the equine world 🐎
Myco-Biome
Myco-Biome is a project that Julie has dedicated to her mother, who fought her entire life for the preservation of wildlife and the planet.
For those of you who don’t know, Julie and Dione have a unique business relationship, as they both support each other’s goals in life. If there’s something Julie wants to do, Dione supports her, and vice-versa. And Myco-Biome is an environmental medicinal mushroom re-wilding forest project.
At the beginning of 2021, Julie and Dione purchased 100 acres of forest in Maritime Canada, some old growth and some that has been selectively logged. And while this project is not a part of Adored Beast Apothecary, it’s an important endeavour for the planet, which is what Adored Beast is all about. We’re all very excited about it.
The intention for this land is to replicate an old growth forest ecosystem. A large part of that is its microorganisms, and thus we grow and harvest medicinal mushrooms, herbs, and flora which are sustainable and contain historical beneficial bacteria, with the added goal of saving forests and their inhabitants from constant clear cutting and unethical wild crafting. Reproducing and teaching these concepts globally is part of the plan. At the moment, forests are seen only as a resource for the wood industry, but if we can teach the world that forests also provide food, medicine, clean air, and a lifetime of valuable environmental benefits, we can evoke change.
From this land we’ve already been able to harvest some sustainably grown and ethically wild-crafted mushrooms, which have allowed us to create and provide to you in our Turkey Tail and Chaga mushroom tinctures!
“I want to show the world that a forest has much more to give than trees as a commodity. It has the abundance of plant wisdom, fungi intelligence, and natural communication to create profound healing for people and animals. Trees are the Earth’s lungs, absorbing pollution and producing clean air for us to breathe. A forest has so much potential to heal the earth.” – Julie Anne Lee DCH
Milestones
We’ve mentioned the big changes, accomplishments, and celebrated moments of 2021, but there are many more mini-milestones we’ve met!
- Our Social Media Manager insisted that we add that we reached 10K minutes watched on YouTube and 10K followers on Instagram! And we have you to thank for that!
- Our Facebook community, the Adored Beast Collective, has grown by leaps and bounds. As of now we have almost 3000 treasured members. We’re so grateful for all of the help and support you offer to each other, and the love and generosity that you share each and every day!
- Along with the Equine line, we also expanded our product roster to include Feline Gut Soothe, Easy Peesy in the U.S., and a Leaky Gut Protocol for cats and for small dogs.
- In 2021 we hosted and participated in over 30 events! From monthly Ask Julie Anything sessions, to collaborations with friends and fellow pet experts, to our most recent lecture series for Julie’s birthday!
2021 was an incredible year for us, and we thank you for all you’ve done to help us achieve what we’ve achieved. Without you, Adored Beast Apothecary wouldn’t be what it is, and the thousands of animals we’ve helped along the way thank you too! Here’s to another great year in 2022!
PS: Look forward to this year and our launch of a product to help save the oceans 🐋
