A message from the treehaus

If you know me, you know that I’ve had what you could call a tough couple of years.

If you don’t, I have a blog where I’ve talked about some of the issues I’ve faced, and you can read that, but suffice to say, life has been a bit of an uphill battle, and through it all, whenever I’ve had the energy, I’ve tried to keep Treehaus Botanicals afloat.

Posting on socials, designing new labels, sending out a rare newsletter here and there, creating formulas and foraging for tincture and cosmetics ingredients, updating the website, doing photoshoots in my home… honestly all things considered, I’ve done kind of a lot!

But I’m just one person, and an unemployed and now somewhat disabled one at that, and keeping afloat kinda translates into “doing the bare minimum until more effort can be put in”, right? Or something along those lines.

But it’s not just effort, it’s capacity, and more importantly, it’s money.

Things that come easy to others don’t come easy to me.
Book keeping, taxes, hosting renewals, German paperwork, I already had a block towards those things before I started this business, and as I was already a freelancer then, I was no stranger to the hassles of the self employed, and I found and find those things to be incredibly hard. 

If your mind is similar to mine, from being diagnosed or just being self aware, you’ll be familiar with the ease of diving deeply and enthusiastically into something you’re hyper fixated on, as well as the great wall of NOPE that suddenly comes up when faced with a task that should take all of ten minutes but instead takes three months.

Not surprisingly, none of these issues improved after being subjected to a bunch of medical trauma and stints in rehab, and to be honest, most days I was barely interested in living, let alone ambitious or passionate about anything.

And when I had moments where I could come up for air and focus on creativity, finances got in the way.

I had been unemployed before ever learning I had a brain tumor, and was getting by on freelance work, but previous employers and clients not paying what they owed me meant that as I was going through surgeries and recovery, I was already bleeding money, and the insurance and hospital bills, although small by global standards, were draining my bank account.

Every time I wanted to create something, it cost money.
I am blessed with a partner who takes care of us both, and who even paid for some essential oils one time I had an idea for a new scent, but generally I had to either go further into debt to make something happen for Treehaus, or I had to wait to sell something in order to pay for new materials.

It wasn’t and isn’t sustainable, and it all became fully clear recently when I was trying to catch up on all the paper work and taxes I hadn’t been able to even begin to deal with during this long, pretty dark period.

I realised that I had to start from scratch, get rid of subscriptions and payments where I could, somehow minimise the stress and the feeling of failure that I kept subjecting myself to, by expecting myself to be able to pour from an empty cup.

Eventually I deregistered the business, and got my taxes somewhat in order, and said goodbye, at least temporarily, to being a small business owner, and, as of today, even to being a freelancer.

And while the deficit is still there, I hope to eventually be able to get at least a part time job, get back on track with finances, and then, get back to passion projects like this one.

I didn’t see this solution, until I saw that it could only be this. I believe in this project deeply and with my whole heart, and my Talisman sprays remain something I use every day and as a person with very little confidence it’s hard to say this, but I think they’re kinda brilliant!
But until I am once again closer to being whole myself, and can create from a place of safety and abundance, I have to take a time out.

I will continue to send out one of my rare newsletters, and to make Talisman Sprays and other products for friends and family when I can, so make sure to sign up and of course follow the instagram where I’ll still be posting about plants and potions and all that.

This isn’t goodbye, just bye for now.

Much love and overwhelming gratitude to my very loyal and supportive customers, you know who you are, who really get it.
Without their enthusiasm and support I surely wouldn’t have continued post 2023, and it’s because of their faith in the things I make that I will reopen one day, hopefully soon!