Organic Monkey

How Organic have you been?....

2011-09-08T03:31:00.000-07:00


Forrest Crawford with Hello Mellow Massage Oil With the first week of Organic September gone, its a good time to ask yourselves how organic you have been? Why choose Organic for your babies skin? We are committed to sourcing the purest, organic ingredients that we can find. Organic products are different and offer a wide range of benefits: They are gentle enough for delicate and sensitive skin. The naturally occurring ingredients in the products are better used and received by your skin than synthetic substances. They are less drying to the skin. Made with better ingredients that have not been subjected to pesticides or artificial fertilisers. Better for the environment. Organic farming releases less greenhouse gases that non-organic farming, helping to create a better future for your little monkeys. We have recognised the importance of certifying all of our products to assure all of our customers that we are serious about producing truly organic baby skincare. All of our products are certified by the Soil Association which means that they comply with strict rules set at UK, European and international levels. These rules assure our consumers that they are buying genuinely organic products that can be fully traceable back to the farm.

A good running

2011-08-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

We found out this week that we didn't win in the Health and Beauty category for the Venture Candy competition. But we're not sore losers.. We are very happy to have got as far as we did and are proud that only after 1 year of trading we had such amazing feedback from the judging panel and public.
We will continue our journey of formulating lots of Organic products that are safe for your little ones' skin and hope to educate the masses about a natural, more organic way of looking after your little monkeys...

So this is an even BIGGER Thank you to those who voted for us and we will be back next year!!..

The Organic Monkey team

x

A BIG Thank you

2011-07-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

We had a manic few days over the weekend waiting for votes to come in for the Venture Candy competition. We have been very nervous but when we realised how much support we have from all of our followers and friends, it made us feel all warm inside. So this is a BIG Thank you to all of you who voted. We should know the outcome this week we hope, but whatever happens, we feel very lucky to have all of you!

Lots of love, The Organic Monkey team x

Vote for Organic Monkey!

2011-07-25T07:52:00.000-07:00

We would love everyone to take a few seconds to vote for us and to let your friends, family and colleagues know about it too.

ONLY A FEW HOURS LEFT!

Click on this message to go through to www.venturecandy.co.uk

2011-07-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

We’re very excited to announce that Organic Monkey has been short listed from thousands of entries in the prestigious Venture Candy business competition. It is sponsored by the Metro newspaper and aims to support enterprise and innovation, transforming budding businesses into big brands. 
 
We have made it to the final 3 in the “Health & Beauty” category and the winner of the category is decided solely by public vote. We were featured in the Metro newspaper on Friday 22nd July and we would love you to show your support by voting for us.
 
“Once the public votes for a winner, Venture Candy rewards these talented, successful businesses with the exposure and profile they need to get ahead. The winners receive a host of valuable business assets ranging from mentorship, publicity, advertising, contacts and professional services, all of which give them the business foundations they need to grow.” 
 
Winning this competition would be a fantastic opportunity for us to grow, helping us to increase brand awareness, making our products more accessible and ultimately enabling us to nourish, protect and relieve more little monkey's skin with high quality, organic and Fairtrade ingredients.

We would love everyone to take a few seconds to vote for us and to let your friends, family and colleagues know about it too.

Click on this message to go through to www.venturecandy.co.uk

Thank you.

Clocks are springing forward.....

2011-03-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

For us mums struggling on minimal and interrupted sleep as it is, missing out on another hour this weekend when the clocks go forward is a bit of a daunting prospect, however lighter evenings (better find the black out blinds for the little monkeys windows) and the knowledge that summer is on the way makes it all worth it!! Yippee.

Raising Awareness...

2011-03-07T23:26:00.000-08:00

One of our little Monkeys was featured in the Local Newspaper the Argus last weekend to raise awareness about the pioneering cooling technique used at the Trevor Mann baby unit at Brighton Hospital :

Brighton boy frozen back to life

The Argus 9:30am Saturday 5th March 2011

By Siobhan Ryan, Health Reporter »

Little Forrest Crawford is a typical active and happy two-year-old, the picture of health.
But the youngster is only alive and well because doctors froze him for three days shortly after he was born.
When his mother Heidi gave birth at home, Forrest was not breathing, his body was limp and his skin was blue.
He was rushed to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton but it took more than 30 minutes for medics to eventually get him breathing.

Doctors were worried about brain damage so used a pioneering cooling technique to give his system a chance to recover.
They deliberately dropped his temperature from a normal 37C to 33.5C, low enough to bring on hypothermia.
The procedure, which was inspired by trapped climbers' ability to survive freezing conditions, reduces the pressure on the brain, allowing it to recover from trauma.
After watching him closely for 72 hours, staff at the hospital's Trevor Mann baby unit felt the time was right to start warming Forrest up again.
Tests and an MRI scan showed his brain was functioning normally and he was able to go home after eight days.
He has never looked back since and now, aged 27 months, he is developing perfectly normally.
Mrs Crawford, 35, of Victoria Street, Brighton, said: “It was absolutely miraculous."

Organic Monkey Celebrates Fairtrade Fortnight!

2011-03-07T22:29:00.000-08:00

Organic Monkey Celebrates Fairtrade Fortnight

It's Fairtrade Fortnight (28th February - 13th March) and Organic Monkey are celebrating the fact that they are the first and only baby skincare company to have been awarded Fairtrade certification by the Fairtrade Foundation. This year the Fairtrade Foundation are asking the nation to show off about buying Fairtrade which offers 7.5 million people in the developing world a more secure future.

Organic Monkey use as many Fairtrade ingredients as are possible to source for their skin care range to ensure the best quality raw ingredients and Fairtrade provides a better deal for producers in developing countries, creating opportunities for farmers and workers to improve their lives, their communities and protect their environment.

Take the raw shea butter used in their Bumfluff nappy balm for example. This is produced in Ghana by the Akoma Co-operative Multipurpose Society who process nuts gathered from the karite tree grown in Bolgatanga Upper East Region Ghana. The Fairtrade premium received is helping members of the village of Pisi-Namogo, particularly the more vulnerable women, children and elderly, to rise out of poverty.

Cassius

2010-10-04T06:50:00.000-07:00

We welcomed our beautiful son, Cassius Alexander, into the world on Tuesday 7th September, weighing in at a healthy 8lbs 14oz. He didn't hang around either, labour lasted 2.5 hours from waters breaking to his birth so just pleased Daddy was working from home as would have missed the whole thing if he had had to commute back from London. We were all home and tucked up in bed 6 hours later, very different to Forrest's birth, thank goodness.

The first few weeks have been a bit of a blur of happiness, tiredness, hormonalness and trying to keep Organic Monkey running. I must be mad launching a business whilst heavily pregnant but at least it has kept me occupied and busy and it is all starting to pay off with the Twickenham Baby Show and the Fairtrade Press Day being hugely successful, receiving more fantastic reviews and testimonials and generating numerous enquiries and orders from new stockists. Exciting stuff!!

Forrest is slowly adjusting to life with a sibling although for the first couple of weeks I know he was wondering when this 'noisy baby' would be going again. He has certainly found it challenging and he has been more sensitive and demanding of our attention as a result but its important not to underestimate how much his little life has changed with another little man taking attention away from him. Thankfully Cassius is like his brother in character; content and relaxed, sleeping and feeding well although slightly more sickie than Forrest was. Cassius projectile vomited his milk up just as I was leaving the house last Friday so had to meet friends in the park with a crusty, damp patch on my jumper and smelling slightly rancid! Nice!

Tomorrow is D-day, Daddy is going back to work so I am on my own. I have no idea how I will cope, how I will manage to make it out of the house with 2 children to organise, trying to time feeds and nappy changes with military precision, how I will deal with Forrest's bath and bedtime routines when they coincide with Cassius' cluster feeding frenzy which seems to happen between 4 and 7pm. I am sure I will find a way and will be in a routine soon enough but it is still a daunting prospect, lets just hope for a good (as good as it can be with a demand fed baby) nights sleep tonight.

I feel my consumption of coffee, cake and chocolate might hit new heights over the next few days!!!

Wish me luck!

Heidi
Organic Monkey's Managing Director

New addition coming!

2010-08-27T08:56:00.000-07:00

Heidi and her bump!

We are so excited here at Organic Monkey HQ at the imminent arrival of Heidi, our Managing Directors baby, due this coming week!
Heidi hasn't stopped working for a moment in the last few months formulating new ingredients, batching our products and contacting new suppliers.
The new addition to the Organic Monkey team will be welcomed into the world surrounded by bottles and balms!

Teething Pain?

2010-08-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here at Organic Monkey we have been dealing with teething babies for what seems like months and months! Just when we think it's all over, another tooth pops through and we are back to square one dealing with sore, aching little mouths, constant dribbling and sleepless nights all round. Personally I'm dealing with Dylan crying when I try to feed him, not wanting anything other than a dummy or a bottle of milk in his mouth or him chewing his hands. There are days when I'm truly worried because he goes off his food, and as a mother all you want is for your baby to be comfortable, safe and well fed. These teething times are so hard on both us mummies and our little ones.

Cheeky Monkey

There are a number of things I've used for Dylan, from ice lollies (all natural of course!) to homeopathic granules all of which help at different times but we felt more could be done so, the Organic Monkey team have spent months formulating a teething oil to help and have now launched our 'Cheeky Monkey Cheek Rub Oil'. Just rubbing a small amount onto their little cheeks really soothes and offers relief. The arnica oil, well know for allievating aches and pains combined with the healing and calming properties of Lavender and Roman Chamomile works wonders .

Don't just take our word for it, we received this testimonial from another satisfied customer too:

“Just wanted to say how much we love the Cheeky Monkey cheek rub. It really soothes and calms and smells wonderful too. Thank You for making the teething process much more bearable!” (Henrietta, Poppy’s mum)

Claudine, from the Organic Monkey Team

Our Bumfluff Nappy Balm helps empower women and improve facilities for poverty stricken children.

2010-07-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

Shea butter is a key ingredient in our Bumfluff Nappy Balm as not only is it incredibly nourishing and moisturising, it contains vitamins A and E which get to work deep in the skin, leaving it feeling soft and smooth.

Our raw Shea butter has been certified organic by the Soil Association and Fairtrade by the Fairtrade Foundation and is sourced from Bolgatanga, a poverty stricken area in the upper east region of Ghana. The Akoma Cooperative Multipurpose Society that we source it from is comprised of all women working to improve their quality of life. In this area of Ghana, unemployment is a critical issue. Collecting, processing, and selling shea nuts and butter at the Akoma Multipurpose Society is a main source of income for women in the community. The Fair Trade premium ensures that workers receive the most return for their hard work and can make sustainable changes in their community.

The Fair Trade price has enabled Akoma Cooperative Multipurpose Society to establish various social and productive programs. Your contributions to the premium from purchasing our Bumfluff Nappy Balm are being used to build and furnish an information technology centre for the Pusu Namogo primary school. Over the next five years, Akoma will use the premium for education and developing facilities for children. This will include a library, desks and school equipment.

A boat made out of 12,500 plastic bottles.....x

2010-07-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here at Organic Monkey we really care about the environment, that's why all of our bottles and jars are manufactured either from recycled glass or post consumer regrind (PCR) raw materials. PCR is a resin that has been previously used in commercial consumer applications such as the manufacturing of mineral water bottles, shampoo bottles etc. Which have then been collected, recycled, cleaned and reused in the manufacture of new bottles and jars. This reduces the depletion of new fossil fuels and helps create a sustainable packaging solution.

This weekend we were tracking the wonderful but eco-tragic adventure of the 31 year old David de Rothschild who made a catamaran out of 12,500 bottles and set off from America to the Pacific.....

Taken from the Observer article this Sunday:

"Rothschild set out on a mammoth ocean crossing aboard his recycled yacht to highlight pollution of Earth's waters....

Plastiki, a revolutionary catamaran, is kept afloat by 12,500 plastic bottles in its hulls; the "eco-adventure" has been designed to draw attention to our systematic pollution and over-fishing of oceans. In the three and a half months since De Rothschild, the refusenik 31-year-old son of the banking dynasty, and his crew of five set out from San Francisco they have discovered many things, but mainly, he says, they have learned about the sea, about its power and about its fragility......"

See full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/11/plastiki-rothschild-plastic-bottle-catamaran

Track the Plastiki here: http://www.theplastiki.com/

Supporting Sparks

2010-07-07T12:20:00.000-07:00

A charity very close to our hearts is Sparks, the children's medical research charity whose sole remit is to fund research across the whole spectrum of paediatric medicine. Sparks' pioneering work on infant body and brain cooling was instrumental in saving co-founder Heidi's son, Forrest, when he was born.

Heidi's husband, Duncan, ran the London marathon this year on their behalf:

"I decided to run the London Marathon 2010 to raise money for Sparks. Without Sparks my son Forrest would not be alive today. When Forrest was born he suffered from birth asphyxia and did not breathe for over 30 minutes. Thanks to the wonderful medical team based at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the use of the ‘cooling technique’, (a pioneering treatment funded by Sparks) where Forrest’s body temperature was reduced to 33.5 °C over 3 days to enable his body to recover, he is a very happy, healthy 18 month old little boy.

I have to say that despite not being able to walk properly for a few days, I really enjoyed my run (apart from miles 21 to 23 where I had to consume handfuls of jelly babies to give me the energy to finish). Everyone was incredibly supportive, it felt like a great achievement and was fantastic to be able to contribute and raise money for such a wonderful charity.

I will be continuing my support by running the Brighton marathon in 2011.
Organic Monkey are looking to continue raising funds for this fantastic charity. We have added a donation option to the website, giving all of our customers the opportunity to add £1 to their order for Sparks to help fund more pioneering research and save even more lives.
http://www.sparks.org.uk/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=951

We are launched and live!

2010-07-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely time at the Baby Expo in Brighton on Sunday. The sun was shining as we managed to chat to hundreds of people about our new range and handed out lots of samples of our lovely Bumfluff nappy balm to mummies and mummies to be. We hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for coming to see us on our stand, the feedback was really positive and we cant wait to get our products on the shelves of all your favourite stores.

If you didn't get a chance to catch us at the show, visit our website: www.organicmonkey.co.uk

Happy Shopping!

Production line....

2010-06-26T10:44:00.000-07:00

We've been producing all day getting ready for the Brighton baby Expo tomorrow. Well be giving out a sample of our lovely nappy balm and you can enter a competition for a free gift bag with a whole range inside! So, come along, say Hello and pick up your free nappy balm tomorrow !!!

The Organic Monkey |team

XXX

3 days to go!

2010-06-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

Were filling and packing and sticking and pouring....Getting our lovely samples ready for the show on Sunday! Pregnant Heidi is carrying her Monkey well at the same time as working hard- she needs to put her feet up! But she's so dedicated!

See us there!:

http://www.brightonbabyexpo.com/baby-show

Baby Expo Organisation!

2010-06-22T08:49:00.000-07:00

We are filling our bottles and labeling our products ready for giving out lovely samples on Sunday at the Baby Expo, were hoping to see lots of lovely mummies there who will love our products!

http://www.brightonbabyexpo.co.uk/baby-show

Just over a week to go!!

2010-06-17T12:19:00.001-07:00

Just over a week to go before our official launch at the BabyExpo in Brighton!!! Very exciting but still so much to do. Think we will be sticking labels on bottles in our sleep, that's if we get any!!!!

Organic Monkey bunting being stitched, labels being printed and a huge order of organic oils on its way for us to work our magic and turn into fab nappy balm and the other gorgeous products in our launch range.

Roll on Sunday 27th!!!

Gearing up for Baby Expo!

2010-06-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Its getting busy in the Organic Monkey kitchen as we are gearing up for the Brighton Baby Expo in June. Organising our printing (which is also eco- friendly!) and getting samples ready for anyone who visits us there!

http://www.brightonbabyexpo.co.uk/baby-show

Organic Monkey update...

2010-05-03T13:55:00.001-07:00

With half the Organic Monkey team stuck in Australia due to volcanic ash and the other half dealing with chicken pox, the last couple of weeks have been challenging and frustrating to say the least!
Back on track again now though with product labels finalised and meeting with trading standards under our belt, we are armed and ready to launch!

Just found out that BBC Dragons Den will be attending the Brighton & Hove Business Show in October! Scary prospect but something we are definitely going to look into. Better start brushing up on our maths and presenting skills!

Organic Monkey will be part of the Mums in Biz stand at this years Brighton BabyExpo held at Brighton racecourse on the 27th June. Busy organising our banners, tshirts and FREE samples!

http://www.brightonbabyexpo.co.uk/baby-show

Location:Brighton

A new Monkey on the team!!!

2010-04-10T01:53:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Heidi from Organic Monkey on the Pregnancy!!! Another little monkey to add to our management team X

Organic Monkey products not just for your little ones....

2010-03-11T11:20:00.001-08:00

In this cold weather, all the mums I know are suffering from buggy hands - dry, cracked, sore hands from pushing their little ones in the wind and rain. I have been using our 'Bum Fluff' Nappy Balm on my hands to protect them from the elements and I have to say, its doing a brilliant job - keeping my skin soft and supple!

New Product range coming April 2010

2010-03-11T11:13:00.001-08:00

We use a select range of organic, pure and fairtrade ingredients to create our collection, designed specifically for the newest and most sensitive of skins.

Coming soon...
We are extending our baby range and introducing a selection of products aimed at toddlers and small children.

Mixing it up!

2010-03-11T11:12:00.001-08:00

So for a few months now we have been hiding away in our kitchen mixing up different smells and lotions to create the perfect baby moisturiser. Its a relatively straightforward process which, if you know what you’re doing is really satisfying. Trying to combine the right smells with the safe Organic ingredients is a long process though. Once we started mixing our creams we became more and more meticulous about the textures and smells. More than we thought we’d be but its got to be perfect hasn’t it?!
The adding of the aromatherapy oils has been our hardest task. Not because its hard mixing in the oils, but sometimes we just cant decide on a smell! Theres so many lovely organic oils out there, and we have most of them in our little apothecary box but after a while our noses need neutralizing so we can start again! We think we have chosen some gorgeous smells and aromas to compliment our products, some of which weve all heard of and smelt before and some that we hope people will be suprised with…

Fairtrade

2010-03-11T11:11:00.000-08:00

Organic Monkey Ltd had a successful meeting at the Fairtrade Foundation in London this week who provisionally approved six of their products which will mean that they are first company in the UK to produce certified Fairtrade baby products!

Such an exciting moment for us. We are finalising packaging and have the Chemist approving our batches and then were off!!!… We cant wait to see it on the shelves.

2010-03-11T11:07:00.000-08:00

So we have our first delivery of packaging for our products. Now it feels real!

Cleanser bottles arrived!

We received the bottles that will contain our Baby Cleanser, an exciting product that we think will be used again and again by all the parents out there looking for an all-in-one cleanser for the bath.

The bottles are made out of PET which are manufactured from recycled post consumer regrind (PCR) raw materials.

PCR is a resin that has been previously used in commercial consumer applications such as the manufacturing of mineral water bottles, shampoo bottles etc. which have then been collected, recycled, cleaned, pelletized and reused in the manufacture of new bottles and jars. This reduces the depletion of new fossil fuels and helps create a sustainable packaging solution. We are trying to create a line of products that is safe, not only for babies and children but also to our environment.