05/28/2024
Global Stewardship
Stewardship, farms around the world both partner farms, corporate farms, and seed to seal certified vendor farms, improving local economies and keeping plants around
When I hear the word stewardship, integrity is the first word that comes to my mind. Stewardship is the task of taking care of an organization or property and believe me when I say Gary Young did this with excellence, he set the bar high and never gave up. After his logging accident in 1973, which left him in a wheelchair, he tried to take his own life three times, unsuccessfully. His third attempt was when he stopped eating and after more than 250 days of no food, just water and lemon juice, he started to gain some feeling back in his big toe. This led to more curiosity on his part, of course and research. He was determined now more than ever to use the natural gifts on earth for a more natural way of healing his body. He stopped all medications and started to use different modalities and more studying to put him on the road to recovery. He eventually went to massage school, while running a health food store. Gary took every opportunity to gain as much knowledge as he could and through his health food store, he was able to study herbs and several ways of natural healing. When people heard about him, it brought other people to him looking for help. He eventually went to a Naturopathic college and simultaneously opened a research center for physical and emotional wellbeing in California.
Although he faced a great deal of adversity growing up, he remained positive with his unbreakable spirit and was very dedicated to God. He had vision like no other and his passion for helping others drove those visions to become reality. Gary was a man who did all things to perfection. The knowledge he acquired from studying and researching was incredible but, he went further and traveled to meet with Dr.’s in other countries to obtain all the information he could learn about essential oils and the distillation process. He also found ways to be effective with his farms when it came to means of controlling pest on plants naturally with essential oils.
Gary was very meticulous in the process of finding unaltered land, in regions where harvesting would be perfect, cleared land himself, tested soil samples for the most accurate ph. levels, leveling soil and making preparations for the pros and cons that may arise when cultivating and distilling plants in different regions of the country.
As Young Living celebrates it’s 25thanniversary this year, we celebrate a man who, if were not injured in a horrific logging accident years ago and had to delve into natural ways to help himself, well Young Living may never have come to fruition. The 13 years of pain and frustration led him from life in a wheelchair to walking with pain, but it also kept him striving for discovering more natural ways of healing. Dedication, endless hours of research & studies, visiting France a couple times a year and sheer determination to produce the best version of essential oils he could, is what set the standards of good stewardship for Young Living. The five-step seed to seal protocol is the foundation on which our Young Living Corporate offices, farms, partner & cooperative and our certified vendor farms operate by.
Gary did not purchase farmland in areas with good infrastructure, it was mostly communities that needed help. Through harvesting and distillation, he would always help local communities by helping improve their infrastructure and economy. Some of the locations of land he pursued for farms are in underserved communities. He saw to it that people were hired and made fair wages and continually helped to build up their infrastructure and or improve what was there. He trained people to work the land, and to work in the distilleries, this is a fine example of how he has passed on his protocols and have made sure the land is always preserved and the harvest is the best it can be.
In 1992 he purchased the St. Marie, Idaho farm and in 1993 the first distillery was built. He was continually striving to improve techniques for growing plants and preserving them till harvest time, straight through to distillation and bottling. Young Living has over 15 partner and / or corporate farms & distilleries, on 6 continents and 25 open markets Young Living is the worlds leader in essential oils.
Young Living global farms in North America- Young Living Lavender farm & distillery, Skyrider Wilderness Ranch, SKyrider River Ranch, St.Maries lavender farms & distilleries, Highland Flat Tree farms & distilleries, Northern Lights Farm & distillery, Kona Sandalwood restoration project, labbemint Partner Distilleries, Finca Victoria Farm, Dalmatia Aromatic Farm & distillery is located Croatia. Croatia is home to helichrysum, high specific conditions are required for this oil. Ord River Sandalwood Farm & distillery located in Australia is home to sacred sandalwood. Outback botanical reserve & distillery located in Australia home to blue cypress. Labbemint Partner Farm has four strategic location with the main location in Washington. Home to spearmint and peppermint. Finca farms located in Mexico home to Grapefruit and lime. Balkan Botanical Farm & distillery located in Bulgaria is home to Roman chamomile, Rose, & Valerian essential oils. Happy Pili Tree farm and distillery is in Philippines, a partner farm, was chosen because of it’s ethical and conscientious harvesting, it is the main supplier of Elemi Oil. Their expertise to legally obtain and source Elemi provides fair wages to workers and protects natural resources. The onsite distillery has boosted the economy by producing many job opportunities for the community. Muscat, Oman is where the Arabian Frankincense distillery is located home to our precious Sacred Frankincense. We were the first company to bring it to the western world.
Our lavender farm located in France, Simiane-la-rotonde, home to lavender, clary sage, rosemary, lavandin & Einkorn. We partner with a farm in Cape Town, South Africa to obtain our tea tree, eucalyptus Radiata, lemon, orange, and grapefruit oil. Taiwan cooperative farm & distillery is home to jade lemon, Hong Kuai, and Xiang Mao. Gihndagun farm in Australia is another partner farm located in Tathan Australia, home to tea tree oil.
I hope you have enjoyed this information about Young Living's founder Gary Young and the integrity he has poured into providing the purest, therapeutic grade essential oils on earth. I admire his courage and determination to expand his company and to share with everyone his cultivating protocol so that he was able to bless so many of us and we are able to bless others with this wonderful gift.
