Why Young Living

As I was researching and learning about the best oils for our home, it came back to Young Living again and again and again.

Almost 12 years later, and I cannot imagine any other company being the fit that Young Living is for us.

I am going to share some of the things that I learned as I was researching companies in the very beginning, as well as some things I have learned along the way that I would have loved to know from the very beginning.

I wish it was possible to share every single thing on my heart with this, but so much of it has come from visiting farms, events, the warehouse in person, and the experience itself.

A passion:

Young Living started as a passion.

A man who grew up loving farming and oils. It was not a business to begin with, but a deep love for the heart of the plants and the land.

Even as Young Living became a business, the founder repeatedly said:

“I create Young Living products for a purpose not profit.”

Most people will never get to experience the depth of what I have, and I will hold it in my heart forever.

Before the founder passed away, I had the absolute honor of seeing him speak in person multiple times.

Each time as he spoke, it was with such a love for these plants and farms. There were always tears as he would share his stories.

It was never a business to him, it was simply his passion in life.

He was out on the farms and working the harvest. When professional truckers were not willing to drive in freezing weather, he was driving the trucks. When harvest was happening, he was the first one up and the last to sleep. It was a passion.

World Leaders:

Young Living was founded over 29 years ago and is the world leader in essential oils.

Farms:

They are the only essential oil company that owns farms across the world or partners with farms that live up to their seed to seal standards of growing, harvesting and distilling.

There are over 25 farms across 6 continents. This allows plants to grow in their native habitat, as well as employ thousands of people.

You can learn more about the farms here:

https://www.youngliving.com/en_us/company/about/younglivingfarms

Seed to Seal:

Young Living has the highest standards of any essential oil company.

They have what is called the Seed to Seal promise – what this means is they control every aspect of the production line. From the soil, the beginning growth of the plant, tree, root, etc. all the way to the bottle we receive.

You can learn more about Seed to Seal website here:

https://www.youngliving.com/us/en/company/seed-to-seal

Transparency:

Anyone can visit the Young Living farms (they welcome and encourage it), participating in the harvest and distillation process. There is not another oil company that is as transparent and welcoming!

Beyond organic:

They use their essential oils on the crops, instead of pesticides. They are 100% pure, and beyond organic standards!

Higher than organic standards:

USDA organic certified – requires soil to be chemical free for 3 years

VS

Young Living’s Seed to Seal – requires soil to be chemical free for 50 years

Testing:

Young Living tests both on site and through third party, to make sure they are absolutely the most pure oils.

There are 15-20 tests on every batch of oil done 3 times after distilling and 3 times after bottling.

Product testing takes place in house, as well as with more than a dozen of the world’s leading independent, and accredited labs with scientists who specialize in advanced product testing.

Weeding:

Weeding is done by hand which is INCREDIBLE!

They spend more than $12,000 per acre to hand weed their Mona lavender fields. It would be much cheaper at $60 an acre to treat those fields with herbicides, but purity is what matters most with their product.

AND they are actually transitioning to exclusively weeding by sheep at the lavender farm in Mona. Sheep eat weeds, but not the plants and they fertilize in a natural way. The Young Living France farm is also using sheep to weed.

Here is an image of the sheep at the Young Living farm!

Water:

Not a single drop of water is wasted in the distillery. From the water used to steam distill, to the water used to cool the liquid in the condenser. All leftover water from that process, as well as the hydrosols are pumped into a pond, filtered, and saved to irrigate the plants.

Young Living saved 270,000,000 gallons of water in 1 year by doing this!

Plant remains:

After distillation, all plant remains are composted with horse manure (from their horses working on the farm). After it composts, it is used as fertilizer back into the fields. There is never fertilizer added to the soil. “By feeding the soil with organic matter and micronutrients, that will take care of the ground.”

Largest selection of oils:

Young Living has the largest selection of essential oils with over 180 single oils and blends.

Purity:

The oils are exactly what they say… Orange is Orange. Peppermint is Peppermint. Frankincense is Frankincense. They do not add fillers or synthetic ingredients that are lab made (like many other companies on the market).

With the essential oil industry, a company can claim to be pure and only have about 7% of pure oil in it to use that claim. It is INSANE!

If the harvest that year is not the best, we see products go out of stock, because they will not sell something that is not the best quality. They lose a lot of money because of this, but quality and purity are most important.

Young Living oils do not expire when stored properly. True, pure essential oils never expire, synthetics do. You will find that other essential oil companies have expiration dates on their bottles.

Intentional lifestyle:

Oils are just the beginning with Young Living. They are the true meaning of an intentional lifestyle, with over 600 products to replace the every day toxic products in each home. Cleaning, household products, skin care, a children’s line, nutrition, baby products, weight support, a men’s line, and more!

Oils are just the beginning with Young Living. They are the true meaning of an intentional lifestyle, with over 600 products to replace the every day toxic products in each home. Cleaning, household products, skin care, a children’s line, nutrition, baby products, weight support, a men’s line, and more!

Each product is infused with their oils and the highest quality around!

The foundation:

Young Living has a foundation where 100% of proceeds go directly to the foundation. They have built a school in Ecuador where children who normally would not get education get incredible education, as well as a meal to nourish them every day. They have a program where you can sign up to sponsor children at the school and when you visit the farm in Ecuador and the school, you can actually meet the child you sponsor!

They partner with programs around the world to support things such as human trafficking rescue, getting shoes on the feet of people in countries that do not have shoes and are in dangerous areas of sickness being spread through he feet, and disaster relief around the world.

You can learn more about the foundation here:

https://www.younglivingfoundation.org

Children from the Young Living Academy

Simplicity:

As I have learned more about simple living and our family has really focused on it, we have become even more grateful for Young Living.

It supports our family’s heart for a simple and intentional lifestyle so beautifully!

From the ingredients they choose to use (the purest and most simple there is), to the fact that the products we use daily in our home show up to our door as we need them. It is such an incredible part of our simple lifestyle!

Community:

To say the people and community are one of my favorite things about Young Living would be an understatement!

The Simple & Kindred community (my Young Living community), is something I am so deeply thankful for. Getting to do life with a like minded community, gathering, growing, and learning together is something I cannot put in to words. Just so much gratitude!

I could go on and on about it all! Saying that I could sit and talk about it for hours is an understatement!

This image was taken at a warehouse tour our family did. It is another example of the transparency. They welcome anyone to take a warehouse tour and learn about the shipping, testing, and process that goes into everything (you get to see it happening in front of you as people work).