W.S. Badger Company | Explore a New England Company

If you walk by my office right now, you will smell a potpourri of cayenne and ginger (Badger Muscle Rub for my sore shoulder), pink grapefruit (my lips feel silky soft smoothed with Badger lip balm) and beeswax. I smell good and I feel good.

Who is this Badger? Why do I love him…or her…or it? W.S Badger Company, Inc.–located in Gilsum, New Hampshire, population around 800 and about 15 minutes from Keene– is a family-owned and -operated business. In the mid-nineties, founder Bill Whyte, a carpenter at the time, started tinkering with a hand balm formula combining beeswax and olive oil to relieve his dry cracked hands.  Today, the company employs around 40 people and makes the “world’s finest Healthy Body Care products;” including items such as sunscreen, lip balms, body care, herbal problem solvers like muscle and joint balms or sleep balms. I had the chance to explore Badger’s new facility last weekend during their annual Tent Sale and I left feeling completely inspired. I knew that Badger products contained zero chemicals, synthetics, parabens, GMOs, but what I really took away from my tour of the grounds is that this is a company that lives and breathes its mission and principles. Badger’s Mission: To create fabulously pure and effective products of the highest natural quality, based on simplicity and thoughtful preparation, with the intention to protect, soothe and heal. To run a business that is fun, fair and profitable; where money is fuel, not a goal; and where our vision for a healthier world finds expression through the way we work and through the way we treat each other and the people we serve. Badger’s Principles:

• Individual responsibility in a team concept
• Personal and caring approach in communications
• Supporting organic, sustainable agriculture through our purchasing practices
• A business environment that is respectful and supportive of all employees, and of the people we serve
• Personal and social healing through our charitable giving
• Environmental responsibility
• Honesty and integrity in our business practices
• Fun is good
• Generosity

(Above is from Badger’s Web site.) In 2010, the company started construction on their–now open–truly environmentally friendly headquarters. It’s heated and cooled with water-source heat pump with a propane boiler and cooling tower. Much of the building’s wood was sourced locally. They used non-toxic materials throughout the building; natural linoleum for the lab and bathroom floors. The list goes on. And their philosophy of doing good things in a thoughtful way extends throughout all aspects of the company. What else? An organic lunch for each employee every day. Yoga twice a week. The smell of beeswax. A lasagna style compost pile. A soon-to-be constructed labrynth. A wild hive for bees.  A successful company that works hard, plays hard, and does good. That is “Good Stuff.” And it all smells really good, too.

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