Blackberry + Sage Market: Creating Sustainable Goods for a Healthier Future

Blackberry + Sage Market: Creating Sustainable Goods for a Healthier Future

Jefferson County | I-80 Frontier of the PA Wilds

Originally from Long Island, Tara met her husband while she was waitressing at an IHOP and went from city to country living. In that transition, she also made the change to chemical free living and has been growing her knowledge for the past 17+ years.

She started her business Blackberry + Sage Market, formerly A Touch of Nature, to help show others the benefits of clean living.

Most of her creating — from beeswax wraps to be used in place of saran wrap, to balms and salves from ingredients fresh from her garden, and baskets woven from up-cycling t-shirts that would have otherwise gone to the landfill — is done in her studio at her home.

“I don’t get my money back. I don’t even make a profit. I just want people to see that it’s a better alternative, a healthier alternative, and a better alternative for the environment,” Tara said. “I want to make a better place for my children.”

Learn more about Blackberry + Sage Market or leave a review/recommendation on the company’s Wilds Cooperative of PA profile

TIMELY TIP

Tara recently opened a studio/shop on her property that features the various products she makes for Blackberry + Sage Market. The shop at 72 Gould Lane, Valier, PA 15780, is open on Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tara posts classes monthly.


RECENT WCO MEMBER SPOTLIGHTS

  • Full Circle Bioconversion LLC: Turning food waste into a business
    As a child, the Pennsylvania woods were Aubrey Fornwalt’s playground and the stream was her pool. After a life change in 2016 led her back to her childhood home in Lycoming County, Fornwalt took a risk and bought some black soldier flies for a composting business, taking inspiration from the woods and insects she loved as a child. Two years later, it grew into what would become Full Circle Bioconversion, based in the city of Williamsport in the Pine Creek Valley and PA Grand Canyon landscape and I-80 Frontier landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds region.
  • Blackbird Distillery: Making shine and making friends
    Not too many businesses can say they create their product completely from start to finish, but the folks at Blackbird Distillery can! Located in Brookville along the I-80 Frontier landscape and the Cook Forest and the Ancients landscape within the Pennsylvania Wilds, Blackbird Distillery is a one-of-a-kind place that takes pride in showing visitors the magic of how their product is made.
  • Judy Schrader: Creating small, but very mighty art
    Judy Schrader’s love for art began when she was just a child, and it soon grew into a lifetime of creation. Based in Warren County in the Allegheny National Forest and Surrounds landscape of the Pennsylvania Wilds, her art has ranged from boundless wilderness scenes to miniature details of the wonders of nature.