Out of the Blue At Their Eastbrook Berry Farm, Nancy Lowry and Roseanna Rich Have Put Their Antioxidant-Rich Crop to Use in a Line of Health and Beauty Care Products, Creating a Thriving Company

Most people think of pie when they see a heap of blueberries. Others imagine muffins or pancakes. But for Nancy Lowry and Roseanna Rich of Eastbrook, face cream and moisturizer come to mind.

Lowry, an organic grower, and Rich, a registered nurse and herbalist, have created a line of skin care products made from wild blueberries, which researchers say have more disease-fighting antioxidants than any other fruit.

“Any antioxidant product that you can put on your skin is valuable to you in dealing with free radicals,” Rich said. “You have free radicals in your body but they are also in the air, and anything you can do for skin protection is very valuable.”

The berry-based goods, called The Blue Line, are the newest products for Lowry and Rich, owners of the organic skin care company Indian Meadow Herbals in the rural town of Eastbrook. The line includes eye cream, facial cleanser, body scrub, two types of moisturizer and a toning facial mist, all made with blueberry extract, a concentrated liquid that delivers the health benefits of the fruit.

According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, wild blueberries are among the top foods with the highest levels of antioxidants – more than apples, nuts and any other type of berry. They contain phytonutrients called anthocyanins, which protect cells from damage caused by free radicals.

Free radicals are the toxic molecules created by the body during metabolism and found in chemicals and toxins in the environment. Researchers say they contribute to certain illnesses, including cancer and heart disease.

At their 102-acre farm off Macomber Mill Road, Lowry grows the ingredients for The Blue Line and Rich blends them in the kitchen. Besides blueberries, the products use lavender, chamomile, aloe juice and other herbs, flowers and plants – 90 percent of which Lowry grows herself.

The company’s creams, salves and ointments may be notable for what they contain, but they are also reputed for what is absent. And that includes substances such as petrolatum, synthetic colors and the chemical preservatives found in skin care products that are mass- produced and sold in stores.

Those additives, Rich said, can cause skin to become dry or irritated.

“I can’t explain fully why companies use those things,” she said. “One reason is preservation. But 60 percent of what you put on your skin is absorbed into your body.”

Instead, the women use ingredients such as grapefruit seed oil to preserve their products. Miron glass containers also help keep out light and heat, preventing oxidation.

“We try to explain to people that our products are more like food,” Rich said. “A customer isn’t getting a product that has been sitting on a shelf for two years before it ever gets to them.”

The Blue Line began in 2001, the same year Indian Meadow Herbals received a $70,000 “Farms for the Future” grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to explore alternative commercial uses for blueberries. This month, the company received a second grant of $25,000 from the same program. They plan to use that money to broaden marketing efforts and promote the line to spas, gift shops and on the Internet.

Also this year, Indian Meadow collaborated with Eastern Maine Medical Center, the University of Maine and the Maine Technology Institute in a study on whether taking a wild blueberry supplement could improve a person’s thinking skills. Results are not yet available, but the study was the first of its kind for humans, Rich said.

In 1999, Tufts University researchers showed that a diet rich in blueberries could improve memory, balance and coordination in rats.

John Sauve, executive director of the Wild Blueberry Association of North America in Bar Harbor, said wild blueberries have reaped a lot of attention in the past five years from scientists and the media for their antioxidant properties.

“No fruit, or vegetable for that matter, has received more publicity on its health benefits,” he said.

“It’s gone from something in a muffin to a health icon. This is an emerging science and lots of things continue to be discovered about wild blueberries.”

Indian Meadow Herbals is 10 years old, but the women who run the company have been living organically for much longer than that. After 13 years as an intensive care nurse and a hospital administrator, Rich grew disappointed with the way medical experts approached health care. Too much emphasis went to curing someone who was sick, instead of preventing the illness in the first place, she said. So she left the hospitals, stopped taking conventional medications and started learning about herbs, their histories and their healing properties.

Lowry, an organic grower for more than 15 years, studied human ecology at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, where the environment is a strong part of the curriculum. Her philosophy toward the world around her is reciprocal: take care of the environment and the environment will take care of you.

“It will keep us healthier if we live in a healthy environment,” she said.

The company was born out of a product she and Rich initially created for their friends as Christmas gifts. Love Your Face Cream, a mixture of organic comfrey leaf, rosewater and palmarosa, remains the company’s best-selling product.

“I have really dry skin,” Lowry said, “and I couldn’t live without the face cream.”

Besides The Blue Line, the women also sell a salve made from Saint Johnswort and calendula that helps heal burns and cuts, a hormone-balancing cream made from wild yam root that can help relieve symptoms of premenstrual syndrome and menopause, and a body cream made from chickweed and plantains that can soothe irritated skin.

Their products are sold nationwide in health food stores, pharmacies, hospitals and gift shops.

Sales are strong, Rich said; in the first half of this year, the company sold 20,000 items.

Locally, their products are available at The Alternative Market in Bar Harbor, New Cargoes in Blue Hill, John Edwards Market in Ellsworth and The Kimball Shop in Northeast Harbor. They are also available online at www.imherbal.com. Products in The Blue Line range from $14.95 to $26.95.

Some sample sizes are available for $1.50.