An interview with Delia McLinden VP, Sales & Business Development FarmHouse Fresh. Farmhouse Fresh has donated over 600 of our beds to 38 different shelters & rescues. We asked them to describe their efforts on behalf of so many rescue animals.
“We quickly learned that shelters need long-lasting beds that can be easily cleaned and stand the test of time.”
“We absolutely love Kuranda beds, and to see how something like a Kuranda bed can make such a difference in the quality of a shelter animal’s life.”
Kuranda: Tell us about FarmHouse Fresh
FarmHouse Fresh: FarmHouse Fresh is an award-winning natural skincare brand, delivering a radiant glow to complexions through powerful botanical extracts grown fresh daily on our McKinney, TX farm. For nearly 19 years, our products have been used in luxurious spa treatments at hotels, resorts and day spas around the world – from Dallas to Dubai.
FarmHouse Fresh believes in providing ‘Rescue for 2’- complexions and animals in need. Our company’s philanthropic mission of ‘skincare that saves animals’ uses profits from every product we sell to rescue and rehabilitate neglected animals – many of whom come to live at their nonprofit Farm Animal Sanctuary & Headquarters.
Our entire company at FarmHouse Fresh is full of animal lovers. If you don’t love animals, you likely won’t fit in. And many of us spend our non-working hours, doing animal rescue work. In addition to having my own nonprofit called Archangel Animal Network, I volunteer every weekend at a local animal shelter.
Kuranda: How did you find Kuranda Beds?
FarmHouse Fresh: Many years ago, the shelter that I now volunteer at regularly- the Garland Animal Shelter in Garland, TX had a group of dedicated core volunteers that were so upset that the shelter animals had nothing to sleep on. The shelter pets were literally spending the majority of their time on the wet, concrete floor.
One of the shelter volunteers started a fundraiser for Kuranda beds. She was literally sleeping on the concrete and asking people to pledge funds so they could buy beds. We caught wind of this at Farmhouse Fresh, and we wanted to help. Not just to donate funds to buy a few beds, but to figure out a way to outfit the whole shelter. When we later realized that many animal shelters don’t have the funds for beds for their animals, we were shocked.
Kuranda: Tell us about your Dog Bed Fairy Project.
FarmHouse Fresh: We created a book for sale that detailed a sweet story about shelter pets who were granted their very own bed by ‘The Dog Bed Fairy’. And that’s when the FarmHouse Fresh Dog Bed Fairy Project was born. We started a social media campaign to create awareness. The sale of each book goes to the FarmHouse Fresh Dog Bed Fairy Project which has now supplied more than $120,000+ worth of dog beds to animal shelters in need in 30 states.
"We created a book for sale that detailed a sweet story about shelter pets who were granted their very own bed by ‘The Dog Bed Fairy’"
FarmHouse Fresh: Our wholesale accounts love this mission - the idea that they can sell this heartwarming book – as a gift - to help to purchase a bed for a shelter dog. Our account partners often help to identify the shelters in their own communities that need beds and then publicize the book so they can sell as many possible to buy as many beds as possible.
In the beginning, we also partnered with another dog bed company. The shelters could choose between Kuranda or these other beds, which were essentially plush mats. We quickly learned that shelters need long-lasting beds that can be easily cleaned and stand the test of time through the hundreds, thousands of dogs that cycle through animal shelters.
This is how our whole relationship with Kuranda started. We absolutely love Kuranda beds, and to see how something like a Kuranda bed can make such a difference in the quality of a shelter animal’s life is very impactful.
"When the dogs have a bed — just a simple thing like a bed that keeps them off the floor … it’s just amazing what a difference it makes for their quality of life while at the shelter"
Kuranda: Tell us about your philosophy for doing business.
FarmHouse Fresh: The Dog Bed Fairy Project is just one part of our charitable work.
We donate 10% of our profits to animal rescue initiatives – to our own Farmhouse Fresh Farm Animal Sanctuary, and other animal rescue initiatives across the country
"We rescue farm animals who come from situations of abuse and neglect. After a life of hardship, they get to live out their lives here at FarmHouse Fresh."
FarmHouse Fresh: We have something called ‘Track Your Batch’. Each of our products has a batch code on the bottom of the product. You enter the batch code on the rescue portion of our Web site and you can see the animal that your purchase helped to save. It tells the whole story from beginning to end. Our customers love it because they're like, "Wow! I can purchase facial moisturizer and save a donkey at the same time!” That's our “Rescue for Two” philosophy.
Kuranda: The skin care business is incredibly competitive. We know you do a lot to support homeless animals but how did you come up with a line of beauty products that are so successful?
FarmHouse Fresh: My sister-in-law Shannon McLinden started the business 19 years ago. She was a runner and she wanted to create products that would help her cracked feet. She developed a created a sea salt scrub and a foot serum, called Honey Heel Glaze – both of which are still part of our line today. Our very first products were solution-based. That's really how all of our products have started. If we needed and wanted it, then probably a lot of other people did, too.
We started with a few products and have grown to more than 200+ Skus over the years. Our products have been on Oprah's O-list three times and have gotten a lot of amazing celebrity and media accolades.
We made a decision in the beginning that we wanted to incorporate animal rescue into our business model. About five or six years ago, we decided to really showcase our animal rescue initiatives – and the stories of the animals we’ve saved, so our customers could see what their purchases were doing. And that's when things really took off. People loved the idea that by purchasing products they love, they can help save lives. It’s a win-win.
Kuranda: You mentioned that you make ‘Farm to Table’ spa treatments. Can you tell us about this?
FarmHouse Fresh: One of the things that really sets FarmHouse Fresh apart and makes us special in the spa industry is our unique Farm to Treatment spa menus. We came up with the idea that we wanted to make spa treatments similar to if you were to go to a gourmet restaurant and have a farm-to-table meal- full of sensory experience with every course. Every FarmHouse Fresh product has at least one FarmHouse Fresh- grown ingredient that we grow hydroponically on our farm in McKinney, Texas. We source all the other natural and organic ingredients from farms in the U.S. Our products are chock full of farm-grown goodness!
FarmHouse Fresh: Many years ago, when we were looking for space for our corporate headquarters we knew we wanted space to have land for animals. It took us a very long time to find the land with the proper zoning restrictions, but we now are on a beautiful rolling hill in McKinney, Texas. We have 10 acres, but hoping to continue to grow.
Currently we have 46 rescue animals – horses, donkeys, goats and sheep that reside at FarmHouse Fresh. We just rescued a little family of miniature ponies that were going to slaughter. The ones that we rescue and that come to our sanctuary, most of the time they have some major medical conditions that other rescues wouldn’t be able to take on, and we're very proud of that.. We work with several different veterinarians and have a team of ranch hands who take care of the animals... They have special diets and medications. A lot of them have come from starvation cases, so they're on refeeding programs. It is really an elaborate process. I think more so than anyone can imagine.
We would love to continue to rescue more animals – and there are SO MANY in need. In order to rescue more we need to be able to acquire more land – or create partnerships that would allow us to receive donated land. The dream of having 100+ rescue donkeys keeps us motivated to keep developing top selling products!
"The sanctuary ranch is composed of horses, donkeys, goats, and sheep – all living their best lives."
Kuranda: Do you have any new initiatives you'd like to tell us about?
FarmHouse Fresh: We just partnered with The Smurfs® to launch a 6-piece, limited-edition skincare collection that saves animals. The first of its kind, this partnership is bringing the whimsical wonders of the Smurf Village forest to life, while rescuing animals. FarmHouse Fresh has committed $1 from the sale of each product to the “FHF Smurfy Ever After Animal Rescue Project” to help urgent animal cases nationwide. The project, which has committed a minimum of $50,000, benefits a coalition of 9 nonprofit rescue organizations across the country that will be helping urgent animals in need all season. Through batch codes on the packaging, customers will be able to learn the stories of the animals directly benefitting from their skincare purchase and follow their healing journeys.
This new collection features products infused with FarmHouse Fresh’s hydroponically-grown botanical microgreens, exotic blue plants like blue tansy, blue borage oil, and blue lotus flower, and fresh organic fruits from local farms.
This collab with The Smurfs® has been in progress for years, and we knew from the beginning that we wanted it to be a philanthropic animal rescue-focused project. We hand-picked and interviewed the participating rescue partners, and we’re allocating funds to them to do special rescue initiatives of their choice that align with their rescue mission. So it might be a rescue of cruelty case horses, or sponsoring a spay/neuter day, or a flight transport of shelter dogs to save them from euthanasia. This will be our biggest animal rescue initiative to date. The more we sell, the more animals are saved. And our goal is to sell out ASAP!
In addition to limited-edition products, we have charitable merchandise for sale, in which 100% of the profits goes to our FHF Smurfy Ever After Animal Rescue Project.
We also launched a “Smurfiest Pets Selfie Challenge” with a free Selfie Generator that creates a photo of Smurfette kissing your pet. Participants are asked to create a Pet Selfie, donate $5 & Challenge 3 friends to do the same – all to help support even more urgent animal rescues through the project. The Pet Selfie Generator can be found here: https://farmhousefreshgoods.com/pages/smurf-into-action.
You’ll love this Kuranda-based tie-in! We even have a ‘Smurfette in your Store & Spa” giveaway for our spa partners. They can snap a photo of their display’s cut-out Smurfette figure enjoying a smurf-tacular day at their spa, hotel, or boutique. Then, they share and tag us on social media. We’ll be selecting 7 lucky winners who will enjoy the incredible privilege of having Kuranda beds donated in their name to a local shelter that is currently on the Kuranda waiting list. Winning the chance to donate brand-new Kuranda beds to their shelter’s residents is such an amazing experience that fills you with gratitude.
We’d love for our fellow animal-loving Kuranda fans to help us save as many animals as possible through the FHF Smurfy Ever After Animal Rescue project by visiting www.farmhousefreshgoods.com and following us on social media @farmhousefresh.