Bonnie Kerr – Be-en Foret
This kind of biography are always difficult because my parcours is not ordinary and my list of accomplishments always seems inadequate compare to what I might have done, if I had not been so curious about so many things, had started earlier or contemplated more deeply. Maybe most of us feel like this.
I have lived off-grid around the world and explored many fields trying to find a way to live sanely in this world. My husband, Sylvain, and I started our business “Quebec Terre a Terre”, more than a decade ago, as a sustainable living project. “My brand “Esprit de la Nature” has grown out of that project. I live three seasons of the year off grid, in the Boreal Forest. I like to work slowly, at a small scale. None of which would be possible without my husband, Sylvain, our choice to live in voluntary simplicity, and his support as home economist/maintainer, highly skilled in the transformation of waste… I know what it is to cut wood, carry water, use a plant to heal life’s injuries and I like it.
I went to school for the fine arts and herbalism, including making plant medicines. Training which I also use when making perfume and incense. My medicinal products, incenses and perfumes can be physical, spiritual and emotional healers. Being self employed almost my entire life, has allowed me to dive deeply into my interests. I am a life long student of history, ethnobotany and archaeology, all which influences my creative process. I like to rediscover ancient formulas as I have done with “Oil of Lilies”, Ancient Egyptian Kyphi incense and Ancient Asian Pear incense. I also like to invent new processes like my “Living Enfleurage” project which captures the fragrance of flowers without picking them and the subtle incense blends I call “yincense” which uses traditional methods of preserving food. My connection with nature informs all my work. I try to share the fragrant and healing voices of plants. Many of the plants that I work with, I grow in my gardens or harvest in the forest. I do not have the land where I live, the land has me.
I sell my work around the world, but I like in person selling the best. Talking with people about the plants, and sharing with what re-connection with nature does for them are my greatest joys. I have had customers smell the scent-scape of their childhood or the memory of their grandmother and cry. Many of my clients use my incense to meditate or in ritual. The voices of plants, singing through my work, has brought calm and sanity to people during difficult times. Finding the sacred in everyday life and connecting people to healing nature is my life’s work.
What People Say
There is just no equivalent on the market. It is not just high quality, but infused with special spirit.
L. Cronin
A wonderfully skilled magician of scent that hails from Canada
Olafactory Rescue Service
It is a rare treat to be able to experience an incense so lovingly made and close to the earth.
Katlyn Breene of Mermade Magickal Arts
Oil of Lilies 