On Being Vulnerable and YES, Our POS Has Been Shut Down...

Cheers all, it's been a minute for sure. Mia and I were so excited to finally get our website up and running smoothly! This was months of research, hard work and frustration that culminated in a central location where could provide support and information for our product. We were so excited to be able to offer helpful information and our awesome tisanes for all to enjoy. We were both so excited to complete our first sales from the website. We were both so excited to receive testimonials from customers about how our tisanes were helping them. The culmination of years of study, fieldwork, exploration and R&D finally coming together in a most awesome experience u n t i l...

This is a disaster happening...

I kept my own bio off the website because Earth Elements Botanicals was Mia's intuition, passion and life-journey... it is and always will be. Unfortunately things have changed in Canada, changes that are literally actively destroying our dreams and livelihood as I write this. So here goes...

I'm Pete in case we have not met or been introduced. I was born into a hardcore military family as a first generation Canadian kid. Add a very abusive older brother to that mix, a messed up uncle and I can say that I had an atypical childhood to be polite. This resulted in many of my body systems becoming severely disregulated and out of whack. I have a lengthy background in using Natural Health Products, foraging, and formulating, as my parents and grandmother did not use any pharma. As a result of my childhood traumas, I became an 'adrenaline junkie', chasing my next fix in high risk activities all over the world. It's easier to list the bones I have not broken and the muscle systems I've not destroyed.

Some of my more recent issues include: 2007 diagnosed with Celiac disease and severe Adrenal Exhaustion. 2019 fractured my L4 vertebra in a spectacular dirt bike wipeout. Spring 2020 crushed a finger in a ten-ton kinetic ram splitting wood. Fall 2020 was hospitalized with a full blockage in my ileum and subsequently diagnosed with stage four Crohn's disease (not that long to live I was informed). Winter 2021 I shot a four inch brad by ricochet through my finger in a construction accident. Spring 2021 hospitalized for a blockage in my ileum (Crohn's disease). I mention all this only because it involved a tremendous amount of intense pain and back-to-back traumatic events over a relatively short period of time. The result was severe adrenal fatigue. I was blacking out for no reason, and to put it bluntly, absolutely not in a good place emotionally or physically. Without going into detail, I am unable to take any pharma pain killers (they cause bleeding in my gut). I have survived all of this pain/trauma and am currently still in remission solely through the use of very specific Natural Health Products. These products continue to be my lifeline. I hate to think where I would be today if I had gone the surgery, chemo, radiation route and given my life over to big pharma. I have much respect for our trauma doctors. I'm not trashing our medical system... it's just not how I choose to heal myself. I'm hoping that this will put the rest of my article into perspective for you.

Pete in hospital with a blockage in ilium spring 2021.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in February 2025 and I was excited to check our business e-mails. I logged in, clicked on the in-box and was greeted by an e-mail from our point-of-sale provider (POS) for our website... my heart skipped a beat. The email essentially informed us that we were in breach of rules for the POS and that effective immediately our POS would be terminated. We politely reached out and asked why? What did we do wrong? We were bluntly informed that as per the POS agreement that we entered, the POS providers could terminate the service at any time without explanation. We appealed the decision and the answer was identical. No reason(s) given and our service was terminated. We tried again with a different POS provider that we have been using to vend at farmers markets for more than a decade. One sale later we received an e-mail informing us that our POS had been suspended and would be terminated within 30 days. Once again no reason(s) were given. We have since learned that this is a Canadian go vern me nt intervention and that perseverance on our part will result in very large fines and litigation.

Let's put this into perspective. Earth Elements Botanicals does not/has not sell/sold ANY substances that are illegal in Canada. We only sell in Canada. All of our tisanes are labeled as per Canadian Government regulations. We operate our tisane 'apothecary' by government rules (Foodsafe 1, product labeling, etc). We have gone through the rules of both POS providers with a microscope and are not in breach of any rules that we can determine... yet apparently we are, and seriously enough to terminate our service for life. Neither POS provider will disclose exactly WHY our service was terminated. We are unable to fix what we don't know is broken. We're a wee bit frustrated, ya.

Natural Health Products have been used successfully with great efficacy world-wide for centuries.

My hope is that I have painted a picture with my own life experience that some may be able to relate to. As yours might, my ongoing health and well-being depends very much on being able to source quality Natural Health Products (NHP's) and ingredients in Canada for an affordable price. Our livelihood hinges on our ability to continue operating our tisane business in Canada. Both of these things are presently in great danger of being lost. Mia and I vend at farmers markets every week. We speak with hundreds of people each week. Most are completely unaware of the new laws placing all NHP's in the same category as pharma drugs and under very strict government regulation and obscene regulatory fees (to support that gov't regulation) that us 'little businesses' are unable to afford. Fines up to $5 million are being very seriously threatened and enforced.

Why am I sharing this? - Awareness -

How can you get involved in this mess?

This website will give you solid background information and can steer you to various ways of getting involved in saving NHP's in Canada.

Thanks for reading. Mia and I hope to see some of you at farmers markets on the South Island (see our website for listings). Drop by, chat, get a hug and take a peek at our tisane offerings. Please share. Reach out to us if you have any questions. If you would like to buy any of the tisanes you see on our website, please reach out by e-mail and we can figure it out. All the best and much love!

Mia & Pete