How it Began

​

In 1996, Bear Mountain Botanicals founder D'Arcy, began studying essential oils and their medicinal and therapeutic values for the purpose of healing general everyday ailments. She went on to study Biology at the University of Southern Maine, while continuing to study Essential Oils independently. 

​

​In 2008, she returned to the University of Southern Maine to study Botany, and learned more about the biology of plants. 

​​

Surrounded by plants and gardens since childhood, she began gardening when she was able to walk and follow her grandparents, aunts and uncles through their gardens, farms, and woodlands.  Cultivating and collecting plants for cooking and health has always been part of her everyday life.

​

D'Arcy is always working to expand her knowledge of plants and the compounds they contain. Some of her products include candles, hand made soaps, plant based household cleaners, and most well known is her Bye, Bye Black Fly TM insect repellent. She is also well known for creating custom products for individuals and other businesses.

​

How Bye, Bye Black FlyTM Was Created

While living in Portland, Maine in the late nineties, D'Arcy was creating custom perfumes, and fragrances for candles. The original blend was created in 1998, for a line of candles. It was meant to embody the glorious fragrances of Maine in the summer. The salt air of the rocky coast mingled with the scent of the great White Pines in the mountains on a hot summer day.

 

In 2004, the blend was recreated by D'Arcy to be wearable. She was living in the Maine woods and was desperate for something that would detour black flies from biting! After weeks of experimentation with all natural bases for the skin, Bye, Bye Black Fly TM was born. The initial batches were distributed among friends and family... and the rest is history.