We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Daisy Amanda Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Daisy Amanda, appreciate you joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Daily Daisy Botanicals literally started as a dream. After moving to SATX from Los Angeles in the spring of 2021, my husband and I were neck deep in renovating our fixer upper cottage home. For months, every day, all day, we were working on our home. To say we were tired by the end of the day was a gross understatement. We slept like the dead those months, yet rested and ready for the next day of hard work.
Randomly, one of those nights I dreamt that my maternal grandmother and I were making rose petal soap together. We used roses from her garden and we went through the process of making the goat milk and oatmeal soap step by step. When I awoke that next morning, I wrote down every detail in my journal and proceeded to research how to make soap via YouTube. (This was the first dream I had remembered in months.) Crazy enough, I found that the instructions from the dream were exactly the steps I needed to follow to make soap. So, I ordered the materials and began making soap that week. Of course, the first bars I made were rose petal soaps with preserved roses from my garden. I had to give homage to my grandmother since it was her who guided me through the whole process.
At first, I made the soaps for my husband and me as I have super sensitive skin, but then I had friends and family who wanted bars, too. My approach to making the soap was to use ingredients that were natural, organic and allergen free to most people. Quickly, I realized that this was what others needed, so I made more scents with herbs and flowers in them. I found markets in the area and attended them as a vendor. Then, I expanded by making scrubs, lotions, and other body/skin care products. Luckily, my line was received well, so I kept going to local markets and then got into a couple local shops. Honestly, I had no intention of starting a business, but it had a mind of its own at that point.
Unfortunately a few months later, both shops my soaps were in closed their doors.
I had to rethink everything about my business and how I was going to move forward.
Luckily, I was reminded of a few conversations with customers. They had asked if I’d ever thought about making candles with my scents as they would buy them if I did. The more I thought about it, the more that seemed to fit. I also started teaching herbalism courses again called The Kitchen Witch Series as well as an herbalism apprenticeship at a local, nearby shop called The Stinking Rose. Ever since then, Daily Daisy Botanicals has grown significantly.
In my business, teaching others basic herbalism while producing quality and spirit filled products is most important to me. Allowing one to learn the skills that have been forgotten is vital. We should all be sufficient in taking care of ourselves or purchasing items that can help us get there.
Now, product wise, I only make plant spirit infused candles and room sprays that gently nurture reconnection to nature and self.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Daisy Jones and I’m an herbalist, educator, naturalist and candle maker.
From a young age, I have always been interested in trees, plants, flowers and nature. Like a true Gen Xer, I was made to play outside from sun up til the street lamps came on at night, so I got very creative with what I did outside. From going to the creek, making mudpies with flowers and herbs, picking mulberries on the elementary school playground and collecting Buckeyes in my Ohio neighborhood, I was always emersed in nature.
It came as no surprise (to me at least) that I would major in Biology in college as the “in field” classes were my favorite. I loved collecting specimens and learning about the land, plants, animals and more in each place we would go. I was becoming more and more in tune with nature.
I graduated college with a double major of Biology and Secondary Education. That summer I moved to a small, rural Kansas town and began to teach Biology classes to the high school students there. In the four years in this town, I earned my tenure, married my college sweetheart and packed to leave as my husband joined the Air Force as an officer.
The next 7 years we moved where the military needed us. After a deployment to the middle east, it was time for a change, so my husband separated from the Air Force and we moved to Los Angeles.
We eventually made our way to the west side and I began working for an environmental non-profit, teaching field trip students all about the ocean, and all that entailed.
One afternoon, for a professional development day, our aquarium director hired a naturalist/forager to lead us on a plant walk. She wanted us to experience something different than our normal ocean setting information. So we met at a small park tucked away from all the hussel and bussel of LA life and he took us into this sacred place to learn plants. That one walk changed my life. I had NO idea there were so many edible and medicinal plants growing right under my feet. I was fascinated to learn not only the plant names, but everything about them. The whole time I kept thinking “I’m in the wrong field.” My heart was so pulled in this direction and I had to listen to that. Lucky, this guide taught many wild food/identification classes and I signed up for as many as I could. If I wasn’t at a class, I was out hiking, taking pictures and researching plants around me. It became an obsession. I became friends with this instructor and he took me under his wing as my mentor. In those years working with him, I became quite adept at identification, plant characteristics and recipes using said plants. I wanted to learn even more! Luckily, there was a year long plant spirit and folk herbalism apprenticeship nearby. I applied and got in! After completing that apprenticeship, I attended yet another herbal apprenticeship and graduated the second one the next year.
I then started teaching plant walks as well as offering my own year-long apprenticeship on herbalism, plant identification, and plant spirit.
I taught the apprenticeship until the end of 2020. My husband and I moved to SATX in the spring of 2021. That summer, I started Daily Daisy Botanicals as a body care business, but it now has morphed into natural candles and room sprays.
Teaching is my number one passion as I truly love to share what I have learned from the plants, experiences in nature and guidance from other mentors. There is just so much to learn and share that it’s a never ending prospect.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

2022 was a hard year for my business. The two shops my products were in closed down; one in February and the other in September. I had grown to rely on that income and didn’t diversify enough so I put myself in a bind.
I signed up for every market that fall/winter and tat went well enough to keep me going while I figured out what to do next.
My husband and I started visiting more local shops and shops as far as Austin to carry my products. Luckily, I was able to form a relationship with a few accounts and continue growing.
One of those shops I visited was The Stinking Rose (SR) in SATX. I had messaged the shop owner, Rose, first and asked if I could bring in some products to show her. She was gracious and said she would take a look. We went in a few days later and hit it off, right from the start. We placed a few products, they sold well so we added more products. They sold well and the dance of bringing more products in every month began.

With all that being said about my products, when it got the best was when I started teaching at the SR. In January 2024, I created the Kitchen Witch Series which is a series of herbalism classes. Some of them are recipe forward while others are plant spirit based. It just depends on the class. This is when my business took off. Honestly, being able to meet the maker, me, and know who I am and what I can bring to the table has truly helped in growing my business. I know I am unique in my abilities to teach herbalism, foraging, plant spirit and survival skills with a twist of humor. I love that people here are ready for these types of classes I offer.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

All of my products have me in them as I breathe life into each and every piece. I truly believe people can feel that. They feel that energy, depending on what candle scent or Intention. I am authentic to my brand in style, quality and professionalism.

With teaching, I pour myself into each class, teach from my heart and celebrate when I am lucky enough to witness true learning. I teach what I’ve been so blessed to learn myself from excellent mentors and skilled professionals in their fields. Because of this, my classes are so fun, informative and nothing like anyone else teaches. I try to bring humor as well as integrity to classes. Truly, I think these aspects make me stand out from others.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Www.dailydaisybotanicals.com
• Instagram: Https://www instagram.com/dailydaisybotanicals/
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits

I took all these photos.