About Down to Earth

Down to Earth is an independent guide to natural and small-batch goods made in the South West of Western Australia: honey, olive oil, tea, coffee, chocolate, pantry foods, natural skincare, soap, candles and home goods, from Busselton and Dunsborough down to Margaret River and Augusta, and out to Bunbury, the Ferguson Valley, Nannup and Pemberton.

It's run by Frances Simmons and Shane, based in Busselton. Frances is a qualified naturopath [owner to add: qualification, institution or year, if you'd like it named]; that background sits here for context only and is never used to recommend, endorse or review anything on this site. Shane works behind the scenes. [owner to add: any detail about Shane's role you'd like on the page].

This site started life differently. It used to sell home-made supplements. Those products are no longer made, and the business has changed direction: rather than making and selling our own goods, we now spend our time finding and writing about the makers already doing excellent work across the region.

We don't resell anything here. We don't list prices, because they aren't ours to set, and they change. Every page ends with a button that takes you straight to the maker's own shop, on their own site, at their own price.

How we choose who's on here. We look for makers who grow or make what they sell here in the South West, read what each one publishes about their own process, and write the page ourselves, in our own words, with the facts dated and sourced. If a maker would rather not be listed, or wants something corrected, they can ask through the "is this your business?" link on every page, and we act on it within 48 hours.

How this earns money. Right now, it doesn't, beyond what it costs us to run. In time we may earn a small referral commission on some of the makers we link to, through programs they already run. Where that applies to a page, we'll say so plainly on that page. There are no paid placements today, and if that ever changes, we'll disclose it the same way.

If you're a maker and something here is wrong, or you'd like the page changed, use the Is this your business? page and we'll fix it.