Spend enough time paying attention to plants and you begin to find out some interesting things. The same botanicals keep appearing in different parts of everyday life. Olive oil is drizzled over vegetables and stirred into bread dough, yet it also appears in soaps and skincare. Oats become breakfast one morning and a soothing ingredient the next. Honey belongs in tea, but it has long been valued in preparations used on the skin. Rosemary moves easily between the herb garden, the kitchen and the wash basin. At first glance, it seems like coincidence. But the more I learn, the more I think it isn't.

There was a time when I thought a “good” bar of soap came down to scent. If it smelled clean or lightly floral, that was enough. But the more attention I’ve paid over the years — to ingredients in the kitchen, to what I use on my skin and to how those choices actually feel — the more I’ve realized that scent is only a small part of the experience.