Pat Griffin has a familiar background with the wild and natural environment stemming from her native roots. She has a small business, Native Way, which specializes in imaginative garden design emphasizing the importance of indigenous plants, edible landscape, wildlife habitat and thinking beyond the ornamental. The business has expanded to include a line of wholesome body care products for you, your baby and your pet using organically grown or ethically wild crafted ingredients from the Native Way gardens and meadows. Pat’s business partner is Holly Ihloff sharing the label of Medieval Magic.

During a lifetime of studying the green world around us and how it affects our lives everyday, Pat has studied with Dr. James Duke, author of several books on herbal medicine and First American healing methods; apprenticed with Corinne Martin and Deb Soule, local Maine herbalists and authors; is an active Master Gardener; worked for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension; had a MOFGA certified farm growing edible flowers, medicinal and culinary herbs for select stores and restaurants on the Maine coast; is a member of WAgN (Women in Agriculture Network) and several other organizations promoting a simpler way of life.

Pat is the proud mother of two grown sons, Trent and Nathan and a delightful daughter in-law, Marcia, who have inherited their mother’s love of the outdoors and participation in the world around them. A handsome grandson joined the family recently who is the light of my heart. We now consider ourselves a community of family.

Pat is settled in Otisfield, Maine on 30 acres of dream-come-true old farm land in a “green” house carefully researched, planned and built. The adventure of building such a house deserves to be written into a book. Pat says, “Maybe someday, when she is retired.” Since she never expects to slow down enough to retire that unique book may never be a reality.
Proud to be a Mainer and an active part of her community, Pat can be found spending time with her family, doing volunteer work, charity fundraising, and caring for her neighbors. That is, when not fully involved with Great Things, Inc and the many facets required to run a fabulous small business.

In High School, Holly's brother Dave gave her John Lust's "The Herb Book", and a life-long interest was sparked.

While smelling the herbs and tasting the flowers along the way, Holly pursued her dreams in the Apparel Design curriculum at the University of Connecticut. She actively used the skills of her Bachelor's Degree for 2 decades, designing and tailoring for the executive woman in her South Hadley, Mass boutique, Belle Femme.

Her clothing traveled the world, and so did she, studying costume history, architecture, the furnishings and textiles of stately homes and regal palaces. A passionate servant of beauty, connoisseurship has been the name of her game; she drank in the great gardens and herbal traditions on the Eastern Seaboard, throughout Europe and the Middle East, again and again....
The best of careers are fluid in nature, and in 1994 with the compass re-pointed, she and her husband, 'Chuck,' touched down in Casco, Maine. To live in Maine is beyond description. The forces of nature are bigger; the silences deeper. The pace is unto itself, and Maine takes you over, body and soul. There is room for contemplation, for dreams, for re-invention.

It seemed so natural to make a right hand turn into sewing for museums, and she became expert at reproducing the interior textile furnishings of the 18th century. The research and excursions into some of the greatest archives in the world set the bar very high, indeed, for her hand stitched work. Holly's documented copies of bed-hangings, slip-covers, window treatments, counterpanes and children's period clothing are on view today at Historic Deerfield in Deerfield, Mass., The Wadsworth-Longfellow House of Portland, ME; see the 1806 Sheriden sofa and it's slip cover at the Saco Museum of Saco, Maine, and the childrenswear of 1780-1830 at Strawberry Banke of Portsmouth, N.H.

A pre-Industrial Revolution mind-set evolved through Holly's textile work, and began to refine itself into a global warming strategy in the activity of landscaping her property entirely with edibles. Sustainability was the goal with purity in mind for man, beast, bird and bug...
The garden was her schoolroom, the kitchen her laboratory, and the contents of her library has become as large a part of her internal treasure as the words and melody of every song she knows.

In 2006, she read the October issue of National Geographics...The Chemicals Within...the journalist submitted to a $15,000.00 battery of blood exams and the results were truly shocking. In short, if it is made with plastic, which is made with petrochemicals, it is toxic to humans, animals, and especially to infants... Holly turned to her good friend, Master Gardener Pat Griffin with the news and many, many discussions followed.

We found ourselves with a moral imperative knowing that we could provide alternatives, and that imperative simply would not go away. Change was in the wind....and within 6 months a new kind of company was born....skin care in many forms without use of petroleum products, preservatives, pesticides, artificial fragrances or colors. The servant of beauty has become the champion of an herbal renaissance. The bar, once again was set very high, the research was crucial and the results conclusive!

Based on the above, Holly is a sought-after professional speaker, invited by both impressive and humble audiences, alike.

Spare time finds Holly experimenting with dynamic ways to use the harvest of fruits, vegetables and herbs. She is a very fine open hearth cook, and she can jam with the best of 'em. Three yards of cloth and 2 days of quiet are always welcome, but most welcome of all is life with the loveliest of husbands and the most elegant of greyhounds...Fleet Street Joy.