i had NO idea witch hazel was a connecticut commodity

my mother, when i was a girl, touted it's benefits. i've used it all of my life. as a matter of fact, for a couple of years i STOPPED using it. i had some peeling of my skin on the sides of my nose. no matter how much i sloughed that skin on a DAILY BASIS, it just kept on peeling. the ONLY thing that helped it (and i tried EVERYTHING including prescriptions) was WITCH HAZEL.

i don't have any stock in the company. i don't work for the company. i don't know anyone that works for the company (to the best of my knowledge that is). i am not affiliated with the company in ANY way. i'm telling you all right now, GO GET SOME WITCH HAZEL AND USE IT EVERY DAY

Thursday, January 10, 2008Empire of Witch Hazel It begins with good old boys in the woods and ends with a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in East Hampton that supplies the world with this time-honored potion

By Daniel D'Ambrosio

On a crisp, cold afternoon in early December, Russ Galas fired up his Stihl chainsaw and revved the engine to full throttle, undercutting a tenuously leaning snag before dropping it expertly to the forest floor in the 24,000-acre Pachaug State Forest in eastern Connecticut, the state's largest forest.
It was the kind of maneuver that could result in a nasty gash to a body part, or worse, for a less experienced hand. But Galas, 45, has spent many hours in the woods with a chainsaw over the past eight years, cutting witch hazel for his friend Mike Dzurnak.
Dzurnak, 52, whose father and grandfather both cut witch hazel in these woods before him, is one of about eight "brush cutters" in the state who harvest Connecticut's near-monopoly on the worldwide supply of this plant, prized for its qualities as a natural astringent. This year, Dzurnak will supply some 300 tons of chipped witch hazel to American Distilling & Mfg. Inc. in nearby East Hampton, cutting from November to March...........

dickinson's witch hazel

flower picture: bbc.co.uk