A very purposeful accident

MOSES LAKE — Amy Jean Winter didn't start out trying to make her dream come true.

“I’m new to Moses Lake,” Winter said, explaining that she and her husband Marshal, who works for Boeing, moved here in late 2019 as part of the company’s expansion following the grounding of the 737 MAX.

“And then four months after we got here, the pandemic started, so I started making masks. And then I opened an Etsy shop. And then I started at the farmers market,” she said. “It was a hit.”

She’s referring to her custom-made bath products — salt scrubs, bath bombs, lotions — and her natural therapeutic products that include everything from crystals to wearable body packs to help treat aches and pains, all of which she now sells out of Seeds 'n Stone Natural Therapeutic Products at 815 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake.

“I had already created a whole store, and so we just decided why not, we'll just go for it and see what we can do,” Winter said.

A longtime massage therapist, Winter has even started offering evening massage classes as a way of helping people live healthier lives and feel better about themselves.

“I'm really into the self-help vibe, you know, learning just the basics about you and changing your consciousness and your mindfulness,” she said. “And so that's kind of my whole purpose. I want to touch the community.”

As an outgoing and empathetic person, Winter said all of this comes fairly easily to her.

“I have a natural gift of connecting with people and making people feel at ease,” she said. “All my life, people have been telling me their whole life story. When they meet me, they're just comfortable. And so I'm kind of intuitive in that way. And I just kind of have an open heart for everybody… - weirdos included.”

One of the unique features Winter has created at Seeds 'n Stone is the scrub bar, where customers can come in and choose from a wide variety of oils and scents and other additives to create their own custom scrubs, lotions and bath bombs.

“We have a variety of oils and butters to create a unique combination just for your skin or your preference. And then we have about 75 fragrances to choose from,” Winter said. “And we just are always getting more and more natural products to create things specifically for individuals. I just made a really awesome lot of magnesium lotion, which is really popular right now for aches and pains.”

There is a sense, when you walk into Seeds 'n Stone, that the place is comfortable, welcoming and safe. It’s the smell, the elaborate cotton batting the Winters installed on the ceiling to look like clouds and the gentle sound of water flowing from a Buddha statue.

Winter said it’s all about helping people feel good about themselves.

“To make time for themselves, to kind of go inward and be quiet inside, whether you're taking a bath or you're rejuvenating and coating your body with luxurious lotions or reading a book or putting on a special piece of jewelry or, you know, creating something just for you that reminds you of you and connecting with yourself,” she said.

In fact, even though Seeds 'n Stone was kind of an accident, a response to a unique set of circumstances set in motion by a move to Moses Lake for work and a way to keep busy during the pandemic lockdowns, Winter said it became something of a very purposeful accident. That’s something some customers who have wandered in have seen, she said.

Recently, a customer walked in and after looking around, told Winter that she could tell the shop was her dream, Winter said.

“And it really was,” Winter added, smiling. “This is my dream.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.

Seeds ‘n Stone Natural Therapeutic Products

815 W. Third Ave. in Moses Lake

909-294-1103

W-F: 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Su-Tu: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.