This week we are highlighting and celebrating the courageous Heather Carr and her beautiful family as she shares how their entire life took a turn and literally changed overnight. We are so excited to share Episode 55 with you all on The Red Bra Project YouTube Channel. Heather’s story shows us strength, hope and light, even in the darkest moments. She takes us through how her candle company was born literally out of total disaster relying on their faith and positivity.
Heather is a police and army wife to her amazing husband of 11 years, raising their three adorable kiddos. To say Heather’s family has lived a lot of life in a few years would be just the beginning. Raising a young family while her husband served his military duties over in Afghanistan and safely returning the couple decided to begin renovating their home and working on their small hobby farm in Washington state on their beautiful riverside property — soon to be a homestead farm and a dream created in reality. Five acres, raised flower beds, goats, 25 chickens — this home was their dream with an unmistakable red screen door leading to the garden, it was becoming their own magical space remodeled with a lot of heart & soul. Stepping outside, it was about 300 feet leading to the Nisqually river where they once spotted 85 Elk!! Wha?!??! If you have ever seen an Elk in person or errr, up close (but not too close) you know how jaw dropping this must have been to observe in a natural setting. Heather and her husband often enjoyed morning coffee overlooking the out of a story book scenery. Literally a dream space to listen to Heather describing it.
The next part of Heather’s story is the exact opposite of magical….
Heather openly shares what it was like one night in December when the family went to bed after decorating their Christmas tree to waking up the next day and discovering that they were going to lose their home to the Nisqually river in 2015.
That evening a true pacific northwest storm set in with loads of win and a ton of rain. They had weathered several storms in the past while the control of the river was controlled by the local dam. That evening, Heather shares that the dam was mis – managed and the river was cresting the top of the dam. No one was notified Heather remembered and the flood gates were released fully. This changed the normal path of the river that typically flowed away from the Carr home to cutting a brand new path right up to their deck, overflowing her banks. When Heather and her family woke up in the morning, the river was at their door. They ran out of their home.
In one night, Heather, her husband and their one & three year old daughters were homeless.
“Just thinking about it right now, I can’t even tell you the emotions I felt as a mother of a three year old and one year old. There is no coming back from that. Giant trees were coming down, you could hear the cracking and splashing, these huge, new rapids right under our deck. It was absolutely terrifying. You could see the mud slides up river. I fell to my knees, it was absolutely terrifying waking up to that,” Heather emotionally shared.
Heather and her husband called the county who dispatched an officer who was a land surveyor. He came out, made the evaluation and told Heather and her family that they could not return to their home.
To hear Heather tell her story from the moment they realized they could be in danger to being told they had to evacuate immediately to packing an Adidas backpack with diapers, onesies, some of the children’s most favorite toys and a few personal items is heartbreaking…but it wasn’t permanent.
Heather was able to return for about an hour so she could gather the family’s most important things, but they had to find somewhere to stay that night. Without hesitation, a family friend opened her home up to Heather and her family in which they graciously accepted and stayed for about two months until they could get back up on their feet.
“Going to sleep we decorated our Christmas tree, we were getting ready, then waking up to someone saying you can’t go back inside your house. It was forever life – changing for us. As devastating as that sounds, that was kind of the tear in our muscle (like working out, they get stronger when the come back together) that was the biggest tear we have ever experienced, but boy have we gotten stronger and our lives have blossomed from it,” Heather shares.
We talk about how the family has grown through this life changing event and Heather stated that it is even amazing to see what it has done to their kids. The family talks about it all of the time recognizing it’s just stuff…they got it all back. They are all safe & healthy. “The thing that changed me most out of that is experiencing such surprise, unexpected loss and having total strangers reach out and love on us,” she said.
Heather’s family story went national due to the politics surrounding the mismanaged dam; however that is not the focus of this story. The land surveyor, a father himself who came out, who shared tears with the family asked if he could take a picture of the family that day, the day they lost their home. Heather and her husband agreed thinking it was for documentary purposes – it turns out the compassionate man started a Go Fund Me Fundraiser with that picture.
“Because of his generous heart and so many other strangers we didn’t know, they paved the way for us to start over,” Heather warmly shares. “That is something I didn’t even know was missing from our life. I love others and I’m a very much the glass is half full kind of person, but on a deeper level of seeing needs, that homeless person on the side of the road, you know what, it will take me five minutes to go through the drive through and get a sandwich for him. I don’t know their story, no one judged me for being homeless. It has just changed our whole family’s complete outlook,” she said.
In – between all of the rebuilding, letting go and figuring out how to start new, Heather candidly admits there were some dark days. The stress, the loss of their home, the returning of her husband from Afghanistan, raising her daughter the first year alone, so much on the couple’s shoulders. Heather and her husband made a very important choice to be there for one another and not let all of this tear their marriage apart. It was still tough. One morning she was literally bawling her eyes out in the shower before her children woke up having a conversation with God about feeling mad and sad and out of no where came an idea to start making candles under the name of Sweet and Wild Farms (which was their dream for a homestead farm). “It was the weirdest thing, I’ve never made a candle in my life. I didn’t know how that had anything to do with farming or homestead. It just kinda got in my head and wouldn’t leave, it consumed me. So I started looking at how to make them, had a conversation with my husband and he completely supported me, he was so onboard!” Heather went to her first class to learn how to make candles, made a small batch, mentioned on Facebook she would be posting on Etsy and they were gone before she had a chance to post. Sure enough, she heard the whisper, listened and people wanted to support them — better yet, they loved the candles and kept asking for more.
“I would make one pound at a time on the stove top in a double broiler and we went from that to fast forward to now and I poured 88 candles yesterday on my own in my huge melter that melts 50lbs of wax at a time in my amazing studio in our home in Arizona that we are just in awwww about. It is really just awesome. I love my candles, what I get to do with sharing the literal and metaphorical light and hope,” Heather reminisced.
“Since we’ve relaunched (this past spring) we’ve shipped to all over the United States. It’s been more incredible than I could have ever imagined as far as what Sweet and Wild Farms meant to us in the beginning to what it is now. It was not at all our idea or what we wanted (thought) it is so much better!” Heather shared.
During Heather’s episode, we just wanted to get up, clap, do a little dance and celebrate with Heather and her story. Her story is an incredible journey of how even during the darkest moments, especially during the darkest moments to trust and keep the faith because when you get to look back and see how the dots connect, it is a glorious moment to take in. Heather and her family had different hopes and dreams for Sweet and Wild Farms, candle making was NEVER in their vision – but low and behold, they were courageous enough to listen and follow that instinctive nudge to start making candles, even though they weren’t sure where it would lead. Which turned out to be exactly the healing process her family needed to move forward with that little voice that was trying to lead them. Eeeekkk!! Goosebumps. 😉
Heather raises up and celebrates her relationship with her Mom and the strength behind it. We talk about the generational strength from their family as well as severe health challenges her Mom faced and has tackled. She got through it ALL, always inspiring and supporting Heather along the way. Yasssss!! Love, love, love it.
Heather’s Red Bra Moment: Relaunching Sweet and Wild Farms this past April. With my husband in law enforcement, he wasn’t able to help this time around, I was on my own. I re-branded, new logos, the message I wanted to drive home, setting the studio up, organizing orders, everything in addition to homeschooling, being married to a first responder during this pandemic and a one year old (our third & youngest) on my hip! Not only that, I sold out in 48 hours!! Almost 100 candles in less than two days. The messages were pouring in with excited customers. It was that moment of my red bra, underneath it all, so supportive. This was all my doing and I nailed it! We are still rolling hot off of those first couple days of momentum.
Thank you Heather for sharing your courageous story with us. Keep shining your light and telling your story, the world needs you.
Sweet & Wild Farms was born out of hope to move on and keep growing. It is a tangible way Heather and her family shares hope with the world even when it seems like all is lost. It is all about the dream and turned out to be the pathway of love the Carr’s traveled to get there.
Sweet & Wild Farms handcrafts their candles from 100% soy, made in the USA, phthalate free fragrances, poured in small batches, safe & non toxic using only the highest quality of ingredients. Heather breaks down the ingredients at the end of our chat. Browse around at their full collection of luxurious scents – Sweet and Wild Farms.
You HAVE to hit play on Heather’s episode – we promise you will find some inspiration in Heather’s resilient story of grit, faith and immense gratitude for everyone that helped to lift her & her family up in love & light. For that, Heather is forever changed and giving back every chance she gets, “My hope for this company is more than to sell candles, it’s to be a light in the darkness through love and hope that things will get better,” Heather said.
Thank you for being here and sharing / tagging someone who could really use Heather’s story in their life right now. We appreciate you so much.
Here’s where to connect with the beautifully talented Heather Carr:
@sweetandwildfarms on IG and FB
Episode 55 – Lighting her Path Through Darkness…with Heather Carr on The Red Bra Project YT Channel
Thanks for stopping by, you are so appreciated! We hope this story inspired you or someone you know on some level. We know it did us, please share away. Always wear that red bra underneath it all and make sure to join the party over @theredbraproject!
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Xx,
The Red Bra Project
