All About

Desert Fathers Incense

Desert Fathers Incense, as a small (very, very small) business, began in a tiny travel trailer years ago, in the deserts of Nevada and California. It was in a sense, the spiritual child of Forerunner Bookstore in Reno, NV , an Orthodox missionary outreach center there.  (Columbina can still be found hanging out there on occasion, taking up space and drinking up all the coffee, and generally making messes in the kitchen.)

The little trailer had no lavatory, and it was so small, "you could not swing a cat around in it, without suffering extensive damage to the cat", as Mark Twain once described a hotel room.

In any case, here is a photo of the original trailer, where Desert Fathers Incense began.  It really is true:  it had no lavatory, just a hand pump sink about 6 inches square, and Columbina really lived in it!


(Columbina's "home" in 2007.  Somewhere in the woods near Ojai, California.)

You see, 20 years prior, in lands far away, Columbina had been an unbeliever, a person who had a great interest in secular things and quite particularly, in all things weirdly punk.  But our Lord has a way of making fools out of those who are "wise" and frankly, Columbina was no exception.  She had been an apprentice perfumer to a so-called "wise woman" many years before and when that friendship dissolved, so too, did her tutelage.

In short order, Columbina made a true mess of her life, and eventually years later (because she is a slow learner), she came to convert Eastern Christianity.  She was still messing about in perfumery, and incense making and when she became unemployed and homeless, began making her incense and parfum elixirs for sale at various festivals around the West Coast. 

In order to better fit into the venues, she called her little business "Black Powder Incense", as these  were Renaissance faires and pirate festivals. (Yes, there really is such a thing!)  Columbina wanted to bring the light of the Gospel, as well as her hand made goods, to the people who frequented these faires.   Her best customers were other Catholic and Orthodox Christians and the Lord finally brought her in the way of a Coptic master perfumer from Egypt of the Kahlil family,  who completed her education and apprenticeship. 

In January 2011, Columbina reorganized the business, and renamed it "Desert Fathers Incense" in order to more accurately reflect her vision and her current work in liturgical, Christian incense, as well as her dedication to the works and writings of the desert fathers and mothers of early Christianity. 

Today, Desert Fathers Incense is made in Columbina's studio in Reno, Nevada for shipment to fifty states and other countries around the world.  Her customers, the many other Catholic and Orthodox Christians who befriended her and supported her work, have helped her to carry out the mission:  To provide every home with Orthodox Christian incense, regardless of the ability to pay.  To them, Columbina owes a great debt of thanks and dedicates her work. 



Much of what is sold today is made by machine, using synthetic products which are cheaper to obtain and cheaper to produce. Additionally, sweat shops around the world produce much of the incense available in the United States. Even worse, many ingredients come from countries that support terrorism and inequality for their citizens.

When shopping for ANY product, not just incense, it's important to ask yourself the following questions:
1. Which countries produce the highest rates of poverty and illiteracy?
2. Do those same countries enforce ideological, theocratic regimes?

At Desert Fathers Incense, we believe that we have the responsibility to ourselves, to you the consumer, and to the world at large to:
1. Refrain from supporting such systems, governments and theocracies.
2. Spend our dollars in places that value human life, dignity and equality.

Because we believe this so strongly, we refuse to purchase any ingredients that come from the following nations: Sudan, Somalia, UAE, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan. By no means is this an exhaustive list. But we are committed to supporting nations that have human rights, and equality at the top of their agendas. As a result, most of our ingredients come from: Ethiopia, India, Greece, Serbia, Hungary, and Russia, as well as the USA.

(Our Chapel, dedicated to the Holy Theotokos, located in our studio, in Reno, Nevada - 2011)

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  Desert Fathers Incense
  P.O. Box 5321
  Reno, NV 89513-5321
  
  
  
  

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  Our Mission:

  To provide every home with Orthodox Christian incense and the light of the Gospel, regardless of their ability to pay.
  Period.
  
  Please browse our site to see how you can help fulfill our mission.
  
  (c)2011 - 2020.   Copyright SLN and Desert Father's Incense.  All rights reserved.