Lily Farm Fresh combines farm with skin care company, event center

KEENSBURG — At first glance, a farm, a skin care company and an event center don’t seem to fit together on one property under one business name.

But the Lily Farm Fresh Skin Care and Event Center in Keenesburg brings all three together, attracting weddings, corporate events and customers wanting organic skin care products made of farm-fresh herbs and ingredients.

“They don’t look like they go hand in hand, but they kind of do,” said Lily Morgan of unincorporated Weld County, chief farming officer and owner of Lily Farm Fresh Inc., 1833 County Road 53. “It’s great to have a farm with an event center. You can go out to the veranda and continue onto the deck overlooking 80 acres of beautiful, peaceful nothing. … It’s beautiful; it’s private; there’s an unobstructed mountain view.”

Morgan created her skin care company, Lily Farm Fresh Skin Care, in 1986 because she couldn’t find a product free of synthetic ingredients, nor did what her dermatologist recommend cure her of an acne problem. Plus, she realized through her research that some of the high-end lines used some of the same ingredients as the “cheap stuff,” she said.

Due to her farming background, Morgan figured she could grow, harvest and handcraft her own ingredients — this after realizing that finding and sourcing them took about as much work. She started out on three acres in southeast Denver, expanding about 27 years ago to a 15-acre farm in Henderson, then to an even larger 80-acre farm in Keenesburg near the Wild Animal Sanctuary, where she grows the herbs and ingredients for her products, as well as sunflowers, vegetables, and wheat or sorghum.

Morgan learned about farming as a child, since her parents tended apple orchards and sold the apples through a pick-your-own service. They had wanted to open a farm store, something they didn’t achieve, but that inspired Morgan to open the same type of store, along with an event center to be able to host vendor meetings. She has yet to open a brick-and-mortar store (though she has one online), and the focus of her event center is on weddings and corporate events.

“I always wanted to do what they never did,” Morgan said.

At the time she started her skin care company, Morgan was well into her career operating the nonprofit she’d founded in Denver, the Senior Assistant Center, which provides a food bank and emergency services for seniors. She led the organization from 1981 to 2009 when she handed it off to be able to focus on her company full time. She also has two degrees, including one in public administration from the University of Colorado Denver.

In early 2019, Morgan opened the event center, also relocating the farm and skin care company there, doing everything with a staff of six and keeping it all in one location. The center’s event room spans 2,000 square feet in a 6,500-square-foot, barn-inspired building that includes a catering kitchen, a FDA-regulation, state-of-the-art laboratory for making the skin care products, an Airbnb and offices. 

That year, Morgan booked more than 50 weddings and held more than 30 events at the event center, most of them weddings and corporate picnics and parties. She plans in the next one to two years to turn Lily Farm Fresh into a tourist destination, where visitors can tour the farm and watch the process of how the skin care products are made. 

The farm has been a USDA-certified organic farm since 2007 and engages in sustainable, renewable practices by growing its own ingredients, including about 20 herbs, such as calendula, chamomile, fennel, feverfew and comfrey. The herbs are dedicated to Lily’s Farm Fresh Skin Care, originally called Lily of Colorado, then Lily Organics. Morgan renamed the company to Lily Farm Fresh Skin Care about 10 years ago to be more reflective of what it represents. 

“The lily symbolizes rebirth and resurrection. … It’s a plant that’s beautiful and fresh and represents purity,” Morgan said. “We make one of the purist skin care products on the planet.”

The company is transparent with the ingredients in each skin care product and offers products that are clean and composed of natural, anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial ingredients. Since founding the company, Morgan hasn’t used any synthetic ingredients in her products to provide a higher quality, she said. 

“Instead of using synthetic products that poison the planet, we grow them,” Morgan said.

The laboratory and some of the products also are USDA-certified organic. Morgan didn’t go through the certification process for products with multiple ingredients due to the complexity of the process — most skin care companies will contract with a major laboratory to handle the process, while she keeps everything in-house. Some of her products have more than 40 ingredients, she said, explaining that she simplified her ingredient lists with her later creations.

Morgan sells her products primarily through Whole Foods and Natural Grocers locations in Colorado and Wyoming and her online store, lilyfreshskincare.com. 

“Lily puts her heart and soul and actual hands into her products. I can honestly say that doesn’t happen in ‘alternative healthy skin care lines,’” said Xavier Lee, former body care manager and now the vitamins manager at one of the Natural Grocers locations in Denver, who also uses her moisturizers. “She wants people to get the best effect out of her products, not the most profit.” 

Ashley Gorman, whole body team leader at Whole Foods Market at Union Station in Denver, said Morgan’s skin care products stand out from others in the industry because she grows and harvests her own organic ingredients.

“Customers love the fact that she grows, harvests and handcrafts her ingredients and products right here in Colorado,” Gorman said, adding that her favorite is Morgan’s balancing toner. “It refreshes and hydrates my skin after cleansing as well as throughout the day, whether it be post-ski, hike or bike ride. The organic comfrey she harvests and handcrafts into this product not only smells wonderful but packs a punch of cleansing hydration.  It is a must have for any active, outdoorsy Coloradan.” 

Morgan has three major skin care lines that include Balancing for normal skin, Calming for sensitive skin and Nourishing for dry skin, which all include a cleanser, toner, moisturizer and mask. There also is a mist, a CBD cream, a bath salt and a Kissable Lips moisturizer for all skin types, plus a facial oil treatment that blends seven essential oils to treat dry skin and the Colorado High Altitude Extreme Cream, also for dry skin and an outdoors lifestyle. 

“I love being outside,” Morgan said. “I love the diversity, I love the variety. I love being able to be part of making the world a better place, both through skin care and the landscape of the farm.”

Morgan published “Beauty, Health, and Happiness: A Way of Life,” in 2000 to give the inside story on beauty products, offer recipes of beauty care products and provide ways to look and feel younger.

“What I like about skin care is it’s self-love. When you apply a product, that’s all part of self-love, taking care of the self,” Morgan said.

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