12/10/2025
I feel blessed every day that I get to be an herbalist, right here on my own property. My garden isn’t just a patch of plants..it’s a living medicine cabinet, a classroom, a kitchen pantry, and sometimes my quiet sanctuary all at once.
From my kitchen window, I can watch the herbs sway in the breeze. A few barefoot steps outside the door and I can gather exactly what I need for teas, tinctures, syrups, or bath products. And the kids love it too! They run through the beds, picking leaves and flowers for their own little creations, learning how to care for plants and themselves in the process.
We’ve been doing this for years now, and it’s wild to see how much abundance a little patch of land can provide. Our little bistro table tucked in the garden is one of my favorite spots. I can sit there with a cup of tea, listening to the wind in the plants, watching my children harvest, and just soaking in the quiet. And now that we’ve started growing mushrooms there’s even more life and magic in the garden.
Inside, the apothecary spills into the house. Herbs hang to dry wherever we can fit them, and two dehydrators hum almost constantly. Full jars line the shelves in my office, my kitchen shelves are full of our own organically homegrown spices and spice blends, and the smell of rosemary, mint, and lavender drifts through the rooms. It’s a lot, but it’s my kind of happy chaos.
From all of this, we make everything our family needs and enough to share (and sell) so it helps support our family. Teas, tinctures, infused honeys, bath bombs, soaps, salves, syrups, fire cider, infused oils, poultices, glycerites, bath salts, scrubs, herbal vinegars, oxymels, elixirs, balms, liniments, culinary herbs, spice blends, mushroom powders, and more.
Every season brings something new to dry, infuse, or bottle, and every jar carries the story of this land and the work we put into it.
And here’s what grows in the Weeping Willow Apothecary garden.. everything we’ve planted and tended over the years: (I'm sure I've forgotten plenty I usually only remember when I'm standing there barefoot basket in hand staring at it)
Rosemary, oregano, marjoram, thyme, many types of sage, basil, holy basil / tulsi, lavender, lemon balm, catnip, bee balm, chamomile (German & Roman), calendula (including resina), echinacea (purpurea & angustifolia), yarrow, plantain, mullein, comfrey, st.johns wart, fever few, toothache plant, bee balm, amaranth, skullcap, chicory, marshmallow root & leaf, borage, passionflower, garlic, red raspberry leaf, elderberry, motherwort, mugwort, burdock, feverfew, tansy, coltsfoot, wood betony, wild mint, and over a dozen other mints- peppermint, spearmint, chocolate mint, apple mint, strawberry mint, pineapple mint, ginger mint, lavender mint, sweet mint, curly mint, mojito mint — plus ginger, turmeric, aloe, chickweed, cleavers, lamb’s ear, lovage,rose petals, angelica, valerian, horehound, hyssop, anise hyssop, dill, fennel, hibiscus (red Roselle) ashwghanda, honey suckle, cilantro, parsley, tarragon, chives, garlic chives, lemon verbena, stevia, shiso, violet, red clover, bergamot and our wine cap and turkey tale mushrooms.
This winter, we’ll be expanding the permaculture apothecary garden, nearly doubling its size. It already provides everything our family needs, and it’s exciting to think about what else it could give us. Honestly, I don’t even know what else we could possibly add at this point..but that’s part of the fun.
Every day, I walk through the medicine garden, touch the leaves, smell the flowers, and feel this deep gratitude. It’s work, yes, but it’s the kind of work that fills my soul. That garden is our medicine, our livelihood, our teaching space, our play space, and our quiet retreat. Every jar of tea, every tincture, every bar of soap that leaves my hands carries a little piece of this place, this life, and the love we pour into it.
It’s not perfect. It’s messy. It’s full of dirt on my hands, sun on my face, and the sound of my kids laughing in the garden. But it’s ours. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
