12/01/2025
Hi friends, this Is gonna be a long one.
Whew, honestly and for real, I can hardly believe we are already in December. It feels like time these days is just flying by so quickly. I am sitting out here in my garden and the air is so chilly and cold. We are finally expecting some rain down here and I cannot wait for it. I know the rain is going to bring some good mushroom foraging days soon 🥰. This cold wind and chilly season always brings sharpness and reflection for me. Cedar & Moon has been my dream come true, and growing so much these last few years has changed my life in so many ways. I have so much gratitude for each of you.
In community, I have been blessed to meet so many folks, and our connections have deepened with every foraging walk, plant talk, medicine making class, market, volunteer day, and more. These moments fill my cup more than anything because they keep me steady on this path and remind me that all together we make the perfect human. All together, we can have an impact. All together, we can take care of one another.
When I first started Cedar & Moon a few years ago, life was different for our family. My husband had a more relaxed schedule, and because of that, I had a lot more help with our three daughters. We started at the ground, and I was able to build and pour so much time and energy into making a name for Cedar & Moon. Since then, things have shifted, readjusted, and changed with time. Social media in the beginning really propelled us quickly. Over the last four years, I have had more viral videos than I can count, and that helped our business stretch far and wide across the U.S. I am so grateful. When I first started creating content online, I told myself it was all just for fun, and it did not matter to me who watched, saw, or interacted with it. I had this feeling that whoever was meant to see it would, and that was that.
What happened next will always bring a smile to my face, because slowly but surely this little online community grew and expanded. When I see some of your names in my notifications or on the website, it warms my heart. You have all grown to be so familiar, like friends I do not get to see or catch up with nearly often enough. When your orders come through, I do a little happy dance and whisper a prayer of gratitude, because without all of you, none of this would mean anything. These days, I am running around busy as ever, shuffling kids, tending the gardens both feral and tame, and honestly trying to make more time out of each and every day. There is never enough time, it seems.
Over the last year, my social media presence has slowed a bit, and I am grateful to everyone for their understanding and for still seeking me out. I swear I have the best customers a girl could ask for. It is taking me a bit longer to process orders, our batches are smaller than before, but I am still pressing on. I still have dreams that will carry on in this community long after I am gone from here. I know things will pick up again and I won’t always be pulled In so many directions. I hope you all know how appreciative my family is every single time you stop by, place an order, show up to a plant walk, herbal lecture, etc. Large corporations could not care less, spending your cash on Amazon only fuels more billionaires. When you support small businesses in your town, in your region, in your country, you are creating a circular economy that sustains the actual people you share community with. It is an easy way to send a middle finger to the elite who do not care a single bit about us small fish in the pond.
So as we settle into this cold month, this season of turning inward, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for growing with me, for your patience, your kindness, your encouragement, and your presence through every ebb and flow. Thank you for choosing to support a tiny apothecary tucked in lower Alabama, built on love, land, and community. Thank you for believing in the work of my hands and the medicine of this place.
Cedar & Moon has never been just a business to me, it is a living relationship. It is a practice in reciprocity, in listening to the land, in sharing what I can to help others feel a little more held, a little more rooted, a little more connected. And each of you who have walked this path with me, whether from right down the road or across the country, are a part of that story.
I am excited for what this winter will bring, the mushrooms, the quiet reflections, the slow medicine, the community gatherings, the moments of stillness between it all. I am excited to keep showing up in whatever capacity I can, making what I am able, and dreaming up the offerings that want to come through next.
From my family to yours, thank you for keeping this dream alive.
Thank you for supporting the makers instead of the machines.
Thank you for choosing real people over corporations.
And thank you for allowing Cedar & Moon to be a tiny, glowing thread woven into your life.
Here’s to the season ahead, may it bring softness, clarity, good medicine, and plenty of rain for all the mushrooms to come. 🌧🍄🌿🥂
With love and gratitude,
Melissa, Cedar & Moon Apothecary
