As many of you know, I started renting a space this winter entirely devoted to Foliage Botanics. After a few years of growing and shrinking and attempting to grow again, floundering between various unoccupied spaces on the farm that were never entirely suitable for me and all my bottles and jars and dreams, I decided to make this tremendously big and audacious leap for my work and myself. When you live in the country there’s not a lot of office-type places to rent and I was very much in a pickle of where to go once I realized it was necessary. I needed to stay close to the land and the garden, wanted to continue to be part of our small-town community, hoped for good parking for clients and students and, after a stint in our windowless basement, at least a little natural light, so when my husband sent me a link to a beautiful bright studio space his friend had listed behind the restaurant he runs ten minutes down the road from our house, with electricity and running water and windows and plenty of room for students (and by golly there’s a pink magnolia tree right outside the door too!), I thought: this is a sign. I stayed up all night two nights in a row tossing and turning about it and making pro-con lists because the truth is, I can’t really afford it, I hardly pay myself as it is! But with the encouragement of some trusted fellow entrepreneurs and my own half-mad trust in the power of plant-work, I called his friend anyway and, on a wing and a prayer, wrote him my first check.
It’s been a wild two months since then discovering what and how much it takes to really rent and create a public-facing space. First and last rent payments, my dreaded first winter oil bill, commercial electric set-up, plus all the cute accoutrements you need to make it feel like a place that both I and others could want to be. I’m certain there’s more lessons (and bills) to come. With every outgoing check I’ve cringed a little and wondered “did I make a terrible mistake?” But there is nothing like the feeling of having space that functions well, that serves both me and my dreams, a space that I can fill with plants and books and intentions and people that align with what I’m trying to do and give in this world. It’s certainly an experiment that might, at the end of the year, not have been the most wise financial decision, but when has Foliage Botanics ever really been about that? You don’t become an herbalist for the money. I just keep telling myself: when there’s need (and room) to grow, you simply must oblige, and, well, you only live once…
And so, now is the part where you come in! Literally and a little more figuratively. I’m re-opening my now actual doors to new clients for 1:1 in-person consultations and I am beyond excited to finally have a space that really embodies the care I give and the heart I lead with as a clinical herbalist. Virtual consultations continue as well and allow for more people to enter into and be grounded in this space too, even if a little more metaphysically. I’ve already felt the shift in myself and my practice and my ability to show up for the people I work with. The visions and dreams and my capabilities are growing with a little more space to house them. After a winter of deep focus in this side of my craft and now with a space to fan the flames, the clinician’s fire in me is burning a little brighter.
Though I’m not quite a brick & mortar store, I do hope to have regular open hours for you to come in and peruse the shelves, read books, ask questions, and just hang while I do my herbal work. I want to wait until it’s a little warmer outside to announce any official day/time for this, but please, if you’re driving through Ancramdale or stopping at The Farmer’s Wife for breakfast or lunch, please come around back and tap on my door to see if I’m in—I’d love to see you and for you to see it all.
As for purchasing our FB products, the online apothecary is finally re-stocked. Seasonal things are coming down the line as spring unfolds, so it’s just the main tincture line plus a few other treasures. But just is really the wrong word. Our tincture line is a part of my heart, our steadfast crew of herbal remedies to keep you well and fill your medicine cabinets so that you can take and be in greater care all throughout the year. Every herb is carefully gathered, mindfully grown, or ethically purchased, 99.9% locally and that’s part of the medicine too. My hot tip when the shipping cost feels overwhelming (because I know it can be the thing that turns us away and I’m constantly trying to find the best means for making shipping more affordable!): the greater number of bottles you order, the smaller that shipping ratio, which can seem so large when you only order one, and the more accessible the care and medicine really is.
I think the thing I’ve really been learning lately is that running a business is both a team effort and one long series of trial and error and, upon occasion, great success. It’s a practice in relationship building and maintenance, trust and hope, like so many things in life. All I really know is I don’t really run foliage botanics, we do. I can often get caught up in waiting for perfection and being “ready” or feeling like I need to already be there before I tell you anything about it, but heck sometimes we just have to dive, on that wing and that prayer, and to simply ask of others: will you dive with me?
xx hannah
WAYS TO ENGAGE & SUPPORT & ALLY WITH THE PLANTS:
~ become a paid subscriber: you’ll support me through your readership and get access to my new clinician’s notes segment. A new one is coming soon!
~ join our seasonal herbal CSA, A Wild & Common Place: 4 boxes of herbal treasures over the 4 seasons.
~ come on a plant walk! Next up is April 14th, a spring wildflower walk at Thompson Pond. I’m probably going to do some flash plant walks this year too to scope out very specific things, so keep your eyes peeled for that.
~ schedule a private class or plant walk for your organization or on your land: just email me about that!
~ book a consultation!
~ shop the apothecary!
~ stop by and say hi, I’m here most days of the week :) 3 County Route 8, Ancramdale