MORE ABOUT THE HERBAL CAFÉ HERBS AND TEAS
As a professional herbalist, I specialize in the medicinal use
of plants. In this process of helping people restore their health
and revitalize their bodies, I am driven to seek out the finest
herbs and teas, wherever they are in the world. High quality herbs
are absolutely critical to good practice, successful treatments,
and happy customers. That means locating growers who practice
sustainable agriculture, who are committed to building up soil
life and encouraging genetic diversity. Artificial fertilizers
and pesticides deplete soils and upset the plant-insect ecology.
I‘m committed to supporting conscientious farmers who steward
the land—healthy soils and farms lead to healthy people and
communities. As an herbalist, I see physical and mental health
as inseparable from ecological wellbeing.
Organic: Most of my herbs
and teas are grown organically. Among the many requirements for
organic certification is that the soil be free of any application
of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides or fungicides for at least
three years, a fact that is verified by third-party agencies such
as CCOF in California, or OTCO in Oregon. Organic farming is based
on a premise that healthy soils, nourished with compost and cover
crops, grow robust plants that resist disease. Weeds are mostly
dealt with mechanically, using mulches and cultivation. When pest
outbreaks occur, they are controlled with a variety of techniques,
often called integrated pest management, or IPM. This involves
timely application of natural pesticides such as pyrethrins extracted
from the Dalmatian Daisy, spraying with natural insecticidal soaps,
or the introduction of pest-aggressive but plant-friendly insects.
Many farmers employ organic practices but do not seek certification.
These growers never use harmful chemicals on the farm. The honeysuckle
blossoms and mimosa flowers used in my signature blends, for instance,
are grown without chemicals.
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, include seeds designed
to resist specific pests or withstand certain powerful pesticides.
But GMOs are not allowed in organic agriculture, and none of the
herbal café ingredients contains them.
Most herbal café herbs are picked every day in small batches
from new growth, then immediately dried and stored for optimal
freshness.
Wildcrafted: Some of my herbs—passion
flower and sassafras are two examples—are harvested in the
wild by knowledgeable foragers, a practice known as ethical wildcrafting.
Harvesting herbs is just like harvesting timber or fish: take
too much and you destroy the ability of the reserve to sustain
itself. So special training is required to know what part and
how much of the plant to take, and in what season to collect.
That’s why I am a proud member of United Plant Savers, which
works to protect native medicinal plants to ensure an abundant
renewable supply of medicinal plants for generations to come.
Fair Trade: At herbal café
we care very much about the people and the land that supply us
with our botanical cornucopia. Some of our teas are Fair Trade
Certified, meaning that the farmers are paid above-market prices
for their crops in an effort to more justly equate their labor
with the value of the product. The organic gunpowder superior
green tea from China, for example, is laboriously hand-rolled
by workers and is Fair Trade Certified.
For more information, see these Web sites:
