I’ve long been amazed by the generous bounty offered to us by Mother Nature. Even as a young boy picking wintergreen berries in the woods, I just couldn’t believe that these tasty treats were available for me to enjoy, in quantities greater than I could ever consume, and the only cost was an afternoon in the shady forest, harvesting the luscious fruits as I listened to the melodious whistling of the birds and the occasional scurried sounds of a startled chipmunk or squirrel.
As an adult, my appreciation for Nature’s endless gifts has only deepened, and I find 
myself preaching her message of abundance to anyone willing to listen. Through my work as an author, herbalist, and educator, I’ve been placed in a unique position to share my knowledge, experiences, and passion with audiences the world over, and the core of my message has always remained the same: Mother Nature provides for our every need. But we must first take the time to learn her language and then follow her advice.
Just shy of a decade ago, my wife, Heather, and I founded Small House Farm, a sustainable homestead project in central Michigan. As a practicing herbalist, I felt that this venture was the perfect opportunity to continue promoting my ideology of Nature’s abundance and localized living. The salves, balms, tinctures, and teas that we offer are purposely crafted using only herbs grown in our gardens or harvested from the wild. Additionally, we have taken on the task of producing our own seed and nut oils through cold pressed, expeller extraction for all of our product lines. It’s through this direct relationship with our ingredients that we are able to create products that are not only potent and useful but that also reflect our value and commitment to localized sustainability. Just as the sommelier believes that the terroir of the grapes is reflected in the quality of the wine, at Small House we believe that our locally sourced ingredients are the recipe for success.
Please join me on Thursday, August 20th, at 1pm EDT for an Herb Society of America webinar entitled “Wildcrafted Herbs and Fresh Pressed Oils: How Locally Sourced 
Ingredients are a Recipe for Success.” During this presentation, I’ll be discussing the value of locally sourced herbs from one’s own bioregion and the multitude of herbal allies available to us in our nearby parks, fields, and forests. I’ll also share my thoughts on do-it-yourself seed and nut oil production for use in herbal formulas, drawing on my years of experience with small-scale commercial production and sale of various oils including hempseed, sunflower, almond, flax, and pumpkin seed.
Those joining us for the webinar will receive an exclusive coupon code for a 15% discount off the cover price of my 2019 bestselling book, Saving Our Seeds, as well as a unique link to preorder my upcoming book The Artisan Herbalist: Making Teas, Tinctures and Oils at Home (New Society ’21).
Webinars are free to Herb Society of America members and $5.00 for guests. Visit https://www.herbsociety.org/hsa-learn/hsa-webinars or click here to sign up. Become a member today, and enjoy all of our webinars for free, and as an added bonus, you’ll automatically be entered into a raffle for a free educational conference registration to our 2021 conference being held in Baton Rouge, LA, from April 29th – May 1st, 2021.
