You are one of the pioneers of WishGarden Herbs. What did the company look like before? There used to be a magical herbalist/midwife in Boulder named Barbara Wishingrad. The remedies – ointments, oils and tinctures – she prepared for her clients became known among the midwifery community, and so in 1979 ‘WishGarden’ was born: a play on her own surname and a way to make money on the side. which quickly grew into a viable business serving midwives and their clients, both locally and internationally. Those were the heady days of Jeannine Parvati, Rosemary Gladstar, Joy Gardner, Cascade Anderson, Ina May Gaskin at The Farm in Tennessee, Susun Weed and many other notable herbalists and midwives who brought virtually traditional herbal medicine, especially in the field of women’s medicine. health, to a much broader awareness in the “alternative health care” community.
In early 1983, we moved WishGarden to my small house in Mapleton in old Boulder so that Barbara and her partner could work and travel in Central America. By then there was a small but stable national customer base of midwives and their clients, as well as local stores such as Alfalfa’s and other Boulder markets, and some of the national birthing supply companies. We put out a quarterly catalog of products, and it was essentially a two-woman show: Barbara ran the business while she traveled, and I made and shipped the products as formulated by her, and continued to print and distribute the catalogs . . Imagine a large back room with shelves and tables filled with large jars of herbal tinctures, herbs drying, packets of wild-crafted herbs arriving from remote islands in Puget Sound or the mountains of Appalachia… and the enticing scent of ointments that come out of the oven. Our very first “employee” was an elderly Lakota grandmother named Mildred, who was already a dear friend and mentor to me. She and her granddaughter made herbal sitz baths for postpartum women – then, as now, a very popular product in the WishGarden maternity line.
Eventually Barbara moved on and so did I. WishGarden was taken over by a number of other local midwives who in turn sold it to Catherine Hunziker. And what a difference that made! I was stunned when I returned years later to find that Catherine had developed the company into a full spectrum of herbal support for the entire community, with a staff of incredibly competent and knowledgeable people who continue to improve and expand to this day both the quality and quality of its products. and the understanding of this wonderful plant medicine.
You have had an adventurous life, especially in the medical field. Can you tell us something about it? Like many women now in their 70s, I think I had the privilege of walking through a kaleidoscope of our times. Coming of age in post-World War II Europe gave me a perspective not found in contemporary American society, and I believe this accounts for much of our cultural loss.
For me, the kaleidoscope included working as an editor at the ACLU headquarters in New York City – back in the good old days when the Quaker founder, a very elderly Roger Baldwin, still managed to get in and take on cases to take. his old standard typewriter and when Ruth Bader Ginsburg led the Women’s Law Project. But that was the time of the Vietnam War and the Nixon era. I moved to the country in Maine and again in the mountains west of Boulder, then worked as a paramedic on ambulances serving western Denver and the mountain areas beyond, and then did volunteer medical work in remote mountain villages in central Mexico. I worked with Barbara at WishGarden, worked in the Boulder area as a midwife while single and had a wonderful daughter, and moved to teaching ESL to Mexican and Asian adult students in southern New Mexico. Never a dull moment!
Arlee McLeod
And you’re a writer too. What are you working on now? I enjoy writing. I have a collection of short stories, random poems, and the first draft of a novel that some people are encouraging me to do a second draft and send to a publisher. But when Charlottesville happened, I found the creativity in me dying. I hope the loss is not permanent.
The natural products industry has grown tremendously over the past generation. What strikes you? I think two things stand out for me. One is that people have become sophisticated and educated enough to expect efficacy and quality. The other is that people are becoming increasingly aware that allopathic medicines/pharmaceuticals are not the only path to health and wellness.
What advice would you give to people wanting to work in the natural products industry? Learn. Learn all about these products, all their ingredients, in an in-depth way: what are their actions, their energies? Gain insight into their history: who were the people who used them in the first place, and why? Adhere to the standards of sustainability and integrity.
Do you have a favorite herb? I bet it’s Motherwort, but I’ll think about it and get back to you!
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, or to sell any product.
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