Sustainable Herbs Project Blog — Interviews

A conversation with Sebastian Pole, co-founder of Pukka Herbs, and founder of Herbal Reality, a new online forum of herbal education based in the United Kingdom.

A recording of Ann Armbrecht's recent conversation with herbalist Rosemary Gladstar for the Oakmont Sunday Symposium.

Highlights from the SHP trip documenting regenerative farming practices on herb and spice farms in Costa Rica.

In this video and interview, Andrea Rommeler talks about what sustainability means and its importance in her work with raw material suppliers for the Martin Bauer Group.

Ann Armbrecht and Rosemary Gladstar engage in a lively, thoughtful discussion as they dive into Ann's new book, THE BUSINESS OF BOTANICALS, which investigates the business of herbal supplements and products

Herbs mentioned in Dr. Tieraona Low Dog's Sustainable Herb Program/American Botanical Council (ABC) Webinar "Planting Seeds of Wellness."

"Think of the difference of looking at a black cohosh in a plastic container on a shelf in a store and coming upon black cohosh with its fairy wand of tiny white flowers growing in an Appalachian forest," Erica Marks, Director of Yew Mountain Center says. "t’s really hard to replicate the feeling you have coming upon black cohosh in tha...

As part of the Sustainable Herbs Program efforts to highlight innovative approaches to tackling sustainability challenges in the industry, Ann Armbrecht spoke with Andrea Zangara, Scientific Marketing Manager at Euromed, an ingredient supplier in Barcelona, Spain, about upcycling residue from extracting saw palmetto fruit.

The Mountain Rose Herbs (MRH) Zero Waste program is an impressive combination of leadership, innovation, and perseverance. I spoke with Alyssa Bascue, Director of Sustainability, about the certification process, the challenges, and the lessons they have learned.

SHP interviews Verdure Sciences about planting Boswellia trees as a way to ensure a future supply of the gum resin harvested from these trees.

Botanist and potter, Zoe Gardner, talks about her experience navigating the worlds of science and spirit in creating pottery with plants.

Josef Brinckmann, Research Fellow at Traditional Medicinals, outlines five steps for herbal products companies wishing to move toward regenerative and sustainable supply chains. “Just do something!” Josef says. “Just DO. Pick a plant. Be curious. ”

Australian herbalist Sue Evans talks about the responsibility that herbalists have for teaching students and clients about sourcing, sustainability and transparency in the botanical industry and suggest ways to do just that.

Tom Newmark discusses the Soil Carbon Initiative, an outcome-based, verifiable standard designed to improve soil health and build soil carbon by encouraging the shift to regenerative agricultural practices.

Josef Brinckmann of Traditional Medicinals talks about the importance of wildlife in implementing sustainable harvesting in the botanical industry.

Randy Buresh, co-founder of Oregon’s Wild Harvest, became interested in traditional herbal medicine during his 20-year career as a registered surgical nurse. He noticed a pattern of unnecessary surgeries and pharmaceutical side effects and knew there had to be a better way. He started dabbling in herbs, making tinctures and studying Nat...

Ben Heron, Sustainable Herbs Manager for Pukka Herbs, oversees sourcing of key ingredients, ensuring that the methods of growing, harvesting, and processing the herbs meet Pukka’s quality and sustainability standards. SHP Intern Anita Burke edited the following from a Skyped conversation between Ann and Ben in October 2014.

I’ve created a list of our top 5 most popular interviews with leaders in the herb industry to make it easier to find them.

Anne de Courtenay generously included an extensive interview with me about our work following herbs through the supply chain in the Journal of the American Herbalist Guild which should be available for free on the AHG site in the future. I wanted to include this one excerpt from the interview about my vision for the Sustainable Herbs Proj...

This conversation with Josef Brinckmann, Vice President of Sustainability for Traditional Medicinals, for Numen inspired my current research following herbs through the supply chain of the botanical industry. And so I wanted to include some excerpts here to provide the foundation for this new project.

I went to Poland and Hungary this past fall to follow plants. I wanted to see how and in what ways they changed as they moved through the supply chain. Yet what captured my attention and my curiosity were the people: the men and women working hard at whatever part they play in that supply chain: collecting, drying, storing, selling, shipp...

Mountain Rose is the go-to source for bulk medicinal herbs by most herbalists in the US and a generous supporter at herb conferences and of United Plant Savers. What started out as mail-order part of Rosemary Gladstar’s herb shop in northern California more than 20 Shawn Donnille of Mountain Rose Herbs speaks with the Sustainable Herbs ...

At the 2013 International Herb Symposium, I attended herbalist Cathy Skipper’s workshop on essential oils. Cathy trained and now teaches at the ‘Ecole Lyonnaise de Plantes Médicinales‘ in France. I didn’t know much about essential oils and was curious to learn more.

I met with Sebastian Pole in his home south of Bristol. He served me a cup of Pukka tea and then led me to his office, a large room lined with bookshelves filled with books on India and Hinduism and Ayurvedic medicine and plants. As soon as he sat down, he began talking and, with little prompting from me, spoke for almost two hours about ...