Ashtree Wildcrafting began as a business in the summer of 2018. What had begun with a horse, morphed into the creation of teas that anyone who tried them, loved!
HORSE???
Let me back up a bit. . . The year was 2016 and Ashley was desperately trying to get a handle on her horse’s health. Rain rot and a lump on the spine in the saddle area eventually drove us to start looking up alternative remedies. On Canada Day that year, we found a herbalist in the Made in Canada Bazaar who made soaps, oils, detergents and other items. Ashley bought a bar of soap. We left his booth chatting up a storm between ourselves about Bella’s condition and he ended up behind us twice. He suggested a double oil infusion containing a handful of herbs we’d have to a) identify and b) gather from the wild. He was SO helpful, that we have to say Ashley is now a regular buyer of Forest Garden Soap and Sundry’s soaps! We left Canada Day and began our research!
By the time that first infused oil was made, we’d also discovered many health benefits and uses for those same herbs for humans! A budding wild salad entered the household and now we began researching further. By early 2017, our local Superstore began carrying a line of books, one of which would become our local field guide, introducing us to a wider range of local flora and fauna that had either medicinal purposes or were good for food. To our amazement, many plants offer both!
By the time 2017 ended, we were making some of our own hygiene products, teas for anything from colds to asthma to soreness or tummy-settling, wild salads, oil infusions for topical applications, pancake syrops, salad vinegars, juice and more.
Our research took us to websites offering nutritional breakdowns, medical contra-indications, how-to-prepare and how-to-use websites, etc. Our research has uncovered missing warning labels on some supposedly healthy products currently on the market. Our research has uncovered conflicting perceptions of some wild plants that are only cleared up by preparation methods. We’ve discovered that every region of the world has been given one or more superfoods unique to each area’s people groups and the needs they would encounter in that region. This has led us to discover plants in the Okanagan that can be classified as multi-vitamin, multi-purpose, almost superfood plants.
When 2018 rolled around, we had begun sharing some of our teas with friends and family, particularly teas that had helped us and might help them. Slowly we began to hear, “You need to sell this!” When a family friend who owns a local store stated that not only would she buy a certain tea if it helped her out, but told a coworker of hers about this tea who would also buy it if made available. . . well. . . we couldn’t keep these findings to ourselves anymore.
Our search to treat Bella’s conditions has led to that mare leading us straight into a lifestyle that not only saves us money via foraging for our salads and personal needs, but is now available to bless you as well. All God’s creatures were created to be blessings, and that is no more clear than the path we took to bring you, Ashtree Wildcrafting!
