Henry David Thoreau mused, “A man may esteem himself happy when that which is his food is also his medicine.” Plants have been a part of the earth’s ecosystem since the Ordovician period, 470 million years ago. They evolved from the simplest forms of algae to the complex, vast, and multifaceted life forces we know today through intrinsic, unhurried evolution that resulted in genetic complexities and variations we are still not in full grasp of today.
Closer to the human scale of the earth’s history, plants were the first food, the first medicine, the first symbolic embellishment for life. Our ancestors knew the herbs and flowers and trees of their regions, what they were capable of, and how to use them. Foraging was a necessary way of life and ailments or maladies were faced independently by the individual, or a local practitioner who had the ancient knowledge and experiences needed to provide aid and comfort. Somewhere along the way to industrialization, modernization, colonialization, and isolation, we have largely lost that connection and knowledge that had been both inherited and inherent.
“On so many levels, herbalism is about human autonomy. It is a tool of the people and our birthright as participants in the earth,” says Stephanie Hardie of Gate and Garden Herbal Apothecary in Weymouth. “We are part of this world, not on top of it -one string in the web of life and learning to connect ourselves as such can bring us, not only improved health and wellness, but aliveness.”
Hardie’s journey with herbalism began as a curious pursuit for answers to her own health questions that she felt were being dismissed. She was also dissatisfied with doing socially normative things and felt drawn to find her own path in life. After embarking on in-depth research for her autoimmune struggles, and finding the support and alleviation she needed through herbs, she began to make products for her family and friends.
Hardie had also previously purchased a home with garden space and began to fill it with the herbs and flowers she felt drawn to. Ironically, her first garden plantings were purchased and planted with no agenda other than to enjoy looking at them. “I was at a home improvement store and saw lavender, rosemary, and thyme plants and felt strangely compelled to get them. I brought them home, planted them, and they became so abundant that I was drowning in them! I thought, ‘What am I going to do with all this?’, so I started looking into recipes and uses for them and I kind of fell down a rabbit hole of learning that I am still in.”
Hardie found that herbalism also provided a connection that had been missing between medical and spiritual wellness. “Health is more than being free from sickness and pain,” Hardie explains, “It is more than the practical application society defines as good-health, it is abundance, fulfillment, autonomy, and aliveness. I found, for me, that herbalism provided so many answers and connections that I had been looking for.” Once Hardie found relief in her own body and mind with the implementing and use of herbs, she began to seek further in-depth knowledge.
Hardie began with self-study through time-tested books on herbalism and then started entry-level courses with reputable experts in the field. “Because I didn’t have an in tact lineage of herbal knowledge when I began, I had to start from scratch and tackle, what was, a very foreign vocabulary to me,” Hardie recounts. “I studied as much as I could on my own, but because I thrive with structured learning, I realized self-study could only take me so far, and I began to take entry-level courses.”
Hardie trained with some of the most trusted and respected herbalists of our day with institutions such as the Herbal Academy and CommonWealth Holistic Herbalism. Hardie then branched out in her studies and certification to earn her Master of Science: Complementary & Alternative Medicine, Bachelor of Science: Mental Health Counseling with a holistic psychology focus, and became a National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach (NBC-HWC), a Certified Functional Nutrition Coach, a Certified MindBodyGreen Health Coach, and a Certified Homeopathy Specialist.
With her knowledge growing in abundance and her thirst for learning endless, Hardie felt that the academics were still not enough to truly learn about the amazing herbs she knew so much about. She began in earnest to plant the things she was learning about and make her own products. This required developing personal relationships with plants. “I could not just keep it to the information stage of plant knowledge, I needed to have dirt under my nails. I wanted to touch the plants, talk to them, observe them and have a relationship with them of cultivation but also respect. Each herb has its own sort of personality -likes and dislikes, combinations it works well with and things it doesn’t work well with. I had to plant them to know them.”
Hardie found the merger of her vast knowledge and qualifications, met with increasing hands-on experience, left her with such a wealth of products, solutions, and offerings that she began Gate and Garden Herbal Apothecary. She registered as an LLC with little to no expectations of success, but after surpassing her net-sales goal with five times the predicted sales she knew she was onto something transformative not just for herself, but for others.
Now, Hardie tends to her home garden and has turned in in-law suite in the garage into a certified processing kitchen, an office for shipping her many online orders, and an apothecary that is occasionally open during events to purchase products. Hardie also attends outdoor markets and vendor festivals where she is well-known and sought after by locals -both new and returning customers. Gate and Garden has reached the point where some crops are now sourced from local farms where space is more abundant for a harvest that keeps up with demand. “I responsibly forage for some plant ingredients, and I grow most in my garden, but I do source from local, sustainable farms for things like California poppy and calendula -calendula is in basically everything,” Hardie jokes about the common, multi-use flower, “The only things that are not local, but still responsibly sourced are things not native to this bioregion like cinnamon.”
Though herbalism has opened up a business opportunity for Hardie, her core philosophy always goes back to helping others through sharing knowledge and helping them explore and learn about the world around them and how they fit into it. Gate and Garden’s mission statement: Sharing health, wellness, connection, and reciprocal relationships with nature, others, and self, through informed and devotional herbal products, guidance, 1:1 support, sacred community gatherings, and education. Hardie has become a sage in the community for the spread of knowledge in a non-judgmental, all-inclusive way that makes herbalism not only intriguing, but approachable.
“Using herbs in your life is good for us on so many levels,” says Hardie, “Both in monumental ways, but also in small, day-to-day ways. If you just want to start adding some herbs to your soup because they smell and taste good or if you want to use them in a big, clinical way, they offer something for anyone who uses them. There are entire herbal protocols to support diagnosis’ but there are also herbs that can be used to scent and soften skin -all levels of use and application exist.”
Hardie offers a word of caution, however, to anyone planning to implement herbalism into their lives. “Herbalism is an unregulated field so you need to get to know the plants you are working with and you need to get to know anyone you are taking advice from. Ask tons of questions about their background and training and about why they are suggesting certain applications in your life. Find herbalists that are very transparent about their process. If you have a hard time getting straight answers that is a red flag. Also, there should be no wild claims for cures. We are not doctors and we can’t promise things. That is not how herbalism works anyway. If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.”
There is also a lot of misconception about herbalism and it takes a bit of self-guided research to find the truth. “The biggest misconception about herbalism is that it is not real. People think that because it is rooted in things so basic as every day plant material, that it is inflated in potential and purpose. Luckily, we live in a time where there are a lot of credible scientific studies being published that often support, rather than contradict or discredit, the ancient wisdom and applications of herbs. They are even becoming ingredients used in some main-stream medical treatment and medications.”
Hardie also offers a basic encouragement for anyone to start reconnecting with nature and learning about plants. “Just go outside! Listen! Begin by trying to learn about some of the plants you see around you -be it a dandelion in a city sidewalk or a St. John’s Wort on the side of the road -there is always something green outside your door. Learn its name, its region, its properties. You will be amazed at what properties every day plants hold in their DNA. Plants have a language all their own. This is how you begin to rebuild your connection and reestablish your birthright to plant knowledge.”
Though she has a business and life philosophy rooted in ancient plant wisdom, Hardie realizes that individual choice and freedom to choose and follow ones’ unique path is the best life medicine of all. “I don’t care if everyone uses herbs or not. Plants are incredible -they have quite literally changed by life, but that might not be your thing. Your doorway to connection might be panting, breathwork, singing, yoga, or something you can’t name yet. The thing itself doesn’t matter as much. What matters is that it connects you to your body, to the world, to compassion, to something ancient and alive and meaningful.”
Still, if you are carbon-based and a resident of planet Earth, herbs would likely be a better fit for you than you think. Being able to walk out the door and recognize that the flowers of the late-summer tufts of goldenrod lining the path can be dried and seeped in a tea to help your unsettled stomach, or that the unruly mint you foolishly planted outside of a container can be used for large, scented bouquets next to your bedside to calm your nerves at night, gives one such a satisfying sense of being a participant of this earth that it is well worth beginning your own curious investigation into herbalism, or paying a visit to the garden gate of Stephanie Hardie to find out more.
Here are the upcoming events of Gate and Garden Herbal Apothecary this year:
Please visit: www.gateandgardenherbals.com to find out more.
Wild Heart Herbalism Program: Gate & Garden’s flagship teaching, Wild Heart Herbalism is a unique & immersive journey into the art of intuitive & applied plant medicine magick. Learn virtually beginning in May 2026 and/or in person beginning in June 2026.
Earthwoven Seasonal Rituals: Community gatherings with the mission to nurture authentic community through spaces where witchcraft, ritual, and coven-connection intertwine, reminding us that we are each a living thread in the great web of the earth.
3/20/26
5/1/26
6/19/26
8/7/26
9/18/26
10/28/26