As originally published in the April 12 issue of The Mountain-Ear newspaper.
Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.
Nederland residents have watched the construction of the new building on First Street over the winter and enjoyed its grand opening two weeks ago. The Apothecary with its storefront on the street and its greenhouse in the back has been creating curiosity about who owns it and what it has to offer.
Entrepreneur Kate Miller says the business is what she has been aiming for all her life. It reflects the philosophy that healed her many years ago and has given relief to others seeking alternate therapies.
Walking into the building is an immediate pleasant sensation. Mingled aromas of herbs, essential oils, soaps and balms infuse the air creating a clean, natural fragrance that is a joy to inhale. The counters and shelves tastefully display products that say, “try me,” and fresh made herbal tea is always available.
Kate greets shoppers on Sunday afternoon, pleased with crowds that have visited over the last couple of weekends. This is what she pictured when she moved into Nederland.
As a child, Kate was plaqued with a variety of ailments. Her parents sought natural remedies to soothe her pain.
“The spark for herbal medicine started when I was 14 due to undiagnosed food allergies, prone to terrible middle and inner ear infections. I also had digestive issues and joint pain. Herbs helped me heal and exploring alternative medicine helped me eliminate food allergens. It was the beginning of my healing journey.”
Later, Kate was told she had undiagnosed Celiac disease, an auto-immune gluten allergy and undiagnosed chronic Lyme disease. Through herbs and healing foods, Kate has been able to keep herself healthy.
She grew up in Sun Valley, Idaho and other small towns. During her time at the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism in Boulder, she began exploring the Nederland area, the wild medicinal plants and gained an understanding of the surrounding wild spaces. In 2013 she and her partner Greg moved to the area.
“I love that by living here, you inherently live closer to nature. I have become in tune with my own rhythms in nature and this lends completely to my practice as a bioregional community herbalist. So much of what we offer has to do with seasonal needs and the availability of certain medicinal plants.”
Kate is a Permaculture Design Teacher which is all about modeling lifestyle on natural cycles, reducing our dependence on non-rentable energies, and modeling our gardens and farms on what’s already occurring in nature. She found the Indian Peaks
Wilderness to be an incredible example of varying degrees of forest succession. She became committed to accelerating ecological succession to increase the health and resilience in the forest ecosystems.
“The work I do as an herbalist is completely interconnected with this deep-rooted commitment. I am not an avid wild-crafter and in my classes I encourage cultivation of medicinals over wild harvesting because I feel that it is so much more important that we grow herbs sustainably than continue to decimate wild plant populations for profit.”
Because Kate has always been a small town mountain girl, she loves the community focus in Nederland. Healing is all about making connections and fostering long-term relationships with people and places. I think our community, as a whole, is thoughtful about development and what that will look like for Ned. When we designed the First Street building, sustainability and resilience were at the forefront of all decisions.”
She refers to the organic sourcing at the apothecary, the treehouse on the south side of the building and the 40 solar panels on the roof. Local architect Debbie Davenport, and contractors John and Jeff Fruth, were chosen to help support the local economy.
The apothecary has spaces for workshops and events. The greenhouse will have a small retail area with medicinal plant starts grown biodynamically. It will house a demonstration forest garden style system, which will grow tropical herbs, small fruit trees.
“I can’t wait to fill it with fragrant green herbs, flowers and food.”
Clinic space will be rented to local healers, who need more than a short conversation to have their needs addressed. So far, a few herbalists, Holistic Nutritionists and a Naturopathic Doctor are on board.
Kate’s product line is Dynamic Roots, a house brand at Alpine Botanicals, the most popular lines being their eight herbal tea blends formulated in Nederland and at the micro herb farms in Boulder and Carbondale.
Allergy Ease tea is a hit this time of year.
