When sourcing herbs for our potions, we prioritize locally grown and organically grown wherever possible, while highlighting and emphasizing bioregional herbs (herbs indigenous, naturalized, or invasive to the Great Lakes Bioregion) in our formulas.
Our local range extends from right here in Chicago out to the Driftless region in Illinois and Wisconsin, to Western Michigan (anything within a 250 mile radius from Logan Square in Chicago). Most of the herbs we use are sourced within this range from farms that grow their herbs organically.
Some of our local sources that we love include:
Closed Loop Farms - Chicago, Illinois
Patchwork Farms - Chicago, Illinois
Golden Hour Farms - Jenison, Michigan
Black Locust Gardens - Dexter, Michigan
Linden Tree Herbals - Ann Arbor, Michigan
Stone House Herb Company - Shannon, Illinois
If we are not able to get certain herbs from our local growers, we source from small, family run farms in Oregon and New York state.
Some of our small U.S. sources include:
Oshala Farm - Applegate Valley, Oregon
Healing Spirits Herb Farm - Avoca, New York
Some of the herbs used in our extracts we are not able to procure from within the United States at this moment, or at all (due to the necessary growing conditions of certain plants). For herbs that are able to grow within the United States we want to make sure the source is a good one, so we do our research before committing to a source.
An in effort for full transparency in sourcing, the following herbs are the only herbs we use in our products that are not sourced within the U.S., but from sources outside the U.S. that we trust:
If you're a U.S. or local grower that can supply any of the above herbs for us, we'd love to chat! Send us an email at alex@firstcurveapothecary.com.
It is our mission to source as many herbs as possible from small, local growers, that work to steward the land they are on, and we appreciate any feedback or support in this regard. Reach out with any questions on sourcing, we'd love to answer them!