If you’ve ever wondered what else there is to cure that sore throat or anxiety besides a bunch of syrups and pills, then this post is for you! I had the pleasure of interviewing Jolene from Wild Creatures Apothecary this past week and I learned so much about herbal remedies and traditional medicine! If you’re interested in learning more, read below for a crash course in herbal remedies.
Explain who you are and how you started your business.
My name is Jolene Guilmet and I am a Doula/Childbirth Educator and an Herbalist. I’m currently in the process of finishing up the formal side of my herbal education to be a Clinical Herbalist. Although, I don’t believe I’ll ever be done learning and growing in my craft.
My business technically started about 4 years ago, however, after my 2nd son was born in 2009, I had several health concerns pop up and once one was treated, it seemed like another would happen. This combined with poor experiences through the VA medical system and so many prescriptions, I decided to begin educating myself and looking for alternative routes. This is when I found traditional medicine.
I was always considered the “hippie” among most of my friends and for a long time, I only really researched and used herbal and natural care for myself and my family. As I was preparing for my 4th son’s birth, I found HypnoBirthing and fell in love with instinctive birth. This program really taught me to be in tune with my body and to listen to the needs of my baby and body. It educated me on the process of birth and what to expect.
But most importantly, it gave me the confidence to take back the power that I had given to not only the OBs that were treating me at the time but every doctor that I had given it to before then. It allowed me to take that power and use it to be my own advocate and a participant in my health care. It also gave me the confidence and passion to take the knowledge I had and the knowledge I will have to the community to educate and empower other people. That is the most important part for me, educating others and helping them take their power back to use it to take charge of their own bodies and health.
What is your favorite thing about herbal remedies?
Traditional Medicine is instinctive. I can tell the days I’m stressed and that my blood pressure is high, so I use teas or tinctures for that to help. Or days that my eyes are itching and my allergies are acting up, so I use herbal remedies to help with that. I’ve moved away from modern preventative medicine, which doesn’t mean I don’t pay attention to preventative health, it just looks different than taking a pill for this and a pill for that. It’s personalized and centered on my needs for my body and is nature-based.
The medical industry, the pharmaceutical industry are trillion-dollar industries and even the supplement industry pulls 31 billion dollars a year. And for what? And they aren’t making this kind of money by healing sick people. So my favorite part of herbal medicine, traditional medicine rather, is that it brings us (and our wallets) back to healing and nurturing our bodies in a way that is most beneficial: simple, natural, and instinctive.
What is an easy tip that a beginner might want to start with?
I started using traditional medicine to heal myself. And that is where I recommend starting. Pick a goal, mine at the time was tackling emotional health. I understood why I wasn’t healthy emotionally but didn’t understand what was happening within my body, physiologically and chemically.
Once I learned that then I researched avenues of holistic care. I started working with herbs that nurtured my heart and emotions and fortified my nervous system. Once I felt comfortable there, I moved on to my next goal…and then the next and the next. And now, I consider myself pretty well versed in my craft, enough to bring it to the community.
Some of the most common things that are happening within our society right now are anxiety, depression, and sleeplessness. What herbal remedies would you recommend that people use with these ailments?
Well, there are a ton of herbs that I could recommend to help with these highly common issues. I could suggest Lemon Balm for anxiety and St. Johns Wort for depression and Valerian Root, Lavender, Chamomile for sleep; however, Herbalism doesn’t work that way. While these herbs are great for the issues, they really just treat the symptoms.
Let’s look at sleeplessness. There are so many herbs we can use to treat insomnia and put you to sleep, but then I’d be treating you the same way the modern medical world is. I’d have to keep throwing herbs at you to get you to sleep, then your body could become dependent and the cycle begins.
What I want to know is why are you having trouble sleeping? Is it heartburn, a bellyache, racing thoughts, stress from the day? Then I want to know what your habits are? What do you do before you go to bed? What do you eat before you go to bed? How does the sleeplessness feel?
Let’s get to the root cause, and yes, part of the plan will be creating an herbal tea blend to help you, but the blend will be customized to your particular brand of sleeplessness. And this goes for any issue. This is definitely not the easy fix, but I believe it is the fix that will be most beneficial in the long run and I think you’ll learn a lot about yourself and your body along the way.
How long do you need to use a product before it really starts working?
Much like modern medicine, it depends on the herb and the purpose for which we are using them. When we look at nervine herbs, which are traditionally used for nervous system health, we have two categories. Adaptogens and Acute Care Herbs.
Adaptogens are meant to fortify the nervous system and help us better handle stress and anxiety and it takes using them over a long period of time for them to prepare our nervous system. These are herbs like Ashwagandha, Milky Oats, Astragalus, Hops.
On the other hand, herbs such as Lemon Balm, Skullcap, Passionflower, Lavender, and Chamomile are herbs that we can use in the moments of feeling overwhelmed and they can help calm us down. Astragalus, while being an adaptogen, and helping to fortify our nervous system over time, also works for respiratory health and immune function. It can be taken acutely for that.
Is there a difference in the potency of an herbal tea versus a topical ointment?
No, it would just depend on the intentions. We discussed St. John’s Wort earlier as a possible herb to use for depression. Well, it also makes a fantastic skin ointment to treat bruises, minor injuries, burns, shingles, and so on. So we wouldn’t use it as a salve to treat depression and we wouldn’t drink it to treat a burn.
Now in turn, when we look at Comfrey, it is great both topically and internally to reduce inflammation. It’s a common herb to find in “muscle relief salves” as well as, teas to target arthritis and inflammation.
If someone can’t afford to seek out the help of an herbalist like yourself, what are some things they can look for in common grocery store aisles that will work for them?
Well, I really want people to understand, herbalists are here to help, it isn’t until you get into one on one care that we really start charging consultation fees and so on. And our fees are definitely what I would consider being less than some of the medical bills I’ve seen. I think the one thing you’ll see we all have in common is the desire to educate, (this is why we’ll never be millionaires, we literally want to educate and give the power back to the people).
However, if there were just a few things I would suggest to start with, it would be things like Garlic…I can not stress how important garlic is in your daily diet. I think everyone should have a jar of fermented honey garlic on their counter. The National Institute of Health has a wonderful compilation of the hundreds of studies done in a medical setting regarding the benefits of raw garlic in our bodies. I mean WHOLE BODY HEALTH.
Other than that, I bet they have medicinal staples in their spice cabinet. Turmeric (wonderful for pain and inflammation and is also an adaptogen), Black Pepper (aids in the absorption of Turmeric), Cinnamon (for circulation), Rosemary (for headaches), Thyme (cough), Ginger (immune support), Parsley (liver health). The key is education and there is so much of it readily available, literally at our fingertips.
How can people get in touch with you for more information?
I can be found by the handle Wild Creatures Apothecary on FB, IG, and TikTok. My website is www.wildcreaturesapothecary.com and my email is wildcreaturesapothecary@gmail.com. My phone number is also on FB and my Website. But if you’re local, I would love to see you here at the apothecary 415 S. Gordon, just inside Gander Studio.
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