Dancing Gardens Medicinal Herb Farm

A Tiny Homestead

Today I'm talking with Stephanie at Dancing Gardens Medicinal Herb Farm.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead, the podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Stephanie at Dancing Gardens Medicinal Herb Farm. Good morning, Stephanie. How are you? Morning. Great. And you?

00:23
We tried to do this a while ago and you were driving and the signal kept cutting out. So I'm really glad that you're in one place right now. Right. And you said you're in Indiana? Yes. Okay, cool. All right, so tell me about yourself and what you do. My name is Stephanie. I'm married, four children, two grands. Since 2006, I've been on a journey with my own health because my husband is a veteran.

00:53
He's had some health issues, so we've decided to look into herbal medicine because big pharma is crazy busy money making junk. Okay, so I want to get into that, but do you grow your own herbs or do you acquire them from people who grow them or how does it work? We grow some, we accumulate some, we trade, you know, whatever works. Okay.

01:23
because some people will buy and that's totally fine, but if you're gonna buy, make sure it's a reputable place you're buying from because otherwise you may not know what you're getting. Absolutely. And growing plants in itself is healing, so I always encourage people to try to grow something. Yep. Okay, so what, like I wanna get into the nitty gritty of this, but I wanna be real careful. What kinds of herbs

01:53
I mean, I feel like every herb has a use, but I also know that some herbs are actually dangerous. So is there like a common couple of herbs that really do help the body? Well, it depends on what you're looking at to help the body. Like you said, every one of them have different uses. I have found, I believe, dandelion and...

02:22
calendula and hibiscus, I believe are most general that I grow outside of that. That's what I know what I grow. I'm learning other things to expand my horizon on knowledge because this is all brand new.

02:47
and learning the herbs. I have been already researching things for me specifically, but outside of my realm, you know, I'm still learning that. So that's what I found for a general wellness. Okay. And it's a huge field of herbs, obviously. There's so many. And some herbs are also really good for the body when you eat them, when you use them to flavor your food. And

03:15
some herbs are great in tinctures or teas. So there's a lot of ways to make this work. And I always kind of tread lightly because this is clearly a podcast that goes out to anyone who wants to listen to it. And I wanna be really aware of what we're sharing about things here. Right. So how long have you been digging into this? Really, for me, the past...

03:46
I've stayed five years that I have finally got to where, oh, look what I grow in my yard and it's been medicinal this whole time. But I have been on a journey with my health since 2006. Health as in I went through eight doctors because I didn't feel like they were listening to me. Here's a pill, that'll take care of it. Here's a pill, it'll take care of it. No, that's not what I'm looking for.

04:15
What is the problem? So it's been a journey. Uh-huh. Yes. And I'm going to, I'm going to go on a limb here and say, if you are female, like biologically female and a doctor isn't listening to you, I don't, I, typically it's the male doctors don't really listen, but there are female doctors that don't listen to get second opinions, keep looking because you will eventually find a doctor that is.

04:43
and no bullshit will tell you what they think and they will recommend what they think is the next step. And even if they can't do it, they'll find you someone who can. The reason I say this is with my fourth baby, who is now almost 23 and still lives with us, he, I had already had three babies. I knew how, or two babies, I knew how this went. And I knew that.

05:11
I could do it without drugs. I knew it. And I also knew that I wanted to do labor at home, most of it. And I just, I had it knocked. I knew what I was doing. And I knew that pain wasn't going to be the indicator to go into the hospital. And I told him all these things. And he went, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought, oh, this is not going to go well. And I was in...

05:42
pre-labor, whatever you call it before it's actual labor. For a couple of weeks, that was really fun. And my husband was getting antsy and he was like, we should probably go in and see where you're at. And I was like, okay. So we went in and the doc checked me and I was in labor, but it wasn't going anywhere. I think I was maybe two centimeters dilated. And the doc was like, why don't you hang around for a little while, we'll track your contractions and see.

06:11
what we think. And I was like, sure, that's fine. For anyone who doesn't know, if your file is in the room, you are entitled to read it. It is your file. You are fully within your rights to read your own medical file. So I saw the file and I said, Hey hon, pass me that. And I took a real quick glance at it. And I had specifically said, I did not want an epidural. I've had one in my life. I don't ever want one again. And in the chart, it said, it said,

06:41
give patient epidural when requested. I was like, oh my God. Okay, so what ended up happening, long story shorter, is I went into labor, I did all the laboring at home, got to the hospital at 10 minutes to seven, gave birth at 7, 12, 22 minutes later. Doctor never even was there. The nurse was amazing.

07:08
and she should have gotten paid and she didn't. The doctor who wasn't there got paid. So I have big issues with the medical field to begin with, but you are your own best advocate and if you feel like you're not being heard, you either need to speak louder, speak to someone above the person you're talking to, or find a different person. That's my story Stephanie, aren't you thrilled? This was in...

07:37
In 2006, I knew something happened and just a quick story. My husband, I said, you need to go with me. They had done all these tests. We go in there and the doctor says, well, I can't find anything wrong. Everything's okay. You could immediately feel the room temperature change. I walked out of there and I was like, I'm done. He didn't say anything to me for a long time. We were almost home.

08:07
I don't understand. He didn't find anything wrong. Why are you so upset?" And I go, that's the problem. There is something wrong and he's not looking in the right places. Yep. I feel like you should not actually go seek medical care unless you can't stop the bleeding or your heart is not beating and you're still functional enough to call 911 or unless something's

08:36
If you can avoid going to a hospital at all costs, I would do that. And that's what we do. We do everything we can to take care of things at home before we go anywhere near a doctor. Yes. So that's where the herbs come in because herbs are great. There is an herb that will stop minor bleeding and I can't think of it right now. There's a few actually.

09:01
Yes, thank you. I have it growing in my field right now. I was like, I know what it looks like. I just can't think of the name of it. My son, the one I was just talking about having given birth to, sliced his finger open two weeks ago and he sliced it such that the skin would not come back together. Oh, yeah. And so I would have tried Yarrow, but after five minutes of direct pressure and it just kept opening up, we were like, yeah, this is a Stitches situation. But.

09:31
had I not suspected it was going to be a stitch situation, I probably would have gone out and gotten some yarrow and smashed it and put it on there. Absolutely. There's just, there's so many plants that have such great benefits and people don't know about them. Yep. My husband, when he was going to the VA for issues, they kept throwing medicine at him. And he finally said, you know what, I'm done. I'm just done. So he's quit everything, which is not the greatest thing

10:01
Yeah. But we're working some things in. So we'll get there. He's got some tincture working that I concocted for him that I'm hoping will check all the boxes, but we won't know till December. So. Okay. Well, I'm going to send up smoke signals and positive energy because I'm not a praying girl, but my version of praying is smoke signals and positive energy. So that's what we're going to go with. Thank you.

10:30
Uh-huh. Okay, I'm trying to think of stuff to ask you because I know you're a busy lady. I mean you're always posting stuff on Facebook about what you're doing. So other than dealing with medical issues, what have you done in the last week or so that's to do with your herbs or outside or whatever? Well, we last weekend we harvested as much as possible because it was getting ready to get a cold snap, which as a matter of fact it froze last night. Here too.

10:59
Yeah, so we got all that in, thank God. And then over the weekend, my husband and I had a touch of the flu. He's still not feeling the greatest. I'm much better. It only lasted a day for me, thank God. So that was not fun. My mom is having some medical issues.

11:22
I took her to the doctor and then we went to the store and she passed out on me at the store so it was an exciting evening. So yeah, it's been a little rough. Good Lord, ma'am. Geez. She just needs to be hydrated. I'm happy that you had time to talk to me this morning. Yes. I took the time. Let's put it that way. Yeah, exactly.

11:52
Again, I want to make sure that people understand that if you're going to get into the herbal tinctures and treatments and things, do your research and talk to people who have some background and some knowledge on this because you don't want to be playing with herbs not knowing what they do. Absolutely because there's a lot of look-alikes out there that are very poisonous.

12:15
Yes, and some things herbs are not going to treat. I mean, I'm sure that your mom needs to go to the hospital for certain things. Yeah, she has to have surgery. She's got a hernia. It won't be solved by herbs. No, I mean, there's things that you can use after the surgery to help with the skin healing, but yeah, herbs won't do surgery. That's not going to happen. Um, one of the things that I made for my kid.

12:45
was a, I wanted it to be a lotion. My dog is barking. I wanted it to be a lotion and it looks like it was going to be a lotion and then it turned into a salve. It thickened up and I have since learned that there's something you need to put in it to make it stay thinner, but I don't have it. So it's now a salve. And he needed something for his skin because he's, he's got like really dry skin. And I looked up a lotion recipe, which didn't stay

13:14
and it called for either shea butter or cocoa butter. Mm-hmm. Like the butter you get from chocolate. And I bought the organic, you know, not changed cocoa butter. I had no idea that it smelled like chocolate. So he now has this wonderful salve that smells like cocoa, like hot chocolate. Interesting.

13:43
And he loves it for his hands, but he hates it on his face because he can smell the chocolate on his face. And I mean, chocolate, I have been told that every plant is an herb by someone who's big into herbalism. So, so the chocolate plant is an herb as well. So, so who knew chocolate's great to eat and it's also an herb. Yes. Yeah. But this, this. I love chocolate. Hmm? I said that's awesome because I love chocolate.

14:12
Yeah, and this this salve is so wonderful. Like you rub it in your hands and it's not wet after you put it on. So so you're not like wiping your hands on a paper towel or a washcloth to get it off because it's too much. It's it's just lovely. I want I want to make more to give out as Christmas presents, but I haven't quite gotten on it yet. Right. I'm working on that stuff, too. Yeah. And I've got a whole bin of.

14:42
crocheted cotton wash gloss that I need to sort through and pick some out for people. So it's getting to be that time of year. So do you share what you learn about herbs? Um, I'm starting to, um, because I'm learning, I learned about me first. I'm more knowledgeable about me issues. So I'm now expanding out to, Hey, what's going on with you? Hey, what's going on with you? You know, so.

15:13
People are starting to, we're starting conversations. Yeah. So I think that will help and, you know, help people down the road as far as I can help them, you know? Yeah, do you get the look of incredulity, incredulity, I think that's a word, incredulousness or the blank stare when you ask, when you say, hey, maybe I should look into this for you and see if there's an herbal treatment that could help? Some people, yes.

15:43
No, they're like, really? Tell me more. They're more intrigued and interested more than surprised so far. Good. They're like, oh, OK, yeah, sure. Because I'll say, let me get you a sample. OK, so here's a free sample. Try it. Tell me what you think. Yeah, I have had conversations with people about things that I've learned along the way, and we do.

16:14
Two out of five times I get the what? And I'm like, oh yeah, this plant, if you do this with it and you put it on your skin, it will help. And they're like, no. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, it does. It works. Trust me. We've done it. What surprised me most is I've been growing most of these weeds in my yard and didn't know it. I call them weeds because that's what I was doing was getting rid of them. They're weeds. So they're medicinal.

16:44
Yeah, it's like the the plantain that grows wild on our property has all kinds of great benefits to it I had no idea. I was just like go ahead. Go ahead and mow it honey. I don't need it Don't don't mow that patch that patch right there. That's mine. Don't touch that one Yeah, I've been trying to get rid of it and it's been keeps coming back with a vengeance like I'm still here

17:12
Yeah. Did I see something about ground ivy on your Facebook page or was that somebody else's? Creeping Charlie or ground ivy? I don't think so. Yeah. What's good about Creeping Charlie? Because we have that everywhere. I know I can't find a whole lot on it. I'm trying to find information on it because, yes, it's everywhere. What can this do? What can I do with it? So I have not found the research enough on it to know.

17:42
Okay. But I'm taking pictures and documenting to see. Good. Um, yeah. And the thing is, I think that Creeping Charlie is really, really pretty and it blooms these pretty little purple flowers. Right. And it smells amazing when you cut it. Yes. And I'm like, why don't people have this for lawns? It stays low. It's pretty. It smells good if you mow it. It's lovely. And our neighbors in the old place over four years ago,

18:12
used to get really upset because the boulevard, the part of the lawn that is across the sidewalk was covered in it on our side and the neighbor was very into having a pretty green grass lawn. And he would actually mow our patch when he mowed his and I'm like, I wish he wouldn't do that. Thank you for your help, but please stop. Don't do that. And I tried really hard to be

18:40
kind and nice when I said, you know, I really don't need you to do that. It's okay. Don't don't. And his wife was friends with me and she's like, why don't you want him to do it? And I said, because there's violets in my, in the Boulevard in front of our house. And I would like to keep those. Right. Those bloom all year long and they're pretty. I would like to keep those. And she was like, okay. And that was it. So, and, and honestly speaking of violets, violets are an herb. There are things violets are good for, and I can't.

19:09
off the top of my head tell you what do you happen to know? I do not, but yes I found out by the way. I'm like seriously those grow all year long in my yard. Yep, and you can actually eat the the petals in your salads if you want to. Cool. My head overloads sometimes because I'm like oh what's this oh what's this oh what's this and then I have so many I can't keep a straight

19:36
That's how I am with the guests on my podcast, Stephanie. I am scheduling weeks ahead of time. And I somehow get to a point where I'm like, oh, who am I talking to tomorrow? And I go look at my calendar and I'm like, oh crap, I haven't even looked at this since I booked them a month ago. I should probably go see what they actually do. Right? I should know something. Yeah, it would be nice to have some questions in my head because that's what this is about.

20:03
Okay, so we've got like 10 minutes left here. What's what's the plan? I mean, are you gonna try to become an Herbalist for real or you just gonna keep digging at this like a hobby? um Well, I have went and got a diploma from one of them to get knowledgeable but now I'm finding out that there's way more to it and

20:32
looking at federal regulations and making teachers for commercial uses. And if I'm going to have to, this is my thought process. There was a whole thing to this that my son would like to do something and I'm trying to foster that. So this was what we could do legally in this state. If I'm going to have to track everything, then I might as well start where

21:02
This is my hobby. This is what I want to do. I don't necessarily need another job. I don't need another life. This is something I like doing. If I want to foster what he wants to do, which he wants to grow and be part of that culture, which is fine, but it's not legal here in the state. So we're working towards that. But if we're gonna do that, why not start out with him? Yeah.

21:31
You have to, you know, calculate all that and figure all that and document everything about that. If I'm going to have to document everything, might as well start where we got to document anyway. And then this can be kind of like a side hustle of, hey, let me help you out. Hey, I'm learning this. Hey, you know, I don't know. That's, that's, it's all open right now. We're just kind of letting it.

22:02
foster itself. The end of this month, we actually have what we're going to call a board meeting. Our whole family is going to have a meeting and sit down and talk and figure all this out and see where we want to go from here. I wish you a lot of luck with the family board meeting. We have a little pod here. We have my husband and I and our son, he's 22, going to be 23.

22:27
And when I say, hey, we need to sit down and make a plan for next summer for our business, I get the look of terror. You know, they're like, oh my God, here comes all the fighting because we all have different ideas. And it's not actually fighting. It's just a big discussion about plans and ideas and what's doable and what isn't. And sometimes we walk away really excited and energized and sometimes we walk away going, oh no.

22:57
And there's six of us. Yeah. Six of the adults. Yeah. So, and then I'm incorporating my best friend who is so knowledgeable in the plant world with vegetables and fruits and stuff. So this is right up her alley. Some of that she knows. Some of it she's like me where we're learning as we go. Um, so I've incorporated her because A, she is a negotia, not a negotia.

23:28
Norm, neutral. She's a neutral party. That's what I want to say. She's Sweden. Yes. Yes. So that she can say, okay, hey, what about this? Or, hey, I hear what you're saying, and I hear what you're saying. Why don't you know, to try to alleviate some of the arguing or discussing? Yes, I try to avoid the word arguing because I think of arguing as actual fighting.

23:57
Right. I think of discussion as throwing a bunch of ideas out and settling on a couple. There you go. Yes, I agree. So how old is the son that you mentioned? Mine is, oh my gosh, 27. Okay. I have one that's going to be 28, thinking. And now I have three step kids who are, uh, she's 39, 36, and 34.

24:27
Okay. So you've got a bunch of adults who are going to be in on the meeting who have different ideas and different dreams. But they also know that this is mama's dream and they're like, okay, whatever you want. That's that's helpful. And and maybe they'll actually have some great things throw into the meeting and you'll be like, I hadn't thought of that yet. Right. And they they're all learning to they have none of them have these skills. And because of what I've been through with this

24:56
last couple years journey, I was on a hellish hormonal journey, let's put it that way. Yep. And then I decided that I needed, I'm having, I had a struggle with death. I lost my dad eight years ago and I lost a bunch of people in 2022 in a matter of three months I lost like five important people in my life. So I had a little rough patch. Yeah. Because of that.

25:25
And maybe it's a midlife crisis. I don't care. Whatever you want to call it. I decided that in order for me to continue, I have to show my children how to live in this life without the modern conveniences that are destroying us pretty much. And that's what has started this. And this is what we've morphed into. Well, I hate that that's how it started, but you're, you're on a good path. So finally.

25:54
I had to lock myself in the house for a couple years because I thought I was really going to hurt somebody. I was that mad at everybody, mad at the world. And it was all far more... Yup. It's a thing once you get past 50. As a female, you're like, what is going on with me? Yes. I'm like, what does it matter? I don't want to hurt people, but man, you're pissing me off.

26:22
Yeah, and I mean, I've mentioned this before. I don't know if I've talked about it on the podcast before or not, but it's really weird how everybody talks about puberty. Everybody talks about childbearing years. Everybody talks about raising teenagers. But once you get up to that menopause topic, people are like, I want to talk about that. I had no idea.

26:48
what happens when the estrogen level in your body crashes. And that's what happens during menopause. Yes. And I don't really have a good indicator because my sister is 15 months younger than I am. And she had a hysterectomy a few years back. So I can't even talk to my sister and be like, what are you going through? Because hers is totally different. Exactly. And my mom...

27:16
She is 78. She took the hormone replacement medicine when the craziness started for her. So she doesn't really have anything to tell me because that medicine clearly changed things for her too. So when I started going through it, I was crying constantly. I would cry at everything.

27:46
Yeah. And my husband was like, are you nuts? And I was like, I might be, I might be crazy. And he said, is this, is this what's going to be you for the rest of your life? I was like, Jesus, I hope not. It took for it took like up until a couple of years ago. So there were like two years where I was just crying at everything. It didn't matter, matter whether I was happy or sad or neutral. Just, I would cry at the drop of a hat.

28:16
It was nuts. And I didn't go through the anger stuff that a lot of women go through. I went through that with the periods. Like three or four days where I would start my period, I would just be ready to blow up the world. And my husband is like, uh-oh. And I'm like, yep, just don't talk to me. If you need something, if you need something, please say honey, because I will know you need something. It's important. And the good news is there's herbs that help with that too.

28:46
Yes. And if you want to know listeners, you're going to want to go look it up because I don't know what they are because I didn't know until I didn't need them anymore. And I'm working with a wellness coach with mine. So that's where my journey led me to was to her, which started this process too. So awesome. Coaches are fantastic. Yeah, we're working together. Her name is Lindsay Lindsay. Is that not wild?

29:16
Oh, funny. And she's, she's wonderful, beautiful lady. I love her. Well, I'm glad you have one that you love and I'm glad you found one that you that you love because it's really hard finding somebody that you're going to click with. I debated looking into becoming a coach like 15 years ago because I'm like, I'm always talking with people and, and they're like, I'm doing this thing and this is what's going on. They tell me stuff.

29:46
I'm like, are you venting or are you looking for advice? And they're like, well, what would you do? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I can ask you questions to lead you to your answers, but I can't tell you what I would do because I'm not you. And so I decided that coaching was probably not in my best interest, just being a friend and being like, what do I ask them to lead them to their own answers? That's how I do it. But anyway, neither here nor there. So.

30:15
I'm really glad that you took the time to talk with me today Stephanie. I appreciate it so much. Well, thank you for asking me. Yeah. And we're at 30 minutes and I try to keep these 30 minutes. So I'm going to let you go. I hope everything goes well with your mom. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Have a great day. You do the same. Bye.