Essiac tea with Sheep Sorrel roots included!

Blue Moon Herbs – Part 2 – The Progression of “A Growing Idea”

Greetings all lovers of Essiac with Sheep sorrel roots included! It has been far too long since we came up for air and gave a progress report on our growing operations. (Click here for Part 1).  So, here goes:

Basically we have been digging Sheep sorrel roots since spring 2016 and only stopping when the ground freezes. It has been a long haul, but finally we have secured a couple good sources for organic Sheep sorrel root that we do not personally have to dig up ourselves!! We have gotten a great handful of local growers going too! I am very glad because it has been extremely hard to keep up with demand and keep our root content at 25%. Now we're in good shape for the forseeable future!

Spring 2016 - commercial source of Sheep sorrel root dries up 

Pacific Botanicals, our supplier, sold out and did not continue growing sorrel for a whole herb harvest and we began relying 100% on growing and harvesting all of our own. We got the Essiac Growers Guild going on Facebook, to encourage folks to grow their own Sheep sorrel and to find possible growers for Blue Moon Herbs. In the spring of 2016 we also lost the lease on our "North 40" Sheep sorrel beds just outside of town and had to move the plants we didn't harvest to other gardens around the area, mostly in Hot Springs, MT.

A fine crop of Sheep sorrel was also planted across the ocean by kindred souls and we will soon have beautiful organic German Sheep sorrel roots for our "Hands Across the Water" Essiac mix :). We have also secured certified organic Sheep sorrel root from this side of the ocean! Hallelleujah!!!!

We found an organic lavendar farm on the Olympic Peninsula. They had lots of volunteer Sheep sorrel and they began harvesting it for us in the summer of 2016. The stuff really grows out there where there is more moisture than here in Montana, and it was discovered that wood chips are the best mulch and produce fat beautiful roots that come out easy and clean!

We leased 1/2 acre of organic garden in Hot Springs MT in May 2017 that already had Sheep sorrel growing in it.  The driest summer since 1929 ensued. The grasshoppers turned the most lush early spring Sorrel beds into a wasteland. We planted more starts last fall and hope they come in good and that all those roots that were safely underground and away from the grasshoppers, are still there alive and well! Spring 2018 is predicted to be cool and rainy there so I've got my fingers crossed for a good year!

The most beautiful pristine mountain meadow was found in June 2017. It was full of sorrel! The owners gave us permission to dig and we drove over 100 miles one way to dig weekly all summer and fall. Our first time there we were greeted by two Sandhill Cranes which was pretty darn cool! The wild Sorrel there is very hardy and prolific though on the small side like wild Sorrel is and it takes a long time to harvest. However, more than making up for that was a hot springs just up the road for us to recuperate at. The forest fires kept us from getting up there for over three weeks. What a joy to have made the acquaintance of this place!

These are some of the highlights of the past two growing seasons. And now here it is almost March and time to start more Sheep sorrel! Happy growing, folks!


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1 Response »

  1. Thanks so much for your update...Your dedication to exemplary essiac is appreciated!

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