Ann Armbrecht at a Regenerative Farm in Costa Rica
This past summer, a few of us from evanhealy joined a four-day Learning Journey in the Applegate Valley of southern Oregon. Under the sun-drenched sky, we found ourselves quietly drawn to the gentle presence of Ann Armbrecht, a true steward of the plant world.
Ann is wise and deeply attuned. An anthropologist, writer, and filmmaker with a PhD from Harvard, she is the director of the Sustainable Herbs Initiative, a project dedicated to transparency, sustainability, and the sacred relationship between herbs and those who work with them.
This past year we have embarked on a transformational journey with Ann, walking alongside her through a series of Learning Journeys, immersive gatherings that have drawn us into deep conversations around supply chains, transparency, and healthy relationships with the land and people who grow our herbs. These experiences, guided by Ann and her work with the Sustainable Herbs Initiative, have been pivotal in helping us evolve our own regenerative journey. Her insights continue to shape the way we approach sourcing, storytelling, stewardship and the entire web that connects us all.
The following quotes are small windows into the soul of her work.
Words from Ann Armbrecht
Her book, Following the Herbal Harvest is a call to remember that sustainability isn’t just about ingredients, it's about people, places, and the living systems that connect them.
“By seeing how our lives depend on a web of non-visible relationships, we enter a relationship with that broader frame, or web. We see ourselves as part of the unfolding of events and act accordingly.”
“Rather than only focusing on improving the constituents in a crop or even more broadly improving the quality of the field, they start with the belief that the field is only as healthy as the overall community within which the farm is located.”
Ann wrote this many years ago while living in northeastern Nepal conducting research for a doctorate in Anthropology. She writes that,
“What pilgrims see on their journey to these sacred places depends on what they are capable of seeing. Some encounter rocks and trees, mountains covered with snow. Others who cross the same terrain see mysterious landscapes shimmering with jewels and awesome mountains floating above clouds of light.”
Toward the end of this essay, she concludes that,
“We experience the sacred not simply by visiting places that are sacred. We enter the sacred when we let go of the fear of being exposed and begin to open our hearts to the world around us.”
A journey to Khembalung, Northeastern Nepal
This reflection is from the Learning Journey, led by Ann, that the evanhealy team recently participated in. Making custom botanical herbal infusions, we select and mix a few of the very herbs and oils – like sage, chamomile, rose petal, hops, calendula, lavender and olive – showcased in our products. Throughout we check in with each other to see what resonates, and how that shapes our thinking.
Around the table hands meet the wisdom of leaves, petals and buds. Fingers brushing against centuries of sun and soil. The plants breathe stories into the air. Whispering of roots that know the way back home. Grounding someone murmurs. Peace another says and the scent of chamomile rises. A quiet balm for the restless heart. Ann’s voice calls us to listen, to meet the plants not as ingredients but as companions each with a face, a name, a spirit, a gift to offer. We all have our own medicine someone says, and we remember it’s not just the plants we’re blending but pieces of ourselves, fragments longing for wholeness. The room hums with wonder with unspoken knowing that we like the plants are here to be seen, to be known, to heal.
