What does it mean to be a steward?

Traditionally, we think of someone tending the land: planting seeds, nurturing soil, and harvesting with care. But stewardship is larger than that. It is the simple, profound act of taking care of land and plants, yes, but also of people, community, stories, and traditions.

We believe stewardship is a circle. It begins with the land, flows through those who grow and gather, continues through the makers who craft, and finally rests with you, the one who chooses, uses, and honors these gifts.

Stewardship in the shopping aisle

We’re advocating to our community, retailers and customers alike, to seek out brands that live and breathe stewardship. When shopping, look for:

• Deep, direct relationships between brands and their farmers, distillers, and wildcrafters.
  

• Trusted certifications that ensure land and people are respected.
  

• Ancestral knowledge passed down through generations, keeping traditions alive.
  

Your choices support vitality for our soil and the well-being of us all. Stewardship, in this way, becomes a shared responsibility.

The Steward Series

Starting this October, we invite you to join us for our new Steward Series—a monthly gathering where you’ll hear directly from these remarkable stewards.

Each conversation will be hosted live on Zoom, so you can listen, learn, and ask questions. Together we’ll explore how stewardship takes root in different lands, cultures, and communities—and how it connects back to your daily rituals.

You're invited

To our first session: Meet the family reviving the American family farm

Time: 1pm PT
Date: Mon, October 13th
 
Zoom Link

Jud & Anne Carleton, Morning Myst Botanics: Healing the land through regenerative practices in Washington’s Columbia River Valley. Together, they nurture soil with cover crops, bringing life back to the earth.

*Dates and details for the following Steward sessions will be shared via our Newsletter and updated here as they become available.

Meet the Stewards

Meet the family reviving the American family farm

The Carleton family of Morning Myst Botanics sparked a farm revival along the Columbia River Valley and are training the next generation of hydrosol distillers. 

*Our first event. Event details listed above.

Meet the steward planting one million argan trees

Simo El Karz is securing the sovereignty of women's co-operatives and local landowners in Morocco.

Meet the advocate lifting the veil off the herbal industry

Anthropologist, herbalist and author Ann Armbrecht founded the Sustainable Herbs Initiative - a global network of companies, producers, herbalists, and researchers working to build an industry rooted in reciprocity. 

Meet the farmer who fought Monsanto and won

Elise Higley of Oshala Farm and her community turned a fight for seeds into a landmark win. 

Meet the herbalist carrying the torch of Yerba Mansa

Lauren Nichols-Sheffler joined the "Mansa Man" for his final Yerba Mansa harvest. By keeping the legacy of this guardian of the wild alive, she is carrying forward both his wisdom and the future of this sacred Southwestern plant. 

Meet the ecologist turning firewood into forests

Julius of ORGIIS is restoring shea and baobab trees and bringing economic and environmental vitality to local communities in Northern Ghana.

Meet the teacher making the garden her classroom

Leona Vrbanac is weaving herbs, mushrooms, pollinators, and orchards into culinary class lessons, giving high school students in a food-insecure community the chance to grow, learn and belong. 

Meet the llama on the world's first regenerative olive grove

Farmers Patrick and Claire of Frantoio Olive Grove replaced machinery with a term of lawn-mowing, hoof-aerating, and ground-fertilizing sheep, guarded by a llama named Kronk. 

What to look for:

Trusted certifications

Certifications guard against greenwashing. They verify that farmers, brands, and supply chains meet rigorous standards for soil health, fairness, and integrity - translating into plant vitality and healthier products. 

Deep & direct relationships

Brands that sit in circles with farmers, wild harvesters, women's co-ops, and tribal villages - sharing meals, walking the land, and making plans together. These friendships, built on trust and shared values, carry the spirit of stewardship and the greater good. 

Brands that honor traditional medicine and farming preserve wisdom handed down through generations. By respecting the past this knowledge continues to nourish and guide us all. 

Each of our ingredients carries a story of care, courage, and regeneration.

You are part of the circle

Stewardship is not something “out there.” It lives in your hands as much as in ours. When you mist your skin with HydroSoul, when you choose products grown and gathered in reverence, you are participating in this cycle of care.

Together, we are tending land, tending people, tending self. Together, we are stewards.