Our Ethos
If you can’t eat it, then you shouldn’t put it on your skin.
Being plant people in every sense, we are guided by the rhythms of nature. We dream in the winter months about the future gardens and stir in the late winter to plant seeds. We put our time and energy into cultivating + sourcing various herbs and aromatics, ensuring that they are fresh and of high potency. What we cannot grow ourselves, we wild forage or source from local farms + families with whom we have personal connection to. Our formulas contain fresh mountain spring water that is collected from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains here in NC. From soil to bottle, our hands have touched every part of the process. Our products have been crafted using practices that are natural, environmentally mindful, cruelty free, and ethically grown.
We try to infuse mentorship into our path by offering guidance, classes, and workshops to share knowledge of plants and their healing properties. We strive to make knowledge accessible to people in all walks of life, from the beginner to the seasoned professional. The medicine is much more potent if it can be shared and passed on.
“It was explained to me early on in my studies, now that I have this knowledge,
I am not to hoard it, I am to pay it forward, and this is my offering to you.”
- Rebecca, owner, artisan, distiller & creator of aurum apotheca
Who we are
Hello, I’m Rebecca,
Owner, Artisan, Distiller & Creator of aurum apotheca.
I have been an herbalist for 25+ years where I have gained a wealth of knowledge in medicinal herbs and practices. I began distilling 5 years ago (in 2020) and my practice has continually deepened as a result. As all distillers know, you think you’re distilling the plants but, you’re really distilling yourself.
My offerings are led by the intelligence of nature and the plants. I follow their wisdom and they lead me toward truth, a truth I’m honored to share with you.
In those early years of distilling, I focused on what I was growing on my land or what was grown by farmers I know in the area. Then one day, Frankincense walked into my world. The first time I distilled Frankincense, the distillation went perfect and the spirit of this sacred tree had me on my knees in deep, deep remembering and reverence. As Frankincense and I continue to get to know each other, my offerings continue to expand. In my experience with sharing my Frankincense offerings at shows, it seems that most of you who are drawn to my work, need Frankincense too.
My source of this fine resin is the Smokewalker Family, local to me here in the Blue Ridge Mountains. If it weren’t for them I most likely would not be working so deeply with Frankincense (the international trade of this resin is complicated and generally lacks integrity and quality).
The story of the plants I work with is of utmost importance to me, and there’s always a story of how a particular plant comes into the aurum apotheca line of offerings.
I've worked in herbal education, natural products labs, and various versions of cultivation for the last two decades. My studies have taken me along a path of herbal medicine that focuses on Nutrition, Biodynamics, Ayurveda, Postpartum Ayurvedic Care, Clinical Herbalism, Flower Essences, community building, mentorship, and distilling. These days I spend my time as the Director of Plant Medicine at the Veterans Healing Farm, formulating + crafting for aurum apotheca, and teaching at the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine.
To keep up with my journey at aurum apotheca, follow me on Instagram.
Meet Our Farmers
Farm to table… seed to bottle. Working with family farms to curate potent medicine.
We source organic + ethically tended medicinals to ensure purity.
We grow and tend our own botanicals, or we source from these beautiful family farms.
Kestrel Herb Farm
Kestrel Herb Farm was born from a desire to devote more of the land to growing vibrant + powerful medicinal herbs.
Farmers Katie & Mike are located in a beautiful valley in Big Sandy Mush, NC. They take care to honor their relationship to the land by minimizing their disturbance of natural systems.
They grow and harvest a wide variety of medicinal herbs and flowers from April to October and are strongly committed to the stewardship of the land, and only use organic inputs to grow their crops. They see the farm as a microcosm of our planet Earth, where individual organisms work symbiotically to nurture and sustain one another.
Full Sun Farm
Full Sun Farm is a small family farm run by Alex Brown and Vanessa Campbell. We live here in an old farm house with our two daughters, Ada and Belle. (I met them when our kids were in preschool together 20 years ago!) For the health of our soil, ourselves, our customers and our community, we grow using organic methods. This includes extensive cover cropping, as little tillage as we can manage, careful selection of varieties suited to our growing conditions, scouting for pests + introducing beneficial micro and macro organisms.
We love what we do, where we do it and who we do it for. We find growing food nad flowers for our community to to be challenging, rewarding and important work.
Our focus is growing a lot of different kinds of really tasty, beautiful vegetables for sale at farmer’s markets. We have high quality standards both for taste and for looks, and our stands at market are known for being among the most visually appealing in the area.
