Michael's Stories | Martha's Stories | Shalom's Stories

Master Herbalist & Co-Founder: Martha Volchok

Michael and Martha Volchok, Co-Founders of Blessed Herbs.
I have but one desire That everyone might know true health of body, mind and spirit. The greatest gift of all... Read more. Formulations of Intuition, by Shalom Every time I ask my mom how her formulas work she says, "oh, don't ask me that! I have no idea." Does that mean she doesn't know how herbs work? Not hardly... Read more.	Thirty Years of Love by, Michael Volchok I first really saw Martha the night she was playing the Japanese instrument called the Koto. She was in another room but her music floated throughout the house and stirred my soul. The next day I told her how moved I was by her playing and sat down beside her and we played the instrument together. What started as a simple soul singing out in love has become 30 years of the most wonderful and precious relationship two people can have. Our love for one another was visible from the beginning and it was a love that was fanned from invisible worlds we could not see but could touch and feel and know without doubt we had been called to come together not only to nourish our own minds, bodies and souls but those of our family and friends. Martha has always had a gift of generosity, love and compassion... a person with no guile and a "heart of gold" as they say. Her continuous love and acceptance of me and my idiosyncrasies over the years has slowly but surely, been the strongest force in my life to soften the hard places and make loving others meaningful and important. Her ways are the ways of healing and peace. She knows the meaning of love and a tender heart and is always there for those in need. When we started our family she was the one who always knew what the children really needed to nourish their souls while at the same time grounding us all in this world. Our family loved to love and having home businesses made a lot of sense. In or near our homes, we had a small painting company, a natural food, soy-based bakery, a sprout farm and finally Blessed Herbs. Always putting family first, we worked together, shoulder to shoulder, night and day if need be, to keep us all together as a unit. When Blessed Herbs took off, we knew it was the grace of God that provided us with such a grand opportunity to be involved in something so wholesome and natural orientated. Over the years we have struggled to keep our family values intact, all the while, running a growing business and tending to the needs of the business. Whenever business gets too hetic or anyone starts to panic about the state of affairs, Martha is always there to remind us of our birthright of love. It is said that love casts out fear and I have witnessed this to be true. Of course, sometimes the fear is so great, that we tend to forget all about love, but if we work to stay focused on the things at hand, and not climb too far out on the limbs of the fear tree, we can remember the ways of love and maintain enough sanity to pass through the storms of life. Martha has been sick a lot in her life and has always listened to her body, applied her mind from study and been able to find a natural solution to most all situations. She cared for all four of our children naturally and has developed over the years an intuitive sense about well-being and imbalance which she applies to her medicine making formulations. All her formulas are based on trial and error and experience and this usually started with working on herself. She just works with people and the herbs because it is who she is. A healer and a lover of humanity. I would say I was a sincere seeker and a listener and a good student but she has been the guiding force for our business and our life. That's been the best natural health formula for me. Martha is one of God's jewels.