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

President & Co-Founder Michael Volchok shares his stories

Today: Michael relaxing in a field of Dandelions
Birth of Blessed Herbs Twenty years ago and struggling to support 4 children, we were asked to pick Mullien and bought groceries with the $30... Read more. I like the woods The thoughts of humankind, the pressures of our small mindedness and the vibrations of our busy lives have not been laid down there... Read more. My first experience with herbs All the infection left his leg and the wound drained naturally, I became a believer... Read more. My personal pain and hope. I have lived most of my life with a deep uneasiness that never allowed me any real lasting peace. Yet, I am finding that I have hope, despite these old and crusted patterns of behavior. Read more. More stories by Michael - Drying our first herbs - Searching for true species - Washing roots - Our first powder machine - Our first liquid extracts - About my wife Martha - Pricing herbs - Advice on buying herbs - Handling & Storing herbs - Where we find our herbs - Environmental Concerns - Where we are today - Go lightly , Go simply.	Drying our First Herbs by, Michael Volchok When we first started Blessed Herbs, we lived in a 20X40 cabin we had constructed on the grounds of a Trappist Monastery. It had no ceilings but was open to the roof with the beams exposed. To dry our herbs we stapled plastic under and over the beams and when we had herbs to dry, we leaned a ladder up there and I climbed up and spread out the wet herbs and roots while someone else climbed up and down handing me more plant material. That system dried hundreds of pounds of herbs and worked pretty well except for the fact that when we climbed up to harvest the dried herbs and placed them into boxes and bags, we always had a tremendous shower of herb particles that rained down onto our living quarters, covering our whole house, bedroom, kitchen and all. I think we were all so healthy because we spiced up our life with a hundred and one herbs!