Herb Pharm, America's #1 Herbal Extract Company, Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary
Williams, OR, March, 2009 –– When the roots of a company are established in fertile ground, the growth is vigorous & healthy. And so it is with Herb Pharm – a company that began 30 years ago with passion and principles continues to thrive today as a certified organic grower of medicinal herbs, producing America’s #1 selling line of liquid herbal extracts.
On March 8, 1979, Herb Pharm took root in Williams, Oregon. Back in those days, the "lab" was in the kitchen of Ed Smith and Sara Katz, the company's founders and owners. Their first commercial product, Herbal Ed’s Salve, was infused in a turkey roaster, bottles were filled by hand with a beaker, and labels were hand-typed. Accompanied by a handful of apprentices who lived in Ed and Sara's house, days and nights were spent planting,
harvesting and grinding the roots, leaves, flowers and seeds that grew in their garden and the surrounding mountains to make their liquid herbal extracts.
A History of Quality
“In those days, our little company was an alternative to the rather poor quality and limited array of medicinal herb products available in the 70's,” says Herb Pharm Chairman and co-founder, Ed Smith. “Back then, we spoke constantly and energetically of the importance of using organic, high-quality herbs as opposed to the overdried plant fiber that most of the existing companies were using in their products.”
Sara Katz, co-founder and President adds, “Then as now, we focused on collecting the best quality herbs we could, hand-picking the most medicine-laden plant parts of the plant at their peak of readiness and at the best time of day for harvest. In those days we even drove 100 miles round trip to fill our jugs with solar distilled water for our extracts!”
Before starting Herb Pharm, Ed lived five winters in the South American jungle learning about plants from native healers. He practiced herbal medicine at a missionary clinic in Guatemala, and studied every herb book he could get his hands on.
Ed, popularly known as “Herbal Ed” began formulating proprietary herbal compounds, using knowledge from his herbal studies and his extensive travels in over 60 countries. This also led to Herb Pharm introducing onto the American herb market herbs like Ginkgo, Milk Thistle, Chaste Tree, Butterbur, Jambul and Khella.
Ever Green
Herb Pharm ‘walks its talk’ of supporting socially and environmentally responsible practices. 100% of its electricity consumption is offset through participation in the Blue Sky renewable energy program, which utilizes off-site wind generators and geo-thermal heat capture. Herb Pharm has also received Salmon Safe certification for developing a long-term strategy to enhance and preserve riparian areas on its farm and wild lands, and for its ecologically sustainable agricultural practices.
Herb Pharm’s 85-acre certified organic farm is located in a rural valley of the Siskiyou Mountains in southern Oregon. Bordered in part by a living fence-line of medicinal trees such as Ginkgo, Hawthorn, Thuja and Chaste Berry, in summer the farm is ablaze with multi-hued fields of Echinacea, Chamomile, Calendula and over 100 species of medicinal plants that are cultivated for use in Herb Pharm’s extraction facility. The farm is also a site for practical research on the propagation and cultivation of endangered wild medicinal plants, and is a recognized Botanical Sanctuary by United Plant Savers (UpS) -- a non-profit organization whose mission is to conserve and restore wild-growing native medicinal plants of the US and Canada.
Herbal Ed explains, “As years go by, we continue to look for ways to improve the quality of our herbal medicines. While we are growing more and more of our herbs on our organic farm, our environmental commitments also include harvesting wild herbs in a responsible and sustainable manner – what we’ve termed “Custom Wildcrafted™”.
From the '70s to the new millennium Herb Pharm continues to revere and follow the time-proven wisdom of traditional herbal medicine, but also integrates that wisdom with the herbal sciences of the 21st Century. In so doing, the company looks beyond an herb's so-called "active compound" and instead produces "full-spectrum extracts" that are rich in the aroma, flavor and bio-activity of the original herbs themselves."
Planting the Future
Says Co-owner Katz, “We remain committed to herbal extracts that represent the full-spectrum constituents of each individual plant. We are sincerely grateful and thank all of our customers who have used our products through these years. As we continue to sink our herbal roots deeper and deeper, we will constantly strive to bring our customers
the finest herbal extracts available anywhere.”
It's an approach that customers seem to agree with, and is a key reason why Herb Pharm is the best selling line of liquid herbal extracts in America. After 30 years of manufacturing quality herbal medicines, Herb Pharm continues to produce primarily liquid herbal extracts, with currently over 250 products.
Throughout 2009, Herb Pharm will be participating in a variety of events to celebrate it’s 30th Anniversary. These events include: exhibiting and showcasing its new products at industry tradeshows and consumer green-living events; hosting the annual United Plant Savers Conference, at Herb Pharm on May 30th; and sponsorship of this year’s International Herb Symposium in Wheaton, MA, June 19-21. For more information on these and other events, visit www.herb-pharm.com.
