Featured Handmade Artist- Spirit Horse Herbals
Hello! I hope you're having a great week! I'm having a fabulous, but incredibly busy week! Please be patient while I try and catch up! In the meantime, I did have a chance to interview a Featured Handmade Artist this week-- I'd like to introduce you to Kristie from Spirit Horse Herbals! For those of you who know me, you know that I LOVE tea (about as much as I love coffee!) and I'm super excited to feature a woman who's living her dream and makes amazing tea and natural products!
Kristie also creates organic medicinal herbal products as well, such as pain relieving salves, balms that aid in decongestion, and all natural botanical lip balms. Here's just a small sampling of what's offered:
Hi Kristie! Can you please tell us a little bit about who are you, where you're from, and what you do?
I'm Kristie Nackord the herbalicious 'Herb Girl' behind Spirit Horse Herbals. I am a passionate and wild-hearted woman who loves plants and horses. Originally from Northern California, I moved to Westcliffe, Colorado to LIVE my dream life. That’s right, live it, not just dream it! I lovingly grow most of my own organic herbs that I brew into my products. And if I don’t grow it, I buy my ingredients from only reputable organic growers. At 8,300 feet and with less than a 90-day growing season, most things that grow here are potent and strong—qualities I feel are important to bring to any medicine.
In addition to my love of creating and sharing herbal products I also have another passion which is offering marketing consulting services to like-minded and-hearted businesses. Yeah, I'm pretty darn blessed. I live in a small rural town of 600 people in the mountains of Colorado and get to telecommute (and work in my pj's!) for great companies in California and beyond.
What is the first craft project you remember making?
The first time I ever created an herbal anything I was 23. I came home from a very empowering workshop hosted by one of the most amazing herbalists, Kami McBride, where I enjoyed a tea blend of lemon balm, lavender and oatstraw (the inspiration behind my own Dreamtime tea blend). I swooped home like a fiery bandit and went out to my garden and found all of the ingredients myself. It was instant Knowing, like I could feel back into myself over lifetimes and just Know myself as a plant woman. Unwavering Knowing! I also think I pull on the lineage of women in my family. They are all fine Italian cooks who create absolute beautiful madness in the kitchen. I believe I do the same thing, just with the plants! Since my first herbal tea brew I have never looked back~!
What inspires you?
Inspiration is a HUGE part of my walk here on Earth. Not only do I feel inspired but I also hope to inspire. That is why my slogan for Spirit Horse Herbals is ...inspiring you to live your dream life. I can often find inspiration anywhere. It can fly across my computer screen unexpectedly, or be felt from a quick glance up at the mountains. It can be experienced through heartfelt conversations, walks in nature, hangin' with the horses, rollin' in the dirt with the plants, scratching a cat... you get the drift! And the thing about wanting to offer inspiration... well, for so long I didn't believe I could have it all such as living in a dream home, having a dream job, dream guy, etc. The 'cube' was my life. 12 hour work days, 5-6 days a week, with no time for me or for what my Heart yearned for. And then something clicked one day (literally while I was sitting in the cube!) and I set out to find a different truth. That is when I met my teacher who consistently continues to point to the greater and limitless possibilities for all of us. I hope that by walking my walk which is committed, no Devoted, to my own Awakening, that people can see that is possible to LIVE our dream life, not just dream it anymore.
Can you describe some of your creative process?
Creating any of my products takes lots of time and space. Because I grow many of the herbs that go into my products, the creative process begins with the start of the seed in spring--literally! All summer long I tend to the plants caring and nurturing for them. After harvest in the fall, the herbs are then processed in their respective ways, often being steeped in organic oils for another two months for use as the base in my salves and balms. When it is time, the madness in the kitchen begins and the herbs are brewed, blended, and loved into their final creation as oils, salves, balm, or teas! But most importantly I would like to share that I follow no recipes in my brewing process. I've learned with lots of support to follow my intuition, no matter what. I trust through feel how much of this and how much of that to include in each batch of whatever I brew. Which also means my products are ever changing and that to me just makes sense. How does that old saying go, 'the only thing constant in life is change'...
What is your most prized handmade possession?
A few years ago a dear friend gave to me a beautiful basket he made with his own hands with so much skill and love. It is this basket that has accompanied me on many harvests--and many farmers markets!
If you could give one piece of advice to a new etsy seller, what would it be?
Do what you Love--no matter what! And remember, it's a process.
What are some of the ways you promote yourself and your business?
Thankfully I have the gift of gab. I love to talk and connect with people so I sell at local farmers markets when they are in season as well as online.
Hey, so let's stay connected, find me on Facebook or Twitter and let's chat!
www.facebook.com/spirithorseherbals
www.twitter.com/spirithorseherb
What are the three websites you couldn’t live without?
www.noaa.org ::watching the weather is SO essential to farming as well as when you care for 13 equines in the mountains of Colorado!
www.accuweather.com :: because NOAA isn't always accurate!
www.pandora.com I L.O.V.E. music!
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
WHOA! I will be 42~ I'll probably still be sitting on my porch (with lots of dog, cat, and horse hair all over me!) looking out at the mountains feeling pretty darn Blessed for living here. Maybe I will have some cute little children running around me, too!
If you could have one super power, what would it be and why?
Healing Hands. Since I was a tiny tot I've always wanted to have hands that could spontaneously heal people and animals.
Thank you soooooooooooo much Kristie!!! It's so great to have an opportunity to get to know the two hands who create such amazing natural products! I hope that everyone has a chance to stop by Kristies shop and check out
!
If you would like to be considered for my weekly feature, please send me an email or convo– I’d love to hear from you!!!!
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
-April