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Hedgerows are places of medicine, a site where human kind and the natural world intersect. The hedgerow is a natural or man made border, housing small creatures and wild herbs. These living borders are as well known to be a place of magical happenings, an entry to the otherworld.
At Hedgerow Herb Co, we aim to heal and re-enchant you with our practice of communal herbalism, small-batch folk remedies, tea service, and educational events.
Hedgerow Herb Co. was born in May of 2024 after some hard toiling months of renovation to the shopfront. With the help of some dear friends, owners Teresa and Madrone designed and executed the build-out of their dream apothecary, it was truly a communal labor of love. The pair met while working at another Portland based apothecary, where they bonded over their shared passions for antiquity and traditional folk ways. They loved supporting the local community with herbal consultation and hand-made remedies, which have been the peoples’ medicine for time immemorial. When news of that shop’s closing reached them, they knew that the people still needed a place to turn for practical medicine. Having worked together in clinical herbalism for years, it only seemed natural that they would open their own practice. Teresa and Madrone value place-based community herbalism, this means they highly prioritize sourcing botanicals as locally as possible, ensuring vibrant and effective medicine while supporting farmers and foragers within their bioregion.
“Historically, the apothecary is a place for folks to receive affordable care and attention from community members. We aim to keep this tradition alive.”
Come join them for tea or an educational event at the shop!
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Madrone McCarthy
Trained Folk Herbalist
Madrone began practicing herbalism eight years ago. While she has studied many paths and trades, plants have consistently been a part of her world and study. She is passionate about the preservation of old ways in modern times and sharing the resources of traditional herbalism with her greater community. Always a student, Madrone has studied folk herbalism & other folk practices with Yaya Erin Rivera Merriman and Corinne Boyer.
"My hope is to help re-connect people to place, old ways, and to themselves by way of the plant world and herbal remedies. Through honoring time-old traditions and humbling ourselves to the cyclical process of the seasons and the life cycles of plants and our bodies, I feel we can all find pieces of ourselves lost to the demands of our current times.”
Madrone loves mixing your remedies and deeply listening in order to find the ideal plant or blend of plants that will be most supportive to your system. She is also is ever curious about the unseen world and hosts plant spirit journeys bi-monthly at the shop, to connect with other curious folks.
Teresa McKee
Trained Folk Herbalist
Teresa, known by friends as Tessa, is a practicing folk herbalist, botanical distiller, writer, folklorist, and end-of-life-doula. She has completed several online herbal courses, apprenticed with Washington based herbalist Corinne Boyer, and has wild-harvested and crafted her own botanical remedies since 2015. Teresa came up in an Alaskan forests completely overtaken by Devil’s Club, a spined, stinging plant native to the Pacific Northwest. Her first remedy was an aromatic skin healing salve crafted from the root’s bark.
“I’d been stung many times by Devil’s Club as a child. It’s a terrible burning sensation, typically much more severe than stinging nettle, for example. I was enthralled to learn that the remedy for this plant’s prickly defense lay within its own roots, and was delighted by the powerful green scent. Working with Devil’s Club was a deeply meaningful step towards connecting with the harsh landscape of my youth.
I believe it is imperative that we endeavor to connect with the natural world, to honor the place we reside, to seek sustainable nourishment from the land, and to revive old ways of healing in order to lessen our dependence on big pharma.”
As a certified death doula, Tessa prioritizes deep listening in order to conclude which herbs would best support your needs and preference. She values evidence-based research of medicinal plants while trusting in the power of herbs that have been tried and tested in her practice, and by folk healers of old.