Along the sleek storefront stretch of 8th Avenue between Lincoln and Charnelton, buttressed by WOW Hall and the Food For Lane County Dining Room, Rooted Remedies Community Apothecary beckons in those interested in learning and conversing about herbal medicine. A cup of tulsi in the tea nook with owner Kassaundra Lynn felt like a consultation as much as an interview, and I left after an hour with a “Ground Down” tincture to address the nervous system. One dropper of this whole-plant infusion of chamomile, hops, kava, burdock, roses, yarrow, and licorice root was enough to soften my tensed shoulders.
Eugene is a community with a long history of practicing herbalists encouraged by robust public interest, and Rooted Remedies seeks to be a gathering place for enthusiasts to share collective wisdom and curiosity. Lynn says the impetus to establish an apothecary, and her line of herbal products, came from a desire for “reconnection with the natural world, and to be a facilitator for that with other humans.” She had begun shifting away from a career in early childhood education in 2015 and initiating studies at the Vital Ways Herbal School in Portland, but the 2020 pandemic nudged her into establishing Rooted Remedies.
“Herbalism came more into potency and on the cultural radar because so many people were paying attention to health and wellness,” she says. Lynn worked as a teacher with a small pod of students but continued searching for intersections in herbalism and education, including wildcrafting and preserving herbs, until it began to make sense as a business.
For Lynn, the connection between place and product is essential to the process. She collects about 40% to 45% of the material she uses, while the remainder comes from local, organic growers. For example Lynn gets calendula and raspberry leaf from Moondog’s Farm in Marcola (featured in the Summer 2023 issue of Eugene Magazine) and organic burdock from Winter Green Farm in Noti. The seasonal drinking vinegar with blueberries, nettle, mint, chickweed, and cleavers is made with ingredients Lynn finds at Upriver Organics near Vida.
“I want to have my hands in all the steps,” says Lynn, from the foraging to the drying, infusing, extracting, and eventually sharing of these remedies. She says this “dirt time” is an integral part of her holistic approach to herbalism and wellness, keeping her from being an “armchair herbalist” who might not necessarily get out into nature as often.
Rooted Remedies began in the Portland area, but Lynn moved to Eugene in 2021 and set up shop at the Lane County Farmers Market with a broad line of new products before establishing the brick-and-mortar location in 2022. “The fact that I was at the farmers market, rather than the craft market, is a huge thing for me,” says Lynn, especially for establishing relationships. Not only do many people who visit the market already have an interest and enthusiasm for wellness, they also tend to view good food as medicine.
Beyond her products, Lynn is dedicated to cultivating a shared community hub for herbalism. She displays her wares at the apothecary downtown alongside those of several other herbalists and crafters from the area, organized by the body systems which they treat. She also offers a wide range of locally made natural mycological products, soaps, bath and body care products, oral hygiene, first aid, and reproductive health products, along with books, teas, and single-plant extracts. In addition, Lynn hosts occasional workshops and gatherings at the apothecary and offers one-on-one consultations for clients.
Education is a large element of Lynn’s practice and she hosts a series of “plant walks” in the area. One of them is a monthly collaboration with Friends of Buford Park in which a small group of 12 to 15 people explore the area around Mt. Pisgah, responsibly forage seasonal herbs, and then collectively process them into medicine.
Rooted Remedies Community Apothecary, 271 W. 8th Avenue, 503-470-1593, rootedremedies.co
