Greetings all, 

 

A little break from regular plant writing to have a biz check-in with the newsletter today. A lot is shifting here behind the scenes and I want to keep everyone in the loop. If you are just here for the potion announcement, scroll to the bottom. 

 

Sister Spinster turned 11 this past winter. 11! After over a decade, it’s time to make some changes. In case you are new to my work, I wear a few hats here at Sister Spinster. I have a client practice where I work with folks one-on-one, I teach multiple classes per season including two year long programs and I manage the potion shop, where I make, bottle and ship the Sister Spinster essence formula line to your doorstep or fill wholesale orders to various beloved shops across the country. I also make all of the tinctures that I stock in the apothecary for clients, which includes growing plants, harvesting and making medicine from said plants. Sometimes I source fresh plants from great herb farmers, but I do still grow a lot of the medicines I make. Then there are things like bookkeeping, doing client research, answering emails, writing newsletters, social media promotion, etc. What’s great about herbalism is that everyone has their own approach— there are a lot of ways to be a herbalist — and these are just the ways in which I fill this role and make it work for me to pay the bills while also offering what I love to the world. In my spare time, I usually am taking classes to enrich my learning on pathology, folklore, writing, herbal formulation, etc. I love that there is no “mastery” in this calling, we get to continue learning, going deeper and shapeshifting with our plant studies.

 

I moved back home to upstate New York in late 2019, after almost ten years on the west coast. I was ready to come home. I wanted to open a folk herbalism school that was a continuation of the school I had started in California, but to root this work in the deciduous forests and waterways that make up who I am. We all know what happened in early 2020; I don’t need to explain why this project has been on pause as life has unfolded amidst a pandemic. I always had help making the product line until lockdown happened. (Deep thanks to various folks throughout the years: Paige, Lyle, Evita & Karen!) With so many shops having to close during lockdown, I lost a lot of wholesale clients and couldn’t afford having someone help out in the apothecary anymore with the rising cost of bottle & shipping supplies. So for about exactly four years now, I have been making and bottling and shipping out all your orders, including the large wholesale orders.

 

A lot has shifted for me. For one, my shipping times slowed down, as you have probably noticed. ;) But more seriously, in landing back home, I have been in deep courtship with the plants that surround my little house in the woods, whispering to the bedrock of the Catskill mountains, expanding in the humid, boisterous summers, praying at the waters of the Muhheakantuck and dreaming with the copperhead snakes under the blankets of winter. The way I work with plants has changed a lot, deepened even. There are emergent stories that I want to reflect in the medicines I am making, new friends I want to bring into the fold.

It’s time to say goodbye to the Sister Spinster formulas that I have been making for over ten years. The way I think about essences has shifted a lot from where I was when these formulas began over ten years ago. I am a different storyteller now. The way I formulate has changed. I have been working on new formulas, but have realized that I desperately need to create some space for myself to bring these new formulas into being. I’ve been wanting to make these changes for a long while, but it has felt too hard to juggle on top of the day to day of running the biz.  I took last week off to spend some time writing about these new formulations and I felt so excited by these new offerings! I just need to take the space to make it happen. So I am going to be closing my shop in mid-April and after that point, I will not be making any of the old formulas again.

 

There are limited bottles left of each formula (Grounding is already gone and left with a big, steadying hug) and none will be coming back. Even Ghosts, the most scorpionic and fan favorite formula ever made, is ready to be composted. Ghosts understands this need to let go. You might see echoes of an old formula in a new line to be released this winter, but all formulas are out the door. So! This is your chance. If there is a formula you have loved and want to continue working with, now is the time to get it. Since you are on the newsletter, you are getting first dibs for this week. Then I will let the wider web know next week. I will keep the shop open for the next two weeks, which happens to be the entirety of eclipse season. How perfect is that?! Anything that is left after April 8th will be put on sale before the shop closes for at least 6 months on April 15th.

 

~ This is the last batch of Rose Nectar until Summer 2025. With a desire to deepen into the season and keep the medicine making more local, I have decided to only make this formula during high summer from here on out (& I am not making it this summer because I am using my rose harvest for my ~wedding~ this fall <3 ). So this is the last batch for a looooong while.

~ Graces & Priestess Potion are already discontinued. Apologies.

~ All single essences will also be discontinued to make room for a new single-essence project, but since most of the current offerings are California plants, most of the plants that are available now will be saying goodbye. For example, there are only 3 Redwood essences left.

 

I am SO grateful to the thousands and thousands of folks who have worked with Sister Spinster essences over the past decade. It makes me tear up just thinking about all of the lovely connections that I have made due to these potions finding their way to you — thank you for entrusting this particular form of plant offering over the past few years. 

I promise to bring more magic forward with the next iteration.

 

Here’s to giving space to new growth, to letting that which is ready to go die back, to shapeshifting, to the green-blooded ones, to compost, to Spring, to You,

x Liz