Moscow Food Co-op Producer Profile

Linda Kingsbury at work

by Leah Christian and Eugene MacIntyre, from the November 2001 newsletter

Walking into Dr. Linda Kingsbury's office, one immediately notices the herbal aroma. Scattered throughout her office are dried herbs. Linda has just returned to Moscow! After seven months in California developing new herbal treatment products for My Backyard, Inc., she says she is happy to be back home and ready to resume her holistic practice.

Moscow Co-op members are probably familiar with Kingsbury from Earth Wisdom Herbals, her line of wild and organic single herb and formula tinctures carried by the Co-op. While her practice includes health consultations specializing in herbal medicine and natural healing, plus frequent classes on natural health and well being, she says that "at the Co-op, I am mostly focusing on the nutritional aspect" of the business.

Kingsbury enjoys gathering her own plants from the wild to use in her herbal tinctures and also uses plants from Organic Farmers of the Northwest. Linda begins making a tincture by soaking the herb material in vodka for 2-6 weeks. After this time, the alcohol draws out the properties of the herb and a concentrated herb tincture is produced.

To use a tincture, one can add the concentrated drops to virtually any liquid or simply drop it directly into the mouth. The body gains the effects of the extracts quickly because the alcohol-based tincture immediately enters the bloodstream and the body can receive them easily.

Linda's products at her office

A tincture is unique because one receives both the water-soluble and alcohol-soluble extracts from the herb. Tinctures have a long shelf life of five years, and are convenient to use because they can travel easily with you.

Dr. Kingsbury met a Native American woman during college many years ago who sparked her interest in holistic nutrition and natural healing. She expanded her interest by going to work for Jack LaLanne in the early 1980s at his California health club as a nutrition assistant. Her formal education includes a Master's Degree in Holistic Nutrition from the American College of Holistic Nutrition, and a Ph.D. in Holistic Nutrition from Clayton College of Natural Health.

Linda began making her own herbal products in the Portland area through her company called Middle Path Herbals. She moved to Moscow with her son in 1993 and became involved with the Co-op soon after.

When she moved, Kingsbury says, "I shifted to using more herbs people could grow themselves." She began to focus more on herbs that could grow locally. Her goal was to make the process of using herbs for health and wellness purposes a more complete process for individuals. She says, "I wanted to empower the individual by growing one's own herbal garden."

In 1998, she facilitated a medicinal herb garden project for the Nez Perce Tribe in Lapwai, Idaho, in association with their drug and alcohol treatment program. In this project, she helped build an herb garden and taught classes on the uses and benefits of the herbs. This project is a manifestation of her goal to empower people to grow their own herbs and also understand the benefits of and processes for making tinctures and other herbal products.

Linda has been expanding her line of herbal products. One of her new products, the award-winning Sprit Herbs for Awareness Kit, focuses on the emotional healing benefits of the herbs. She is also making Recovery Teas for people recovering from addictive diseases. In the future, while we may see some of these products at the Co-op; right now they are only available through her office.

Now that she has returned home, Linda is excited to resume her practice, providing individual consultations as a holistic practitioner at her office in Moscow. She continues to teach many classes about herbs and healing techniques at a variety of locations in both the Moscow/Pullman area and the Lewiston/Clarkston valley. Her Web site is www.spiritherbs.com.

See the Earth Wisdom Healing Center business partner profile.

Leah and Eugene are new to the area, and both are pursuing graduate degrees at Washington State University. They just started their own herb garden and are excited to experiment with ideas that they learned from Linda.

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