From the Vault

Something old, something new...

A few months ago, we received an extraordinary gift from The Rosemary House!
Any herbie worth their salt has read something written by Bertha Reppert.  She was a prolific writer whose mission in life was to spread the love of herbs far and wide.  Besides writing many books herself (many of which are still available at The Rosemary House), she was also quoted in many herb books and contributed many writings to various herbal newsletters around the globe. 
Prior to the advent of the internet, herb businesses were a completely different animal than what we've come to know.  They were nearly all physical locations - stores, gardens, and classrooms with doors that people walked through.  Marketing a business was an expensive proposition, and many herbal newsletters were published in order to stay in touch with customers and encourage visits and mail orders.  Some newsletters were stand-alone businesses, but more often they were used as marketing tools.  The herbal community enthusiastically provided content for these newsletters, contributing articles, recipes, and craft instructions in exchange for a way to also get their own names out there.
Mrs. Reppert was a favorite contributor, and she also received copies of all those newsletters and saved them - all of them - for close to 30 years.

So we were gifted with boxes and boxes of these herbal gems.  For the most part, the businesses are gone, and in many cases so are the writers.  The information varies from juicy tidbits to extraordinary revelations.  The audiences were typically small, with between a few hundred to a thousand readers, so many of these items were seen by few people - most of whom have moved on in one way or another.

We mulled this over for some time, trying to figure out how or *if* we could ethically enrich The Essential Herbal with any of this treasure trove.  We've decided to try to contact writers whenever possible, and give full credit to any re-print, putting it under the banner "From the Vault".  In the upcoming issue, you'll find an article on myrrh beads!

We're very excited about the opportunity to reclaim some of this herbal knowledge and expect that you'll find a little "something old" mixed in with all of our usual content that teaches and inspires, in just about every issue of our magazine for years to come.