We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ebony Payne a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Ebony, thanks for joining us today. Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your field completely flip-flop or change course on something?

A lot has changed since I first began studying herbalism in 2013. As a student, there really was not much emphasis placed on the importance of the origin of the herbs in our marketplace. Perhaps because the focus was on learning what the herbs could do for us, not as much thought was given to how, where, and most importantly, who is responsible for growing them. 

Ethically sourcing our herbal ingredients has been a core part of District Herbs’ mission since our founding in 2016. The first farm we ever worked directly with was an organic hemp farm in Maine. This relationship taught me the importance and value of working directly with a farmer you can trust. At the time, it was a big deal for us to be able to source American sun grown hemp instead of industrialized hemp from China, especially since hemp is known to draw up heavy metals from the earth. This is great if you want to rehabilitate the soil, but not so great if you are consuming it. The rest of the herbs in our Materia medica came from bulk herb suppliers that have been around since the 1970s. After five years of relying on these conventional sources, I began to really question why nearly all our herbs came from countries abroad, even herbs that I knew could be grown locally.

Things changed dramatically in 2021. One year after all the upheaval of 2020 caused by COVID isolation and racial reckonings, the need for community connection had never been more pronounced. There was a noticeable shift in people, just like me, becoming more aware and critical of the countries in which their herbs came from. That summer, I began what has now become a journey to solve the root cause of the problem: working herb by herb and finding trustworthy farmers to create an ethical and local herbal supply chain. 

One of the initiatives District Herbs is very excited to be a part of is the Chesapeake Herbshed. We are a collective of herb farmers, herbalists, apothecary owners, and herbalpreneurs throughout the Chesapeake watershed region. We come together monthly to support each other’s endeavors. We organize farm visits and make a point to source from our network. We learn from each other through honest discussions about everything from why local herb prices look so different from global herb prices to best farming practices, and our needs as small business owners. Through these discussions, we grow together, and we are collectively creating a more equitable and sustainable herbal industry for future generations as a result.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers?

My name is Ebony Payne and I am a former massage therapist turned clinical herbalist from Washington DC. I became an herbalist because I needed another way to help others heal without having to be physically present and hands on all the time. After a fateful experience with a cup of ginger tea, I realized that herbal medicine was what I needed to learn to continue to improve the health of my clients and community. 

I have always loved nature and I am currently a UDC Master Gardener trainee. I am very proud of the fact District Herbs won 1st place for a prize of $20,000 through the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development’s Dream Pitch grant program. I love to support other small business owners, especially women, so supporting local herb farmers was very much a natural progression for me and our mission. Most recently, I became my community’s elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and I am very much looking forward to advocating on behalf of our shared green spaces!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Herbalism in the US is an interesting field because there is no official definition of what makes someone an herbalist. It is very common to feel imposter syndrome within this industry. It is common to doubt yourself, your knowledge, and your skills. I feel as though I came into my own as an herbalist when I stopped needing the validation of people who had no more a right to call themselves an herbalist as me. Confidence takes time to build, and this is a field where you will never stop learning. There are many ways to be an herbalist, whether you are a kitchen herbalist, a community herbalist, a clinical herbalist, whatever resonates with you, YOU get to decide what your path as an herbalist looks like for you.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

One of the most important life decisions I ever made for myself was enrolling in massage therapy school instead of college. It was a decision that earned me many strange looks, but it taught me everything I needed to know about connecting with people. It taught me how to heal myself and others and the desire to keep helping people heal eventually led me to herbalism so that I could reach more people. Our award-winning Hemp Pain Salve is a direct reflection of the years I spent helping people ease their pain. Though I seem to have a penchant for choosing labors of love, I am very fulfilled in the work that I am doing, so yes, I would choose this path all over again.

Contact Info:

• Website: districtherbs.com
• Instagram: @districtherbs

Image Credits
All photos are original.