We were lucky to catch up with Liberty Grant recently and have shared our conversation below.

Liberty, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

Community is so important to me, because I truly believe “together” is the best way to thrive and to integrate healing. The community we live in can heal or hurt. I believe in the power of community to help heal addiction, cycles of domestic violence, death from mental illness, ptsd, postpartum depression and help us to live long and happy & healthy lives.

I believe we are in communion with the earth and that plant medicine is absolutely one of the love languages of this big beautiful planet. I’ve found enormous help and healing from little “weeds”. I am always saddened by lawnmowers, tractors and neighborhood regulations on lawncare. I believe native biodiversity is how we will heal this planet, and in turn how the planet heals us. This is the “Hive” of Hive Holistics. The word that could most sum up how I feel about community with each other and with the earth. 🐝

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hive Holistics was created in 2019, when I fell in love with herbs as a part of my own wellness journey. At the time, I had been running an international business selling a mothers wellness product called Bengkung, and connecting artisans in Indonesia & Malaysia with an American audience wanting to purchase bengkung for postpartum care. As many young entrepreneurs experience their failures, I too had my own challenges and eventually closed Earthside due to my own mental health struggles with PTSD and caring for newborn twin boys.

From working within some herbcrafts as additions to the bengkung, I began to trust and experiment with different herbs. These herbs helped me heal severe PTSD ~ my first realization that my life was uncontrollably different was when my brain decided there were hundreds of snakes on the ground when I stepped off a boat in the evening. I knew there weren’t, but my brain saw all the little sticks as little snakes. I’d literally been running the woods in the night for years and then all of a sudden I feared it all. Soon, disassociation came ~ with my “self” hovering over my body as I washed the dishes… just screaming to the girl at the sink to wake up and remember herself…

I started using Valerian Root for my anxiety. It stuck because I could take it and my brain would instantly calm down. After using Valerian Root for about 6-8 months, one day I was just spewing out info about herbs to a friend ~ “Herbs can heal the body systems over time, not just the symptoms” ~ when I realized that I didn’t suffer anymore. I had settled back into self and was no longer screaming at my body. I was no longer numb. I was returning to self. Joy was returning and I could breathe. I could breathe for the first time in a very long time… and it snuck up on me.

After this huge breakthrough with herbal medicine, I couldn’t stop learning all I could about herbal medicine. This adventure lead me to acceptance of myself instead of trying to change myself. I had herbal allies that could help me adapt to an ever changing world and support my body and my mind.

I began to return to community, as I had a new acceptance for myself. I began to share herbal knowledge with anyone that would listen. I was devouring herbal knowledge as quickly as I could and began to come to this understanding that herbals are a love language of this beautiful earth. That we need each other ~ this symbiotic relationship between the plants and our bodies and minds is just undeniable. I truly believe that trust in herbs and botanicals are one of the the ways we heal the earth, and in turn the earth heals us. The knowledge that our native biosphere contains a multitude of plants that can be used as alternatives to chemical laden products creates a world where we are less dependent on fossil fuels and packaging. We begin to create relationships with the world around us and stop looking to far reaches to answer our simple needs.

We specialize in herbs and botanicals that can easily be found in Appalachia. We live in one of the most bio-diverse areas of the world, so this is no hard feat. We love to craft products from simple easy to find ingredients, in eco friendly packaging so that our clients can then create relationships with their own backyard and crafting their own herbals for their family and friends. Hive Holistics believes in the community around us and the communion with our native habitats. Our true goal is to help our community remember this alliance between plants, each other and the world around us.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Funding Hive Holistics was a huge trust fall into the intimation that herbs had taken me on. I had recently lost my job as an Outreach Coordinator at a local womens shelter, because of Covid-19. I had been herbcrafting at the time for many years and was selling them as porch pickup items for the local community, but really needed a place to highlight the herb crafts and host my plethora of materials, as well as have a certified kitchen to sell edible items. I kept feeling this pull, but had no funding.

My partner, Josh and I began looking for a building to have a brick and mortar. Knowing that we had 0 funding for the project. I had been walking one day and felt the need to slow down. As a person who is always go, go, go… I decided to listen and take my time. There was the cutest building across an empty parking lot with little beehives on the door and the cutest secret garden you’d ever seen. I stood across from it taking pictures and went about my business, thinking that I was meant to slow down just to see this beautiful hidden garden. A few weeks later, my partner and I entered a real estate company, just to see if they had anything that would fit our need for a brick + mortar. They immediately took us to a building right across from the secret garden; the same building I had been taking pictures standing in front of. I began to feel chills, but knew I had no funding. Plus, the building needed some major renovations. I knew that maybe I had needed a huge sign to rust this little building that needed so much love. But I decided to trust it. The owners of the building said they wanted to do the major renovations and then sign the lease. And the timer was set ~

I decided to launch a Kickstarter Campaign for Hive Holistics to become a brick + mortar and decided that if my community participated that it meant they were ready for Hive Holistics to have a brick + mortar, too. Within our 21 day deadline we raised $8000 with the help of our community, family and friends. I was blown away!! The dah the check came from our Kickstarter, the owner of the property said the renovations were cleared and that they wanted to go ahead and sign our lease! It all happened so perfectly that the success of Hive Holistics wasn’t in question. We knew that we had found a home and that Hive Holistics would become a community staple.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Hive Holistics had nurtured a relationship for many years within our community by participating at local farmers markets, events and through community sales. I have always been extremely open about my journey with herbals and my love of learning these beautiful gifts from the earth. Teaching my community about all of the creative ways they too can use plants to help support and heal their bodies has been a huge part of our mission. Selling products sustains our ability to teach our local community how to cultivate a relationship with plants and how to use them in their everyday life. Through our desire to teach others about how herbs can help them adapt to an ever changing world, we have also hosted and created many local events that center around community, our planet and sustainability. We are extremely proud of the cultivation and community we are seeing surrounding Hive Holistics and this step towards sustainability for our little Appalachian town of Rome, GA.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.hiveholistics.buzz
• Instagram: @hiveholistics
• Facebook: Www.Facebook.com/hiveholistics

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me. Thank you!