Discover our Story

 

Mission

We are continuously seeking to promote a holistic approach to community wellness through traditional Appalichian herbalism and holistic health education. The roots of Mountain Song are based in the idea that true healing and health begin by cultivating the knowledge and wisdom which lie deep within the spirit of all individuals.

            ~Mountain Song Herbals

   The Farm

Our get-down-and-closer-to-the-ground foundation began in 2004, when we purchased a small homestead to live a life that nurtures and builds balanced relationships with plants, animals, people, place, and spirit. We are forever grateful that Mountain Song Herbals began nestled in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of Floyd, VA.
 
Much has changed over the years. Today, Mountain Song Herbals has transformed into a full-time traveling tea shop and apothecary, a vehicle to share rich learning experiences and tea adventures at three large Renaissance Festivals and several conventions.
 
Forever grateful for our mountain roots, our plant-growing space has migrated and renewed its gifts as a small, peaceful garden on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Our founder, Sam Steffens, enjoys sharing this heart-healing space with neighborhood children and visiting wildlife. It has become an herbal sanctuary for many living beings.

Apothecary

Mountain Song Herbals Apothecary officially became an LLC in 2010, when Sam realized that the herbal formulas she had inherited from her mentors and those she had been carefully crafting and refining for nearly a decade to meet the needs of her family, friends, neighbors, and clients, but perhaps others in their small community may also gain from them as well.
The response was an overwhelming yes. So inspired by her mentors and encouraged by her family, friends, and neighbors, Sam embarked on the journey to open Mountain Song Herbals.

A Friend to All

Mountain Song Herbals is a Friend (Quaker)- owned company, which means we do our best as a business to work in the spirit of Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship. Striving to practice right relation with creation and to make business decisions in the way of Friends (Quakers) has been a deeply nourishing and amazing experience.

“If we better studied and understood God’s creation, this would do a great deal to caution and direct us in our use of it. For how could we find the impudence to abuse the world if we were seeing the great Creator stare us in the face through each and every part of it?“

~ William Penn

 

Family & Community

We are a community-based, family-centered small business, and we would not be where we are today without the support of so many in our local and extended communities—those who have stood by us from the beginning and through challenging times. We cannot begin to count the countless individuals who are part of the Mountain Song Herbals support team in so many ways: through physical work, emotional encouragement, spiritual guidance, professional expertise, legal and financial support, volunteer educators, students, interns, apprentices, customers, and those who serve as reflective mirrors helping us grow. Each has been instrumental in Mountain Song Herbals’ health and growth, and we are deeply grateful. This truly has been a collective community effort. A heartfelt thank you to everyone along the way for believing in and supporting us with your love.

” The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person’s life.”

~William Wordsworth

 

The Roots of our Formulas

Since 1999, Traditional Appalachian Herbalism has been our foundation. Our Founding Herbalist, Sam, was first mentored by Kathryn, a traditional midwife and herbalist who took Sam under her wing and began to share the generational wisdom passed down by Herbalists and Cunning folk living in the mountains of southwestern Virginia. Kathryn helped lay the foundations of Appalachian Herbalism and the Wise Woman tradition into Sam’s education. Forever imprinting the importance of presence and the power of the plant people relationship.

We continue to support ethical stewardship methods from each jar of tea to every bar of soap we put on the shelves. We utilize traditional Appalachian herbal formulation methods, passed down through time spent listening to and learning from the people, plants, and seasons we encounter and live with. We are truly grateful!

“At the End of Life we shall be Judged by love”

~ St. John of the Cross

 

LOVE

Love is the main ingredient in all of our products; don’t believe me? Just look at our labels. It might sound a little strange, but love is what keeps us doing what we do.

“One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade”

~ Chinese proverb

Meet Our Founding Herbalist

Sam Steffens~ Traditional Appalachian Herbalist, CH, CA, C.N., TDEM

Since 1999, Sam has been passionate about herbal and nutritional ethnobotany; today, she continues to find deep joy in exploring the connections between plants and people. Be it listening to the stories from those she meets on her plant adventures, or sitting in the quiet spaces of life, she appreciates encountering the wellspring of Love that flourishes all around us.

Sam practices Traditional Appalachian Herbalism, bringing over 25 years of experience focused on holistic nutrition, family wellness, and reproductive health. Having retired from traditional midwifery to spend more time with her own children, Sam focused her passion for herbalism through a small clinical practice and the founding of Mountain Song Herbals LLC. Certified in Clinical Herbalism, Aromatherapy, and Nutrition, she is a practitioner member of the Christian Herbalist Guild and a member of the American Herbalist Guild. She is a contributing writer for the Christian Herbal Magazine and Hope for Health herbal magazine and teaches at annual herbal events across the country.

“I do my best to discover what I can give when I encounter people, plants, and animals in each situation. Then, sit and, in the stillness between each breath, observe what fruits spring forth in this loving of one another? At times I fall flat on my face, and other times the Light shines through; it’s inspiring” ~ Sam Steffens