WHY LOCAL MEDICINE
Local soil, plants, water
Every place has it’s own energy. It’s own soil composition. It’s own mineral content. It’s own water pH composition. It’s own level of sunshine. It’s own seasons. t’s own history. The best medicine should come from the place where you are. The earth and the plants that grow from it are adapted to give those who live there, exactly what they need. There are literally plants out there that act sunscreen and prevent sunburn but ONLY in that area and for the people who live there. Meaning, the plants have adapted to provide sun protection to the people who live in that place. If you tried to use it elsewhere, it wouldn’t work.
Local Honey
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Honey is another great example of this. People think that all honey helps combat allergies. But this isn’t exactly true. To help combat YOUR allergies, you need to get your honey from where you are. Literally, right where you are. You can’t get honey cultivated by bees from plants in other parts of the state and receive the allergy fighting effect you were hoping for. You need to source your honey that was collected by bees right where you live, otherwise it doesn’t work. Does that make honey from other places “bad” or “no good?” No, it doesn’t. What it means is, honey from other places is not going to be medicinal with regard to YOUR allergies, or is going to be extremely limited in effectiveness.
That is why we source so many of our herbs locally.
Cedar Rose farm and Terraworks farm are located on opposite ends of the the Gallatin Valley. We get most of our herbs from either of these local farms (and Dr. Kern works on Cedar Rose Farm). We also grow a lot of the herbs we use ourselves in our own garden in Threeforks Montana.
An Interview With Dr. Kern
Interviewer: Dr. Kern, can you tell me what you mean when you say you love Earth?
Dr. Kern: “I Love earth because it is stable. Earth is the grounding element. Earth is dependable. Earth for me equals single mindedness of purpose. It is active communion with the history of where I stand, and a love for this place. It is where I go to pray, and center myself. And seriously, nothing wears you out like moving a big pile of earth by hand, and that is a good kind of tired.”
Interviewer: You’ve said your clients sometimes tell people you are their “little witch doctor.” What do you think about that?
Dr. Kern: “It always makes me laugh when they say that. In truth, I am more like the country doctors of old. I make house calls. I source medicine from the plants and herbs from the place where they are (and where I am) rather than sourcing it from a factory. I am part of the community here, and I love these people. The funny thing is, I don’t get too many clients from the “hippie community”. My clients are just regular folks who have run out of answers to their ailments, and find me because they are hoping there might still be a solution.”
Interviewer: What is all of this about tea? You’ve talked about it a lot. If you would, tell me about tea.
Dr. Kern: (Laughing) - “Tea is a huge part of what I do. If you come see me, you are going to have some amazing tea. I like to start off my initial meetings with people by sharing tea with them. It's communion, we share the space, the tea, the time, and it brings us together. I also conclude most of my sessions with tea. Tea is everything. Tea is relaxing. Tea is medicine. Tea is love. And we all need more love.”
