Plants for People Project with Hillside Botanicals

Where it all started:

Our journey started in 2016 as recent college graduates looking for meaningful ways to live in communion with a healthy planet and be of service to our community. So began a lot of study (think organic farming, herbal medicine, permaculture…), getting our hands in the soil, and starting to set deeper roots in Central Vermont.

In 2018, we took our gardening hobbies and growing knowledge to establish a small medicinal herb and hemp farm on family land situated on a quintessential Vermont hillside.

Today, Hillside Botanicals produces a wide variety of certified organic medicinal herbs, hemp, and herbalist-formulated wellness and CBD products using ingredients sourced from our hillside fields and the surrounding landscape. We see our human health as dependent upon the vitality of our environment, which is why we strive to use only regenerative cultivation and wildcrafting methods that yield high-quality crops, healthy soils, and encourage a healthier future for all beings. In 2020 we made a deeper commitment to our values by becoming Real Organic and Bee Friendly Farming certified. We’re constantly learning as young farmers and herbalists and believe we can weave community wellness through regenerative farming, skill-sharing, and celebrating our relationship to the land.

Where it’s all going (with your help!):

As we’ve grown with our business, we’ve witnessed the revitalized interest in our community in gardening and local food, homesteading, natural wellness, and preserving our rich natural resources. We see an opportunity to support folks in getting their hands in the dirt, connecting to nature, and promoting community resilience through organic and regenerative farming.

The Plants for People Project encompasses the development of a retail nursery and workshop space at our farm homestead. Our goal is to provide a broad variety of certified organic culinary and medicinal plants to our local community and also create an accessible space for educational workshops related to organic gardening, herbal medicine, and holistic wellness. We have already started work on this project, which includes constructing a 21’x96’ greenhouse frame, but there remains significant infrastructure needs to get the space ready for plants to thrive. We’re talking a high-efficiency heater, fans, lumber, electrical service installation, irrigation equipment, nursery supplies... the list goes on! So, we need your help.

Every dollar raised in this campaign goes towards completing the nursery infrastructure so we can start providing you, our community members, with the highest quality organic plants and information for your gardening adventures. Just as nature’s ecosystems, we’re all reliant on one another to truly thrive. That is why we invite you to share this campaign with five of your friends! We have some awesome rewards to offer our donors, just to sweeten things a bit more!

Thank you for supporting our campaign and believing in a healthier future for people and planet! Together, we’re creating resilient landscapes for the next generation.