Herbalist and community educator Mary Blue, owner and founder of Farmacy Herbs LLC, was barely out of high school when she realized she had a way with plants.
The Rhode Island native and Classical High School graduate spent some time at landscaping jobs but felt like she’d really found her way once she started working and volunteering at the now-closed Indigo Herbals on Wickenden Street. Blue trained with the shop’s owner, Danielle Cavalacci, for about five years, then moved on to work at Seven Arrows Farm in Attleboro.
In 2006, while she was still at the farm, Blue began selling her own herbal products and launched her Herbal Foundations program, a six-month series of classes.
The curriculum blends the knowledge that Blue accumulated through her work with local herb experts, studying at an herb farm in Vermont and completing many online classes.
“I really find power in herbs to prevent diseases and support health. It’s something that people can do that’s proactive, and once people are healthier, there’s not as much pressure on the health care system to treat diseases,” Blue said. “The other thing I find really empowering is to kind of take my health into my own hands. It’s empowering to know what plant to use to help my own health.”
In 2008 in Providence, Blue opened the Farmacy Herbs shop on the lower level of the building she was living in.
Students in her Herbal Foundations classes met there, and the business began to grow.
Blue estimates that more than 1,000 students have completed the classes that she’s offered since 2006, but over the past three years, demand for her online classes has ballooned by 500%.
Blue, 47, is well positioned to accommodate higher demand as she plans to expand her online offerings, which include private consultations for people interested in personalized herbal remedies.
But she’s intentionally not taking the same approach with her busy shop on Providence’s Cemetery Street, where more than 300 types of therapeutic and culinary herbs are in stock.
Customers can find organic dried herbs, at least 40 tea variations and more than 100 types of tinctures, salves and extracts made by Blue and her staff of six.
“We’re happy being a small business. Our goal is to provide really effective herbal remedies grown in Rhode Island,” Blue said.
At the same time, she’s embracing that rapid growth in enrollment in her herbology classes.
“Another of our main goals is to educate our community on using herbs to support health. That’s one of the big reasons we’re not pushing to grow our products. We’re looking to grow our education because that’s key for people to empower themselves,” Blue said.
She’s planning to expand class content and accept more students into the Herbal Foundations online program as more people inquire about learning herbalism terminology and the secrets to making herb-derived tinctures, baths, syrups and teas.
Now, the program is offered online and in person, and in 2014, Blue published a companion book titled “Herbal Foundations.”
Her courses have expanded to include a lecture series and the “Put it into Practice” program for Herbal Foundations graduates and more-advanced students.
Both offerings are led by Farmacy Herbs staff and guest speakers, including naturopathic doctors.
In 2011, Blue moved from Providence to a 5-acre West Greenwich farm, where she grows up to 50 herbs, all of them organic and chemical-free, for sale in her shop. About 20 varieties are grown in large amounts for bulk sale or use.
Blue, who sets up regularly at farmers markets in Providence, attributes much of her business to referrals by local customers.
“It just gets busier and busier. It’s very much word of mouth,” she said. “A lot of people who come in are looking for a way other than pharmaceutical [options]. Our small-batch handcrafted products are different than the big industrially produced products. It’s that artisan approach. These are super fresh and super effective remedies.”
Interest in those remedies extends to an internship program established in 2006 as a core part of the business. Now held at Blue’s farm from April until October, those selected for the once-weekly classes learn to grow herbs and their uses.
An application period opens for one day in January, when typically up to 100 people apply for 15 available spots.
Blue keeps the program small on purpose.
“I believe you do one thing well before you add another and don’t get too big too fast,” she said.
Her shop does host one big annual event, though. Blue’s Rhode Island Herb Festival has attracted about 150 herbal enthusiasts with classes, workshops and speakers since 2013.
The festival draws the same type of varied crowd that her classes do.
“I can’t say there’s one type of demographic because our community is so diverse in terms of age, genders, culture and class. We get bus drivers, CEOs. We’re very unique in what we do,” Blue said.
