BIG RAPIDS — For years, Katie DuBridge has been the weird lady at the market.
Katie DuBridge started Earth Weavers Farm when she moved back to Michigan and has been selling at the market for years since. Selling both produce and medicinal herbs, DuBridge has made a reputation for herself as the weird lady who brings teas that can help people.
DuBridge explained that she first started learning about herbal medicine as a child. Being very ill, she found that allopathic (conventional medicine prescribed by healthcare professionals) wasn’t providing her with the healing that she needed. So, in middle school she took it upon herself to learn her diet and how herbs could help heal herself.
“I just got a really big passion of wanting to learn more about how to grow and cultivate good food and good medicine. I’ve gone back and forth between farming, and then also I worked wilderness therapy and worked with teenagers. I did a lot of partial farms, partial let’s get out and reconnect with nature. We learned survival skills by playing in the woods and whatnot, and then also like playing in the gardens and learning how to grow and cultivate food and medicine.”
DuBridge said they grow and cultivate 65 different culinary and medicinal herbs. These herbs are then dried and put into a medicinal form such as oil, alcohol-based tincture, and teas. Alongside this they are working to make a freeze dry powder.
“We’re trying to be able to provide plant-based medicines for people because some people can’t do the alcohol, or whatnot. And so, then we try and provide the herbs and other forms of whatever.”
Some of the herbs are for pain management, while some are good antifungal medicines that kill athletes foot. Some are antimicrobial and antibacterial so it can help clean skin and acne. Many of the herbs are planted with the produce and can help raise the body’s pH levels.
“So, like, the milky oat tops is alkalizing to the body so it helps to raise the pH. Then it also has what is called a nervine, which can calm your nervous system and just chill you out. So, like when you eat oatmeal? A lot of times people use that, if you can have oats then it’s a nice thing for helping to simmer down a little bit.”
Katie DuBridge first moved out of the state when she was 17 but returned and earned a degree in environmental education and outdoor recreation at Central Michigan University. For her senior thesis, she was a guide at the Joshua Tree National Park in California. She also spent time in southern Utah around Capitol Reed National Park.
“I was determined to get a college degree because my grandmother, she was a librarian. Before her, nobody in women aspect of things had an education at that level. So, she said it’s a powerful thing to get your college degree and stand for yourself.”
DuBridge got property back in Michigan eight years ago after living out in Utah, California, and northern Idaho. With the plot of land next to the Muskegon River, DuBridge has been able to grow a garden that hosts various herbs and produce. DuBridge chose this area to help teach locals the many pros of all the different naturally grown items and how they can help provide a healthy way of living.
“When I first started going to market, I brought kale, greens, tomatoes, and people didn’t know what Kale was, and tomatoes that were colors other than red were very strange to them. So, it’s nice to now be like, ‘Okay, now I’m the weird lady that brings teas and plants that are things that you they probably think are weeds.’ They’re there for a reason.”
DuBridge said her next goal is to begin teaching the community more by having kids and adults come out and explore the garden and learn more about the various agricultural possibilities. She hopes to have this set up in the near future.
“I have talked about potentially doing one of the days, it will be more focused on adults and then another day more focused on kids. For the educational classes, everybody can come, we can be able to make it where it’ll flow for all ages.”
For more information, visit Earth Weavers Farm on earthweaversfarm.com or at earth_weaver_farm on Instagram.
