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Meet James Boyd of Leaf & Stone Apothecary

Today we’d like to introduce you to James Boyd.

James Boyd

Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
My healing journey started when my Grandmother got me a book called ‘Family Guide to Natural Medicine’ from Readers Digest; she was big into those books. It talks a lot about so many healing methods; reflexology and herbal healing were my favorites. I would practice on Grandma with both, and she found much relief, which motivated me to keep trying other things. This was around 8 or 9 y/o. We cooked a lot so culinary herbs in the cabinet could be used for other things, and it was fun. A lot of life happened, and my focus leaned toward the culinary field (my grandmother was a chef in her day and wrote a children’s cookbook); thanks to Grandma’s teaching, I knew a lot about cooking. I got a degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Portland, OR. Later to realize how much food is medicine and dive back into herbs. What got me back into natural healing was my time at the Multnomah County Health Department, Cascade AIDS, and my volunteer work at the Quest Center for Integrative Health. I was in the HIV resource center when it existed at MCHD and got to do a lot of health educational training, medicinal interactions, body systems, and much more. It was my job to be the bridge between a newly infected individual with all the anxiety that comes with it and what the doctor was trying to tell them. There was a lot of leadership and situational awareness training to help talk a person down and help ease the descent into a new lifestyle.

CAP or Cascade AIDS Project, I got to do their newsletter every week. It was chock-full of information to help folks learn about new/fast-tracked medications, events, resources, and world news. I got to subscribe and absorb so much information that they would never let me release it. The final straw was when I read about Chaga mushroom and Moringa being used in Africa to manage AIDS symptoms like wasting. I wanted to release this in the newsletter but was refused since information like that would lose their funding. I have lived with HIV for 21 years; that night, I got what I needed to extract my Chaga and use it. It did so much for me that I dived deep into herbs again. I literally went off the deep end with my newly acquired information and education.

I have had a life full of experience and have the opportunity to truly share pictures (similar life events helping to bridge a true understanding) thanks to all I have had the chance to do. Not all of what I chose to do was good for me, but after making it through the dark days, I found what helped me the most was using my story to help others. I was young and bold and thought I would try everything once (though there are some things I never would allow). Thanks to all this life schooling, I understand and accept a lot that folks go through easily. I am also creating a feeling of safety in expressing how I understand safely, thanks to my situational training at MCHD.

After much research and basic classes online, I chose to do a clinical school in California and rocked it! Since I have taken many classes in person and online, classroom environments are one of the best ways to get a solid education. More education from your own home, by ourselves, is good but not optimal. Thanks to that perspective, we see things differently based on our life experiences and have so much to offer individually.

Some folks get into herbs, and, for whatever reason, it does nothing. It isn’t easy to keep buying something that has not worked for someone. Then there are those that it did and inspired them to keep working on themselves and soon branch into helping others with their skills. It’s about making a herbal journey approachable, so we do not raise our prices on bulk herbs in our shop like most. We also do our best to ensure a person walks out with the most information they can have to utilize whatever tool they just purchased to manage something important. Herbs can seem complicated and vast, it is in a way, but once you understand the techniques, then it becomes much easier to manage all that information, like riding a bike; after trying and learning the proper approach and mental state, that journey becomes easy. The human body is complicated, and being able to implement all you have learned is only a matter of time and patience. We give ourselves grace when knowing. It’s not a race. It’s your life, have fun.

Now we have a brick-and-mortar for the first time. I did choose a class on digital art in high school, so Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator are something I understand, and I am very artistic. Thanks to this, I have created our website, product line, market banners, and more. Getting all the design work done by someone else is super expensive, and I found the design still needed to be corrected. We started as The Alternative Methods in California, and as we grew and Jeff’s (my life partner and part owner of Leaf & Stone) involvement had to increase. When we moved to Wichita, KS, I wanted a name and logo that better represented our relationship and how the business has grown. We chose Leaf & Stone Apothecary. I am the leaf, a tree that grows and creates; Jeff is the foundation for my spirited creativity. Also, he makes real stone jewelry, which is amazing! If you have seen our logo, there is a Vesica Pisces with arrows moving in the same direction. This is representative of Jeff and I moving in the same direction while creating a dynamic environment of change that we both bring as independent lives.

Now I use our ‘soapbox’ to help others with an event ICT Big Gay Market, Eco-Friendly Packaging, bottle returns, BYOB for bulk herbs, and much more. We believe that a healing journey is a full circle, meaning we get what we need from the earth, so what goes back to the earth needs to be safe. Healing comes in many ways, and sometimes just holding a judgment free, advert free and non-alcoholic space is enough. We created BGM to help heal an aspect of our local LGBTQIA community, both businesses owned by our community or just a safe space to express your love and self. It has always been that helping others helps me; thank Grandma for that. She always told me I needed to create my life in a way that helps others. For a long time, I thought there had to be self-sacrifice, but I learned that was not the case. We use our business to be able to walk our talk, showing others that making these eco-friendly decisions are easy to implement. There is much to say about giving the community information and helping others become self-sufficient. I always say if you have 5 things going wrong and have learned enough about herbs to take care of 3 of them, imagine the confidence our community would have.

It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
No, it has not been easy. We experience both good and bad; life’s education is not always easy. The worst obstacle was me; that sounds extremely basic but true non the less. I am learning that what I know is worth something and that that worth has a dollar amount. I had to wrap my brain around learning to take money for healing. I undersold my products for a while due to needing more confidence. Once that changed for the better, I had to relearn my approach to money as an energetic exchange for the work I put into everything I make. That includes my education and everything that got me to where I am today.

As you know, we’re big fans of Leaf & Stone Apothecary. What can you tell our readers who might need to be more familiar with the brand?
Leaf & Stone Apothecary is a hub for folks to find an easy way to start or sustain their herbal education—also a place to find many healing modalities that a person might not yet have. Often, folks don’t even buy something since their answer falls more into a simple life adjustment. Our goal is not to make money; we make money by an energetic exchange for a service rendered. That does not mean that is our goal. Our goal is to help a person along their herbal journey, either creating something amazing or trying to focus on a current ailment. I wear a lot of hats web designer, event organizer, social media manager, therapist, herbalist, product designer, and more. This is a growing business, and at the moment, Jeff and I can still get what we need taken care of; we have hired a couple of wonderful ladies that help us with our markets. Jeff is also a carpenter, so all of our shelves and beautiful apothecary look are thanks to his wonderful design and woodwork! We are very hands-on and have created this business from imagination to reality. No big loans, just what we make and put back into it.

We have been told several times that we spearheaded the herbal movement here in Wichita. More and more folks are getting inspired to create and make amazing things. We hope that we can be an inspiration to a self-reflective herbal journey. We brought a different level of herbalism thanks to all our education. We also have no problem giving that education out for free. Our goal is not to unnecessarily send someone home with some herb or ointment so we can make a spell when they need to adjust some life choices. DMSO was bought elsewhere to help reduce scar tissue quicker while rubbing and going to the grocery store for some garlic for toenail fungus. Once folks have these little tidbits of information, it creates a lot of self-confidence to manage their problem.

We are most proud of all the work we have personally put into this business. We always tell folks, ‘We made this from label to table,’ but it’s more than that. It was just a thought at one point, a dream and passion but nothing physical. We created this from nothing on our own: through thick and thin, we know this business can sustain for the community. This gives us a confidence and understanding of our business that we might not have had if we did not have so much involvement.

What do you think about happiness?
To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To give of one’s self; To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived – This is to have succeeded. Ralph Waldo Emmerson

This is right here! True happiness is not external; it is within all of us. Many situations or distractions pull us away from our happy place; believe me, I know. My goal is to help folks through those distractions to remind them of what they had all along.

Pricing:

  • High to low. We have things for every level of financial success.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
The band playing in the market photo is Sweystrada Brothers. There are 2 ICT Big Gay Market photos and the rest are from the apothecary.

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