Harvesting Tales: A Journey to Sacred Ground Ranch

There are five gates you need to pass through on the road to her house. At each one you need to get out of the car and sort out the unique latching system that holds each closed. It’s slow and purposeful; nothing gets rushed in her corner of Montana including this long trip up the driveway. The last gate is the best. It’s covered in beautiful prayer flags and its the last obstacle, after hours of driving, between me and one of my favourite women—Tanah Whitemore.

Every year we get to spend some time together on the land and this year its in the late spring. We both have dear friends joining us this year as well, so we will be four women travelling along the land and harvesting plants. We’ll accomplish everything we came to do, find and harvest all of the plants that we came to collect, but there’s a lot more chatting and singing involved when it’s just women together. Oh, and the lunch breaks are longer too :)

Tanah’s home is many thousands of acres that she shares with her buffalo. She is their dedicated steward, but it’s very clear this is their home and we are simply guests. Everyday as we enter into the mountain pastures to gather plants, we make an offering to the herd, asking permission to come into their space, and to honour their presence on the land. Without them so many of the amazing plants and herbs we come to harvest would not be there. Buffalo are special in the way they move across the land. Their meadows becomes healthier and more productive because the buffalo are selective grazers, meaning that native prairie grasses and other plants that grow with them are left to thrive. It is a natural wonderland for wildcrafting plants.

Here, life in all it’s forms is honoured everyday: the land, the birds, the buffalo, the plants and the trees. The vibration and energy of that love flows through the ranch. Every plant we harvest is honoured with prayer, and we ask that only the plants that wish to be harvested present themselves. This year we were looking for tobacco blossoms. We’d find a little bit, stop to harvest a small portion of it, and look up to see another large patch just a little further along. It feels like the plants magically appear just as you decide you’d like some.

Many of the plants we harvest here are the foundational elements that go into our products, so I have my mental 'shopping list' as we are out there harvesting, but I've learned it's important to keep one eye, and your whole heart open for those unexpected and unique plants to show up.

This year we found some very special sage, and with the opportunity to harvest it as Brooke Medicine Eagle sang songs of joy and gratitude we are creating a special preparation from this sage called “Sacred Vision”. It’s a gentle and clearing elixir spray created with the energies of tobacco blossom, white sage and American plum that really allows a person to come into themselves—to be in the moment to hear their guidance and their truth; where clarity resides. It is especially helpful for people that are going through process of many changes. It is a preparation that can help you see your way through changes and into an awakening of a new vision of who you really are.

A portion of all of the proceeds from this limited edition spray will be shared with Tanah and will go towards her efforts in building a learning centre at her home on Sacred Ground Ranch. The faster she builds it, the sooner everyone can go visit and experience the beauty of this sacred land! To purchase Sacred Vision Limited Edition Elixir Spray click here.