About us
Sage Consulting and Apothecary is a full service herbal apothecary.
We offer private herbal consultations with Clinical Registered Herbalist Valerie Blankenship, AHG.
Our new location has a large classroom, and we are able to host our herbal educational program, Sage Herbal Foundations Program onsite as well as in area gardens.
99% of our tinctures, capsules, teas and herbal oils are formulated and prepared in our on-site lab.
About our herbs:
All herbs used in the Sage Consulting and Apothecary, Ltd. tinctures and formulas and single tinctures and caps are organically grown, ethically wild harvested herbs or selectively imported under strict standards to assure premium quality and to create the highest quality herbal preparations available. Much time and expense goes into sourcing and purchasing fresh and vital raw materials.
Sage Consulting follows Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), which helps to ensure the quality and safety of products, traceability of ingredients, and transparency of the manufacturing process from the arrival of herbal products to our door, throughout the manufacture and use of the herbs in preparations or formulas, to the labeling and release of products out the door to our customers.
This is done through the laborious, careful recording of lot numbers, the creation of unique id numbers for each and every batch of herbs that is created, and samples taken of each herb that is received as well as each formula prepared in our lab. The ingredients in any prescription made in the Sage dispensary can be traced back to its individual batch information.
All of the herbs that we receive are identitified Organolepticly, using specific characteristics unique to each herb. These herbs are tested for yeast and mold, either through our suppliers or by us. Our herbs are never fumigated or irradiated. Chinese herbs are lab tested for identification and to ensure that they are chemical free.
Sage Consulting and Apothecary uses only a select group of herbal wild harvesters whose concerns for the environment and the quality of herbal products meet our high ethical standards and uncompromising quality control. We do not carry threatened or endangered herbs unless they have been grown for us, as with our False Unicorn root tincture for example, which is woodsgrown on private land.
95% of our tinctures are prepared onsite to ensure top quality control. About 5% of our herbal tinctures are produced by a regional herbal company, which is F.D.A. Registered and approved. They have the same standards of herbal quality and vitality as we do. Like us, they use organic cane alcohol.
Our fresh plant extracts are macerated within 1 to 48 hours from harvest while the dry plant extracts are ground minutes before extraction and are prepared through the laborious cold drip percolation method, all to exacting standards to maximize potency. Alcohol and water are used to extract the most difficult to digest biochemical compounds. Ratios of herb to menstrum are calculated by the potency of the herb. We use US pharmaceutical organic cane alcohol and filtered, ionized water. We never use industrial alcohol or hexane.
Here are some behind the scenes photos of our team, including our store manager, pharmacist and staff preparing herbal formulations before making the journey to you.
Blending our formulas and stocking herb bottles is a daily task.
Carmen is semi-retired, owns a local gardening business and works for us part-time. Her new found passion is herbs and she graduated with flying colors from the 2017 Sage Herbal Foundations Program! She works hard to keep the bulk teas and formulas blended and the encapsulated herbs stocked and ready to ship out to you.
The Percolation Method of Tincturing
For dried herbs (with the exception of resins and a few others), we use the the percolation method to prepare our tinctures. We find this method yields a stronger tasting, darker tincture. Besides these organolyptic observations, we have found that the medicinal strength of the tincture is superior than the maceration method.
This method requires several steps, including grinding the herb to a certain consistency, moistening it using a mixture of organic cane alcohol, allowing it to sit for 24 hours until the constituents can be drawn out of the herb. Next it is packed into a hand-blown percolator cone and the menstruum is allowed to drip through at a slow, even pace. Once it has percolated all the way through, the herb "pulp" (or what herbalists call the "marc") is pressed out using our small hand-pumped herb press.
while the dry plant extracts are ground minutes before extraction and are prepared through the laborious cold drip percolation method, all to exacting standards to maximize potency. Organic cane alcohol and water are used to extract the most difficult to digest biochemical compounds. Ratios of herb to menstrum are calculated by the potency of the herb. We use US pharmaceutical organic cane alcohol and filtered, ionized water. We never use industrial alcohol or hexane.
Yaremi and Anna work hard every day in the herb lab, preparing our percolations and fresh plant macerations in order to provide beautiful, potent tinctures to help in healing our clients and customers. Yare is a unique treasure, a trained pharmacist who acquired specialized training in quality control in Barcelona. Anna is her wonderful assistant who fell in love with herbal healing and was recruited to work for us because she was one of our top students in the 2017 Sage Herbal Foundations Program.
The Maceration Method of Tincturing
Specific herbs must be prepared from freshly harvested herbs. A few examples of this are Bidens, Lobelia, Ocotillo, and St. Johnswort. These and other herbs are gathered fresh and then "macerated", or soaked immediately in an organic cane alcohol/filtered water blend for 6 - 12 weeks.
Here Yare takes inventory of our stock to ensure we keep our valuable medicines available.
Blending fresh herbs to make tinctures
We are so proud of our "new" refurbished Hobart blender, which holds 10 gallons of fresh herb and menstruum - perfect for preparing top quality fresh macerations! Pictured here is Yare's talented husband Franco, who helps us prepare fresh Bidens pilosa for a 6 week maceration process.
Herbal Capsules made on-site with no fillers.
Most of our herbal encapsulated formulas as well as single capped herbs are prepared right here on site by Carmen. She really gets around! ;)
Blending Herbal Formula Tinctures
Close by the lab is our blending room where all of our formulas, including special client blends, are carefully mixed and poured up by all of our staff.
Aromatherapy
Our essential oils are gas chromatography and mass spectrometer tested for purity. We do not make essential oils, but we buy them in bulk from a top quality supplier and pour them up. This saves you a lot of money for the highest quality organic, wildcrafted and carefully cultivated aromatherapy oils. None of our oils are diluted with carriers.
Leigha is one of our talented staff. She is also an herb lover, and is learning and growing on the job. Dependable and organized, Leigha keeps our many containers, tinctures and capsules fully stocked.
