local love, for global lovers

What an incredible week! Sunday morning, Poppyswap was still under the radar, as my delicious muse, my private canvas. All of the creativity that was poured into it’s foundation was itching to manifest. But Sunday morning I was still struggling to get the forum design out of 1977 and struggling to help local herbalists get their products “swap ready.” I had a morning yoga and smoothie date with my sister Laya and we decided to go back to her house and have a Sunday lay around. We were playing some music and playing on the swap when she casually said “you need to get in touch with John at learningherbs.com.”

I had always known John Gallagher as the herbmentor. He has been a supporter of our medicinewomen blog during this last year and posts our articles along with many other talented herbalists. What I didn’t know that John is acupuncturist and herbalist from Washington (just like me) and lives only an hour away!

My shyness melted. Herbmentor was my neighbor!

That afternoon I scooted across town to meet up with Saphir from Karmela Botanica. I had met Karma, the herbalist and owner of Karmela Botanica at the farmer’s market last summer and we had come up with a plan to bring her delicious skin care line onto the swap. I headed over to the market to play with product and ignite our dream.

Long story short: John Gallagher from the herbmentor is an incredibly gracious community builder and dedicated herbal educator who’s site is simply prolific in what it offers! He liked the site and encouraged me to get on the horn with it. He “mentored” me into this next blooming era of the poppyswap.

Saphir turns out to be one of the organizers of this year’s NW Herbal Fair. Our minds got dizzy with the exciting happenings for our local herb community and the potential for collaboration. I look forward to becoming a sponsor and contributing to the rebirth of the fair.

So here I am, its one week later. I am in shock. Poppyswap has exploded into the public garden of herbalists. I have met swappers from Maine, Vermont, Florida, Virginia, Colorado, Missouri, Oregon, and Canada. I have connected with literally hundreds of herbalists who have all rushed in to support the site and this growing community!

Remember that bumper sticker: “think globally, act locally”? It’s the morale of this poppyswap story.

And whenever there is a great morale, it inspires a great mission!

Let’s take this wonderful momentum and energy, charge it up through the global collective space of poppyswap and then take it home and pour it into the people, plants, and products of our local communities.

Love you all, now let’s rock the swap!

kiki