Our Mission
"To bring forth the truth, forage the trees, teach the people, and in turn be taught ourselves."
Go ahead. Pull that tube of goo out of your pocket. Where does that olive oil come from? When were the rose hips harvested, was it by hand? What did the bee's that supplied the wax feed on- were they happy? Where do your herbal products come from? Who harvested those herbs? How many handled that food your about to eat or make medicine into? Not long ago these were perfectly reasonable questions to ask. At YB we strive to make products that have answers, not questions. Nothing's perfect and neither are we, but we like it that way.
Foraging love
Rachelle Cawley, herbalist, aromatherapist and entrepreneur has spent years cultivating medicinal relationships on her own and with others in mutual love for plant medicine. This drove her further into the woods with an optimistic future. OpeVita meaning "Open-Life" in latin, was created by Rachelle in 2012 with a mission to bring herbal medicine back to the people, preserve knowledge of the past, and encourage the vision of living an open life without judgement or fear. She started as a Reiki Healer, Registered Aromatherapist, and Herbalist in 2012 and has kept the OpeVita vision alive by creating Yellowstone Botanicals making ethically sourced and sustainably wildcrafted herbal infusions. Locally she offers individual aromatherapy consultations, herbal medicine classes, and intuitive energy healing sessions. Her product line is fully incorporated in her hollistic esthetics practice @Lyons Mane Salon in Livingston, Mt. “Adventures begin when we cross uncomfortable into unknown discoveries”. Whether it's locally or into the mountains and plains Rachelle ethically sources and forages all she can for her life and Yellowstone Botanicals. Cultivating medicine in the wild and at home is an ongoing process of hard work, time, and growth. The dedication and drive has allowed neighborhood Montana guest ranches and small businesses to carry locally made and sustainably sourced Yellowstone Botanicals small batch craft. Driven to re-invigorate nutritional herbal medicine and help focus on sustainable solutions Rachelle has continued regenerative passion for our incredible world and unending respect for the delicate and volitile nature of our world. She is constantly learning, teaching, and growing to discover new wonders about plant medicine and cultivate medicinal relationships into the future. With every available jar in her home filled to the brim with flowers, roots, and stems, you’d think it more an 1800’s homestead blooming into the 20th century.
Furthermore…
We thrive for ethically sourced & sustainably wildcrafted ingredients in all of our herbal creations and small batch infusions. Sources range from our own backyard to our favorite places in the western and pacific northern mountain ranges along with some host locations and local farms in the midwest.
Wildcrafting provides us with the highest quality ingredients from start to end. Helps us support local suppliers and allows us to bring nature to you. We combine all this with our passion and commitment in the kitchen to bring you products we are truly proud to stand behind.
In all of our hikes, plant walks and classes we honor "ethical foraging" and "leave no trace" concepts to respect mother earth and find gratitude in all the resources she provides. As mother earth is ever changing and so must we.
