The Honor Hour Podcast

How Plants Help Us Remember Who We Really Are with Lauren Haynes

What if plants aren’t just remedies, but a way of remembering who we are and where we come from? What if connecting with herbs, the land, and ancestral plants is actually a path back to ourselves, our intuition, and our place in community? In this conversation, clinical herbalist Lauren Haynes, founder of Wooden Spoon Herbs, shares how her relationship with plants has guided every step of her life - from growing Tulsi in raised beds in Appalachia to sleeping with violet under her pillow, to trusting intuition over urgency while scaling a national herbal brand. We explore how plants calm the nervous system, why magnesium can be a first step toward feeling better, and why herbalism is less about products and more about belonging: to land, lineage, and ourselves. Expect to learn why community is the greatest business strategy, how plants regulate the nervous system differently than supplements, how intuition - not strategy - guided Wooden Spoon’s growth, why charging for your work is a form of self-worth, how herbalism reconnects us to ancestry, land, and community, daily ways to integrate herbs without perfection or overwhelm, why magnesium is often the missing foundation for stress + sleep, and how plants help guide us back to ourselves in all the season of our lives. - Timestamps: (00:00) Welcome + introduction (02:19) How herbalism first introduced itself to Lauren (04:37) The early days: farmers markets, ginger tea, and being seen (07:47) Charging money, self-worth, and integrity in capitalism (10:53) Growing up in Southern Appalachia + ancestral connection (14:25) How she formulates intuitively...and with clinical science (16:18) Favorite herbs for mood, sleep, stress + daily life (18:01) What nervines actually are + how they help (19:31) Why magnesium works + what people feel first (23:20) The “magnesium wars” + citrate vs glycinate (26:11) How to actually take herbs daily (and enjoy it) (28:29) Herbalism as remembering, not alternative medicine (29:03) The biggest lesson plants have taught Lauren (30:17) Scaling while staying rooted in integrity and community (33:19) Hiring support + doing the scary thing anyway (37:13) Saying “not yet” to Whole Foods + trusting timing (42:28) Intuition vs data in business (and life) (47:03) Plants as teachers beyond tinctures + fresh-under-pillow rituals (48:19) The deeper truth Lauren hopes Wooden Spoon seeds in the world - Links + Resources: Lauren's Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurensherbgarden [https://www.instagram.com/laurensherbgarden] Wooden Spoon Herbs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodenspoonherbs [https://www.instagram.com/woodenspoonherbs] Wooden Spoon Herbs Website: https://woodenspoonherbs.com [https://woodenspoonherbs.com] - Get in Touch: Honor Earth Apothecary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary [https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary] Honor Earth Apothecary Website: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/] Sara's Personal Substack: https://honoringtheslow.substack.com [https://honoringtheslow.substack.com/] Email: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact]

Why Listening to the Forest — and Its Fungi — Transforms the Way We Live with Ali Banks

What happens when we slow down enough to hear the forest speak? In this conversation, Ali Banks, co-founder of Forest Folk Fungi, invites us into a world where reciprocity is alive beneath our feet. Together we explore the language of the trees and the fungi that connect them — the wood-wide web — and what they can teach us about integrity, motherhood, and belonging. We talk reishi’s gentle wisdom, the ethics of wildcrafting, and how slowing down lets us remember our place in the living world. Expect to learn how to begin a sit-spot practice that deepens intuition; the clearest way to explain fungi versus mushrooms; what mycelial networks actually do underground; how reishi and chaga support the nervous system and immunity; the essentials of ethical wildcrafting; why forest-to-bottle medicine feels so different from lab-grown extracts; and one barefoot ritual that instantly grounds the body and quiets the mind. - Timestamps: (00:09) Welcome & intention: reverence, rhythm, and the art of slowness (01:54) The forest as teacher: from “sea of green” to seeing (04:49) Sit spots & stillness: entering the liminal mind-heart space (09:55) First brush with the Mystery: grief as a doorway back (15:29) Fungi 101: fruiting bodies, mycelium, and the wood-wide web (20:24) Collaboration > competition: how trees talk through hyphae (21:04) “Life into life”: why fungi are the midwives of the forest (22:17) Learning mushrooms safely: field guides, mentors, and reishi as ally (28:25) Mycelial lessons for humans: trusting community again (32:02) Forest-to-bottle integrity: why staying small matters (36:46) Felt results: a customer’s week-one shift on mushroom blends (38:34) Wild vs. lab: medicine, “songlines,” and environment-shaped compounds (41:52) Ethical wildcrafting: permission, reciprocity, and taking less than you can (45:09) Motherhood & the nervous system: herbs, reishi cacao, and sleep (56:47) One tangible practice this week: barefoot on the earth (57:39) Rapid-fire favorites & where to find Forest Folk Fungi - Links + Resources: Forest Folk Fungi Website: https://forestfolkfungi.com [https://forestfolkfungi.com] Forest Folk Fungi Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forestfolkfungi [https://www.instagram.com/forestfolkfungi] - Get in Touch: Honor Earth Apothecary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary [https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary] Honor Earth Apothecary Website: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/] Sara's Personal Substack: https://honoringtheslow.substack.com [https://honoringtheslow.substack.com/] Email: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact]

The Art of Making Clothes That Matter Again with Allie Feldman

What if fashion wasn’t about more, but about meaning? About slowing down long enough to remember the land, the hands, the lineage behind what we wear? In this conversation, Sara sits down with Allie Feldman, who is reviving the ancient art of plant dyed-clothing and textiles through her line Rooted Botanics. Together, they trace the rebirth of craft: from ancient dye traditions to modern sustainability. Allie shares how plant color reshaped her connection to the land, the beauty of imperfection, and why making and mending with our hands matters more than ever. Expect to learn how plant dyes actually work, the chemistry of mordants, beginner-friendly plants (and food scraps) to start with, how reciprocity changes the way we harvest and buy, the environmental impacts of natural vs. synthetic dyes, and why embracing seasonality and slowness may be the most radical fashion statement of all. - Timestamps: (01:01) Meet Allie Feldman: the fashion detour that became a devotional path (02:13) Color since 4000 BCE: how cultures carried plant dyes across millennia (03:27) The “wake-up” class: one lecture that changed her career -and conscience (05:12) From thesis to practice: the first sustainable collection + early experiments (06:11) First dye-bath wonder: avocado pits, onion skins, and a heart ignition (07:50) What’s really happening in the pot? mordanting 101 (and why color lasts) (09:01) Coming home to natives: dyeing with what grows under your feet (10:45) Curiosity as compass: field notes, pH play, and backyard breakthroughs (12:57) Reciprocity in action: ethical harvests, seed spreading, tending places (17:54) Surrender to the seasons: when materials run out, and why that’s wisdom (20:20) Rewrite the story: letting imperfection shape the craft (and the self) (20:48) Classroom wonder: the eco-print reveal everyone remembers (22:04) Plants vs. petrochemicals: non-toxic color and what’s at stake downstream (23:41) The water reckoning: why the t-shirt in your drawer isn’t “just a t-shirt” (24:58) “At what cost?” slowness, price, and paying the real bill (25:10) Vintage as heirloom: garments that keep telling stories. (26:50) Buy less, choose better: quality, capability, and ancestral skills revived (32:16) Wabi-sabi wardrobe: stains, fades, and the beauty of becoming (35:10) Building a niche: the challenge of explaining plant dye (36:42) It takes a village: the women, the wisdom, the backend of a heart-led biz (38:28) Return to your why: living in rhythm with land, body, and community (44:53) Beginner’s kit: surrender, mordant like a pro, start with marigolds (47:08) Wearing better questions: how plant color changes how we consume (48:39) For future hands: what Allie wants the next generation to inherit (49:20) One last lesson: be a lifelong student of the dyepot (49:36) Rapid-fire: two life-changing books, a Mary Oliver mantra, awe in the alpine (52:18) Candlelit ritual: pre-dawn pages that anchor a creative life (52:42) Where to find Allie: Rooted Botanics online + IRL in Ventura - Links: Rooted Botanics Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rootedbotanics/ [https://www.instagram.com/rootedbotanics/] Rooted Botanics Website: https://www.rootedbotanics.com [https://www.rootedbotanics.com] Allie's Personal Substack: https://substack.com/@rootedbotanics [https://substack.com/@rootedbotanics] - Get in Touch: Honor Earth Apothecary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary [https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary] Honor Earth Apothecary Website: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/] Sara's Personal Substack: https://honoringtheslow.substack.com [https://honoringtheslow.substack.com/] Email: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact]

How to Grow a Heart-Led Business Without Sacrificing Integrity with Carly Ferrarese

Is it possible to grow fast without sacrificing what matters most? Under Luna founder Carly Ferrarese proves it is. From wax-sealed bottles in her living room to growing into a thriving, heart-led brand, Carly shares the real decisions, scrappy beginnings, and courageous pivots that shaped her journey. Expect to learn how to scale production while preserving integrity, why sourcing relationships are a superpower, what it takes to lead a small-but-mighty team, and how to follow your vision no matter the external noise. This is a founder’s playbook for building growth on your own terms. - Timestamps: (00:00) Origins: kitchen experiments, wax seals, first boutiques (05:00) The leap: from KitchenAid to industrial mixers (08:02) Production mistakes & reformulation on the fly (09:21) Keeping sourcing sacred by manufacturing in-house (12:02) Leading a team with trust and delegation (15:19) Inner work: confidence, worth, visibility as a founder (17:38) Avoiding burnout: movement, meditation, real time off (19:51) Rebrand to aluminum & realizing you can't please everyone (23:58) The “next level” with no roadmap - asking experts (25:33) How to find the right advisors through your network (26:31) Dismantling the “do it all” myth (33:34) Haircare myth-busting + the scalp as an internal mirror (36:41) Postpartum compassion & patience with hair cycles (39:01) One lesson: follow passion, let the yeses unfold (40:19) Rapid fire: books, Italy, rituals, what’s always in the bag - Links + Resources: Under Luna Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/under_luna Under Luna Website: https://www.underluna.com [https://underluna.com/] - Get in Touch: Honor Earth Apothecary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary [https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary] Honor Earth Apothecary Website: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/] Sara's Personal Substack: https://honoringtheslow.substack.com [https://honoringtheslow.substack.com/] Email: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact]

The Medicine You Can’t See: Flower Remedies, Intuition, and Healing What’s Hidden with Alexis Smart

What if healing begins in the places we can’t see? In this soulful conversation, Sara sits down with classical homeopath and founder of Alexis Smart Flower Remedies, Alexis Smart, to explore the quiet power of flowers and the way true healing unfolds from the inside out. Together, they trace how vibrational medicine meets the places we can’t see - guilt and unworthiness, disconnection from intuition, shock and trauma - and how simple, tender rituals can reopen the path back to ourselves. From choosing the one remedy you need right now to recognizing the moment a remedy’s work is complete, Alexis shares the philosophy of Dr. Bach, the wisdom of listening to your body, and what it really looks like to build a heart-led business rooted in integrity, patience, and trust. Expect to learn how flower remedies are made and why they work on an energetic level, the three core emotional themes Alexis sees most often - and the specific flowers that help, why “day 21” matters and how to spot a true healing shift, how to pick your starting formula when you feel like you need everything, what to do when “nothing happens” (and why foundational blends can be vital), gentle signs that a remedy has finished its work, ways to strengthen intuition in daily life, how sensitivity is a gift - and how to protect your energy, the dance between homeopathy and flower remedies (and when to use each), and the essential lessons the flowers offer on grief, self-doubt, and remembering what we already know. - Timestamps: (00:52) Meet Alexis Smart & today’s journey into vibrational healing (01:42) What flower remedies are and how they work on an energetic level (03:53) Why subtle medicine reaches the places we can’t see (05:11) Core wound #1: guilt, unworthiness, and the Pine remedy insight (08:17) Core theme #2: intuition vs. outside noise and the Cerato thread (10:33) Where to start when you feel like you “need everything” (13:40) How to know a remedy is complete (+ the 1–3 bottle rhythm) (15:09) Sara’s Ganesh story: finding the courage to hit record (15:58) “Day 21” magic, when “nothing happens,” and trauma blocks (18:25) Early reactions: tears, yawns, and the psyche’s reboot phase (20:07) What the flowers taught Alexis about change and identity (21:37) Rebuilding self-trust: Ganesh, Soul Purpose, and Cerato (22:52) Training intuition: dream journaling and the “you already know” mantra (24:15) Somatic tells: using the body as compass (26:42) Sensitivity as a strength: Pathos blend and protecting your field (29:02) Daily logistics for empaths: boundaries, blood sugar, and saying no (30:19) Homeopathy 101: “like cures like,” dilution, and individualization (33:36) Homeopathy kits: travel, emergency, and basic - when each helps (34:56) Modalities that harmonize: Reiki, craniosacral, EMDR, acupuncture (35:29) Kids’ remedies & the new Lionheart blend for sadness and disappointment (39:21) Adults ↔ kids: why crossover is okay - match the state, not the age (40:02) Teaching children emotional rituals and language for inner life (40:49) Running a heart-led business by intuition (not hype or haste) (42:37) Advice to younger self (44:17) Guarding your magic: flattery, boundaries, and copycats (46:53) You can’t be copied: your frequency is singular (47:36) Unlearning duty; reclaiming spontaneity and joy (48:34) If flowers could speak, this is what they would say (49:09) Rapid fire: books, best advice, awe, and rituals (52:22) Where to find Alexis + the human-answered remedy quiz - Links + Resources: Alexis Smart Ganesh Flower Remedy: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/products/ganesh-confidence Alexis Smart Soul Purpose Flower Remedy: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/products/soul-purpose-the-compass Alexis Smart Pathos Flower Remedy: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/products/pathos-for-empaths Alexis Smart Flower Remedies Website: https://alexissmart.com Alexis Smart Homeopathy Kit: https://alexissmart.com/collections/all/products/homeopathy-kit Alexis Smart Flower Remedies Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexissmartflowerremedies/ - Get in Touch: Honor Earth Apothecary Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary [https://www.instagram.com/honorearthapothecary] Honor Earth Apothecary Website: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/] Sara's Personal Substack: https://honoringtheslow.substack.com [https://honoringtheslow.substack.com/] Email: https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact [https://www.honorearthapothecary.com/pages/contact]