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OUR STEWARDSHIP:
AT-RISK SPECIES + RESTORATION
How we care for the land, the plants we protect, and how visits work.
LIVING IN RELATIONSHIP
This sanctuary came to us through relationship. The land was stewarded before us by a Métis herbalist and their partner, who ran an outdoor school here for years. What they passed on wasn't just acreage - it was an ethic, a way of being on land that asks something of you in return for what it offers. We try to honor that.
We call what we do here living in relationship. That means reciprocity - not as a philosophy we've adopted, but as a practical daily commitment. The land tends us. We tend the land. The clinic grows out of what the sanctuary offers, and what the sanctuary needs shapes how we practice. On our mountain, everything is connected and we are all kin.
RESTORATION IN ACTION
The recent history of this cove is a history of loss. Logging stripped much of its botanical diversity, and what returned wasn't always what belonged here. Part of our work is slower than medicine-making - it's the patient, decades-long work of reintroduction.
We have actively brought back native populations that belong in these mountain coves but were lost to previous land use:
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The Ramps Colony - over 300 individuals reintroduced to establish a permanent, non-harvested stand
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Forest Ephemerals - Trillium, Wild Ginger, and Black Cohosh returned to the shaded understory where they used to be
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Chestnut Groves - multiple groves of blight resistant trees planted where they have always lived
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Meadow + Edge Species - Columbine, Echinacea, Butterfly Weed and other at-risk native wildflowers establishing along the margins, supporting the pollinators this place has always fed
We manage the forest canopy and invasive species to open the specific niches these sensitive plants need. It's slow work. Most of it won't fully show for another decade. We're doing it anyway.
A mature black cohosh plant growing on the forest's edge - her native habitat - is feeding a native bee.
Our mountain stream swollen with spring rains on a moody day in May.
THE BOTANICAL SANCTUARY
Feral Hollow is a dedicated Botanical Sanctuary. We work with the United Plant Savers At-Risk and To-Watch lists as our baseline for prioritization - these are the plants that commercial harvest and habitat loss have pushed hardest.
The goal is to function as a living seed bank as we work to building a livable future for everyone that calls our mountain home. Slow-growing species like Goldenseal and Ginseng need decades to mature and propagate. They need places where they are simply allowed to exist without pressure. This is one of those places.
This shapes our clinical practice directly. If we harvest at-risk medicinal plants, it's from abundance we helped build, not abundance we found and took from. Sometimes herbal allies come to us another way entirely - rescued from land that was about to be developed, transplanted here where they have a chance. When that medicine eventually finds its way into the apothecary, it carries that whole story with it.
This is what we mean by reciprocity. Not avoidance - relationship. The difference is years of work and honest account of what a population can sustain.
GO OUT IN THE WOODS, GO OUT. IF YOU DON'T GO OUT IN THE WOODS NOTHING WILL EVER HAPPEN AND YOUR LIFE WILL NEVER BEGIN."
-CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES
WOMEN WHO RUN WITH THE WOLVES
VISITING THE SANCTUARY
Feral Hollow is our off-grid home as well as our sanctuary, and we keep it that way on purpose. Visits are by appointment only - reach out through OUR CONTACT FORM or email us directly at feralhollowgardens@gmail.com to schedule.
If you come:-
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Stay on designated footpaths. Emerging seedlings and mycelial networks don't recover from being walked on.
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Take nothing. No plants, no seeds, no stones. This applies to everything, including things that look abundant.
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Clean your footwear before arriving. Invasive seeds travel on mud, and we work hard to keep them out.
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Give something back if you're willing. We'll show you which invasives we're pulling. Many hands make this lighter.
The sanctuary is not a destination. It's a working relationship between us and this land. We're glad to share it with people who understand what that means.
Our mentors built this beautiful cabin on the sanctuary by hand using traditional skills many moons ago.
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