Meet Wendy Mackenzie
Wendy Mackenzie is an avid herbalist and proud Vermonter who is passionate about creating joy through her highly effective organic body care product line, Meadowscape Botanicals, made at Everlasting Herb Farm in Peacham, VT. She started EHF in 2003 after interning at Zack Woods Herb Farm and taking Rosemary Gladstar’s Science & Art of Herbalism Course. In 2020 she began studying with Formula Botanica. At the same time she was asked to make a cream-style deodorant for a local woman who had a stroke. Wendy formulated Meadow Bee Deodorant, a plastic-free natural deodorant that really works. It won 2 out of 6 Deodorant Awards in the 2023 Beauty Shortlist Awards. She and her husband of 31 years have raised three children together. They built a barn studio to house their growing business behind their farmhouse. Everlasting Herb Farm was just awarded the Small Business Administration’s Vermont 2024 Microenterprise of the Year.
Editor’s Note
If you haven’t had the opportunity to meet Wendy Mackenzie, I’m delighted to make the introduction. Wendy is a sparkling star in herbal circles and always stands out in a crowd because of her bright, zesty spirit and warm, welcoming smile. Just being around Wendy makes me happy! She was one of my early apprentices and graduated from The Science & Art of Herbalism in 2004.
A fellow Vermonter, we’ve kept in touch through the years, and it’s been amazing, though not surprising, to watch Wendy’s herbal company grow into an award-winning business. Wendy brings not only a deep passion for her herbal work, but also a keen sense of integrity and commitment to everything she does. Her beautiful gardens at Everlasting Herb Farm are an inspiration and home to her rapidly expanding herbal business. But let’s let Wendy tell her own story…
Any herbalist will tell you that the plants will call you, that they will get your attention someday, somehow.
As a young Vermonter, I wasn’t called when my mom created beautiful perennial gardens all around our house. And her organic vegetable garden didn’t pull me in either because I hated picking row after row of green beans as a teenager. And I wasn’t even called when I was surrounded by tropical plants as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Dominican Republic.
Instead, the plants got my attention when I was in my late twenties because I had been looking for a way to make my first house smell nice. As a classroom teacher, I had the good fortune to have a whole series of guest speakers come to speak to my high school students. Vegetarians, yoga teachers, and reiki practitioners shared what they did to achieve good health.
But it was herbalist, Isabelle Hadley, who got my attention.
Isabelle passed around gallon sized glass jars filled with colorful petals and little bottles of essential oils that we could waft under our noses. That was when the plants pulled me in. Smitten, I signed up for Isabelle’s 6-day herbal course that met in her little log cabin in southern Vermont. I took notes about plants I never heard of, ate herbal feasts for lunch, and began learning about herbal preparations you could make in your kitchen. Plants were more than beautiful, they could help you maintain your health and make your house smell great.
I was hooked.
Shortly after that we moved to Northern Vermont. It turned out that our “new” 1840’s farmhouse in Peacham was just 30 minutes from Sage Mountain where Rosemary Gladstar lived and taught.
The pull of the plants is very powerful, and they got me to where I needed to be. After an internship with Mel and Jeff Carpenter at Zack Woods Herb Farm, I found what I loved doing. Working with plants was my path forward. I furthered my desire to learn more by signing up for Rosemary’s Science & Art of Herbalism Course.
I loved how the lessons were organized in Rosemary’s course.
Starting with the nervous system, and moving on to the liver and kidneys was a brilliant way to organize the lessons. I loved the binder format and that the lessons could be tackled one at a time. We were encouraged to buy dried herbs and get to know them by making teas or decoctions, and to taste them. Some were delicious, and others not so tasty, but you would remember how they each tasted and get a sense of what they might do inside the body. We learned how to make tinctures, zoom balls, foot baths, fire cider and many other preparations, but it was my love of making salves that took me in the direction I still mostly work in today.
I started my business, Everlasting Herb Farm, in 2003. It was a fun way to play with the plants in addition to being a full time mom. In 2012, I started white-labeling for a large Vermont retailer, work I still do today. I make hundreds (and thousands) of products for them each month, and the boxes ship from our porch. It is all pretty magical. The plants (and fairies) have taken great care of me and I am so grateful to have found this herbal path that has led to the life that I love and live.
In 2017, every room in our house had been taken over by the business. You had to carefully navigate narrow paths of boxes and supplies to get from room to room. Matthew, my spouse and business partner, single-handedly built a barn in our backyard. Beautifully designed to fit our rural neighborhood, Everlasting Herb Farm lives on the top floor. In 2018 I left my teaching job to pursue my business full time.
I have not looked back with any regrets.
In 2020 I started an online program through Formula Botanica in London. At the same time, I was asked to help a local woman who needed a cream deodorant because she couldn’t apply deodorant to one side of her body after having a stroke. I had worn natural deodorant my whole life and I did not know from my own experience that it could actually work.
I didn’t have much hope that I could make a natural deodorant that could work. Could such a product exist? It was like being asked to make a spaceship to get to a planet I had never heard of. I really didn’t think it was possible.
But my Achilles heel is helping others, and I thought I should at least give it a try.
I used a method I learned from Formula Botanica called a “cold blended cream” where you take plant butters, add carrier oils, and whip them together until you get a frosting- like consistency. It is a way to make a cream without using any water so a preservative isn’t needed. And what I made worked until the weather in Vermont got really hot. When I went back to check the sample jar, it had deflated and was only half full. I stared at the failed attempt, but then I got an idea of how to move forward.
I knew that I could go back to my roots with Rosemary and what I had learned from her Science & Art of Herbalism Course.
I knew what I could add so it wouldn’t deflate in high heat. I also learned about a couple of plant-based ingredients for fighting odor through an online deodorant course. With the odor fighting ingredients, and my affinity for plants that I learned from Rosemary and my mom, I am proud to say that I have made a pretty impressive, plant based deodorant that really, truly works. It is gentle to sensitive skin, won’t cause a rash, and it doesn’t ruin clothing. It’s called Meadow Bee Deodorant. It comes in 2 forms and in 6 heavenly essential oil blends. Each scent is named after a solitary pollinator found here in Vermont. And it comes without the plastic packaging that plagues most deodorant aisles so it is planet friendly.
Have the plants been calling you? Are you paying attention? Find your herbal path forward with Rosemary’s Science & Art of Herbalism Course.
about herbs for over 50 years. It is my honor and joy to share what I have learned with you, and to introduce you to my fellow herbalists and plant lovers!
I enjoyed reading about your journey! Thank you for all the inspiration to keep going!
Wendy, thank you so much for sharing your story. I hope it will inspire others to follow their dreams.