Deciding to Follow the Seasons and Signs: How we wound up as a Traveling Apothecary
Where are we now?
It is January of 2022 and we are just finishing up some of the finishing touches and refinements on our shuttle bus conversion tiny home and full apothecary, parked next to my mom's house in Florida. We are solar powered, have a small herb garden on board as well as some of our favorite house plants and rare cacti. We have one we call, Dr. Phil(odendron). We travel with an expansive seed bank for seed-sharing/swapping and planting as we go, a small library of books on herbal medicine, plant/fungi ID guides, permaculture living and healing, a tote of garden tools and amendments... and to top it off we have a really cool micro-distillation system on board that we can make small quantities of high quality essential oils and hydrosols from herbs and flowers we collect as we travel. The apothecary collection is made up of hundreds of herbs, essential oils, tinctures, clays and product making supplies in small quantities. (Of course as formers chefs we also have a bountiful kitchen of spices and foods from around the globe in our pantry and as artists-- a variety of mediums and craft supplies too. Did I mention the kayaks?) But how did we wind up Traveling in a Bus??? Following many struggles in life and unexpected situations, the Pandemic was what my father would have referred to as a catalyst... or some event that truly shifts your entire course to create something new after hitting rock bottom, do or die. Especially as things keep building toward a breaking point, a catalyst just firms up the change that is inevitable. I had veered away from making and selling herbal products and pursued a career in the culinary world. Working as a chef and finding myself in a very strange new environment. At times I couldn't be happier and others it was a devastating existence, too far removed from putting my hands in the soil and solitude of the forest. I did it to get out of a life situation that had been even worse, an abusive relationship that hampered my creativity and ability to run a small business. Cooking made me happy when I got lost in it, to help avoid feeling sad about multiple recent losses of family and friends and what I had gone through in my early twenties. Yet something was not quite right with that pursuit either. Just when things were seeming intolerable, Covid-19 catalyzed a twist in my path... I was furloughed and had my new partner move in with me so we could pool our resources to survive. We built an absolutely incredible garden paradise in the Summer of 2020. We were in love and knew we wanted to build a new life together. But it was a rental property and we yearned for the security of our own home. We considered building a tiny home, then realized it was beyond our budget. We began considering doing a bus conversion. We looked at so many different options and visited different buses looking for the right one. It was apparent there were a lot of buses that were just not right or too expensive. Only once I widened my search to include northern California, did we see this old shuttle bus listing that just clicked. We took a road trip to see it. It was love at first sight.. like many relationships we had no clue what it really entailed. What issues and baggage the bus would bring with her. Yet she had this funky triangle window in the cab and this beautiful red/orange/blue stripe down the side that we just fell head over heels for.. Working out a payment plan, we kept up with the payments and drove back down to dusty dry Marysville, CA to pick her up in the most intense desert heat at end of July 2020. While we had been working on our garden, herding chickens and rehabilitating our rare senior Xoloitzcuintle rescue dog-- we dreamed. We dreamed harder than either of us had in so many years. Watched endless videos, pinterest and blogs, spent so many hours drawing sketches of what it could look like. We filled lock-down isolation by dreaming of our own little world. How would we fit our entire lives in a 24 foot 126 sq. feet living space? We collected and sourced so many things for free, discounted or on sale. Reduced everything we owned again, again and again. Gave away and donated so many possessions and plants. We harvested our herb garden, drying, infusing in oil and tincturing as much as we could. So uncertain of what the Pandemic would bring. Wildcrafted through the summer and fall. I gathered herbs to help me, my family and others we came across. Steadily designed, built, sanded and painted in our bus. Jumping Off a Cliff At one point things were getting a little rough. Wildfires burned near by. The Pandemic was raging. Low on funds we moved out before we were done building and left for northern California on the hopes that we had a job with a friend and a place to continue building. Covid would strike yet another fork in our path, a surge came and all was locked down. No jobs. People were skittish about having someone stay with them. We were left adrift in a half built home, stacked high with building materials, tools and all our worldly possessions. It turned out, as winter bore down on us on the Pacific coast that our bus leaked and we had no clue what we would do. Squalls and cold tore at us inside and out. It was painfully desperate and dark during these weeks and months. I longed for simpler times, yet our love kept us sane enough to eventually find somewhere to build-- back in Portland where we had come from. By May 2021 we had completely ripped out and rebuilt everything from the subfloor up. Sealed the windows and started feeling like we lived in a home, albeit one still missing finishing touches and a few creature comforts, like an indoor shower and a working oven. Through the summer we found places to stay for a few weeks or months at time with family then with a wonderful old friend who offered a long term spot on a beautiful old ranch in North Idaho. We built and worked, wildcrafted herbs and canned produce from the local farmers market. It was bliss. Then it grew cold... cold enough to freeze our dog's water one night. Old injuries were so painful it was difficult to continue our build. We could not stay for winter. It was a sign. We decided it was time to head south. Driving south along the coast and through the Redwoods then through the incredible vastness of the southwest. I carefully documented wildflowers and intriguing plants at every stop. Reading up on the medicinal and ethnobotantical uses of plants I had never heard of or even seen, was eye-opening. I had so much yet to learn from the plant world. A special moment: I was abruptly filled with a great sense of agape one night when we pulled into Hagen Canyon Red Rocks. The moon shined so bright over the formations weathered by time. It was a cathedral in the wilderness that I suddenly bowed before in reverence. I had been there with family as a small child and had not appreciated the grandeur of nature. Yet it was familiar all the same. I had not been truly grateful for the journey I had been on up until that point. Every cell in my being was alive and aware of the unbelievable life we had created for ourselves out of the scraps of exploded lives and hearts. I will be forever grateful for the sermon the night wind and the sands whispered in my ears as I was surrounded by moonlight. I was living free and abundantly despite all odds. In such a short time we had both transformed our life direction and our bus in the process. We reconnected with my family as we traveled south then east. I had not realized how important my family was for so long during the years of my abusive relationship. The power of real love is yet another catalyst. Of course we had some mechanical troubles, but then friends and family came together and donated to our cause so we could continue our journey to my mom's house in Florida. We felt and breathed in the vastness of this country and its many landscapes in the span of a few short weeks. It was our scouting journey of sorts. Finding ourselves and our place in the world as well as defining how we wanted to live our lives moving forward. Seeing the world, learning about and sharing knowledge of plants, cooking great foods and living life with few constraints. We made it to Florida and have been working on finalizing our build and planning our futures. Part of my plan-- is to never stop creating and sharing my love of plant medicines again. We live in scary and uncertain times, yet the one thing I am certain of is that every time I turn away from my natural calling, life is not worth living. Therefore, its time to bring the light and life I have within me to others. I present the Wisdom Garden Bus and Urb & Clay Apothecary re-birthed and reforming into something truly wonderful. I plan on carrying the torch of my father's legacy of Wisdom Garden Institute and our outreach work into the future. I believe in a rich and beautiful life integrating my many passions and skills. Stay connected to see how this life unfolds. Support our journey and work by buying my herbal products, get a consultations for one of my custom formulations, buy my father's books, commission artwork or graphics or by offering us a place to stay as we travel. With Love, Paula, Owner Urb & Clay Apothecary |
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