THE heart OF it.
FOLK HERBALISM, Folk magic & FOLK skills, TRANSFORMED BY FIRE TO MAKE NOURISHING MEDICINES & community education.
Handcrafted on Bainbridge Island WA & ethically harvested from all around the Puget Sound, Olympic Mountains and Northern Cascades.
Sia Riversong-Ray
Hey, i’m sia your local bainbridge herbalist, wildcrafter, permaculture enthusiast, forest skills student, druid initiate and the maker behind folk & fire.
Growing up rurally in the San Juan mountains of southern Colorado and the bob marshal wilderness of montana meant that I had quite a different childhood. winters were spent trapping beavers and processing pelts; summers were spent cutting firewood, listening to the coyotes and playing in streams. nature was my home and those around me passed down the skills needed to thrive in it. I learned how to make spit poultices from bug bites from the old timers in town and how to read the weather from dandelions.
as i continued through life I realized that many people didn’t have the same connection to the earth I was able to grow up in. I wanted to change that - to offer folks even in the busiest cities a chance to have a piece of the earth to take care of them.
stepping into herbalism was the obvious path for me and I'm so glad I did. now I make herbal remedies, teach folk medicine making & practical skills and mother my boys in the ways of the wild folk.
upon moving to Washington and witnessing the very different plants that grew here, I spent time learning under Sara butters at the hawthorn & honey intuitive herbal school, specializing in a wildcrafting education. I’ve studied under the tutelage of many other herbalists, including time online with the blue otter school of medicine. learning herbalism is a life-long journey and i’m overjoyed to be a forever student of the plants.
you should know…
for those craving the magic of regenerative nature connection.
Folk & Fire was born out of a desire to bring back our ancestors’ innate connection and knowledge with the Earth. fully foraging all of the Plants used in each offering and I do so with gratitude and honor, thanking the many Indigenous Folk who have tended - and continue to care for - the Land.
Ethical Wildcrafting & Sustainability
One of the pieces that’s extremely important (debatably the most important) is making sure that our overall impact is minimal. For us that looks like abiding by the Honorable Harvest, growing as much as we can and getting the what we can’t grow from friends, family and local WA farms. Things like Cottonwood buds we only harvest off of fallen branches - same with Douglas fir. Our honey comes from local WA farms, as does our beeswax.
All of our left over plant material that can, goes into our own compost or to our neighbors’ compost. And each and every item is foraged and meticulously handmade by Sia and packed by Johnny. It’s slow living in the best way.
Future Dreamings
Folk & Fire’s ultimate goal is to purchase forested land in Kitsap County for a large, two part community forest garden that will grow in harmony with the woods around it, filled with medicinal and food plants. One section will be for community members themselves to come in and grow, while the other will be tended by me (Sia) and distributed throughout the community to those who don’t have the time or accessibility to tend the plants themselves. We dream of this space being even more than a simple community garden though and more like a community center where we can all get together for Canning Weekends, Herbal Education, Guest Speakers, Permaculture Lessons, Kids Garden Days, Bushcraft Lessons and more.