5K High Altitude Apothecary

🧪Botanical Extracts

The garden,

gathered one drop at a time.

Botanical extracts gather the character of a plant

into a concentrated form,

allowing us to carry a little of the garden with us one drop at a time.

An extract begins with a plant and a menstruum

a liquid chosen to draw particular constituents from the botanical material.

Depending upon the plant

and the purpose of the preparation,

that liquid may include alcohol,

glycerin,

vinegar,

water,

or a combination of them.

Over time,

plant and liquid work together.

What began in root,

leaf,

flower,

bark,

berry,

or seed

moves into a form that can be strained,

bottled,

measured,

and kept close at hand.

🌱 Why Extract a Plant?

Not everything a plant carries is released in the same way.

Water is very good at drawing out some constituents.

Alcohol is better suited to others.

Vinegar and glycerin have their own characteristics as well.

That is one reason herbal preparations have developed in so many different forms.

The question isn’t simply:

What plant should I use?

It is also:

How does this plant want to be prepared?

🫙 Slow Medicine

Many traditional extracts aren’t made quickly.

The botanical material is placed into its chosen liquid and given time.

Days become weeks.

The jar is checked and tended.

Eventually,

the plant material is strained away and the finished extract is bottled.

There is something I love about that process.

Very little appears to be happening from one day to the next.

And yet the preparation is changing all the while.

Sometimes the work is happening even when we cannot see it.

🌿 In the 5K Apothecary

The extracts I make begin with the plant itself.

Its character matters.

So does the part being used,

the method of extraction,

the strength of the preparation,

and the way the finished extract will eventually be used.

This is not simply about putting herbs into bottles.

It is another way of getting to know them.

Wander a Little Further…

Explore 🌿 The Herbarium

Explore 💧 Elixirs

Explore 🫙 Mountain infusions

Return to 🧴The Apothecary