Plentiful sunshine. High around 95F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph..

A clear sky. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.

Plentiful sunshine. High around 95F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

A clear sky. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.

Sunshine. Near record high temperatures. High 97F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.

Plentiful sunshine. High around 95F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.

A clear sky. Low around 70F. Winds light and variable.

Sunshine. Near record high temperatures. High 97F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.

Eden Faulkner is the owner of Gardens Apothecary in Springfield. A trip to South America helped inspire her to open the local business.

Gardens Apothecary offers around 60 varieties of tropical and exotic plants.

Gardens Apothecary is located at 709 South Willow Street in downtown Springfield.

Eden Faulkner is the owner of Gardens Apothecary in Springfield. A trip to South America helped inspire her to open the local business.

Gardens Apothecary offers around 60 varieties of tropical and exotic plants.

Gardens Apothecary is located at 709 South Willow Street in downtown Springfield.

A 2019 trip to Peru for a time of “self-healing” — albeit unintentional — inspired Eden Faulkner to open one of Springfield’s newest small businesses.

Located in downtown Springfield at 709 S. Willow St., Gardens Apothecary is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

It was during her trip to Peru in South America that she spent time learning yoga and gaining knowledge about herbal medicine — a journey she took just to do something for herself.

But while there, Faulkner said she saw and experienced a different way of life.

Immersed in nature, Faulkner began to notice how differently the country’s water systems operated. Homes were constructed in a more basic, natural way, and residents grew their own food.

“It was a natural way of life — some things I’d never seen before. People were just living off the earth, structures were made of stone and mud, and it just gave me an appreciation of the planet more,” Faulkner, 23, added.

The trip, however, helped motivate her to do something else — to help bring a little more nature and natural living into people’s lives back home. Thus, Gardens Apothecary was born.

According to Faulkner, “our community way of life” can be very disconnected from nature — in that many may not know how to grow their own food or look to a more natural way of living, or just be in touch with nature itself.

Plus, she had always had an interest in plants, even when she was younger, when she kept them in her room. She just didn’t know much about them, she explained.

So she took that love, along with her experience in Peru, combined with several years of knowledge from working at an area greenhouse, to bring a bit of nature and some natural ways of doing things to her storefront.

“That experience made me want to offer something similar in my community,” she said of her trip to Peru. “I think our society has a way different way of life — focused on different things. We are advanced to the point we don’t do the things we once did.”

Gardens Apothecary is filled with around 60 varieties of tropical and exotic plants, naturally-made products to keep them healthy, as well as an assortment of herbal teas for customers’ taste buds.

“I offer tea for people and tea for plants,” she noted.

Faulkner feeds the plants her own concoction of plant tea, because pre-made nourishment or growth products, in addition to pesticides, are strictly a “no-no,” at Gardens Apothecary.

For instance, Faulkner said she makes plant tea using a combination of all-natural items like oils, worm castings, beneficial bacterias and animal excrements — mixed with other “secret ingredients,” to help plants stay healthy.

Additionally, customers looking to relax with a hot cup of tea can, themselves, indulge in a number of herbal choices for sale, plus several of Faulkner’s own mixes, using roots, flowers and dried herbs.

A supply of natural potting soils and pots also are available.

Those interested can also sign up for one-on-one plant care, basic tea-making, and herbs and medicine classes at the business’s website.

Faulkner said it’s all designed to bring people closer to nature.

“I think bringing nature into our home is very healing in itself,” she added.

For more information, go to www.gardensapothecary.com, GardensApothecary on Facebook, or gardens_apothecaryco on Instagram.

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