WEST FARGO — It’s all about keeping the herbs happy.
Step inside the cool, windowless interior of a new West Fargo apothecary, Herbz and Spicez, and visitors are greeted by the earthy, slightly floral aroma of herbs, walls lined with dozens of glass jars holding dried herbal concoctions and a gently smiling Penny Stadick.
Almost immediately, Stadick explains the cooler temperatures and lack of windows in her store: Those are the conditions that her organic inventory of herbs, teas, spices and tinctures like best.
“I have a sweater and I have a heater in my office if it gets cold, but in here, it has to stay cool,” she says.
She should know.
Stadick is the herbalist/aromatherapist/holistic health expert behind the new store, which opened in April at 1613 Main Ave. E.
She’s spent well over a decade studying and practicing natural-health fields like medicinal herbalism and essential oils. She holds degrees in numerous alternative-health practices from institutions like the School of Natural Health Sciences in the United Kingdom.
And her lack of hyperbole — she gives an honest, no-nonsense take on what natural medicine can do and what it can’t do — seems to make her even more credible.
“I don’t treat or cure anything,” she says. “What I do supports the body and the body does the rest of the work.”
Penny Stadick also sells organic spices and spice blends, like this Rosemary Sea Salt, at her apothecary, Herbz and Spicez located at 1613 Main Ave E. in West Fargo.
David Samson / The Forum
Stadick also says she doesn’t diagnose people and that she touts evidence-based approaches to practices like aromatherapy or herbal medicine.
However, she has seen herbs and essential oils help people. She’s witnessed clients who have cut down on their blood pressure medications or anti-depressants because an herb or tincture has helped their body work more effectively.
She has spent years offering complementary therapies and products in other parts of the country. She operated an aromatherapy/essential oil store in Arizona and more recently worked as an end-of-life doula in Iowa.
She loved the doula work, although it sometimes required driving 500 miles a day to bring comfort to someone in their final stage of life. But she developed osteoarthritis in her shoulders from the marathon time spent behind the wheel and couldn’t keep doing it.
Now, the Jamestown, N.D., native and “the love of my life,” husband Karl, are back in North Dakota.
“My husband told me to retire and I’m like, ‘No, I’m not ready.’ So this is what came of my husband telling me to retire,” she says, smiling and looking around the shop. “I wanted to have a well-rounded shop where people could come and feel comfortable and have someone that’s certified in herbalism and aromatherapy and all these things.”
It’s been a long journey to get here for Stadick.
Her formative years in Jamestown were difficult. She grew up in an alcoholic, abusive household and turned to food for comfort. When she gained weight, she was teased and bullied by peers.
She married at 16 and had three sons, but her new husband was abusive. By age 21, she was divorced. “I was abused as a child and so I didn’t know anything different,” she says.
Her second marriage, to a man she’d known since childhood, produced a daughter but was emotionally empty. They finally divorced after 16 years together.
Penny Stadick talks about the organic herbs, which she formulates and mixes herself to address different conditions, at Herbz and Spicez, located at 1613 Main Ave E. in West Fargo. Stadick says herbs work by helping the body function better in specific areas so that it can begin to heal itself.
David Samson / The Forum
The third time was the charm for Stadick. She Karl while attending a local recovery group for family members affected by a loved one’s drinking problem.
“He’s my biggest supporter. My biggest backbone. The adventures we’ve been on — sometimes he gets exhausted from following me around, but he supports every one of my decisions,” she says.
It was Karl who supported her when she awoke him in the middle of the night to tell him that God had guided her to help others by studying aromatherapy. Or when, half a year later, she heard a higher calling to open an aromatherapy shop. Or when she worked as an end-of-life doula.
He also supported her in the odyssey to find natural, holistic health approaches in the first place. In 2002, Stadick weighed 298 pounds. She knew she had to take drastic measures in order to survive. She received a gastric bypass via the Roux-en-Y procedure — and lost weight.
But the after-effects of Stadick’s surgery lasted well after they should have subsided. She continued to experience “dumping syndrome,” in which undigested food empties too quickly from the stomach into the small intestine, resulting in severe nausea, vomiting and other gastrointestinal problems.
In 2005, a different surgeon discovered her Roux-en-Y had been done incorrectly and performed a revision. By then, however, the severe malnutrition that resulted from the earlier procedure had triggered more health issues, including osteopenia, anemia, serious vitamin deficiencies and chronic fatigue.
After Stadick reported neurological problems — neuropathy, dizziness, blurred vision — doctors gave her an MRI. They discovered white matter disease, a condition in which random lesions form on the myelin, or fatty, protective coating around nerve fibers. The myelin sheath allows electrical impulses to travel efficiently from one nerve cell to another; damage to it can disrupt signals and cause neurological problems.
At this point, Stadick already had managed several alternative medicine clinics, including
Prairie Naturopathic Doctors in Moorhead.
The experience had sparked her interest in integrative medicine — the concept of combining conventional medicine with alternative therapies to address the whole person (mind, body, spirit) for optimal healing.
She began researching which schools offered the best programs in her areas of interest.
Today, she holds a bachelor of science degree in holistic health from the Kingdom College of Natural Health in Byhalia, Miss., and certifications in nutrition and herbalism from the Global College of Natural Medicine in Santa Cruz, Calif. She is currently pursuing an advanced degree in herbalism from the School of Natural Health Sciences in London.
Stadick also has the highest level of certified clinical aromatherapist certification from the National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy (NAHA). She’s a reiki master and meditation expert as well.
As Penny Stadick is a level 3 reiki master, her business, Herbz and Spicez, includes a private reiki room for clients seeking that therapy at 1613 Main Ave E. in West Fargo.
David Samson / The Forum
Stadick jokes that if she hung up all of her diplomas, it would cover an entire wall of her store. Even so, she hopes to display a handful of her most prestigious and all-encompassing ones, so customers realize she knows her business.
“I have had a couple people come in and say, ‘Well, what makes you qualified to do this?’” she says. “Then I can just look at them and say, ‘Do you see those up there?’”
Even with years of school under her belt, Stadick says herbalists and alternative health practitioners never stop studying. “So what I learn about oat hops today could change tomorrow,” she says. “It’s just an ongoing lifelong process.”
Better living through herbalism
Herbz and Spicez has the vibe of an old-school apothecary, with its rows of glass jars filled with fascinating dried plants.
Right now, she estimates she has 100 different herbs on the shelves. Stadick has enough other herbs to fill out the empty spaces in the shelving, although it will take a few more months to make that happen.
She also carries 65 different teas and 77 different spices and spice blends.
Stadick orders all her stock from a few trusted, certified-organic suppliers. She then formulates the herb, spice and tea blends herself.
She also makes tinctures, which is an easy but time-consuming process. She places crushed herbs into alcohol, then lets the formulation stand for six to eight weeks to macerate. She then strains the formulation into eye-dropper bottles and seals them.
A variety of teas are displayed at Herbz and Spicez located at 1613 Main Ave E. in West Fargo.
David Samson / The Forum
In fact, she admits formulation is one of her favorite things to do. “My husband’s like, ‘How do you know it’s going to sell?’ And I say, ‘I don’t know. I woke up with it in my head, so I’ve got to be doing something. Somebody needs it.’”
Once mixed, the dry formulations are placed in large jars, where they’re labeled with the possible benefits and the cautions regarding possible side effects or drug interactions.
Stadick maintains a mammoth database of herbs, so she can track this type of information and share it with customers.
“I was told by my mentor that the goal is not to remember everything,” she says. “The goal is to remember where you can find it.”
“That’s what I tell when people come in and say, ‘Well, these are just plants.’ Yes, they are just plants, but plants still can interact with your medications if you’re on medications. Ultimately, they’re much safer than medications, but there’s a place and time for everything.”
She also asks people who take medications or have more complex medical histories to come in for a one-hour consultation, so she has a clearer picture of their health before she recommends anything.
Although Stadick can rely on her database, she already seems to possess an encyclopedic knowledge of herbs. Valerian root tastes awful, she says, but helps people sleep. Non-hallucinogenic mushrooms, like Lion’s Mane, reishi and cordyceps, are purported to slow cognitive decline. Catnip makes kitties goes crazy but calms down humans.
So what’s in the future for Herbz and Spicez?
Think “Essential Oilz.”
Stadick has already started formulating certain essential oils for specific customers, and is excited to roll out a complete line of oils in the future.
She strongly believes the essential oils have many benefits, but she also relies on evidence-based studies to learn about them. She’s met some of the experts who have released more scientific information on the oils, such as Dr. Robert Tisserand, who wrote a respected safety manual for clinical aromatherapy.
Product is displayed at Herbz and Spicez located at 1613 Main Ave E. in West Fargo.
David Samson / The Forum
However, she fears some mid-level marketing companies that sell the oils “don’t have appropriate training. They’re just training to sell. It’s about the money.”
Granted, Stadick acknowledges that her business also needs to make money in order to survive. She and Karl have made an agreement that the shop will be self-sustaining by the end of this year.
She intends to do that with the help of outreach events, such as introductory classes on aromatherapy and herbalism this fall.
She’s also considered hosting tea parties for bridal showers or little girls’ birthday parties and offering an herbal mocktail bar service as an option for non-drinkers at wedding receptions.
She’s also developing a line of teas designed for each stage of a woman’s pregnancy.
Regardless of what the future holds, Stadick sees it all as part of her higher power’s plan for her. “This is what my purpose is — to help people the best I know how,” she says. “It’s been quite a journey. And I love where this journey has taken me. It’s brought me back home to my roots.”
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