Our Story
Philippa and Hillary have a love for locally grown herbs. Inspired by their mentors and fueled by the joy and empowerment of growing, foraging, and crafting potions with nature’s medicine, they founded The New Zealand Herb Company.
Their mission is to support herbalists like you by offering vibrant, meticulously gathered, and dried herbs from New Zealand’s rich flora. Each herb is thoughtfully selected and processed to ensure the highest quality and potency, so you can harness the full potential of New Zealand's botanical bounty in your herbal practice and daily rituals.
Herbs Picked with Care
Our herbs are sourced from passionate and skilled herbalists and growers throughout New Zealand. Each unique herb is carefully planned, sown, weeded, harvested, and dried before it reaches you. This process blends plant magic with the intentional energy of every person involved, resulting in vibrant, well-preserved herbs.
We use low-temperature drying to retain as many key actives, such as volatile oils, as possible, ensuring their potency in your medicine.
Freeze-treating is employed to prolong shelf life and eliminate any critters that our keen eyes might have missed.
We value quality and transparency, guaranteeing that our herbs are 100% New Zealand grown. Sharing the journey of each herb in our shop.
Hillary and Philippa
On a beautiful day in Christchurch in November 2020, Philippa and Hillary met for the first time. They were both attending separate herbalist courses with renowned herbalist Isla Burgess, who suggested they should meet, believing they shared similar visions and beliefs. From that first conversation, a firm friendship was forged, and the seeds were sown for their collaboration, The New Zealand Herb Company.
Philippa, pictured on the left, is a passionate mother of three and grandmother of one. Her farmlet, Urban Botanicals, based in Halswell, Christchurch, is a no-dig herb market garden with chickens, horses, and the occasional sheep to keep her company. You might find Philippa interplanting crops with dahlias, buckwheat, and cosmos, or pulling out the “beloved” couch grass—either way, she will most certainly have her hands in the dirt.
Hillary, pictured on the right, is a puppy mom of two and a serial lamb adopter. As a curious home herbalist, she loves to wild forage, grow medicinal plants, and make tinctures. When she isn’t practicing massage therapy or working in her community care role, she enjoys the quiet reflection of seasonal harvests and the mental clarity gained from hard work in the garden alongside the plants. Hillary lives with her husband and his supportive and loving family at Harts Creek Organic Farm in Leeston. There is always something new to learn on the farm, and she is never short of questions for her patient husband, George, and her father-in-law, Tim, who together have over 30 years of experience growing organic medicinal herbs on a large scale.
Hillary and Philippa have both trained at herbal schools. Philippa completed Valmai Becker’s Herbal Apprenticeship at Phytofarm and earned a Diploma (non-clinical) in Medicinal Herbalism with Isla Burgess at the International College of Herbal Medicine. Hillary completed a Certificate in Herbal Medicine through the Southern Institute of Medical Herbalism and participated in Isla Burgess’s six-month immersion course, Traditions, Art, and Science of Herbal Medicines, taught at Viriditas, Centre for Plant-Directed Learning and Participatory Science in Central Otago, NZ.
Both share a passion for plant-forward community health.
You can connect with them and follow their journey as they navigate this adventure together on social media!
