What is AHPA?

AHPA (the American Herbal Products Association) is a nonprofit organization made up of over 350 herbal businesses who want to promote the responsible commerce of herbal products. In other words, AHPA is a group of behind-the-scenes herbal experts and enthusiasts who put their companies’ competitive goals aside to work together to make sure that the herbal products available to you online and in stores continue to be safe and healthful.

I recently attended the New England Women’s Herbal Conference and was struck by the sense of welcome and togetherness that was present throughout the entire event. There was much focus on inclusion and creating space for one another, and I felt compelled to share that spirit beyond the bounds of the conference. I was inspired to help bring more awareness to the strength of the herbal community and how people can be more involved in putting it to good use. Herbalists come in all genders, shapes, sizes, ethnicities, education levels, and from all geographic locations and backgrounds, and we all have something to share with each other.

Verdant fields of our certified organic passionflower flourish on our Italian farm partner's land. Gianfranco's family has passed down its agricultural wisdom through the generations while inspiring other farmers to embrace organic growing practices.

Gianfranco's kind eyes gaze lovingly at the single passionflower blossom he clutches in his hands. He buries his nose deep in its vibrant purple petals and inhales. “I could have made more money growing other crops,” Gianfranco says through a translator, “But I have a big love—I am in love—with passionflower.”

Not many businesses today have been around for 30 years, but after more than three decades, Mountain Rose Herbs is still going strong. The secret to our success is simple: we’re always working to improve ourselves, fine-tuning our quality control processes, sustainability efforts, and customer service while also giving back to our community. In recent years, we realized we had outgrown the capacity of our regional organic herb mill, resulting in bottlenecks that interfered with our ability to achieve our goals. So we decided to build a mill of our own!

A Certificate of Analysis for organic St. John's Wort. 

Many of our wonderful customers have questions about the botanicals we sell, either because of health concerns, curiosity, or personal business reasons. Whatever the question may be, we like to provide our community with assurance that we are selling products that are safe, unadulterated, and exactly as listed on our website. One of the ways we do this is through making a document called a “Certificate of Analysis” (COA), which is available to all of our customers upon request.

We know there’s nothing more inspiring for our customers than a fully-stocked apothecary or spice cabinet. Here at Mountain Rose Herbs, we pride ourselves on providing herbal enthusiasts with a veritable buffet of botanical bounty. Our organic farmers across the world do their very best to support us in that mission, and we are constantly inspired by their ability to provide harvests of such exceptional quantity and quality.

We’re serious about sustainability at Mountain Rose Herbs. So serious that, for the first time, we’ve decided to enlist a policy expert to help make all our green dreams a reality. We recently sat down with that expert, Jonathan Manton, to find out how he’ll be engaging community leaders to help our farmers grow (and customers get access to) organic, plant-based offerings for generations to come.

While leading women’s backpacking trips into northern California’s wilderness areas in the late 1980s, Mountain Rose Herbs’ co-owner Julie wanted to create a tea blend that would help hikers relax at the end of an active day. That’s how “Sleeping on Rocks” (now dubbed Fidnemed Nighttime Tea) was born.

The sun was shining and the bicycle wheels were spinning during the 2018 Mountain Rose Herbs Earth Day Celebration. Employees were in an especially festive mood because they were getting free, professional bike tune-ups as a gift from Mountain Rose Herbs!

One of the most powerful ways to promote a healthful life is taking ownership of what we put in (and on) our bodies. That's why we work so hard to offer our customers organic and non-GMO botanicals they can trust!  

When we ask folks why they choose to buy our botanicals, “quality” typically pops to the top of the list. It’s a proud moment when we realize our relentless search for the best organic botanicals is something you value too. That’s why we sat down with Steven, our Quality Assurance & Quality Control Director, to find out what he and his lab coat-wearing team does behind the closed doors of our in-house lab—the epicenter of quality here at Mountain Rose Herbs.