That is a loaded question. I would say it is an amalgamation of so many factors that I had no other choice but to dive into the herbal world.
I have always been drawn to the self-sufficiency lifestyle. It is a romantic idea in the most classic literary sense — forging your own path, living a peaceful life, relying on your own hands and knowledge whether by choice or circumstance. Alongside that ran a deep desire to help others. As many as I can. If there is a need, I want to be able to help physically, mentally, financially if able, or at the very least point someone in the right direction. Those two things quietly shaped a personal creed long before I ever gave it a name: “Be self-sufficient. Help everyone you can. Inconvenience no one.” When the time came to build something bigger, that motto became the foundation of Off Kilter Homestead, our brand and YouTube channel, and the vehicle through which that philosophy finally found its voice.
But the biggest reason I ended up here was my family. My Mamaw grew up in the mountains of Virginia during the Depression and had to rely on nature’s remedies for a wide array of ailments. Growing up, she would occasionally use some of those skills on me and my brothers when we had an issue. I really wish I had paid closer attention to those times.
Those natural remedies stayed in the back of my mind. Then my oldest began having multiple issues, the biggest being recurrent strep. Due to being ignored by allopathic medical practitioners and a frustrating insurance requirement, it took far too long to get his tonsils removed. In the meantime, it was round after round of antibiotics. While antibiotics are a genuine medical miracle, they can wreak havoc on the digestive system. His recurrence was so rapid that the day after finishing a course he would begin complaining again, and sure enough, strep again. The insurance required 7 documented cases within one year before approving a tonsillectomy. By the time we had the surgery, he had it 9 times. That level of repeated antibiotic exposure ultimately led to him developing antibiotic-induced celiac disease.
He was also dealing with Molloscum Contagiosum, a skin condition that presents as small raised bumps. Doctor after doctor told us to wait it out. Years passed and nothing changed. When my youngest began showing the same symptoms, I was done waiting. I turned back to the memories of my Mamaw and her upbringing and started researching in earnest. Reading, studying, testing, questioning. I focused on supporting their immune system and overall skin health naturally, and before long we began to see real improvement. I was sold.
I knew that what had helped my family could help others too. I enrolled in herbal studies, wanting to approach it from a solid scientific foundation, understanding safety, proper preparation, and the reasoning behind every remedy. Since then I have learned so much and have been fortunate enough to help so many people.
The most foundational lesson I have learned is this: herbs rarely, if ever, cure anything. Rather, the constituents, volatile oils, and natural actions they contain work to support different systems of the body, allowing it to operate and do what God designed it to do naturally. When the body is positioned to function at its best, modern medicine, when it is needed, can work that much more completely and efficiently.
Looking back at everything that brought me to this point, I can see that those times with my Mamaw were never really lost. They were quietly becoming the foundation of a passion I did not yet know I had. And today, through Tinsel and Tonic Apothecary and Off Kilter Homestead, they are alive and still growing.
-Hoss
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