Kings Road Apothecary
Part of the reason I love doing what I do is because I get to connect with kindred spirits that wander our mother looking for ways to heal her and the humans that inhabit her. Lovely Rebecca McTrouble is a fairy from the Isle of Scotland who likes to forage in the woods for her remedies and tinctures. She makes everything from salt scrubs, elixirs, room sprays and teas. A few minutes with Rebecca below . . .
1) Why did you start the line? I started Kings Road Apothecary after a few years of practicing herbal medicine- there were certain formulas that I’d constantly get requests for, and would be making up for people over and over again, so I just started making them in bigger batches. The online shop evolved naturally from that. I try to keep the two areas separate- seeing clients and making them custom formulas.
2) Do you forage in the woods for your products? Yep! In the woods and the mountains and the deserts. I love packing my car up and heading off into the desert for a few days, or up the coast to the redwoods, or into the Sierras. We’re so blessed in California to have such biodiversity- mountains, deserts, forests, chaparral, anything you could possibly need, really.
3) Wood nymph or mermaid? Wood nymph! My dad was a sailor– I grew up on the sea, sailing with him, and I still LOVE to sail (my brother and I go on a long sailing trip every summer), but I’m happier on the water than in it, and even happier still up a mountain wandering through a fragrant conifer forest :).
4) What is your drink of choice? Drink of choice… depends on the time of day! And do you mean alcoholic or non? Early in the morning, after my yoga practice, I drink espresso, milk, cinnamon, cardamom, cream. I think it’d be called a spiced breve, but to me it’s just perfection. I love green things in the middle of the day- I just had this spinach lemonade at Hugo’s (West Hollywood) that blew my mind. At night, I like sparkling water with meyer lemon in it, which is a bit boring, I guess :). And as for cocktails, my favourite thing recently is a conifer martini- fresh douglas fir blended with vodka and sugar with a twist of lemon, and sparkling water, over ice. It’s fantastic- like a conifer forest and a citrus grove had a baby in your mouth, but, like, in a good way. (though, quite honestly I am such a lightweight that I make it through about a quarter of one before I fall asleep).
5) What book is by your nightstand? ‘The Reindeer People: Living With Animals and Spirits in Siberia” by Piers Vitebsky. And Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I switch them out- sometimes I’m in the mood for non-fiction and sometimes I’m not.
