Every month we sit down with one of our amazing ABA members to get to know them a little better! We ask each member the same questions, providing an opportunity for our members to highlight the important work that they do in our communities. If you’re an ABA Member and would like to be considered for future Monthly Member Highlights, please reach out to us via email at info@altonbusinessassociation.com
Q: Tell us about your business?
A: Our business Cloudberry Cottage Market & Botanica is a place to fill bellies, feed souls, promote wellness, and inspire connection. We invite people to visit us for earth-kind essentials, local treasures, & herbal wonders.
With displays arranged on antique furniture, live vines winding through our shelves, twinkling lights, and the scent of fresh baked goods in the air, Cloudberry Cottage feels a little more folklore than farm store. At our herb counter, we house a growing inventory of over 130 bulk botanicals including loose leaf teas, mushroom powders, regionally grown herbs, and wild-crafted wonders. We believe that a little storybook whimsy goes a long way in alleviating the stresses of daily life, and to that end, you’ll also find our Botanica stocked with a number of enchanting local artisan crafts and metaphysical gifts alongside natural products and earth-kind essentials at our budding refill station. We also offer gatherings and classes including workshops with other herbalists, artists, and experts who are excited to share their expertise with others.
In the Market, visitors can look forward to an abundance of locally farmed products like meats, produce and dairy alongside locally crafted pantry staples like raw honey, jams, coffee and more. Let’s not forget the baked goods! We host several bakers here and offer a variety of products including sourdough loaves, celiac safe Gluten Free bread, vegan treats, individual goodies and of course, pies from our cottage based pie company The Piesmith which has made the list for WMUR’s viewer’s choice for Best Pies a handful of times over the years.
At Cloudberry Cottage, what sets us apart and brings every facet of our business together is our truly holistic model. People think holistic means natural, but it really means whole. It acknowledges that we exist in relationship to a greater living and spiritual ecology which also lives within our bodies. We know that healing happens on many levels and affects all connected points. Therefore, we seek to heal our land by supporting local food sources knowing that we heal our community and bodies at the same time. We support others in their healing journeys knowing that healthy people build healthy communities and also care about the food they eat and the land that grows it. We build community knowing that it is the foundational support for everything else and reminds us that we are truly better together. We lift up local artists knowing that art is essential! Creativity, beauty, and wonder are novel medicines for the mind and heart — thawing the ice that keeps us stuck in patterns of disharmony and opening pathways to growth, ingenuity, and bliss. Now that is a future I can get behind, and we hope others will too!
Q: Tell us about yourself:
A: I am a bit of a modern renaissance woman — that sounds too kind though. I’m not sure I’m that put together. What I really am is neurodivergent. I have ADHD and have for my whole life, I have pursued and developed many interests from bookish pursuits to musicianship to gardening, my many interests tend to snowball into passions and have definitely consumed me at times. Everyone always told me to be successful in life that I had to FOCUS and pick just one thing to do in order to be successful. That has never worked for me. Instead, I find myself now the owner of a business, for better or worse, that does EVERYTHING! I can’t describe how fulfilling it feels to have been able to weave together all the things I am passionate about and stick them under one roof for people who also value them. It’s really exciting.
I grew up holistically minded as the daughter of a Chiropractor and granddaughter of an herbalist. Herbs have always been a part of life. Becoming an herbalist has been a natural lifelong process of adding more herbs and knowledge to my toolkit. Formally, I have a certificate through The Herbal Academy, and I’m currently working on advanced clinical skills with renowned herbalist, Sajah Popham through the School of Evolutionary Herbalism. As most herbalists would attest, I’ve gained the most crucial knowledge from the plants themselves and perhaps the embarrassing amount of time I spend reading published studies on herbal medicine for fun. Thanks grad school research skills!
I have a degree in English Education, went to grad school in England for Medieval Studies, and worked as a librarian for years in neighboring Barnstead. I still regard myth, folklore, and story to be as vital to the human spirit as plants are to the body. The two together are even more potent! I am also a life long musician, having spent time playing and writing music professionally. Of course, I am a wife and mother too! I have two kiddos: a 2 year old, and a 9 year old that I homeschool. We live above the shop, so when you visit you’ll see toys littered about outside and see the kiddos boppin’ around the shop. If I ever appear out of sorts, it’s probably because I haven’t slept a full night in years. Haha!
Q: How did your business get started?
A: One day in late February of 2024, my husband and I were musing about how magical it would be to own a shop that we lived above, but that it would never happen because we also wanted land where we could homestead. The next day by chance, I discovered that the home that housed the Moore Farm Store & Herb Shoppe was for sale. That was just the beginning of a string of serendipitous happenings that lead to us moving here April 1st, 2024. We got straight to work and opened our doors on May 25th as Cloudberry Cottage Market & Botanica ready to serve our community. Before opening the shop, I crafted tea blends and herbal preparations from my home. I also baked and sold pies at the Barnstead Farmers Market and vendor fair. As a fellow crafter, it felt natural to bring artisans in the crafting community together under our roof too.
Q: What has your relationship with the Alton Business Association done for you or your business?
A: We’ve really appreciated the support the ABA has provided us as we’ve worked to get up and going. They also help provide much needed visibility for our events and products. It’s so tough to get established in the mind of the public as a new business, and help from the ABA goes a long way!
Q: What do you value most about this community?
A: The people, of course! We’ve been so warmly welcomed. We have customers who work almost as hard as we do it seems to share what we are doing here and get the word out. It has been such a joy and pleasure to get to know and serve the community of Alton.
Q: Why did you want to open your business in this community?
A: My husband grew up quite literally down the road where his parents still live so Alton has been a hub for joyful family activity. While we previously lived in Barnstead since starting a family of our own, it was always our hope to find our forever home in Alton. We love the feeling of this town, and we jumped at the opportunity when we saw the chance for the perfect home and business location all in one!
Q: What business accomplishment are you most proud of?
A: Honestly, I’m most proud that we were able to get so much together in so little time. Our little shop here offers such a vast array of products and classes to the community. More than that, we represent so many wonderful small businesses, makers, and farms. It is truly an honor to be able to support all these incredible humans whose products are on our shelves.
Q: What does the future hold for you and your business?
A: We are currently in the process of creating a designated gathering space that will allow us to hold even more classes and gatherings for the community like song circles, book clubs, dance classes, playgroups, tea parties, the possibilities are endless! We are in talks with the state also figuring out what work need to be done in order to license our shop kitchen. A fully commercially licensed kitchen would allow us to run a weekend coffee shop, make prepared meals to sell in the market, and expand our herbal offerings to include FDA cGMP compliant tinctures and preparations for internal use. Lastly, I hope to bring organize more earth-based and folklore infused seasonal festivals to the cottage to give people a chance to engage with nature, ancestry, culture, and find their spiritual grounding in the land we inhabit.
Q: What is one piece of advice you wish you had as a new business member?
A: Take a lot of naps. You’re going to need the sleep because you’re about to have a lot of sleepless nights. Hahaha!
Q: How can people who want to learn more about you or your business get in touch with you?
A: They can search for us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram @cloudberrycottagennh, or visit our website cloudberrycottagenh.com.
