Hubbard Lake herb shop owner aims to help others with natural medicines | News, Sports, Jobs

Maryam Blackeagle is the founder and herbalist at Mashkiki Garden. She is descended from the Miami Wea Tribe, also known as Twightee, or the downriver people.

The term Mashkiki is Anishinaabemowin — a universal dialect among Great Lake tribes — for “Power of the Earth”.

Blackeagle said the word is interpreted as medicine, but it is much more complex.

“We all have some type of higher power,” she said. “And that all combined together when we use that power of Earth — we’re getting back to our origin, to our own creation and that only is going to enhance our health.”

News Photo by Zipporah Abarca
Maryam Blackeagle utilizes fire cider to help with inflammation.

Having more than 40 years of experience as a nurse and being a part of a worldwide herbalist guild has supplemented Blackeagle’s resources to make medicinal products, educate and provide client services.

Although she is a supporter of herbology, Blackeagle said she is not a doctor’s office.

“I’m not here to diagnose, prescribe or treat,” she said. “This is about education, empowering people so that they can make better informed decisions about their health care.

I can be a liaison with doctors … you know, there’s things that can be done to work together. I don’t want it to be an opposing dichotomy. I think it should be complementary. We’re not the alternative medicine, we are the original medicine.”

Blackeagle said she has been studying herbs for decades and her herb shop is something she has always wanted to do and Mashkiki Garden had its grand opening in May.

News Photo by Zipporah Abarca
Mashkiki Garden’s soaps are made from herbs, each with different properties. Marya Blackeagle also sells shampoo bars with horsetail roots to support hair growth.

“It’s just always been a passion,” she said. “And as a nurse, and as a single mom, I really didn’t have time. It was just something that I dreamt about. … I always said someday I’ll have a cabin … and I realized someday never comes.

You have today. Either do it or let it go. So, I did it.”

Having a cabin in the woods, Blackeagle said, only adds to the experience of the shop being in a more casual, natural atmosphere, with which her customers have thus far agreed.

She recommends people text her at 734-727-3010 for directions and any questions.

THE BENEFITS OF BEING AN HERBALIST

Blackeagle attained her master’s accreditation as an herbalist from the United Kingdom. She considered moving there, but stayed in the U.S., although there is no official board or certification for herbology here.

“This is the only country that really doesn’t have that kind of respect for herbalists,” she said. “In some ways, that’s a real challenge. But there’s also some opportunities within that freedom.

“You have to follow the rules. I cannot diagnose, treat that type of thing. And I can’t make product claims. But I can educate people about the traditional uses of what I put in my products.”

With her background as a nurse, Blackeagle can apply the processes of anatomy, physiology, pharmacology and drug interactions while adding aspects of herbology and plant energetics to complement and reduce those issues.

Plant energetics is defined as the energy and qualities that a plant carries.

“It has to do with the flow of life that is within everything…” Blackeagle said. “Basically, it’s the life force of plants and utilizing it in a good way. When you approach harvest, you must approach it in a good way. You must have a positive flow within you (while) you are doing this, with respect to the plant.”

Blackeagle said most modern medicine is meant to treat symptoms rather than the base of the problem.

“We are so used to pharmacology that’s a quick fix,” she said. “And we are trained in our brain that change means better. But that’s really symptomology. And that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re better.”

When using products that are created in a laboratory versus those available in nature, there are adverse reactions, Blackeagle said.

“They can’t patent Mother Nature,” she said. “So, they have to go into the laboratory and synthesize it. And they can make a product that does that. But that comes with a wagon full of adverse reactions and concerns. So, if you can find the natural thing, that’s much better for you.”

Mashkiki Garden offers a range of products whether its soaps, shampoos, body butters, teas or pain cream – all of them are made with herbs. The shampoo bars have horsetail root, similar to Minoxidil, for hair growth. Some of her beauty products are made with calendula to reduce inflammation.

“What my real claim to fame is my medicinals,” she said.

From her own personal experience with dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease that causes chronic pain, Blackeagle created a natural remedy that has helped her as well as many others.

After handing out little jars containing the pain cream at a local farmers’ market, she said she started to receive phone calls from numerous people saying how shocked they were with the results after barely applying any.

“There’s people that have pulled up (to Mashkiki Garden) and it’s like they’re on this voyage,” Blackeagle said. “‘Are you the one with the pain cream?’ And I can’t tell you what that does to my heart. It is that type of joy to be able to know that you’re making a difference. I mean, that’s what it’s all about in this world.”

Some of the ingredients Blackeagle uses in the pain cream include triple purified emu oil, imported from Australia, which is supposed to reduce joint pain. Supplementing the oil are nervine herbs — herbs are used to deal with the excitement of nerves such as muscle spasms, arthritis and inflammation.

To help with her own chronic pain, Blackeagle uses herbs and the nervine cream, as well as fire cider to boost her immune system.

“I think this helps me in many ways more than the medication … I’m not against going to the doctor,” she said. “If somebody came to me with a compound fracture in their arm, I would send them to the hospital.

“Get it set, and then come back to me, and I’ll teach you about herbs that will help that bone heal. You know, let’s work together on that. I want to have that partnership in health care.”

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

Her herbology shop is open, however, Blackeagle is still in the works of putting together her garden by herself. There are a few plants in the process of growing, but there is still work to be done to finalize it.

She said she hopes to do some seminars and workshops soon in Alpena to spread the word that Mashkiki Garden is open.

“I’m here,” she said. “I welcome anybody just to come and chat. Because I live here, my hours are casual, I usually put out a coffee pot or lemonade or whatever. And we can sit and talk. It’s in confidence.”

Blackeagle’s vision remains strong for Mashkiki Garden as she spoke of the garden walks and plant identification discussions she hopes to host in the future.

When the garden is established, Blackeagle said she would like to have a tribe elder come and bless it. She also wants to set up a trust fund for language education related to the tribal community.

“Even if it’s $1 a year, you know, that’s $1 more than they had,” Blackeagle said.

Blackeagle is also associated with the Alliance of Native Seed Keepers, which means she is receiving heritage seeds before they are genetically modified, some of them pre-colonial.

“I’m getting heritage seeds from around the world to get back to what the food should be, instead of this ‘Franken food’ that we’re eating,” she said. “All of these preservatives, the hormones, none of this is food. … the insects don’t want to eat it. … Do we want to eat something that the insects don’t want to eat?”

Although Blackeagle hopes to incorporate some culinary works with her herbs, her current focus is medicinal.

“As a nurse, that’s just been my path in life is to help people who have problems and have tried to make their lives a little easier,” she said.

Additionally, Blackeagle is in the process of putting together an official website, mashkikigarden.com. Although it is not complete yet, people can visit her Facebook page at Mashkiki Garden.

A NURSE TO A HERBOLOGIST

When Blackeagle was a nurse, she said she still dreamt of pursuing herbology. She has experience as a clinical supervisor for health agencies all over Michigan and worked with premature babies as well as the elderly in nursing homes.

The longer Blackeagle was a nurse, she said the more she wanted to use a natural way to help people, “the way I think God intended.”

“I believe he (God) put a cure on this planet for everything but death,” she said. “You know it’s there. We just have to find it and utilize it and appreciate it.”

When her own health deteriorated due to her heart disease, Blackeagle could no longer work as a nurse. She said she had herbology to fall back on because she felt she had to do something to help others.

That is when she took matters into her own hands and searched for a property until she stumbled upon Hubbard Lake where she lives now.

Blackeagle explained how time is precious to her to get the garden established and to continue to live up to her personal mission of helping others through herbology.

“I want to be able to leave this place a better place than where I came and if that is to be my legacy, that eased somebody’s pain, I helped somebody that has asthma, these are good things,” she said. “And to meet who my higher power is, you know, the creator of us all, that would be a good standing to meet him.”

This story was produced as part of the Michigan News Group Internship. Zipporah Abarca is working for WCMU this summer at The Alpena News.

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