Today we’d like to introduce you to Tara Simancas & Barbara Cabe
Tara & Barbara, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We have been friends since we met when our children became friends in kindergarten. We both shared a mutual interest in natural medicine and holistic living. In the fall of 2022 Barbara had a dream of an herbal apothecary and saw the name White Dove Apothecary over the building. She also knew that Tara was meant to do it with her. She immediately met up with Tara and they decided to make the dream a reality. White Dove Apothecary was born in Nov. 2022. We immediately came up with the Healing Salve and Pineapple Fire cider and started selling at the Dig Local farmer’s market the following spring. It started out as a twice a month venture to prove the concept, but it didn’t take long to build a following at the beaches and come up with more products to serve them. From there we were accepted into the Atlantic Beach Farmer’s Market and created our website. We continue to be filled with so much gratitude at how that market embraced and supported us. Recently we have gotten in to a local grocery store in the beaches area and are working to expand our retail offerings to other stores around the city and neighboring communities.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Entrepreneurship has proven to be a continuing learning experience. The phrase “You don’t know what you don’t know.” could not be more true. We not only had to learn everything we could about the plants we were using for ingredients in our recipes, but also how to sell it, how to market it, taxes, and compliance. We started out only selling at the markets, so learning how to navigate the weather and cash flow when the weather effected sales was also a challenge. Luckily, we have been blessed to have great mentors while working these markets. There are so many great business owners that have helped us along the way.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
White Dove Apothecary makes handcrafted, delicious, herbal remedies that bring clean, natural relief to America’s most common ailments. We are most known for our Pineapple Fire Cider. Fire Cider is an old folk remedy that is made from fermenting herbs, fresh fruits and warming root vegetables like horseradish, ginger and turmeric, with raw unfiltered apple cider vinegar. We then strain the liquid and mix it with local honey to make a slightly sweet, zingy wellness shot that is used to support the digestive system, reduce inflammation in the body and boost the immune system. Traditionally, this would be extremely spicy and not very palatable. We put a premium on flavor because if you don’t like the taste, you won’t use it and will not see the benefits. We have been told by almost everyone that taste it, that our version is the best they have ever tasted.
We are most proud of the results our customers have shared with us. We are helping people get over sickness quicker, making acid reflux manageable, relieving allergies, assisting with digestive issues and alleviating eczema. We get such a high when someone tells us that our little product made a positive impact in their lives.
We think what sets us apart from others is that we are two mothers doing this together. We focus on the things that we would give to our families and keep in our medicine cabinets. We are so careful about the ingredients that we use and the products we design. We don’t want people to stop using western medicine, but there are so many ailments that herbs can help with naturally and we want to be a trustworthy source for this.
How do you define success?
Growing the brand and business to a place where it can solely support our families financially. We also want to be a reliable educational resource to our community. We want to continue learning and sharing so that more families learn these old wisdoms. It is almost a lost art these days. We feel success every time we can share this knowledge with others and hear how much it helped them.
Pricing:
- Pineapple Fire Cider $20 – $30
- Herbal Honeys $16
- Herbal Mouthwash $20
- Muscle Salve $27
- Healing Salve $16
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.whitedoveapothecary.com
- Instagram: @whitedove_apothecary
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/White-Dove-Apothecary/100095372180525/#
