KC herbalist turned backyard garden into an apothecary and tea house in midtown
Rosie Warren-Thomas began her journey into herbalism and gardening out of personal necessity. Faced with a health issue and unable to afford conventional treatment, she turned to natural remedies and discovered the power of healing through herbs.
What started as a self-taught exploration soon evolved into a lifestyle shift. Warren-Thomas began researching alternative medicine, growing her own food and learning the benefits of common plants. She was driven to create healthier options for her family, and gradually built a foundation of knowledge that would later become the backbone of her business.
Today, Warren-Thomas operates Nature Made Me, a full-service herbal apothecary and tea house in Kansas City, offering teas, tinctures (a medicine made by dissolving a drug in alcohol), consultations and community education.
Her work focuses on improving health outcomes in the urban core, especially among Black residents, by promoting holistic alternatives and providing access to fresh produce through partnerships with local nonprofits. What began in her home garden has grown into a mission-based business that is changing lives through education, healing and the return to natural living.
Warren-Thomas recently sat down with the Star’s culture and identity reporter, J.M. Banks, and talked about discovering a love of plants, holistic health and starting a business in the urban core.
Banks: Can you start by telling me about your early life, did herbalism or holistic living play a role growing up, or was it something you found later?
Warren-Thomas: Yeah, so I grew up very Christian. One of my earliest memories that influenced a health or dietary decision was when I was a child. My uncle, who’s a pastor, was preaching and I couldn’t have been more than five or six years old. He said, “We need to stop drinking pop because pop will pop in your body and pop you up.” Being a kid, I thought, “Oh no, I don’t want to be popped up!” So I never drank soda. That was one of the very first health decisions I made. Even now with my kids, we’ve always been tea and lemonade people.
My mom would make us hot tea with milk and honey and it was delicious. It wasn’t herbal tea necessarily, just boxed tea from the store, but she’d doctor it up. So I’ve always had that ritual of drinking tea since I was very young. Back then, no one really talked about the health benefits of tea.
At what point did you start getting into your own holistic journey?
I’ve always been pretty active and fit. I did sports from third grade, track, wrestling, dance team. I was in ROTC for four years and joined the military at 17. So physical activity and health were always part of my life.
I started exploring natural remedies when I was 20 years old. I had a gum abscess and couldn’t afford to go to the dentist. I spent weeks searching for what to do and finally came across alternatives, things like oil pulling (swishing edible oil around in your mouth), and using clove oil. That changed my life. I spent $16, used the remedy consistently for three days and it went away. I had struggled for over a month and anyone who knows dental pain knows how bad it is.
That was all I needed. I had always been interested in healthcare. When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. Then I realized I didn’t like blood or surgery, so I thought maybe a neurologist. But after healing myself with coconut and clove oil, I wanted to know everything about natural healing.
What were those next steps like? I probably Googled “alternative medicine,” which led me to herbs. Around the same time, I started growing food for myself and my family because I had my first baby. I learned about GMOs and decided I didn’t want that for us. So I began growing my own food, starting with things like basil, thyme and rosemary.
Then I got into foraging, learning about what was growing around me, like clover, dandelion, plantain. One of my first herbalism photos was of a big tray of red clover I had picked. I used red clover because it helps hydrate the hair shaft, so I made a hair oil. That’s how I started, learning how herbs could improve our lives.
When did your love of herbs turn into a business?
That happened in late 2017. I had been studying herbalism since 2014, taking online classes, studying herbalists I resonated with. I began creating products people were actually using.
In December 2017, I got Nature Made Me, LLC.. One of my first events was a First Friday down on 18th & Vine. That event showed me that I’d have to do some work to help people understand what I was doing.
I remember someone coming up to my table and saying, “This is so cute! What is it?” I had tea blends, no body butter, just medicinal teas.
One woman said, “Sweetheart, I’m not buying them sticks in a bag.” That moment stung, but it taught me I had to make things accessible. So I created Fruity Tooty Tea and sampled it. That flipped the switch. People started coming up, excited about herbs and that tea changed everything.
Where do you think that disconnect came from when introducing herbalism to the Black community?
I think there’s a lot of trust we put in the healthcare system. Many of us already take pharmaceutical drugs from doctors we trust and often, those doctors don’t look like us. There’s also this tendency to be more secretive about our health with each other.
I’m usually younger than the people I serve. I’m a Black woman. It’s natural they might question if I know what I’m doing.
Also, returning to our roots, working with the land, is traumatic for some of us. It reminds us of slavery, of struggle. But we have to reprogram our thinking. If you’ve been taking high blood pressure medication for 10 years and still have high blood pressure, don’t you think we should revisit that system?
What did you start growing in your garden and what does it look like now? I started with blueberries, tomatoes, marigolds, zinnias and cucumbers. At first, I tried growing everything, but I learned quickly to grow what I actually eat.
Now it’s grown tremendously. I grow food on a large scale for two nonprofits. One garden is with Ivanhoe, where we have 50–100 people show up every Tuesday for produce. We grow collard greens, cabbage, mustard greens, raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes and okra. Okra is hard to keep stocked, people love it.
I also grow for the Community Assistance Council in South KC. Their pantry serves 500–1,000 people a week. My goal there is to support the pantry with fresh produce to complement their canned and dry goods.
Why do you think more holistic businesses are popping up lately?
It’s a call to action. People are losing trust in the healthcare system. More and more are being diagnosed with cancer and autoimmune diseases, we’re waking up.
Some people are inspired by loss, others by a need to take control of their health. Plus, holistic living is trending. Meditation, essential oils, it’s becoming mainstream.
What’s the Black holistic community like in Kansas City?
The people I’ve connected with are tight-knit. There’s a beautiful community, but it’s growing so fast that I haven’t met everyone. I’d love to see more wellness fairs and events that let us meet, network and support each other.
Why is collaboration important?
Because we all bring something different to the table. Collaboration leads to powerful programs. It’s also important from a medical standpoint, making sure we’re being safe and responsible with how we help people. Herbalists should be checking in with each other. We’re a village.
How long have you had your brick-and-mortar? I got my first location in 2022, inside the Firehouse on 39th (Street) and Indiana (Avenue). Before that, I was part of Soul Centricity, later called Harvest Moon, a collective of seven women.
I’ve been at my current location on 39th (Street) & Paseo (Boulevard) since October 2024, coming up on a year.
What’s that experience been like?
It’s been amazing. People walk in now just to say hi. Neighbors come by on their walks or bring their kids. People feel like they belong here. Someone once said, “You should be in Brookside,” and I said, “No, don’t we deserve more things like this on the East Side?”
What do you think is your biggest challenge as a business owner trying to spearhead this Black‑owned holistic mission?
Right now, my biggest challenge is figuring out how not to do it all myself. I’m a mom, I homeschool my child, I work with two nonprofits… I need help, I need qualified folks I can trust.
I could hire someone for customer service who can greet people and ring up sales, but this work is much deeper. Today, I did a consultation that ended in tears, people bringing all their history, pain and health breakdowns to me. One of my greatest wins was a woman who had been on pain medication since 1985. She followed my herbal recommendations and now, six weeks later, she hasn’t needed her pain meds.
Another woman came in with extreme lymphoma on her leg. She was using a walker. Ten days later, she’s walking without it. She broke down crying and said, “Rosie, I haven’t needed the walker; my swelling is down so much.” Moments like those, where someone’s life has changed in two weeks, are emotionally powerful and affirm why I do this.
What are some of your more popular herbs and teas that you sell regularly?
One of my most popular teas and it comes up a lot in Google reviews, is the Relaxed Tea. It’s for stress, anxiety, high blood pressure and general body tension. It includes passion flower to help calm the mind, especially when your thoughts are racing.
Something else I offer is targeted toward new mothers, naturally boosting iron to help reduce the need for C-sections. Little remedies like that make a significant impact.
What’s your favorite part of being a herbalist?
Definitely the interactions with the public, helping people who feel like there’s nowhere else to turn. I now have my own space to share herbal medicine. On a good day, I’m giving out tinctures or heart‑healing remedies just because I want folks to experience herbal healing.
I love creating things and having people who trust me. Seeing lives changed, customers who’ve been with me for six years and still come back looking vibrant, happy, radiant, is so fulfilling.
How did you come up with the name “Nature Made Me”?
It’s funny, I have a notebook from 2016 where I was doodling business name ideas. I started with “Nature”… then “Nature Made”… then “Nature Made Me.” That was it, just three lines. Nature. Nature Made. Nature Made Me. I never wrote anything else.
What do you have planned for the future in terms of growth and expansion?
I want to offer more clinical services, like herbal consultations, possibly massage and acupuncture, in order to expand this into a full health spot. I’d love to incorporate herbs in different dosage forms, not just teas and tinctures, but compresses, steams, poultices.
Maybe in the next five to seven years, I’ll expand or even franchise, depending on how this space evolves and whether it can accommodate more services.
What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own herbal journey or holistic life?
Start small, there are thousands of herbs out there and it can feel overwhelming. Begin with just a few herbs that grow around you and really connect with them. Learn the life cycle, how they work in your body.
Develop what my teacher called a “rag bag” a small collection of herbs that you know inside and out, maybe three to five. Master those before adding more. It’s easy to see a new herb and want it all, but that can lead to overwhelm. Start with what you know and expand thoughtfully.
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