About US

Sacred Herbs and Botanicals (SHAB) founder, Andrew Gerren, cherishes childhood memories spent in his family garden and has always had a passion for nature and the environment. Like most of us, he wandered and explored in his teenage years, spending over a decade touring and performing in the music scene. However, thoughts of ripened fruits and vegetables from his family garden were always in the back of his mind. Andrew returned to his roots and began to question where his food came from, which inspired him to become vegan in 2004.  This lifestyle change led him to reconnect with the cycles, patterns, and harmonics of agriculture. 

Eventually, Andrew found the art of gardening to be a healing activity for both body and mind. He commenced studies and participated in holistic experiences, which inspired him to create action that would positively impact human health, the environment, and social equity. After trial and error with building his own gardens, Andrew formed Garden to Gardens, Inc. in 2011. His gardening and landscaping company has helped hundreds of people grow edible gardens, incorporate permaculture design, and build sustainable food systems. He also offers wild edible and medicinal plant walks, and has taught sustainable practices internationally in the Philippines, Israel, and Jamaica.

After starting Garden to Gardens, Andrew learned about wild edibles from a mentor in Florida. Enthralled, he began studying the science of plants at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, focusing on Ethnomedicine and Plant Conservation, including La’au Lapa’au – Hawaiian Traditional Medicine. He continued to operate his business while studying at the university, where he learned about tropical plants, soil science, and ethnobotany. He also enhanced his knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants, and how to grow these for agricultural production. Subsequently, he studied the traditional plant of Oceania kava (Piper methysticum) in Vanuatu and Hawai’i, in addition to research on the theory of Doctrine of Signatures.

He later traveled to the Philippines, where he became certified in various agricultural practices, including Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT), grafting, seed saving, and FAITH (Food Always in the Home) gardening. All of these techniques are designed to enhance the capacity to grow edible plants in order to nourish and keep the population healthy while protecting the environment. Working with plants in both laboratory environments and on the ground provided the scientific foundation and practical knowledge needed for Andrew to fulfill his life’s work of enhancing the relationship between humans and plants.

Through practice and observation, Andrew learned how medicinal plants could bring joy to people’s lives for their obvious beauty and environmental benefits, as well as assisting individuals in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, prolonging life, and easing ailments. In 2015, this experience inspired the launch of Sacred Herbs and Botanicals, an organic, handcrafted, 100% vegan botanical and fungi-based products and education company. 

Additionally, Andrew joined the U.S. Peace Corps in 2018 as a volunteer, serving in rural Jamaica for two years as a sustainable agriculture facilitator. During this time, Andrew learned about bush medicine from locals. He used his time in the Peace Corps to discover a newfound passion: the benefits and applications of fungi. This experience added to his treasure of knowledge. He then focused his efforts toward teaching others about the benefits of growing food sustainably, and about the interface between ethnobotany and herbalism through the lens of different cultures and ancestral wisdom ways. He found that this path would help empower and motivate humankind to expand our global consciousness of all aspects of health and healing.

While in Florida, Andrew rekindled SHAB (Sacred Herbs and Botanicals, LLC) in 2021. This represents the culmination of Andrew’s work to make a difference in the world by creating a bridge between the plant kingdom, fungi kingdom, and the human kingdom. This bridge enables people to benefit from the language of plants and of Gaia (Mother Earth). As proprietor of SHAB, Andrew sees his role as helping to translate Gaia’s language, weaving together the consciousness, intelligence, and the chemistry of plants into the human body, psyche, and soul to produce a mutual therapeutic benefit.

Here at SHAB, we believe “the heart of humanity is in the art of its food systems” and “preserving the future of humanity is encoded in our relationships with the plant and fungi kingdoms.” With this purpose in mind, our vision is to enlighten and empower as many individuals as possible through our herbal products, sustainable gardens, education offerings, plant walks, and holding reverence for traditions. We offer a variety of courses, and our company is host to many other educators who humble us with their knowledge and experience, and willingly share their history and culture with our community. Please feel free to browse our site or contact us for more information; we’re happy to help.