Applegarth Apothecary Gift Shoppe

Applegarth Apothecary Gift Shoppe Applegarth Apothecary is a home-based business offering essential oils, dried herbs, esoteric tools, and books.

We blend tradition and discovery to support wellness, ritual, and spiritual growth—bringing the wisdom of nature into everyday practice.

06/16/2026

Trying to Build Something Beautiful in a Town That Needs It

I’m reading all of these comments, and I really appreciate
everyone sharing their thoughts. I may not be able to answer each one individually, but I’m grateful for the conversation this opened up.

Applegarth was never just a little shop to me. It was a place with its own feeling — rocks, plants, minerals, gifts, conversation, curiosity, and that quiet sense of magic that is hard to explain until you walk into a space like that.

Seeing that some of you still remember it, miss it, or would like to see something like it return means more to me than I can say.

I wanted to add a little more detail for everyone who has commented or asked about the possibility of reopening Applegarth Apothecary, Rock & Gift Shop.

The desire is absolutely still there.

We have been working on cleaning up and preparing a small property outside of town, on the way to Bailey Creek, with the hope of creating a cozy little version of Applegarth again. Something small, peaceful, beautiful, and unique. A place with rocks, minerals, gifts, plants, and that same quiet sense of magic the original shop had.

The difficulty is that reopening is not as simple as just putting things on shelves and opening the door.

We would love to reopen inside Soda Springs, or even in Lava, but the reality is that retail space is expensive, and affordable small storefronts are very hard to find. Rent, utilities, insurance, and overhead can quickly make a small shop impossible before it even begins.

And I will be honest: this is part of a larger frustration I have had for a long time.

I love this area, but it often feels like our city and county have not made it easy for small businesses, gift shops, specialty stores, art spaces, plant shops, rock shops, or unique tourist-friendly places to survive here. I am not saying that to attack any one person or any current official. But over the years, decisions have been made — politically, economically, and structurally — that seem to have made it much harder for small, independent businesses to open and thrive.

Just look at Main Street.

So many spaces are empty, aging, neglected, or far too expensive for the kind of small local businesses that could actually bring life back into town. Meanwhile, opening something small often feels harder than it should be unless you are a large corporation with enough capital, legal support, and influence to push through the process.

That is discouraging.

When I first opened Applegarth, I was hoping to create a place where people passing through Soda Springs would stop, wander, enjoy themselves, buy something beautiful, and remember the town as more than just somewhere they drove through.

And it did that.

We received five-star reviews again and again on TripAdvisor, and Applegarth was often listed among the top things to do when visiting Soda Springs. That meant a lot to me, but it also said something about the need for more unique places here. People want reasons to stop. They want beauty. They want discovery. They want something memorable.

That is what I was trying to build then, and it is still what I am trying to build now.

So that leaves us trying to create something more modest in the county, in a small building on private property with easy public access. But that also comes with restrictions.

Because it would be considered a home-based business, there are rules about signage, traffic, hours of operation, permits, inspections, and how often we can be open. There may also be requirements involving accessibility and construction changes to make the building easier and safer for people to enter.

There is also another very real part of this that I want to be honest about. I am still caregiving for my mother. I made a promise to my father, and to my own conscience, that I would take care of her to the end. That promise matters to me deeply. So whatever Applegarth becomes, it has to be something I can build around that responsibility, not something that pulls me away from it.

None of this is impossible, but it does make the question more complicated.

I know a lot of people will say, “Just do it anyway and ask forgiveness later.” I understand that feeling, believe me. But that is not really a workable path for us. If we are going to do this, we need to do it correctly, legally, and in a way that does not create future problems.

That is the challenge.

We are trying to figure out how to build something magical while still working within very real limitations.

I don’t say this to complain. I say it because I want people to understand the constraints we are working with. This is why I am trying to determine whether there is enough real local interest before investing more money, time, permits, inspections, construction, and personal energy into the project.

I am trying to do something positive. I am trying to create something beautiful, local, unusual, and welcoming. Something that gives people another reason to stop here, shop here, and remember this place.

But I am also up against very real obstacles.

That is why I wrote the original post. Not to stir up drama, but to ask honestly whether there is enough community support to make the next steps worth taking.

If you have ideas, advice, experience with small business permitting, affordable retail space, accessibility solutions, tourism, signage, county regulations, or creative ways to make something like this work, I would genuinely love to hear them.

And to everyone who has encouraged this idea, commented, shared memories, or said they would support Applegarth returning — thank you. Truly.

Applegarth may still be able to return.

It may just have to return in a smaller, quieter, more carefully planned form than before.

06/16/2026

Have You Ever Wanted to Disappear Just Long Enough to Hear Your Own Soul Again?

Some days I understand why the old hermits walked away from the noise of the world, climbed into the mountains, found a cave, lit a small fire, and chose silence.

Not because they hated people.

Not because they had failed at life.

Not because they were broken.

But because somewhere along the way, the world became too loud.

Too much talking. Too much selling. Too much pretending. Too much pressure to perform, explain, defend, promote, and become something easily understood by people who may never truly listen anyway.

There is something strangely beautiful about the idea of disappearing into stone and shadow for a while.

A kettle. A blanket. A few books. The sound of wind over the earth. The slow rhythm of sunrise and darkness. The company of silence.

No algorithms.

No drama.

No constant pressure to become a brand, a business, a salesman, a spectacle, or a version of yourself that makes other people comfortable.

Just silence.

Just nature.

Just the slow work of becoming honest before God, the elements, and your own soul.

Of course, I probably won’t actually become a cave hermit for the rest of my life. I have plants to water, animals to feed, a dog to walk, and far too many unfinished thoughts still asking to be written.

But I understand the impulse.

Sometimes the cave is not really about escape. Sometimes it is a symbol of return.

A return to what is real.

A return to what is quiet.

A return to the part of ourselves that existed before the world started pulling at us from every direction.

Maybe we all need a little cave now and then.

A quiet room. A walk alone. A morning without the internet. A place where no one is asking anything from us. A place where the soul can finally hear itself again.

And maybe, when we come back out, we bring something better with us.

A little more peace.

A little more truth.

A little more fire from the darkness.

Post in the comments below:
Have you ever felt this way? Not that you wanted to abandon your life forever, but that you needed to step outside the noise long enough to remember who you really are?

06/15/2026

What If Secret Societies Aren't Hiding Secrets at All?

One of the questions I am asked surprisingly often is why I seem so guarded when discussing certain spiritual subjects.

People know that I have spent many years studying various mystical, philosophical, and initiatory traditions. They see me reference symbolism, alchemy, Hermeticism, contemplative practices, and other spiritual disciplines, and they naturally become curious.

"Why not just tell us everything you know?"

The answer may not be what people expect.

For centuries, people have been fascinated by secret societies. Stories of hidden knowledge, mysterious rituals, coded symbols, and powerful insiders have fueled endless speculation and conspiracy theories.

But what if we've been looking at it backwards?

What if the purpose of secrecy was never to hide information from the public, but to protect a process of personal transformation?

The greatest lessons in life cannot simply be told to you. No one can explain parenthood to someone who has never held their child. No one can fully describe grief to someone who has never experienced loss. No one can hand you wisdom like a book and expect it to become part of who you are.

You must experience it.

Many initiatory traditions understood this principle. Their symbols, ceremonies, and degrees were often kept private not because they contained world-shattering secrets, but because the experience itself was the teacher. To reveal every step beforehand would be like telling someone the ending of a story before they have lived it.

The true secret was never information.

The secret was transformation.

It is also worth mentioning that joining an initiatory or philosophical school is not the same thing as joining a religion. Most genuine schools are not concerned with replacing a person's faith, but with deepening their understanding of life, symbolism, ethics, and the process of inner growth. Throughout history, people from many different religious backgrounds have participated in initiatory traditions while remaining fully committed to their own faiths. In fact, I would argue that regardless of what path a person follows—Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Pagan, or otherwise—the disciplined study and self-development found within an initiatory school can often help one better understand the deeper mysteries, symbolism, and spiritual dimensions already present within their own tradition.

Much of what I understand today did not come from reading a single book or attending a single lecture. It came from passing through many gates over many years—through study, contemplation, struggle, failure, service, nature, and life itself.

Each gate revealed something that could not have been understood before arriving there.

This is why genuine teachers have often resisted giving every answer. Not because they wish to appear mysterious, superior, or exclusive, but because they understand that growth cannot be transferred from one person to another. The teacher can point toward the path, but the neophyte must walk it.

If I sometimes seem reluctant to explain everything I know, it is not because I wish to withhold knowledge. It is because I know that some discoveries are infinitely more valuable when they unfold naturally through one's own experience.

Wonder. Curiosity. Mystery. These are not obstacles to wisdom.

They are often the doorway to it.

Perhaps the real mystery isn't what secret societies know.

Perhaps the real mystery is what each of us might discover if we accepted our own journey of initiation—through nature, adversity, contemplation, service, and the lifelong work of becoming who we were meant to be.

What do you think? Were the ancient initiatory traditions hiding secrets... or guiding people through an evolutionary process of becoming?

06/14/2026

Should We Reopen Applegarth Apothecary, Rock & Gift Shop?

I’m trying to get a real sense of local interest before moving forward.

As many of you know, Applegarth Apothecary was once a beautiful little space filled with rocks, minerals, gifts, plants, and a bit of magic. I’ve been working on creating something similar again in a small building out in the county — a cozy, unique, peaceful space that carries the same spirit as the original Applegarth.

However, because this would be considered a home-based business, there are quite a few county restrictions, rules, permits, and requirements involved. Before I invest more money into permits, services, setup, and approvals, I need to know whether there is enough community interest to make reopening worthwhile.

So I’m asking honestly:
Would you support the reopening of Applegarth Apothecary, Rock & Gift Shop?
Please comment with one of the following:

YES — I would love to see it open again.

or

Probably never visit.

No hard feelings either way. I just need an honest sense of whether this is something people would actually come support before I take the next steps.

Thank you for helping me decide whether Applegarth should return. 🌿✨

06/14/2026

🌿 Have You Ever Known Something Without Knowing How You Knew It? 🌿

Have you ever stood in a forest at sunrise and suddenly known something was true?

Not because someone told you.
Not because you read it in a book.
Not because you reasoned your way to it.

You simply knew.

The word noetic comes from the Greek nous, meaning “inner knowing” or “direct perception of truth.” A noetic experience is one that carries a profound sense of certainty—not intellectual certainty, but a deeper recognition that seems to arise from somewhere beyond ordinary thought.

Many people report noetic moments while walking in nature, praying, meditating, gardening, gazing at the stars, or even during periods of great hardship. It is that quiet moment when the world seems to whisper a truth directly into your soul.

You cannot prove it.
You cannot measure it.
Yet it feels more real than many things you can see or touch.

Perhaps this is why nature has always been a sacred teacher.

The wind through the trees.
The rhythm of flowing water.
The warmth of sunlight on your skin.
The silent patience of a seed becoming a flower.

These experiences often awaken something ancient within us—a recognition that we are part of a larger story.

I have come to believe that some of the most important truths in life arrive this way: not as arguments, but as revelations.

Not as information, but as recognition.

Perhaps this is what many ancient mystics, philosophers, and seekers were trying to describe when they spoke of wisdom. Not accumulated facts, but direct encounters with truth itself.

Maybe you’ve had one of these moments yourself.

A time when you didn’t merely think something was true…

You knew.

🌿 Have you ever had a noetic experience? Share it in the comments if you’re willing. I’d love to hear where you were and what you learned.

— Christopher Evans
“I follow a path where Nature is the visible language of the invisible world.”

06/13/2026

When Spirituality Becomes a Cage, Something Has Gone Wrong

Scrupulosity is what happens when the soul’s natural longing for the Divine becomes tangled in fear, guilt, and constant self-doubt.

And I do not believe that is what the Creator ever intended spirituality to become.

Spirituality was never meant to be a prison of endless second-guessing. It was never meant to make you afraid of every thought, every feeling, every question, every mistake, or every part of yourself that does not fit neatly inside someone else’s version of holiness.

True spirituality should expand the soul, not shrink it.

It should help us become more honest, more compassionate, more alive, more connected to the sacredness of creation. It should teach us to walk through life with reverence, wonder, courage, and love — not with the constant terror that we are somehow failing at being worthy.

So many people have inherited limiting beliefs that taught them to fear themselves instead of know themselves. They were taught that obedience was the same as goodness, that conformity was the same as faith, and that questioning was the same as rebellion.

But there comes a time when the soul begins to whisper:

“There is more than this.”

More than fear. More than guilt. More than shame. More than living inside a spiritual box built by someone else.

Sometimes the path to freedom begins when you realize that your life is not meant to be a performance for approval. It is meant to be an unfolding — a sacred, imperfect, beautiful becoming.

When you begin walking your own path, you may discover that the Creator was never asking you to erase yourself. Maybe the Creator was inviting you to become fully alive.

To think deeply. To love honestly. To create freely. To express the truth of your own soul. To find the Divine not only in churches, scriptures, and traditions — but also in forests, gardens, silence, art, questions, healing, and the quiet courage to become yourself.

A spirituality rooted in fear makes people smaller.

A spirituality rooted in love sets people free.

And maybe the most sacred thing you can do is stop trying to become someone else’s idea of holy — and begin becoming the person the Creator placed within you from the beginning.

06/12/2026

🌿 The Most Important Person You Will Ever Become Is Yourself

One of the most fascinating ideas proposed by Carl Jung was something he called individuation.

Individuation is the lifelong process of becoming who you truly are.

Not who your parents expected you to be.
Not who society told you to be.
Not who your fears convinced you to be.

The real you.

Jung believed that each of us carries hidden aspects of ourselves—talents we have ignored, wounds we have buried, dreams we have abandoned, and truths we have been afraid to face. Much of our suffering comes from living disconnected from these deeper parts of our nature.

The path of individuation begins when we stop running from ourselves.

It asks us to look honestly at our strengths and weaknesses. To make peace with our shadows. To reclaim forgotten pieces of our soul. To discover what is genuinely ours and what merely belongs to the expectations of others.

In many ways, I believe nature teaches this lesson better than any book.

An oak tree does not try to become a pine tree.
A river does not apologize for its course.
A wildflower does not compare itself to the mountain.

Everything in nature strives to become fully itself.

Perhaps we are meant to do the same.

The spiritual journey may not be about becoming something new. It may be about uncovering what has always been there beneath the noise, fear, and distractions of the world.

So today, ask yourself:

What part of yourself have you been neglecting, hiding, or waiting to become?

That question may be the first step on the path toward wholeness.

🌿 “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” — Carl Jung

06/11/2026

The Forest as a Chapel Without Walls

There is a kind of church that has no pews, no stained glass, and no roof overhead.

It is found beneath the trees, along a quiet trail, where sunlight filters through branches like living gold and the wind moves through the forest like a whispered hymn.

The forest teaches us to recognize the Four Elements.

Earth is beneath our feet — the soil, stone, roots, moss, and the steady ground that holds us.

Water is in the creek, the rain, the morning dew, and the hidden moisture that keeps everything alive.

Air is the breath of the forest — the movement of wind through leaves, the scent of pine, the invisible life we draw into our lungs.

Fire is the sunlight — the warmth on our skin, the golden glow through the trees, the spark of life that calls every green thing upward.

When we learn to see these elements, the forest becomes more than scenery. It becomes a teacher. A sanctuary. A chapel without walls.

So here is tomorrow’s invitation:

Get outside. Go to church.

Not necessarily the kind with a steeple — but the kind with roots, stones, birdsong, wind, water, and light.
And I want to know:

What is your favorite hiking, walking, or forest experience near Soda Springs, Idaho?

Drop it in the comments — or message me if you want to keep your sacred place secret. 🌲

Some places are too sacred for crowds — but I’d still love to know where the forest has spoken to you.

06/09/2026

🌿 Beauty Isn’t a Luxury — It’s Medicine

Throughout history, from ancient Persian paradises and Egyptian temple gardens to Renaissance estates and Victorian public parks, humans have poured heart and soul into creating beautiful spaces.

Gardens weren’t just for food or show. They were sanctuaries for the spirit, reflections of divine order, and places where we touched the sacred rhythms of life.

Gardening and landscaping are profoundly spiritual.

They teach patience as seeds sprout in their own time, mindfulness in the feel of soil and scent of blooms, stewardship of the earth, and hope in every new leaf.

They remind us that beauty isn’t frivolous. It is nourishment for the soul, a bridge to wonder, gratitude, and peace.

So why does so much of our modern world feel stripped of that grace?

We’ve traded time for hustle, craftsmanship for efficiency, and shared aesthetic joy for utilitarian sameness. Busy lives, economic pressures, and a culture of speed have made it harder to slow down and cultivate loveliness — in our yards, our communities, and even our inner lives.

But here’s the invitation:

Start small.

Plant a flower. Tend a corner. Clean up one neglected space. Add a pot of herbs by the door. Create one little place that makes you pause and breathe.

Reclaim the ancient art of making things beautiful.

In doing so, we don’t just beautify space. We heal something in ourselves and pass on a legacy of care.

🌸 What small garden, yard, porch, greenhouse, or landscaping project are you going to work on this season? Drop it in the comments — I’d love to hear what beauty you’re growing.

Alocasia micholitziana 'Frydek' Variegated.🌿 One of the Most Stunning Variegated Alocasias Ever Created 🌿Few plants stop...
06/08/2026

Alocasia micholitziana 'Frydek' Variegated.

🌿 One of the Most Stunning Variegated Alocasias Ever Created 🌿

Few plants stop people in their tracks quite like Alocasia micholitziana 'Frydek' Variegated.

With its velvety dark green leaves, brilliant white venation, and unpredictable splashes of cream, mint, and pure white variegation, every leaf is a work of art. No two plants are exactly alike, making each specimen a unique addition to any collection.

For collectors, part of the excitement is watching each new leaf unfurl. Will it display a subtle splash of color, dramatic sectoral variegation, or a pattern never seen before? Every leaf is a surprise.

The plants I currently have available at Bryogrow were grown from corms right here in the Tropical Garage. They are healthy, actively growing, and beginning their journey toward becoming the showpiece plants collectors dream about.

If you've been looking to add a truly exceptional aroid to your collection, this may be your opportunity.

🌿 Velvety emerald foliage�🌿 Brilliant white veins�🌿 Unique variegation on every plant�🌿 Corm-grown and locally propagated�🌿 Collector-grade tropical aroid

These won't last long, as variegated Frydeks continue to be one of the most sought-after Alocasias among serious plant enthusiasts.

Want to see them in person?

Come visit the Bryogrow Tropical Garage, where an ordinary Idaho garage has been transformed into a tropical refuge filled with rare plants, vivariums, mosses, ferns, and botanical treasures from around the world.

Message me for availability or to schedule a visit.

🌿 Applegarth Greenhouse & Apothecary, LLC DBA Bryogrow

🌿 Bryogrow.com

Address

Soda Springs, ID
83230, 83276, 83285

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