ABOUT US
Essiac Circle Of Friends
ECO Friends
The herbalists at Humbleweed, Essiac NorthWest, Essiac North and many others have all contributed their time and effort to the Essiac Circle of Friends, a natural society of like-minded people continuing traditional native herbal healing in the spirit of the Seven Fires Prophecy. The Essiac Circle of Friends is a cooperative effort to provide the highest quality Essiac tea herbs on the planet. It is not in itself a corporation or business but some of the people involved have started their own retail outlets to provide these high-quality herbs to the public [See ordering page]. We are the people who plant, grow, harvest and supply these high-quality herbs to those in need. The Circle has evolved over several years with various people contributing to it and then moving on in the ever-changing ebb and flow of life.
We have twenty years experience growing, using and providing Essiac tea herbs worldwide to maintain
good health. We also have decades of experience in using and crafting other herbal teas. Due to the increasing demand for high-quality Essiac tea herbs, we are having to work extra hard to keep up with that demand.
Unfortunately, high-quality, organically-grown sheep sorrel root is not generally available or easily found even on the internet. We have also found Essiac websites that make fraudulent claims about having sheep sorrel roots as well as incorrect information regarding the correct Essiac formula that Rene Caisse used. Therefore we actually reveal how we grow, harvest and process our sheep sorrel roots. Click here to read about our Essiac Herb Quality.
We have been growing sheep sorrel on mineral-rich, certified organic land. It is very time-consuming to trim the roots from the upper sheep sorrel plant. However, in spite of the extra cost it is
necessary that people know how much sheep sorrel root is in each packet. Click on the "Growing Methods" and "Harvesting Roots" buttons above and see how we grow and harvest our sheep sorrel roots.
Due to the high cost of growing, harvesting, clipping, drying, etc, of sheep sorrel roots and the high cost of suitable, unpolluted, organic land it is a challenge to keep up with the demand.
CLICK HERE to learn what Rene Caisse said about the importance of sheep sorrel roots.
What We Do
We are experienced herbalists who specialize in providing high-quality, pre-mixed Essiac tea herbs. We adhere strictly to the documented formula and recipe for Essiac tea that nurse Rene Caisse was using after more than fifty years of research. Rene Caisse specifically stated
that sheep sorrel roots were "very essential" to the Essiac tea formula.
We derive most of our information and documentation from Rene Caisse, Mary McPherson, Sheila Snow, Mali Klein and Dr. Gary Glum. Sheila Snow* & Mali Klein have collectively written several well-documented books on Rene Caisse and Essiac tea. These books were the first credible handbooks in the world that reveal how Rene Caisse used various herbal combinations to treat cancer and other ailments. However, today many people drink Essiac tea simply because it is a well-known, pleasant-tasting tea for maintaining good health. To learn more about Essiac tea, the most accurate and documented online source is on the Health Freedom Info website in the Essiac section.
The sheep sorrel roots that we use as part of the Essiac formula are grown with organic methods without any pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilizers in northern Idaho in mineral-rich soil that has never been farmed. The sheep sorrel leaf, burdock root, slippery elm and turkey rhubarb are certified organic. Click here to see how we harvest sheep sorrel roots.
BUYER BEWARE: There are only a few websites that claim they include sheep sorrel roots in their Essiac herbs. However, an unethical company could only add a pinch of powdered sheep sorrel roots to a pound of sheep sorrel leaf and legally say that the roots are included. Obviously, such an insignificant or small amount of root will have negligible effect health-wise.
Therefore the only ethical way to prove that roots are included is to state the exact percentage of roots in relation to the total sheep sorrel content and disclose with pictures how the roots are separated from the top of plant. Essiac tea should contain at least 10% sheep sorrel roots. That translates to a minimum of 1.6 ounces of roots in every pound of sheep sorrel herb.
Standard farm machinery cannot accurately separate the roots from the tops. This can only be done by hand in a labor-intensive, time-consuming effort. Therefore it is very expensive to grow and harvest the roots. Due to the high labor costs and smaller root size sheep sorrel roots are more than twice as expensive
as ginseng or goldenseal roots. However, it is not practical or affordable for an organic farmer to employ many workers to hand-trim the roots from the aerial part of the plant. For this reason you will not be able to find a credible sheep sorrel root supplier on the internet.
There are plenty of cheap "Essiac" imitations on the internet. They are cheap because they do not add sheep sorrel roots (in spite of what they may claim on their website). Since Rene Caisse stated that sheep sorrel roots are "very essential" to the Essiac formula, they are falsely claiming it is Essiac.
If sheep sorrel roots are not included in sufficient amount, it is not Essiac.
We are aware of at least one Essiac website that fraudulently claims to have included sheep sorrel roots. Therefore they do not tell you how they grow and harvest them and show pictures of their operations like we do.
Also, several websites claim that Essiac tea has eight herbs instead of four. This is false information that has been disproven with legal documentation from Mary McPherson and Sheila Snow. Sheila Snow worked directly with Rene Caisse and spent 27 years compiling the Essiac archive collection of Rene Caisse's personal papers and correspondence, legal documents, the only existing clinic case records, many hours of tape recorded conversations, memorabilia and other documentation of Essiac history. Click here for more information about these eight-herb teas.
To see how we grow and harvest sheep sorrel roots click on the "Growing Methods" and "Harvesting Roots" links or the buttons at the top of this page.
We also offer Bulk Essiac Tea Herbs with exact percentages of sheep sorrel roots.
CLICK HERE for WHOLESALE orders
* IMPORTANT NOTICE: We do not sell nor are we associated with the trademarked (TM) or registered (R) "ESSIAC" products that are sold by other companies in Canada and the US. We only sell the herbs so that people can make Rene Caisse's tea in their own homes. Rene Caisse never registered, patented or trademarked "Essiac" which was simply her last name spelled backwards and was originally derived from a native American herbal remedy for cancer. The word "Essiac" was in common usage in the 1930s, decades before anyone tried to corner the market by "registering" or "trademarking" the word "Essiac". Furthermore, we only use the "Essiac" formula which Rene Caisse's best friend, Mary McPherson, officially entered into the public domain in a sworn affidavit in 1994 in Bracebridge, Ontario. This formula uses Turkey rhubarb root which is much more pleasant tasting than the Indian rhubarb products on the market (which is why Rene Caisse switched to Turkey rhubarb in her final Essiac tea formula). The HealthFreedom.info website has posted Mary McPherson's "Essiac" formula affidavit here. This is the formula we use.
We include sheep sorrel roots in all our Essiac tea products at precise percentages. The percentages refer to the ratio of sheep sorrel root to the total sheep sorrel content in the formula.
The information on this page and on this website is for historical and general information purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice.
Essiac Circle of Friends
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