Emily Clark took an interest in herbology in her early 20s. She was 24 when she had the idea to start her own business in Conway, Arkansas, and only 27 when she opened the doors to Righteous Remedies.
At Righteous Remedies, the mission is to “promote healthful prosperity in our local community while offering herbal nourishment and enjoyable atmosphere.”
The shop, located at 1205 Front Street in Conway, made that community connection through its fire cider workshop Sept. 27.
Fire cider is a mixture of apple cider vinegar, honey, garlic, onion and horseradish root. Some people add different spices or additional ingredients. In the case of Clark, she likes to top the mixture off with a blend of oranges and lemons. The concoction is typically consumed during cold-weather months to stave off sickness, but many people drink it throughout the year for a quick immune system boost.
Righteous Remedies' owner, Emily Clark, prepares her ingredients for fire cider.
Jelaya Fairfield and Sara Alawadhi attended the workshop as a pair. Both originating from California, the two now live with their families in Conway. For both women, finding Righteous Remedies felt like discovering an incredible, hidden gem in town.
“I mean, I’ve been here for a year. I love this type of stuff. I never made it down here because I didn’t really pay attention to it,” Alawadhi said. “Jelaya is my neighbor and she was like, ‘Hey, there’s this event.’ I think there’s so many people that are young couples who might want exposure to this stuff.”
Fairfield originally heard about fire cider from Bell Urban Farms, mainly because of the business’s proximity to her house.
The lower price point of Righteous Remedies’ fire cider is what got her to try it out.
“I’d known what fire cider was, but I never bought it. I knew it was really good for the immune system, so I’d always been interested to try some,” Fairfield said.
“I didn’t even realize that [Righteous Remedies] was just right here downtown and that if I bought [fire cider] here, it’d be cheaper than buying it at Bell Urban Farms.”
Alawadhi said she appreciates Righteous Remedies feeling more accessible than Bell Urban Farms, but that Clark’s emphasis on herbology is what makes Righteous Remedies so much cooler. Alawadhi wishes more people took the time to look into herbology and the benefits it can provide.
“Me and my husband mountain bike, but there’s so much focus on social media and so much focus on physical health. They don’t realize that what you’re putting in your body matters so much,” Alawadhi said. “Maybe I’m being weird, but I feel like people that care about these things more are kind of overall more mindful people.”
Alawadhi said that Clark’s attentiveness and willingness to offer advice is what makes coming to Righteous Remedies so rewarding. Events like the fire cider workshop serve as a further extension of that attentiveness.
“When I’m asking you and you’re taking the time to give me this advice, I personally, am grateful that you’re taking the time to do that. I feel like it does build stronger bonds,” Alawadhi said.
For Fairfield, she said that while she and her husband had always been really into health, it leaned more toward the “diet and supplements side of things.”
It wasn’t until she moved to Conway that her church friends started introducing her to more herbal health products.
“I have so many friends who are all so earthly and they’re just so into health. And so I’ve learned so much since going there that I found out about this place,” Fairfield said. “It’s just right up that alley. I love that it’s here in town and it’s just five minutes from my house.”
Though she wasn’t able to attend, Fairfield first learned that Clark was offering a fire cider workshop at the Natural State Wellness Festival. Clark said the festival is primarily focused on spreading information about herbology and its benefits.
“The mission is to maybe make the ripple a little bit bigger in the community, and educate people about holistic health and alternative medicinal products,” Clark said.
“Eventually it would be cool to make it a traveling event.”
The first Natural State Wellness Festival was held in January of this year. Clark said the next one will be expanded into a two-day event that she plans on making an annual occurrence.
“We’ll have speakers, vendors, workshops, local businesses, yoga, exercise,” Clark said. “We had a sound bath last year that was really wonderful. We had some local bands play, and Rogue Roundabout served their kombucha. It was just really neat and the city was very supportive of it.”
Clark hopes to include more vendors at the next Natural State Wellness Festival, which is planned for this coming January.
Until then, Clark invites people to visit Righteous Remedies for an assortment of vendor-supplied and housemade products. The shop also serves tea, which students can get a 30% discount on.
Clark makes large batches of fire cider roughly three times a year. While most people come by for the spicy beverage, elderberry syrup or hemp products, she recommends another housemade item that she thinks deserves more hype.
“The herbal tinctures in the big bottles, I think that they’re liquid gold,” Clark said.
“I think they’re a little intimidating to people because it’s an alcohol-based tincture, but it’s very medicinal and highly effective. For the amount that you get, it’s worth it compared to smaller bottles of that same product.”
Righteous Remedies will hold another workshop Oct. 7 at 4 p.m., this time over “Herbal Energetics.” To keep up with their future events, you can follow Righteous Remedies on Facebook.