Riverbend Botanicals

I am Hannah Hammond, Co-founder and Herbalist at Riverbend Botanicals. Hi there, let me tell you about myself. I once was a very healthy child, running feral, free, and healthy as ever. Though in a blink of an eye, my life changed.

At fifteen, I was in a car accident that changed everything. I hit black ice going around a sharp curve and rolled my car multiple times. The impact left me bruised internally and set off an immune disorder causing severe inflammation in my body. At fifteen years old, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, something I might not have faced until I was thirty or older, but the accident brought it on early.

I spent my sixteenth birthday in the hospital. It took three months before doctors finally knew what I had — two weeks of which I stayed in the hospital. It was a long, painful time — one I almost thought I’d never make it through. I watched myself wither away to skin and bones. The pain was constant, and I couldn’t find relief for it. I tried countless medications, exhausted every pill option, and began IV transfusions. There were some very close calls. However, I managed to bounce back.

The doctors told me a lot of worst-case scenarios, and as a child that scared me. There were all sorts of surgeries that were available for me. I remember seeing a nine-year-old boy whose parents made the decision for him, and he ended up having surgery done. I’ve heard these surgeries sometimes go well and sometimes limit your options further down the road. And I’m forever grateful my mother gave me that choice. I wanted to keep my body “as is” for as long as I could.

I struggled for a long time, and so many times I wanted to give up. I was just a kid, everything felt personal, I was drowning in my negativity. I didn’t know how to sort through my emotions and try to stay positive with so much going wrong, and I wish I knew then what I know now. Emotions play a huge role in your physical well-being. I had a doctor tell me that my illness has nothing to do with stress, that “there’s no such thing as stress.” Far from the truth! Stress is a huge factor in your physical health. That same doctor also told me that I wouldn’t be able to have children. But I did!

I made it my goal to learn more about what causes the specific ailment and to find natural remedies to support it in natural healing. Not just for myself, but for my family, my friends, and for all of you.

My illness stole my childhood and my young adult life. And it wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I started really learning what my body needed. Now I manage with little to no pharmaceuticals, with multiple different natural remedies, diet plans, and techniques. I’m not a doctor, but I also know my body better than anybody else does — and sometimes we just need to listen to our bodies.

My mother introduced me to essential oils, which slightly piqued my interest. The best way I can explain is that it just wasn’t my calling. I found it extremely intriguing to know that all these plants have a purpose. Even those we call weeds! But my interest for medicinal plants didn’t catch until after I met my wonderful husband.

Adam Hammond, Founder of Riverbend Botanicals. Adam is a very hard-working and intelligent man. He is an arborist and knows a lot about trees but knew nothing of natural medicinal plants. He unfortunately had a horrible work-related accident, in which a limb from a tree that he wasn’t even working on came down on him. Had he not noticed it coming down any later than he did, he may not be with us today. After multiple surgeries, Adam was laid up for a few months. He had pins and plates put into his hip and his ankle. I cared for him during his recovery, and in that time we had some long conversations about all the chemicals and side effects in medicines, foods, our water supply, and so on... Adam is typically a busy body and because of his accident he was confined to a recliner during most of his healing. He was absolutely bored out of his mind. So what started as a simple conversation about pain medicine turned into way more. We went down the rabbit hole, as they would say...Bouncing around questions. Such as where did pharmaceuticals come from? They originated from herbs and plants right? and then they were chemically “enhanced?” But what if they didn’t need the chemical enhancing? What if we just needed to find a correct, natural formula to help us in healing?

So we started brainstorming and researching all these plants and their medicinal properties. Then about foods, household items, hygiene necessities, homesteading, and ALL the works! All the things we put on our bodies and in our bodies, and how they affect us. We started realizing just how badly we were slowly harming ourselves with all the bad things in our every day essentials! There just had to be a better way. There had to be a healthier way.

Even more of a push was that he and I have four beautiful girls together. We want what’s best for them. We want them to live a long and healthy life. We are striving to learn as much as we can and do as much as we can for our family.

In a world where everybody thinks that as soon as you get sick, you need to go to the doctor. In a world where as soon as you are in pain, you think you need to take a pill. In a world that thinks money is going to buy you health, bingo, it’s not!

It’s going to buy you a repeating cycle. It is going to keep benefiting from your struggles.

When we were young, the healing started at home. We didn’t run to the doctor right away. We didn’t run to pills right away. We used to rely on our mothers, our grandmas, and the sweet old lady next door, with all their wonderful natural remedies.

I’m not saying doctors are bad and I’m not saying pharmaceutical medicine is not necessary sometimes. But we lost our sense of independence and became too reliant on a system that is meant to keep us consumers. However, if we are going to consume, let us make well-informed decisions in the process.

Listen To Your Body, Educate Yourself, Make Healthy Changes, Build A Village With Us, & Let’s Thrive Together.

— The Riverbend Botanicals Family

Riverbend Botanicals is foremost, a place to connect, learn, and share knowledge. We provide naturally made products in our shop available for purchase as well as an ever-growing Educational & Recipes section on our app available for a small fee.

Please note that not all recipes have been tested by RB. We gather recipes from many wonderful herbal folks out there and bring everything to one place so that you have a variety of options available to you. Credit still remains where credit is due.

Keep in mind that everyone’s body is different. What may work for someone else may not work for you. Feel free to ask questions as it could always be a simple & easy switch of things.

And WELCOME!