About Us

Across the Atlantic Ocean in a picturesque Eastern European village lived a little girl. Her father taught her how to plant an orchard, gather linden flowers for tea, extract birch tree sap, pick mushrooms, extract honey, do bee stinging therapy and understand the health benefits of plants. Her mother taught her how to garden, forage the forests for berries, store food for winter, and band-aid scabs with plantain leaves. Her grandparents taught her how to harvest ripe apples, pears, and plums and dry them to make ‘kampot‘ (a warm fruit drink). She learned to love every tiny plant, seed and flower, often picking a handful with her 5 sisters to make a ‘vinok’ (flower headpiece). The girls discovered that when you suck on a flower, sweet nectar comes out. This became a favorite spring and summer treat.

The little girl lived in the village for twelve years before her family moved across the ocean. They came to America with 8 kids, 8 suitcases, and all the knowledge of country life in a village. The little girl grew up and met a boy who also came across the Atlantic Ocean with the same country life knowledge that his father, mother, and grandparents passed on to him. The two of them got married and had 5 wonderful children to whom they passed on the knowledge of all the goodness of plants, herbs, roots, and spices. “You need to come over for tea”, is what they would often say to their family and friends; an invitation for a good get-together with a cup of hot loose-leaf tea foraged the season before. It was during ‘tea time’ when the girl and boy began to dream of teaching their children how to start and run a business. Many conversations, ideas and teacups later, the boy said, “We should bring our loose-leaf teas and natural remedies to the rest of the world. They are so beneficial to enhance health, they are delicious, and people will love them.” And just like that Mella Gardens was born.

Mella’ is Latin for ‘honey’. Why honey? Because the honeybee, the tiny insect God created, taught the grandparents and parents, who in turn taught the little girl and the little boy to see all the beauty and benefits of plants and to know how they enhance our lives and our health. And so now, it is the boy’s and girl’s turn to pass on the knowledge of all the goodness of plants to the next generation and to everyone else who wants to learn and experience the benefits of plants, herbs, roots, and spices.