Stirred Water’s homegrown herbal treatments have deep roots
By Dave Hoffman
Hidden in the windy roads of the Catskill Mountains in the village of Acra, you may find the cure for what ails you.
Stirred Water Herbs provides herbs for healing, courses in herbology, and the owner, Judi Ryan is a professional iridologist, which means she is able to assess your health by looking into your eyes.
“I started out because I wanted to help friends and people that I knew with their health, doing it in a natural way, having alternatives or support to go alongside medications,” Ryan said. “Then as I helped people, it just grew by word of mouth.”
Ryan’s journey into alternative health began close to home with her nine children.
“One of my sons had some severe digestive issues,” she said. “After two years of seeing medical doctors, they didn’t have a solution. So I took him to a chiropractor, and it resolved the issue he had for 10 years, in two weeks. He just did adjustments, and that opened my eyes to the natural world, that there is something else out there for health.”
She brought another child, suffering from chronic ear infections, to a naturopath in an Illinois farm community, near where she lived at the time.
“He had had tubes put in twice, but still got the infection. The naturopath gave us two herbs that drained his ears for about 12 hours. Since then, he never got an infection,” she said.
Ryan became deeply interested in learning more about this healing modality, so she began asking questions. The naturopath noted her interest and suggested she take a six-week basic herbalist course. That led to her first basic certification. Next, she enrolled in the Traditional Naturopath bachelor’s program at Trinity College in Warsaw IN.
Diving deep, Ryan took multiple certification courses in herbalism, women’s health education, and family health education under the mentorship of Shonda Parker from Louisiana.
She also returned to Trinity to get her master’s degree in iridology. Iridology is the study of the iris as a way of seeking out health problems.
“The eye is like a map of the body,” Ryan said. “You can see degenerative areas of the body based on the eye, you can see inflammation, you can see separation of the fibers.
“The brain is on the top part, the feet are on the bottom, your lungs are on the outer side, and the intestines and stomach are close to the pupil. You can see weak areas, inflamed areas, and areas that might not be a problem yet, but are genetic.”
When Parker died a few years ago, Ryan was one of five students she passed the torch to, sharing her teaching materials, along with the legal rights so she could teach the clinical herbalist classes.
Now Ryan offers herbal consulting, herbs themselves, iridology, and will soon offer a 6-8 week basic herbalist class. Her specialties are wide ranging, and include treatments for women’s hormones, lyme disease, children’s health, and on occasion, herbal treatments for animals.
Patrons can buy spices and bulk herbs by the ounce. She also sells food items and other supplements in the form of capsules and similar offerings. Customized formulas are also available.
She offers saliva hormone testing to assess levels of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Another service is an ion cleanse, where customers detox through their feet. Using a machine that changes the polarity of water, customers drive toxins out of their body by soaking their feet in a bin of polarized water.
Stirred Water Herbs has grown largely due to word of mouth, which fits in with the homey atmosphere that surrounds Ryan’s practice. In addition to clients, several medical practitioners in the area make referrals to her store. Word of mouth is critical for people looking to find her location because Stirred Water Herbs is off the beaten path.
“I’m out in the country, and the first time getting here is tricky, but once you’re here, it’s easy,” she said. “I like to make a store that is homey and friendly, where people can relax, sit and have a cup of tea, sit on the patio and listen to the waters of the creek, or go for a walk.”
The land itself is on seven acres, hosting many of the herbs Ryan relies on.
“It’s like a pharmacy in my backyard,” she said. “Time is a factor, so I don’t always have time to harvest, I use it more for my own family.”
Stirred Water Herbs is located at 307 S. Durham Highway in Acra. Visit www.stirredwater.com for more information.
