Some people work with plants. Others build their lives around them.
For herbalist and naturopath Chris Alstat, plants have always been more than ingredients in a formula. They are companions, teachers, and an endless source of curiosity.
As the owner of Eclectic Herb, Chris carries forward a company rooted in herbal tradition and innovation. But long before she was leading an herb company, her life was already deeply intertwined with the botanical world.
Roots in Two Traditions
Chris’s connection to plants is shaped in part by her cultural heritage.
She is half Japanese and grew up surrounded by elements of Japanese folk medicine and seasonal plant traditions — a quiet understanding that plants are woven into everyday life. In Japan, the rhythm of the seasons is deeply connected to the landscape: gathering wild mountain vegetables in spring, preparing simple plant foods, and honoring the natural world that provides them. These traditions influenced the way Chris approaches plants — not simply as remedies, but as part of a living relationship between people and nature.
Chris spent many years living in Tokyo, where that relationship deepened even further. Japan’s culture of seasonal foods and wild plants reinforced something she had always sensed: that some of the most meaningful knowledge about plants comes from simply living alongside them.
Today, she still returns to Japan in the spring to gather seasonal herbs and reconnect with landscapes where plant traditions remain alive.
Learning from Plants Around the World
Chris’s curiosity about plants eventually led her beyond her cultural roots and into a lifelong exploration of herbal traditions across the world.
She trained as a naturopath in her native New Zealand, where she deepened her understanding of botanical medicine. While studying there, Chris was introduced to Māori plant traditions — knowledge grounded in a deep respect for the land and the relationship between people and the ecosystems that sustain them.
Her travels continued to take her into new landscapes and plant traditions. During a few months spent exploring the forests of Indonesia, Chris became fascinated by the incredible diversity of tropical plants. At one point, her botanical explorations attracted an unexpected companion — a curious orangutan that had wandered away from a nearby wildlife preserve! Once someone’s pet, the animal quietly followed and observed her through the forest every day, as if joining the adventure.
On another journey, she spent time with a hill tribe community in the rainforests of Thailand. Sleeping in a bamboo hut, sharing simple wild food, and learning directly from the local herbalist.
Living Among the Plants
Spend a little time around Chris Alstat and it quickly becomes clear that plants are not confined to the garden or the lab — they are woven into the fabric of her daily life.
Her home reflects that relationship. One room is devoted to a custom-built herbal apothecary where shelves are lined with jars of herbs, tinctures, and botanical ingredients collected over years of studying plants, with the quiet aura of an herbalist’s workspace.
Nearby sits a home freeze-dryer, where Chris experiments with preserving fresh plants and creating small batches of herbal preparations. For her, the process is part curiosity, part craft — another way to learn directly from the plants themselves.
Books occupy another corner of her world. Chris curates an extensive vintage botanical library filled with antique herbal texts, vintage herbal remedies, and historic home herbal remedy kits. Many of the exhibits date back generations and contain the observations and experiences of herbalists who carefully recorded what they learned from the plants around them.
To Chris, these books are a never ending source of fascination and study — voices from the past sharing their knowledge with the present.
Outside, the gardens continue the story. Beds of medicinal herbs grow alongside edible plants and flowers, each one offering something to observe, taste, or learn from.
Those who know Chris often say she is always on her next plant adventure. And in many ways, she is — whether that adventure leads across the world or simply out the back door into the garden.
Carrying the Eclectic Tradition Forward
Today, Chris brings that lifelong relationship with plants to her work leading Eclectic Herb.
The company was founded in 1982 by naturopathic physician Dr. Ed Alstat — Chris’s late husband — at the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. Inspired by the Eclectic physicians of the 19th century, Ed built the company around a simple idea: that whole plants hold a natural complexity that should be preserved whenever possible.
Together, Chris and Ed shared a deep respect for herbal medicine and the traditions that surround it. Their work with Eclectic Herb was shaped by a belief that plants are best understood not as isolated compounds, but as living systems with their own balance and intelligence.
One of the ways Eclectic Herb honors that philosophy is through freeze-drying fresh herbs shortly after harvest — a process that helps preserve the color, aroma, and natural chemistry of the living plant. For Chris, this approach reflects something deeper than a manufacturing process. It reflects the same curiosity and respect for plants that has guided her travels, studies, and gardens for decades.
Whether she is wildcrafting spring herbs in Japan, tending her garden at home, studying a rare botanical text, or experimenting with fresh plants in her apothecary, Chris continues to follow the same instinct that first drew her to herbal medicine... To listen closely to the plants, because in the end, herbalism is not just about remedies. It is about relationship — with the plants, the land, and the generations of people who have learned from them.
