Hello friends,

🚀Quick Website Launch Update:

We are finalizing the app integrations and other backend items, and will send out an announcement once the site is fully tested and ready for launch. We’re more concerned with getting it right than rushing to our own made-up deadline.

Last week, we had a photoshoot at the same trail where we first fleshed out the concept for our brand. Thank you to my incredible and supportive friends and Fox&Nug for a fun and stress-free shoot. Check out this fantastic group shot, amongst the Ponderosa and Lodgepole Pine.

Earth Medicine Apparel Co. was founded with a mission: to honor and support Earth’s most precious wisdom keepers.

Each design we create is a prayer to the plants, fungi, and animals with which humans are inseparably linked, celebrating the cultures and communities that preserve ancient knowledge.

We are all bound by gossamer threads in an intricate ecological web, despite current systems of oppression working to convince us we are separate or that Nature is disposable. Since the beginning, human survival and our stories have been entwined with the living world:

• Plants became food, medicine, baskets, cord, clothing, and currency.

• Animals offered meat, ceremonial objects, tools, adornment, and shelter.

• Fungi sparked consciousness, kindled fires, and challenged us to discern between nourishment and poison.

Through direct relationship with the natural world, humans developed deep traditions of caretaking and preserving the wisdom of Earth medicines — passed down through oral tradition, song, art, and daily practice.

Today, many of these traditions are lost or diluted by late-stage capitalism. The rising global interest in Earth medicines has increased pressure on farmers, wild spaces, and waterways, while many wisdom keepers themselves face contaminated water, food scarcity, loss of language, loss of land, and exclusion from healthcare or basic services.

Why?
Indigenous peoples are on the frontlines of defending the world’s last biodiverse strongholds — often at great personal risk. These same lands are targeted by illegal logging, mining, cattle ranching, and other extractive industries that fuel global markets.

The fight is constant, and the stories are heartbreaking:

• In the U.S., the San Carlos Apache’s sacred site, Oak Flat, is now open to copper mining after the Supreme Court declined to hear their appeal. (Link)

• In Ecuador, the Ministry of Environment has been dissolved and absorbed into the Ministry of Energy and Mines — prioritizing extraction over protection. (Link)

• In Peru, Indigenous communities face the twin threats of illegal mining and logging, and violence for defending their rights. (Link)

Meanwhile, the beauty and power of medicines like Kambô and Ayahuasca continue to draw thousands of visitors to the Amazon Rainforest, generating millions, yet too often without equitable benefit to the communities that have safeguarded these traditions for generations.

When you receive the healing and teaching of Earth Medicines from the Amazon Rainforest, it is an invitation into a deep relationship with this incredible ecosystem.

Our Connection

We work in solidarity with the Quichua community of Petrona Isla, Río Napo, Peru — home to a vibrant Nature reserve where land is protected for the people, plants, and animals who live there. This is where the late Maestro Jhonny Javá devoted his life to healing, teaching, and sharing the Amazon’s wisdom.

Our first capsule collection honors both Kambô — the powerful frog medicine central to pharmacopoeias of Panoan-speaking peoples — and Jhonny’s legacy of bridging global cultures with an open heart and deep reverence for the Amazon. Your purchase supports his family as they continue his work, preserving both their land and their lineage.

Update on Our GoFundMe Campaign
We’ve now raised $3,865 of our $5,000 goal!

Reconstruction has already begun at our friends’ center, Ecomunidad Nativa Kambo Family. Thank you to everyone who has bought a shirt, donated, or shared our mission. We’re aiming to reach our goal by the end of summer as we launch our e-commerce site and share our brand at upcoming trade events.

Why Supporting Indigenous Communities Protects the Amazon

• They are the forest’s frontline guardians – Indigenous peoples manage over a quarter of the Amazon, with the lowest deforestation rates.

• Holistic protection – Indigenous leadership safeguards rivers, wildlife, and sacred sites alike.

• Land rights = forest protection – Secure land tenure keeps forests intact for the long term.

• Generations of ecological knowledge – Proven, low-impact stewardship honed over centuries.

• Cultural survival = ecosystem survival – Traditions protect biodiversity.

• Defense against extractive industries – Resourced communities can resist illegal activity.

• Biodiversity hotspots – Indigenous territories shelter diverse ecosystems.

• Climate change mitigation – Healthy rainforests store massive amounts of carbon.

• Economic resilience – Sustainable livelihoods replace destructive ones.

• Rapid response to threats – Locals detect and address issues faster than outsiders.

• Ethical responsibility – Our consumption drives many threats; we must help repair the harm.

• Stronger advocacy – Support amplifies Indigenous voices on the world stage.

We’re packing up and getting ready to vend in Denver at Mirus Art Gallery tonight from 9-midnight. This 21+ event features live painters, vendors, food and drink, and music. Free entry before 10 pm.

Can’t make it tonight? Come see us at another event:

• Mirus Marketplace, Denver | Fridays August 15th, 22nd and 29th | 9 pm - Midnight (event is 21+)

• Denver Community Popup Market, Denver | Sun August 24th | 10 am - 3 pm

• Makers Hive Market, Ft. Collins | Sat August 30th | Noon - 5 pm

• Longmont Artwalk on Main Longmont | Sat September 13th | 4 - 8 pm

• Colorado Artisan Market, It’s Fall Y’all, Denver | Sat Sept 20th & Sun 21st 10:30 am - 5:30 pm

Hope to see you soon,

Founder, Earth Medicine Apparel Co.

P.S.
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If this newsletter has inspired you, the best way to support us is to share it with your friends, community, or anyone who shares your passion for art, Earth medicine, and ethical fashion. Every share helps us grow this vision—rooted in reciprocity, creativity, and connection.