About US

Our mission at Desert Tortoise Botanicals is to provide the finest quality handcrafted herbal products while nurturing active stewardship of local plants and supporting the dynamic heritage of traditional herbal practice in the Sonoran desert region.  Our products are a reflection of years of direct experience in the field in the American Southwest and northern Mexico, traditional knowledge shared with us by indigenous elders and healers, clinical training in herbalism and nutrition, cutting-edge scientific research – and the needs of our community. Seasonal variations in our products reflect nature’s offerings. Through direct experiential knowledge and our practice of observation we bring to you the best herbal products for health and wellbeing from the Sonoran desert.


Desert Tortoise Botanicals was founded in 2005 by owner and herbalist, John Slattery. John oversees the creation of all the products prepared at Desert Tortoise Botanicals.  John offers educational opportunities and training in bioregional herbalism and foraging, including field botany, plant energetics, wildcrafting, herbal medicine making, and plant-focused cultural trips to Sonora, Mexico to visit with indigenous herbalists. For more information, visit www.johnjslattery.com.                         

Our special relationships with elders and indigenous communities throughout the area contribute to the authenticity of our products, and we give back appropriately to help sustain and continue this knowledge within these communities. We consider this work a “living ethnobotany” which involves current members of these diverse communities which span generations, cultures, and political boundaries.  Our main regions of focus, currently, are southeastern Arizona and northern Sonora, Mexico. Our apothecary also features herbs from California, Colorado, and New Mexico. 

 

 

You can follow us on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/deserttortoisebotanicals/?hl=en