Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Mark Vorderbruggen.
Hi Dr. Vorderbruggen, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born and raised in the (back then) small farming town of St. Michael, MN. Both my parents are deep lovers of the outdoors and would take me and my siblings for walks in the surrounding woods every day. While out there, they introduced us to the wild foods they used to eat while growing up. This led to a life-long fascination with the idea of how humans used to get all their food and medicine from the wild.
A person is born knowing they will be a scientist and so even as far back as kindergarten, I knew my path. My plan was to become a pharmaceutical chemist, developing medicines to help humanity…but I was blessed with several different research advisors who opened my eyes to the powers of nature products extracted from plants and mushrooms. So while I got an M.S. in medicinal chemistry and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry, my specialty was figuring out how to use what Mother Nature had already created rather than synthesize new molecules.
Any over two decades of applying my skills working for others, in 2019 I and two other people started up Medicine Man Plant Co. where I create formulations of traditional plants, supported scientifically, to help with modern issues. This company is based in Texas but I still travel up to Minnesota several times a year to teach and visit my family and friends here.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Looking back, I worked in a number of places I really hated, but when I started up Medicine Man Plant Co. I realized each of those jobs taught me stuff I really needed to know. It was those lessons, often from my failures and the failures of management, that taught me what I needed to do and NOT do if I wanted to be successful.
Key lessons include
1. Don’t trust any raw material supplier, which is why I have everything independently tested by 3rd party laboratories
2. Hold people accountable to their tasks and also reward them properly for their successes
3. Keep detailed records of experimental formulations, discussions, business ideas, etc. Write everything down in an organized manner
4. The more people you know, the luckier you’ll be
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When people ask what I do for a living, I tell them I am a Preacher of Cavemanosity. I try to help people understand that we no longer live in the world we evolved for and this leads to a lot of our physical, mental, and spiritual health issues. My formulations of herbal primaries are just one thing I offer. I also teach how by incorporating small, easy-to-do, caveman-inspired changes in their lives, they are rewarded with better health.
These activities include:
1. Walking on uneven ground outside
2. Throwing things at stuff
3. Being cold
4. Finding a tribe
Each of these has our bodies what they evolved to do and you can get all the science behind why they benefit us over on www.medicinemanplantco.com.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
Along with Medicine Man Plant Co., I also have Foraging Texas LLC where people can learn about edible and medicinal wild plants from the website, as well as in-person classes, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. That is where you’d reach out to me for plant knowledge.
I also have Assisting Creation LLC which is my company devoted to collaborations. A number of breweries and distilleries work with me through that company where I help them create new alcoholic beverages. I also help personal care companies formulate new products, as long as they don’t compete with current or future MMPC products.
Contact me at [email protected] and we can get the stone rolling!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.medicinemanplantco.com
- Instagram: @mmplantco
- Facebook: @medicinemanplantco
- Youtube: DrMerriwether
- Other: www.foragingtexas.com
Image Credits
Dr. Mark Merriwether Vorderbruggen
