Healing Seeds: Cultivating connection, regeneration, and medicine from the earth

Rows of calendula bloom in bright orange at Healing Seeds Farm in Peoa, Utah, where Dr. Babbie Stern and co-founder Lessing Stern are cultivating regenerative botanical medicine in harmony with the surrounding mountains. Photo: Heeling Seeds Farm

PEOA, Utah — For Dr. Babbie Stern, healing begins where the body meets the land. A naturopathic doctor and licensed acupuncturist known to many long-time Park City residents as Dr. Babbie Lester, she is the co-founder of Healing Seeds, a regenerative botanical medicine, organic produce farm, healing clinic, and nonprofit located in Peoa. The project combines ecological stewardship with natural medicine, biodynamic farming, and what Stern refers to as “alchemical healing,” a practice that addresses both the physical and spiritual aspects of wellness.

“I’ve always believed that nature is the best medicine,” Stern said. “If we can identify and treat the cause, which often resides in the mental, emotional, or spiritual realms, the body will do what it needs to restore itself to health.”

From Park City Roots to Peoa Soil

Born and raised in Park City, Stern has deep roots in the Wasatch Mountains. Her co-founder and partner, Lessing Stern, also has a long family history in the area — his father helped develop Treasure Mountain, which later became Park City Mountain, and went on to found Deer Valley Ski Resort in the early 1980s.

“Lessing and I are both lifelong skiers,” Stern said. “We love these mountains; they’ve always been our playground, our nature therapy, and our connection to the divine.”

When the pandemic hit, the couple felt a shift. “We realized it was time to move on from Park City but stay connected to the mountains,” Stern said. “We wanted to create something more rooted — a space where food, medicine, and community could grow together.”

Inspired in part by The Biggest Little Farm, a documentary they supported as investors, the two set out to build a model that merges organic and regenerative agriculture with botanical medicine.

Growing Medicine, Growing Awareness

Stern’s training in classical Chinese medicine and botanical pharmacology became the foundation for Healing Seeds Farm’s mission: cultivating the plants that form the basis of her clinical practice.

“A lot of Chinese herbs are imported from overseas,” she said. “When COVID disrupted supply chains, we realized we needed to grow our own. So we asked, ‘What if we create the medicine here, with the land and climate we love?’”

That question has guided Healing Seeds since its inception in 2020. Today, the 5-acre farm, situated on a 58-acre ranch, cultivates herbs and plants used to create tinctures, teas, and salves. It will serve as an educational hub for classes in permaculture, organic farming, and herbal medicine.

Stern sees no separation between soil health and human health. “You can’t separate the health of the Earth from the health of her people,” she said. “If we’re eating food grown in glyphosate-laden soil, it’s going to be an uphill battle to maintain a healthy body. The health of the soil is directly connected to the ecological health of our bodies.”

Alchemical Healing and the Unseen Roots of Illness

Before founding Healing Seeds, Stern spent 15 years as founder and owner of Mountain Sage Natural Health and Acupuncture in Park City. Over time, she noticed a pattern. “Many of my patients came to me with physical issues that had roots in the spiritual realm,” she said. “So I began exploring alchemical healing — a way to help people get embodied, to move into the areas where they’re holding trauma or emotions that haven’t been properly transmuted.”

That mind-body-earth connection extends to the fields she now tends. “I remember once massaging a soil bed in the greenhouse, preparing it for planting,” she said. “And suddenly, I could feel the Earth responding, like a human body would, as if saying, ‘Yes, right there.’ It was a moment when the intellectual idea of Earth as living consciousness became a real, felt experience.”

Building a Sustainable Model for Healing

Farming, Stern admits, is not as romantic as it looks. “Farming is sexy on the outside, but it’s really hard work,” she said with a laugh. “It takes a tremendous amount of effort, vision, and resilience to keep going.”

To bring that vision to life, Healing Seeds relies on a dedicated team, including General Manager Kari Moe-Hoffman, a Park City resident of 18 years and one of Stern’s closest friends. Moe-Hoffman joined in 2023, bringing a master’s degree in holistic nutrition, training in herbal medicine, and experience as a holistic nutrition coach and in the supplement industry.

“Kari understands this work from every angle — from soil health and plant energetics to nutrition and community,” Stern said.

Healing Seeds also recently launched its nonprofit arm, The Healing Seeds Foundation, which aims to make its classes, products, and wellness offerings accessible to all. Supporting that effort is Liza Saloway Story, an executive board member born and raised in Park City.

“Liza brings a blend of business savvy and heartfelt purpose to nonprofit leadership,” Stern said. “Her roots here give her a deep understanding of what makes mountain communities thrive — collaboration, stewardship, and a shared love for the outdoors.”

The foundation’s work aligns closely with Summit County’s sustainability goals and seeks to model how small, regenerative farms can stay financially and ecologically viable while serving the broader community.

What’s Next: Tinctures, Workshops, and Community

Healing Seeds has recently completed its first round of botanical tinctures, which are now working on research and development to market and sell their botanical tinctures as dietary supplements. The team is also producing calendula salves, herbal elixirs, sweetgrass and sage bundles, as well as other locally sourced products.

Learn more at HealingSeeds.com.