Welcome to our comprehensive FAQ page. We've organized questions by various topics to help you get the answers you need about Meeting House Collaborative and joining our expanding community of herb growers.
Don't see your question answered? Contact us at farmers@meetinghouse.farm or complete the inquiry form below to get in touch.
Please apply first if you are interested. It's free, and the answers to the application questions will help guide us in our conversation. Once we've reviewed your application, we will set up a free discovery call to determine if the Collaborative is a great fit for your farm. If you’re not quite ready to complete the application, our online grower fit self-assessment tool is a great place to start. It provides personalized feedback based on a short questionnaire that will help you assess if this might be right for you!
Anytime! As an online Herbal Marketplace, we’re always open and customers are always shopping. Dried herbs sell year-round, so feel free to get started when the time is right for you.
To get value out of being in the marketplace, you will want to be able to sell at least $100 per month. This would equate to ten 1 oz bags at $10/bag.
Absolutely! All you really need to get started is quality packaging and fabulous herbs. We'll provide the platform, marketing, and customer base. We even offer pre-printed labels that you can use to get started. As you develop your brand, you’ll be able to incorporate it into your product delivery to build your identity and loyalty with customers.
If you can grow enough herbs to fill ten 1 oz bags once dried, yes! If not yet, consider getting started locally selling fresh herbs or roots through markets and/or CSAs. As you are able to scale dried production, we’ll be here ready for you to join us!
Occasionally, we work with newer growers as part of our Nurture Farm program. These growers are looking for support getting started and scaling their herb production, with the goal to reach 250 lbs of dried herbs or more per year. If you are interested in learning more about this program and joining the waiting list for consideration, please fill out our application, and make mention of your interest as a Nurture Farm.
Taking our online, grower fit self-assessment can be a great way to get started. This tool can help you determine if being part of the Collaborative would align well with your farming approach, scale, and goals. It will also share feedback on things you can do to enhance that alignment and prepare for joining the Collaborative in the future.
You might also consider signing up for our newsletter to stay connected, downloading Emily’s guide to herb growing for profit to further explore how herb growing can help you build sustainability for your land and farm, or requesting a personalized consultation with Emily. She offers consultations about stewarding your land, dry room set-up, preparing for organic certification, or general farm questions.
We offer two membership tiers:
Option 1:
Option 2:
Both options include access to our online Herbal Marketplace, community support, and educational resources, and we handle all the e-commerce infrastructure, order and shipping logistics, sales tax processing, payments, and customer service.
When you first join, we suggest choosing Option 1 with the monthly billing instead of paying for a full year upfront. This provides flexibility while you determine if the Collaborative is a good fit for you. You can cancel at any time without having paid a larger upfront fee or the full-year membership. The cost for this option is $55 per month. If you process orders for more than that amount each month, the cost can be deducted from your sales payouts so there wouldn’t be out-of-pocket costs.
Once you have a feel for your budget and have built confidence selling through the marketplace, you can either continue paying monthly or, the next January, pay the annual $600 rate upfront and save $60. Whichever payment approach you choose for this membership option, we keep 6% of each sales transaction out of your payouts to cover credit card fees and additional overhead costs for being a member of the Collaborative.
Many of our smaller growers find our Option 2 membership pricing works better for them. This option provides lower upfront and ongoing out of pocket costs by providing a single setup fee of $155, and we keep 20% of sales transactions out of your settlement thereafter.
While Meeting House Collaborative promotes the online Herbal Marketplace and our member growers through email, search, and social marketing, your sales through the marketplace are also influenced by several other factors. The quantity and type of herbs and herbal products you list and make available on the site, how you price and position your products versus other options available both on the site and in the market more generally, and any additional efforts you make to market your product availability on the marketplace can all influence your sales. We recommend growers cross-market their marketplace presence in any of your other sales or marketing channels, including your website, business cards, market signage, etc. As an example of what’s possible, many of the online Herbal Marketplace growers in the Collaborative see sales between $300-$800 per month.
If you signed up for the monthly membership option, you can cancel at any time. However, your monthly membership fees will continue until you have removed your products from public view on the marketplace, and we’ll continue to apply the transaction fees to any sales you make through the marketplace. The initial one-time fee, or discounted annual membership fee if you selected that option, is non-refundable.
No, you do not need to be certified organic, but we do require that you grow meeting organic and regenerative standards.
Yes, we require all our Collaborative growers to meet both organic and regenerative standards.
Drying rooms are really where success happens for herb farms. You can grow the most beautiful certified organic herbs in the world, but if you can't dry and process them well, you won't be able to sell them. Invest in a good dry room as top priority. You can get started meeting organic and regenerative standards, and work towards organic certification over time.
Absolutely! Our website only shows herbs that are currently in stock with one of our growers. If you have other herbs available that you’d like to sell, or you are thinking about growing something new that you’d like to sell on the marketplace, send us a list at farmers@meetinghouse.farm and we'll let you know if we think the herbs will sell well.
Nettle, raspberry leaf, calendula, holy basil, astragalus, elecampane, chamomile, and lavender are our most popular herbs/roots, but our customer base is always growing and seeking new and different varieties.
Yes. Hemp, cannabis, or any plants considered by the federal government to be "illegal" are not allowed to be listed on the Collaborative online Herbal Marketplace.
Collaborative members can sell most value-added herbal products through the online Herbal Marketplace, including salves, syrups, oils, tea blends, and soaps - along with their fresh and dried herbs. At this time, due to FDA regulations, we are not able to support sales of alcohol-based extracts or tinctures from other growers. Meeting House Farm sells the only alcohol-based extracts offered on our website.
Yes! Member growers can sell fresh herbs, as long as they can ship them overnight to maintain optimum freshness. If you are new to shipping fresh herbs, we can provide you with the structure and planning schedule to help ensure your hard work is preserved in delivery. We also request that you connect with us prior to listing fresh herbs so that we can ensure your shipping options are correctly selected.
Yes, you can choose how to best package and sell your roots, herbs, and mushrooms.
Yes. We've found these sizes to be the most popular and cost-effective for us, but you're welcome to sell herbs in other package sizes.
Collaborative growers are able to sell herbs from the most recent growing season and the prior year to ensure quality and freshness for customers.
Each January, Meeting House Farm sells any herbs from 2 seasons ago at a discounted rate and donates those we don't sell. For example, in January 2026, we held a sale to sell herbs from 2024 at 30% off. Our customers love it! Our growers are welcome to participate in similar sales for their herbs that are nearing the end of their optimal shelf-life.
Yes, farms participating in the Collaborative can sell herbs in their own environmentally friendly packaging.
Yes, farms selling in the online Herbal Marketplace can put their own information on product listings, in their farm bio, and on their packing slips. There are some restrictions surrounding the use of the word "organic," "medicinal," "culinary," etc. that we'll fill you in on when you join.
Collaborative growers are responsible for providing their own product descriptions. This is your opportunity to make your herbs shine and to build your brand! There are some restrictions surrounding the use of certain terms, which we'll provide guidance on when you join.
Growers are responsible for providing their own product photos. Your customers want to see the herbs they're purchasing, since different farms may garble or chip to different sizes. We encourage you to create a consistent look and feel for your farm's product photos so they're easy to recognize. We can help with guidance on taking photos, without the need for fancy equipment!
Yes, Collaborative growers can change their pricing and product descriptions on the marketplace to reflect sale prices, which you can then market across your other channels to drive traffic to your product pages. You can also promote your sales through advertising on our eCommerce platform, to help draw store visitors directly to your sale items.
You're always welcome to use our pricing model, and we're happy to share it with you. We do market research at least twice per year and are confident in our pricing. You're also welcome to price your herbs any way you wish.
Yes! All our new Collaborative growers receive onboarding support to help them get started and selling successfully on the online Herbal Marketplace. This includes getting you set up with access to the platform, showing you how to list your products, getting started processing orders, and receiving sales payouts. We are also available on an ongoing basis by email or phone to answer any questions you might have.
Yes! Emily offers fee-based personalized consultations about stewarding your land, dry room set-up, no-till growing, preparing for organic certification, irrigation, and other general farm-related topics. Please visit her scheduling page to explore pricing and availability.
We’re happy to share insights and recommendations for popular herbs to grow that sell, such as nettle, raspberry leaf, burdock, astragalus, elecampane, chamomile, and lavender which are among our most popular. We're also happy to discuss what might work best for your farm during a consultation call.
Meeting House Farm is not open to the public due to zoning regulations, but we do offer scheduled consultations where Emily can help advise you on how to set up your own systems. We also publish educational guidance and host webinars and seminars for members of our growing community and/or the public.
In addition to the Meeting House Collaborative online Herbal Marketplace, Emily occasionally works with newer herb growers as part of her Nurture Farm program. Through the program, growers receive personalized support getting started with and scaling their herb production, with the goal to reach 250 lbs of dried herbs or more per year. Once producing, these growers also become members of the Collaborative and sell on the online Herbal Marketplace. If you are interested in learning more about this program and joining the waiting list for consideration, please fill out our application, and make mention of your interest as a Nurture Farm.
Emily also offers various classes, events, and mentorship opportunities through Meeting House Farm. You can explore upcoming programs on our Classes and Events web page.
Take our free online Herb Grower Fit Self-Assessment to explore if joining the Collaborative might be a great fit for you. Or, if you are ready to get started, apply now to request to become a member – there’s no fee to apply.
Email us at farmers@meetinghouse.farm to get in touch!
