Herbal remedies, from old stories to new evidence.
We follow a remedy along its whole path: from the place and the people who first used it, through the herbals that wrote it down, to the founder who put it in a bottle and what modern trials say about it now.
Nine issues, root by root.
Root to Bottle launched in the autumn of 2024 as the herbal supplements title of VOL Collective, the independent editorial studio in New York. We work from the Flower District, a block from the plant wholesalers. The first issue carried eight founder interviews, each paired with a short history of the plant at the heart of the formula.
We treat tradition as history and as a lead worth testing, never as proof. We name and credit the traditions we write about, from Ayurveda to European folk herbalism, say plainly when the evidence is thin, and mention drug interactions and pregnancy wherever they matter.
Today 34,700 people read Root to Bottle each month, most of them in the US, and 9,600 get The Sunday Steep. Fifty-nine percent still use a remedy they learned from a parent or grandparent, and 73 percent want to see the evidence before they try a new herb. We write for both halves of that reader.
The people behind Root to Bottle
Daniel Mercer
Publisher & Editorial Director
Natalie Hayes
Editor-in-Chief
Vivian Hart
Executive Editor
Ramin Vandi
Director of Features & PartnershipsEmma Blackwell
Managing EditorBethany Bailey
Deputy EditorDominic Barrett
Senior EditorMiles Maddox
Science EditorErika Calloway
Research EditorEllen Parrish
Wellness EditorWhitney Tanaka
Fact-checkerJocelyn Archer
Copy EditorRebecca Lindqvist
Photo EditorZoe Whitaker
Contributing PhotographerCamille Mercado
Art DirectorHelen Cross
Newsletter EditorKathryn Foster
Features EditorKristina Patel
Features EditorJonah Rivera
Features EditorRoot to Bottle, year by year
- 2023
VOL Collective begins
VOL Collective publishes its first interview in New York. The founders who talk about a grandmother's kitchen shelf as readily as a clinical trial become the start of a list.
- 2024
Issue 01
Root to Bottle launches in the autumn with eight founder interviews, each paired with a short history of its plant.
- 2025
The Sunday Steep
The newsletter passes 7,000 subscribers, and our reader survey finds that 59 percent of readers still use a remedy they learned at home.
- 2026
Issue 09 and the first field day
The remedy guides launch in July, from comparing herbal jars to choosing mushroom powders. With 34,700 readers a month, we spend a morning on a medicinal herb farm in the Hudson Valley with the founders featured in this issue.
