Rapha’s healing herbs

Organic Skin, Body, & Mind Care

Deborah van Wyk (AKA the barefoot herb lady) and Leon van Wyk
My name is Deborah, and I am passionate about natural health, herbal remedies, and the body’s ability to heal itself if given the right conditions. My husband Leon and I started Rapha’s Healing Herbs 7 years ago when we stepped away from the corporate rat race and chose to live a more hands-on existence with the earth.

Having spent most of my working career in the financial industry, I know first-hand the effects of stress on one’s health. I have had a passion for natural solutions to health challenges for as long as I can remember. All the products we make at Rapha’s Healing Herbs were born from a need to help a friend or family member. Way before leaving Gauteng, we were growing our own herbs and using them to make ointments or tinctures. (Some of our product recipes are more than 30 years old.) Most items in our catalogue have a back story about one of our children, grandchildren, a sister, or friend in need. It was only when we left our respective corporate careers that we started Rapha’s as a more formal product line.

We believe that health starts in the soil. You cannot grow healthy plants in unhealthy soil, so we start by feeding the earth, enabling it to grow robust plants that provide healing to ourselves, our family, our friends, and our clients. We are as passionate about earthworms and the soil biome as we are about healing a skin condition or restoring your gut biome, we can’t do the one without the other. As a result, chemical pesticides or herbicides are not welcome on our piece of earth.

At the core of the Rapha’s value system is a desire to help and heal. We do not use ingredients that can harm and we aim to offer products that work well at prices that everyone can afford. We make natural chemical-free products from herbs we grow in a chemical-free environment, and source oils and waxes from suppliers with ethical and sustainable practices.

When we are not working in the garden, we process the plant material into dry herbs or oil extractions to make creams, ointments, or balms. At Rapha’s, the making of your custom-made jar of cream could have started 6 months ago when we planted the herb seed in a low-till bed. More often than not you will find us barefoot in the garden, earthing ourselves and getting our dose of fresh air and Vitamin D.