who we are

Flourish Farmstead

Flourish Herb Farm -  Flourish Folk School - 

Crystal and Eric Stevens co-own Flourish Farmstead with their two children. Flourish Farmstead is a Botanical Sanctuary along the bluffline of the Mississippi River in Illinois about 45 minutes from downtown St. Louis.

We grow a myriad of medicinal and culinary herbs, perennial fruits, and vegetables, a small orchard, as well as cut flowers. We have goats and a few chickens. 

Flourish Offers A Myriad Of Products And Services Inspired By Resilient Living In The Midwest Area. 

Education: Herbal Training Program/ Herbalism Education

Resilient Living Workshop series

plant walks, ethical wild foraging, medicinal herb workshops, gardening, and mushroom inoculation

Flourish Botanicals & Apothecary- You can find our apothecary products at: 

The Old Bakery Beer Company in Alton, IL

Riverbend Yoga in Alton, IL

Three Rivers Community Farm Stand in Elsah, IL

City Greens Market in St. Louis, MO

Macs Local Eats in St. Louis, MO

online at shop.growcreateinspire.com

Flourish Art and Design

wood block art, hand-drawn renderings, custom logo and branding design, botanical illustration, botanical dyes

Small-Scale Garden Design and Installations

Plant Nursery- native and specialty fruit and nut-bearing trees and shrubs, medicinal herbs, and permaculture-inspired plants that are all acclimated to the Midwest region

Flourish offers:

• herbs, flowers, & value-added products grown locally without the use of pesticides.
• a selection of plants, including perennials, native and specialty fruit and nut-bearing trees and shrubs, medicinal herbs, as well as heirloom annuals
• handmade herbal products artfully created with homegrown and wildcrafted plants and herbs
• consultation, design, and installation services to transform your yard into an edible oasis with a focus on ecological preservation
• education through a resilient living workshop series encompassing plant walks, ethical wild foraging, medicinal herb workshops, small structures cob building techniques, and more
• local tree inspired products 
• art and design inspired by nature including woodblock art, hand-drawn renderings, custom logo and branding design

Flourish integrates passion for earth stewardship with experience as farmers and permaculture to provide education and a myriad of products to bring health and vibrancy to your home. 

Crystal Stevens is an Author, a multidisciplinary artist, a folk herbalist, and an organic herb farmer. She has written 3 books and speaks at conferences and Mother Earth News Fairs across the U.S. 

Eric Stevens is also a multidisciplinary artist and farmer. He is the Farm Manager at Rustic Roots Sanctuary in Spanish Lake, MO. 

Together, Eric and Crystal Stevens have been organic farmers since 2009. They have farmed in many spaces throughout the metropolitan region. They have taught a resilient Living workshop series since 2010.  

Crystal Stevens Co-founded Tend & Flourish School of Botanicals in 2019. She now runs Herbalism Programs and Workshops through the Flourish Folk School/School of Botanicals.  She teaches herbalism, gardening, ethical wild foraging, wildcrafting classes,  botanical dye classes, and earth skills classes at their farm in Godfrey, IL. Her husband is also an educator, teaching classes in gardening, foraging, building, and earth skills.

The family is passionate about earth stewardship, and living a holistic lifestyle.

Eric & Crystal Stevens have an intrinsic passion for growing food and medicinal herbs, growing native plants, cooking healthy meals, planting trees, foraging for wild food and medicine, creating art, spending time with their children in the fields and forests, and offering workshops through the Flourish Folk School.

Flourish serves as an educational resource for the Midwest area integrating earth stewardship, gardening, herbal medicine, permaculture design, and resilient living 

The husband and wife team managed La Vista CSA Farm on the beautiful bluffs of the Mighty Mississippi for 7 years. 

They spent 2 years as Farm and Garden managers at EarthDance Organic Farm School in Ferguson, Mo.

They now farm with their children in Godfrey, IL.

Eric is the Farm Manager at Rustic Roots Sanctuary in Spanish Lake, MO

Crystal is the author of Your Edible Yard, Grow Create Inspire, and Worms at Work. She is an herbalist, an educator, and a freelance writer. She has contributed to FEAST Magazine, The Healthy Planet Magazine, Mother Earth News, GRIT, Permaculture Magazine, and elephant journal. 

Eric is a farmer, a wood block artist, a muralist, and a graphic designer. He is an educator, a naturalist, and an environmental steward. In his free time, you will find him planting trees and foraging wild edibles. 

Cay is an artist and a climber. He loves vegetables and tending to his personal garden.

Iris is a budding herbalist and aspiring chef and farmer, and a wonderful helper at the farm.

They believe that growing food and medicine is an artistic expression. They strategically plant certain colors of crops in blocks so that by mid-spring, their fields resemble patchwork quilts. When they are farming, the plants are their medium and the field is their canvas. Together, they sow the seeds, transplant crops into the ground, cultivate the rows, and harvest the bounty. 

Throughout the growing season, their surroundings supply them with a vast ongoing array of subject matter. From twisted carrots to dew droplets on the leaves, farm life provides endless inspiration. 

Their art collaborations illustrate the inspiration sourced from the cycles and rhythms of the natural world, the seasons of the farm, and the quintessential beauty of nature.  Their collaborations have been featured at The Richmond Heights Art Walk, The Art of Food at the Webster House Galleries, The Rock N Roll Craft Show, Metro Bus Arts in Transit Program, St. Louis Earth Day, Tower Grove Farmers Market, and the cover of The Healthy Planet for April 2013 November 2013 and April 2014.  

Their murals can be found at The Old Bakery Beer Company, Bakers & Hale, and the Graffiti Wall in STL.

They co-illustrated a Children’s book by Kelley Johnson-Powers titled Semore the Bird Tells All that he Heard