photo by: Chansi Long

Tamara Fairbanks-Ishmael and her mother, Twila Fairbanks, are pictured recently at their shop, Good Earth Gatherings, 858 East 1500 Road.

After a year-and-a-half hiatus, Tamara Fairbanks-Ishmael and her mother, Twila Fairbanks, have reopened their Good Earth Gatherings shop.

Tucked into a natural setting south of Lawrence, Good Earth Gatherings, 858 East 1500 Road, is off the beaten path but beloved by a loyal customer base. The shop specializes in herbalism, antiques and eclectic classes like drum, basket and paper making, fabric dying, fiber arts, wool applique and herbalism.

“We try to offer things that are unusual, a little bit different than the norm,” Tamara says.

Tamara and Twila opened the shop seven years ago, combining Tamara’s love of herbalism and tarot with Twila’s love of antiques and unique objects.

“This is a conglomeration of each of our passions,” Tamara says. “I love working with my mom. She’s my next-door neighbor, my mom, my best friend and my business partner. (Through the shop) we get to share what we love with other people.”

Because Twila is at high risk for COVID-19, the Fairbanks were forced to close during the pandemic, restricting the store to front-porch pickup and virtual classes.

“The pandemic was the perfect opportunity to learn how to offer the class online,” Tamara says. “Students get a box of supplies in the mail and prepare the herbs in their own kitchen.”

Antiques are sprinkled throughout the shop, both for sale and display. Most of them are items from Fairbanks’ collection, which she has curated for close to 50 years.

“Antiques actually speak from the people who have owned them before, I feel,” Twila says. “They actually have character. Old furniture has history. Adding even one piece to a room can just class it up like nothing else can.”

Another one of the store’s main draws is its herbalism class, which runs from January to October each year.

“Our ancestors, no matter where they came from, evolved knowing plants and being able to recognize plants. It’s something I feel is really empowering,” Tamara says. “Students used to look out in the yard and just see green things, just plants. Now they know them. … I think the pandemic has shown people — trying to go to the store, and there was nothing there — there are some things you need to be self-sufficient on.”

Laura Richardson first discovered Good Earth Gatherings when she took the home herbalism class in 2016.

“I still drink my nettle infusion tea almost every day,” Richardson says. “I make tinctures, salves. My garden has since turned into an herb garden.”

Sheryl Rich-Hays has taken many classes at Good Earth Gatherings: eco-printing, basket making, paper making, intuitive gifts, and a fairy garden class, among many.

“I especially enjoyed the home herbalism course,” Rich-Hays says. “I learned many things about native medicinal plants and how to use them.”

The herbalism class covers plant identification and salve and tincture preparation — including salves that soothe burns and homemade bug spray.

“We have the benefit of what was recorded from ancestors and Native Americans, and we very much honor that wisdom, plus we have the benefit of scientific research,” Tamara says. “We really do our best to meld those two together: the folk uses and the scientific back up.”

One of Good Earth Gatherings’ more unique offerings is its tarot classes. Barbara Mason has attended Tamara’s tarot gatherings for nearly four years.

“I was a teacher myself, and I know a good teacher when I see one,” Mason says. “As a complete beginner, I found her class lectures gave us a firm foundation of tarot, but also fostered confidence in our intuitive skills.”

Tamara acknowledges that tarot requires some suspension of disbelief.

“I am not a woo-woo person,” she says. “I consider myself to be a very practical, pragmatic person, but I’ve seen tarot work.”

Before the pandemic, Good Earth Gatherings provided a monthly tea and tarot group.

“I had to turn people away because I only had 20 chairs,” Tamara says. The tarot group is still relegated to online classes, but has remained immensely popular. Mason is a devoted member.

“The Tarot Together Explorer’s Club participants include lawyers, writers, young mothers, business marketers, palm readers, retirees, ventriloquists, therapists, magicians, long-distance runners,” Mason says. “It’s an amazing group.”

While the classes remain virtual for the foreseeable future, the store is now open for in-person sales, much to Mason’s delight.

“(You can) have some tea, buy some herbs to brew your own tea, buy a tarot deck, browse some original clothes, buy a beautiful object, and — speaking from my own experience — meet two wonderful people who might make your life fuller and richer, as they have mine,” Mason says.