An herb shop is a curious place to encounter in a fast-paced age.
Inside the curio-packed boutique McGovern, for example, is an invitation to linger and look: to catch a whiff of dried chamomile and sage. To thumb through a field guide on wild mushrooms. To admire a pleasing pair of hand-dipped beeswax candles. Just to take in the space itself—a complete aesthetic transformation from its former life as Telander Art Gallery—is worth the time to explore.
The immersive experience even extends beyond the store.
“You can smell it before you come in,” says co-owner Derrick Jefferies, who opened the shop in May with his husband, Steven Holt. Remodeled to resemble a Tudor-style apothecary, with custom, dark wood shelves and cabinetry teeming with jars of dried flowers, teas, and spices, Jefferies adds, “we are really focused on creating atmosphere.”
Stepping further back in time, McGovern completes a fairytale trinity on Colville Street that features a butcher (meat grocer Butcher Butcher), a baker (Colville Street Patisserie), and now, a candlestick maker (and then some). It’s a storybook picture of artisans working at a slower speed—”a little retail corner where you can get a different need fulfilled,” Jefferies says.
A Texas native, Jefferies comes from a hospitality and arts background—he is the longtime former bartender at Bacon and Eggs, and holds an MFA in photography and a Masters in sculpture—but his enduring fascination is the natural world. A chance encounter at now-closed Lucia’s Garden, a new age flower shop in Houston, led to a formative job there where he learned about plants and their uses. He’s been studying them ever since, and enjoys helping people find easy and fun connections to them.
To the average person, Jefferies says, “plants just look like noise. No one realizes their names and uses.”
Take funny-sounding mugwort for example.
“One of the herbs that I like to point to at the shop is mugwort, which is how they flavored ale,” he says, explaining that “wort,” a liquid mash that goes into beer, is what you’d put into your “mug.”
Jefferies says his 23 years in working with the public in hospitality helps put people at ease and invite their curiosity.
“I like to let people smell the herbs, and offer uses,” Jefferies says. “I’m happy to answer questions.”
The hope is for the shop to be a welcoming and accessible space for shoppers on every budget to find an inexpensive treasure, a special gift, or come to talk and learn about botany and plants.
“So much [plant] knowledge seems on the periphery, and difficult to enter,” Jefferies says. Having a physical gathering place like McGovern, makes it a “much more simple conversation to have.”
The shop’s Instagram, @mcgovernwallawalla, is fun to meander as well. Along with beautiful photos, Jefferies drops demystifying plant facts in the captions. Who knew “eye of newt” really just refers to mustard seed?
The couple produce an herbal line of products, Parsons Herb Co., sold at the store—everything from candles and custom tea blends, to perfume made from the resin of cottonwood trees and all-natural tiki torches created from mullein, a flowering plant, dipped into wax.
Many of the ingredients used to make the products are sourced from the couple’s 28-acre homestead on the Tucannon river they call the McGovern Residence, named for Holt’s grandparents who once lived there. The property was sold out of the family and Holt and Jefferies bought it back eight years ago. They are currently remodeling a cabin there, and run a HipCamp site, also called McGovern Residence, on an adjoining part of the parcel.
Holt, a carpenter by trade, documents their activities on his Instagram, @dry_dock, and fabricated much of the woodwork at McGovern himself. He says the store is an extension of the couple’s life at their homestead.
“We’ve been running our campsite from our house, creating an environment for people to come visit and experience the world we have out there, and a lot of people couldn’t get enough, they see the hobbies and interests we are getting into out there, and people always wanted to take something with them, to leave with a part of it,” Holt says.
“Retail was the easy entry point, so when this space became available, we said yes, let’s do it.”
Eventually, the shop may offer classes, or other events and experiences to draw people into the world of plants.
For now, Jefferies and Holt are content to let the seasons dictate how they spend their time and what products to make for the shop. In a fast-paced world, the couple say it’s important to slow down and take stock of what’s around—the knowledge is empowering, Jefferies says.
“It’s not confusion anymore, it’s utility.”
McGovern, 34 Colville Street, Walla Walla. Open 11–6, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Instagram: @mcgovernwallawalla
Gwendolyn Elliott is a Walla Walla-based writer and editor. Her website is gwendolynelliott.com.