Tucked around the corner once you first enter Gunter on 289 from Celina, the Serene Farms storefront has been open since the beginning of May. When you come in, you are greeted by the soothing scent of oils diffusing in the corner, and a mural on the wall: “Saved by Plants.” Serene Farms, a plant-based wellness product company, was founded by current Gunter resident, Erica Valker, in 2017 and is now owned by her and her husband Paul. Like many impactful companies, this brand was born from a powerful story.
“Our brand was formed out of a need for plant medicine,” Erica says. “We were living in California; I became very ill with late-stage Lyme Disease.”
From 2011 through 2016, Erica struggled with a laundry list of health issues, including pain, seizures, heart/vascular issues, inflammation, gut issues, nausea, sleep deprivation, light sensitivity, anxiety, and more. Bed-ridden and desperate, the first line of defense was pharmaceuticals, which proved themselves to be the problem rather than the solution.
“Pharma drugs were doing nothing to heal me and were only making me sicker,” Erica says. “My husband, and caretaker, was buying cannabis products from dispensaries in LA and San Francisco but they weren’t lab tested, had no dosing directions, and were filled with chemicals and had other allergens that I could not handle.”
After years of this battle, it wasn’t until a San Diego doctor recommended a one-to-one tincture that her health journey finally began to look up. A regiment of cannabis-based products and plant-based essential oils helped Erica to get control of her symptoms, and ultimately helped to save her life.
“After that struggle, we started to form this brand, and I knew that this is what I wanted to do: I wanted to create clean products with cannabis.”
And that is exactly what she did. Now, Serene Farms operates out of Gunter selling a variety of organic products that promote wellness, but also give back. To carry out their mission of helping others find wellness through cannabinoids, $3 of every tincture purchase goes to support Children with Lyme Disease through the LymeLight Foundation of California.
The Valkers’ intentionality permeates through their brand, not only in their giving, but also in their name. Settling on the name “Serene Farms” came with its own purposeful aim.
“The big thing was that all of the other CBD and cannabis brands are very male-focused, and we felt like a lot of products were intimidating,” Erica says. “We really wanted to have something that was de-stigmatized, and clean and airy, and just has a lightness behind it that we really weren’t seeing out there.”
Now that their storefront is open, the vision has come full circle, and the opportunity to interact with the community their products are impacting has been nothing less than fruitful.
“Being online for a while, it’s just so nice to have a storefront in our hometown where we’ve been able to chat with customers and really listen to them and their struggles. Providing the things that they need help with, in their everyday life, and to be able to offer a product that can help them live a healthier life with less pain or anxiety,” Erica says. “It’s why we’re here, and it makes our hearts so happy.”
110 S 4th St Suite 106, Gunter
SereneFarms.com