For over ten years, I, The Great Catsby, have overseen the creation and evolution of a small cottage garden in West Point, MS. There is an aspiring hobbit living there who loves plants just as much as he loves cats. To be honest, he's quite obsessive, but I love him. My kitty cartel and I also share the same vision as this plant dad:
"The Great Catsby Herb Cartel supplies quality and love-grown herbal teas, spices, and medicinal goods to aid in healing, growth, and overall balance. The cartel promotes a symbiotic relationship between all creatures and plants working in collusion for a mutual benefit in defiance of a society and authority opposed to your personal and magical pursuit of peace."
So, yeah. That's our manifesto, but ultimately, we supply small batch, hand grown/harvested herbs and herbal products to our cartel members. Supplies are often limited and seasonal due to our cartel's products and merchandise being inspired by the ever-changing abundance of a small cottage garden. Our little supplier, that aspiring hobbit friend of ours, works with the flow of the garden and aims for a balanced and intentional gardening experience guided by his plant companions. In that case, you won't want to miss out on any of our Supply Drops.
In the meantime, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook, check out my merch, and watch for our email correspondence.
Meow
~Catsby
Meet our Supplier
Michael Williams is a filmmaker and aspiring hobbit from West Point, MS. His love for gardening began when he was bewitched by the look and smell of Rosemary as he passed it each day when his production company had a storefront in downtown West Point, MS. After taking a few cuttings from that bush and establishing new bushes in his own yard, his relationship with plants grew every year since. On June 16th, 2013, those Rosemary bushes were 1 year old and about to gain a furry companion to help oversee the evolution of this small cottage garden and the man who lived there.
That's where The Great Catsby comes in. It was Father's Day 2013, and Michael found an abandoned and barely alive ball of fur in some shrubbery. After a few weeks of nursing the kitty back to health, Catsby soon became the overlord of this outdoor domain. Michael, with Catsby's supervision, began a decade long journey of building an herbal oasis surrounding the house with the intention of creating a space where the plants were useful and beneficial to him, pollinators, and the local ecosystem. Many new herbs, veggies, and flowering plants joined the Rosemary bushes to provide food, medicine, and companionship over the years.
Sadly, in December of 2022, Mississippi was hit with an extremely unnatural freeze where the temperatures dropped from mid 50's to close to negative temps in a matter of hours. The Rosemary bushes didn't survive. That same month, Catsby retired from the garden. It was an end of era, but soon the start of a new era for this gardener and his plant companions. Although Catsby is no longer in the garden, he and his kitty cartel continue their work as muses, aka mewses, inspiring and operating what is now The Great Catsby Herb Cartel with the help of Michael and his deep love and appreciation for plants and their magical personalities.
