CLOQUET — Whether Grace McColley is hiking with her German shepherd or camping with her family, she keeps an eye out for plants and herbs to forage.
Her foraging includes medicinal herbs for her small business, Hyssop Mountain Teas, and fruits, mushrooms and other plants for use at home.
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As a full-time stay-at-home mother, McColley said she is laying a foundation for potential business growth in the future, but is in no rush to speed it up too quickly as she raises three children.
McColley has studied and identified plants since childhood. Foraging is a hobby she shares with her children, who find awe in the natural world, she said.
McColley grew up on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and found the environment similar when she and her family moved to Cloquet in 2013.
She earned an associate degree in culinary arts and worked six years as a chef. After her first son was born, she put her career on pause.
In 2021 her husband, Tim McColley, founded
TRM Services.
The company builds raised garden beds and provides metal fabrication and handyman services.
“My husband had started a business, and I decided to jump off that ledge myself and get going with it,” McColley said. “Thi...