Why The Bird That Steals Jewelry?

Just a fun story to tell…

Over the last 5 years I’ve received the question a few times, why did you pick Magpie for your name? And if its been asked a few times, it means the amount of people thinking it is 100 times 4 times! When someone says Magpie, one often thinks of the birds that steal (and sometimes try to eat) jewelry, or as orchard pests, or at best, an intelligent bird species that displays its beautiful almost iridescent wing and tail feathers.

So why Magpie as a name for my Apothecary? It really has nothing to do with the Magpie bird, but to do with a nickname I had in a brief season of life. When I was younger I worked as a waitress at an Italian restaurant. The head chef thought the spelling of my name was funny or different and so he just started calling me Magpie. It was cute and endearing. And if anyone of you have been a waitress, you know being on your chef’s good side is a very good thing. I enjoyed waitressing very much and miss parts of it often. I can still her my chef yelling out from the kitchen through the server window, “Only 4 prime rib plates left, and Magpie will sell them!” I loved the challenge and movement of waitressing. I loved the comradery with fellow employees, and knowing that I provided my customers wonderful service for their night out.

Anyway, enough about waitressing. Fast forward almost a decade and I was becoming an herbalist and beginning my Apothecary. My husband and I were trying to come up with a meaningful name that we loved. We were saying them outloud to each other to see what sounded just right. I believe it was my husband, Jeff, who recalled the nickname Magpie and said it outloud first. I don’t recall my reaction, but apparently I fell in love with it, and still love it to this day. It just seems to fit perfect like the nickname did in that Italian restaurant years ago.