I just finished the book, Wormwood, by Sue Wittig Albert, who researched Shaker living in a village in Kentucky. Shakers were heavily into herbs used as medicinal and culinary. The herbs were processed on their farms, and sold to the public. Medicinal sales waned with the introduction of modern medicine. Ambrosia, Chenopodium botrys was a medicinal herb used by the Shakers. It is considered poisonous.