“When I lie flat on the ground with my heart against Mother Earth, I can feel her breathe.”

As a young child growing up in rural North Dakota, I began noticing the beautiful wildflowers and prairie grasses, I was drawn to the Earth and what it has to give us. I loved being in the garden with my mom planting, harvesting and eating the food we grew or on the prairies with my dad watching the wildlife and noticing the abundance of purple Echinacea flowers. When I got married, I moved to another part of North Dakota which not only had the beautiful prairies but the gorgeous badlands with pockets of cedar trees.

I started reading books on plants, herbs and trees. I soon discovered I could control the internal parasites in my goat herd by feeding fresh wormwood. So in between being a mommy of three and running a ranch with my husband, I wanted to learn more on how to improve our health and the health of the animals. Not being able to commit to going to any school miles away, I started getting online certifications in Nutrition, Anatomy and Biomedicine to try to understand how the body works and what it needs. Along with those, I received certifications in Ayurvedic Healing, Yoruba course in Herbal Medicine, Mantra Chikitsa and working on Marma Chikitsa. I also am a RYT200 yoga teacher.

I still felt I was lacking the know-how as to what to do with the herbs/plants and the overall depth of their abilities. So, I started researching online schools and Michael and Lesley’s East West School of Planetary Herbology kept popping up and felt like it was what I was looking for. Finally, in 2020 I enrolled in their school.

My future goals are to finish setting up my website where I plan to help people learn how to understand their own bodies and how to heal themselves through the use of food, herbs, sound and movement. Putting up a greenhouse to extend my growing season is at the top of my wish list.

I love spending time with my two granddaughters and cannot wait to teach them about herbs/plants. Walking with my German shepherds and hiking in the badlands is where I find serenity and peace. I love organic gardening, where over the past six years I have started to incorporate Biodynamic practices.