I grew up in the wide-open spaces of rural Indiana, where my favorite early memories include gathering morel mushrooms with my family and exploring oak and hickory woodlands in timeless summer days.  My deep-rooted affinity for the natural world has blossomed over time into a love of plants – plants as teachers, allies and healers.

A winding path carried me to way-upstate New York, where the Grasse River tumbles north out of the Adirondacks and stretches out and meanders its way to the St. Lawrence.  My equally winding path to herbalism started over a decade ago, when I embarked on a fervent exploration of the natural world.  Many a live-long day have I spent wandering through woods and wading through wetlands, field guides in hand, keying out wildflowers and stalking turtles and calling after owls.  In recent years my focus has turned increasingly to plants and their many uses – foraging for edibles, gathering plants for craft (basketry, my specialty being birch bark baskets), and herbal medicine.

I am thankful for my many teachers over the years, including Tim Drake and Jed Jordan at Primitive Pursuits, the Kamana Naturalist Training program, 7Song at Northeast School of Botanical Medicine, Arthur Haines, Leslie Williams and Leslie Alexander…and most of all the plants and animals themselves. 

I embarked on the East West program just over three years ago, and am so thankful to have gotten to explore the complex, dynamic, and beautiful world of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  TCM and its Taoist roots-the way it reflects the natural world and teaches us to harmonize with it-resonate deeply with me.  I am grateful for the Tierras, and Miles Coleman and Susan Kramer, for all of their teaching and guidance and inspiration.

When not working with herbs I can be found botanizing and hiking in the Adirondacks, weaving baskets, and also weaving poems and stories on paper.  My website is plantmedicineweaver.com.

As I finish up the E/W program, I am expanding my offerings as a community herbalist, building my apothecary of herbs, and teaching locally about plants and place-based living.