I grew up in Colorado where my family was very focused on gardening. This sparked my love of plants and gardening and wherever I’ve lived, I’ve had a garden, large or small. At my current home here in Indianapolis I’ve transformed most of my suburban yard into a paradise of vegetables, herbs, and fruits.

After the birth of my first child I acquired many unresolved health issues and in my search for answers I trained with a naturopathic doctor where I learned homeopathy, nutrition, and basic herbology. My teacher encouraged me to eventually formally study to become an herbal practitioner, so as a way to get me started on my future journey she gifted me with many herbology books, including all of the Tierras’ books.

During my years of study I pursued many passions that have laid the foundation of skills that support my work today. Some examples are my work as a Flower Essence practitioner and my passion for nutrition based upon traditional local foods. This area of study led me to establish and operate for many years a large food cooperative in my community that specialized in local organic traditional foods. I had the opportunity to teach many nutrition and cooking classes within the organization.

Circumstances required me to support my children alone, so I went into retail management for over five years. I was always unsatisfied with this career path as it didn’t support my passion of helping people regain and maintain vibrant health so in 2017 I enrolled at East West School of Planetary Herbology. A year later, I branched out even further and enrolled at Hsin Fa School of Herbology with Miles Coleman where I’ve studied Medical Qigong and Five Element Chinese medicine. Studying Chinese Medicine has been a life changing journey to both my career and personal health and is the foundation that’s melded the various modalities I’ve learned over the years.

Currently I’m an instructor at White Pine Wilderness Academy teaching classes in foraging, medicine making, and four season health and nutrition based on the Five Elements of Chinese Medicine. As I approach graduation from East West and Hsin Fa, I’ve established a clinic with my daughter – Balanced Life Healing Center.

Website: www.balancedlifehealingcenter.com