Adrian Williams, November 2014
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. …
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Adrienne Totino, February 2017
I currently reside in Pittsburgh, PA, where I was born and raised. Growing up, my mother treated our family’s health issues with herbal and food remedies. Like many people, I became interested in lear …
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Aly Lear, July 2017
This July I am thrilled to be celebrating my third year as a part of the East West School Community where I plan to be a life-long-learner of Planetary Herbology. It makes me so happy to say I finally …
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Amanda Hofeditz, September 2014
I’ve always had a love for natural healing. Growing up, my mom had beautiful gardens and made simple remedies at home. When I became a mother myself, I wanted to be able to do the same things for my f …
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Amber Worman, March 2017
I am originally from Evansville, IN, and I am currently planting roots in the Louisville, KY, area. My passion for healing herbal products started in my early childhood years where I would mix differe …
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Anastasia “Sarada” Von Sonn, May 2022
I have always felt an immense love for the plant kingdom. In 1988 I moved to Hawaii and took a job at a plant nursery. In 1990 I moved to India to live with my spiritual teacher. At that time, I was introduced to Ayurveda and had an immediate affinity and appreciation. During that year,…
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Andrea S. Walterscheid, March 2023
I live in Bend, Oregon on a small farm with my family. Since 2016, I have had a practice of Energy Medicine and Holistic Nutrition. I grew up in the Cascade Mountain range in Washington state near Mount Rainier. I spent many hours in the outdoors and I fell in love with the beautiful plants…
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Anjana Bhargava, April Student of the Month
I am an Ayurvedic Wellness Practitioner living in Weston, MA. I have a master’s degree in Electronics from India and Bachelor’s in Science and Math. My journey to alternative healing began when my daughter was born with multiple food allergies and eczema. After meeting countless doctors for solutions, I was not able to find much…
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Annalisa Nardi, January 2021
I was born (and still live) in Florence, Italy. Growing up in an old city, filled with art and history, birthplace of so many Renaissance geniuses, I naturally became fond of anything that had been created by human ingenuity. I was an extremely shy child, with very limited access to the wild Nature, and not…
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Anne Roe, March 2016
Hi, my name is Anne Roe and I am 33 years old. My origin is Germany, which I left five years ago to travel the world and find the most important person in my life: me. What a ride! I initially biked a …
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Anne Salazar-Dunbar, March 2009
… Our Student of the Month for March 2009 is: Anne Salazar-Dunbar A second generation native San Diegan, Anne Salazar-Dunbar has nurtured an intuitive relationship with healing plants since she w …
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Artemisia Deluna O’bi, September 2022
It wasn’t part of my plan to find myself with the plants. Early in my twenties, after a rapid succession of trying times including an intense era of schooling and the unexpected death of my father, my health began to unspool into a collection of unsolved puzzles. As the days got more difficult, I left…
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Asante LeBlanc, October 2010
Cuban by birth, Guyanese by descent, living in Trinidad and Tobago, I am a simple, down to earth person who loves life. My hobbies include travelling, cooking, reading, listening to music and dancing. …
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Ashley Moore, February 2009
… Our Student of the Month for February 2009 is: Ashley Moore After completing two years at the University of Iowa studying philosophy, Ashley Moore became interested in herbs through her work at …
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Audra Marx, March 2015
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” There were too many answers. Now, I’m lucky enough to be able to say I’ve ‘been’ quite a few things. I’ve been a nanny, a bartender, a preschool teacher, an …
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Ayeala Helbig, March 2014
It’s only fitting that every photo I’ve found of myself lately includes my daughter – my studies at East West coincided very much with my transformation into a mother. I decided when I was pregnant th …
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Barbara Scavotto, January 2017
My name is Barbara Scavotto, and I’ve lived in Northern Connecticut my entire life. My mother is an avid gardener and taught me how to grow flowers from a very young age. I remember the wonder of wat …
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Becky Lerner, April 2014
I love sharing the wonders of wild edible and medicinal plants, and I am fortunate to make a living doing that. I’m the author of the book, “Dandelion Hunter: Foraging the Urban Wilderness,” which Pub …
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Beth White Mountain, May 2019
I have been a massage therapist, gardener, wildcrafter and lover of herbs for over 20 years. I grew up in Florida and started my herbal journey in 1992, when I was 22, working part-time at an herbal apothecary and part-time for a master gardener doing landscape gardening. The combination of these two jobs helped me…
DetailsBethany Chappell, June 2017
Without a doubt, herbalism became my life’s path. I am driven to understand the power of plants and their healing energy. My name is Bethany Chappell, herbalist and owner of Herbal Health Omaha. I am …
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Beverly Jennings, May 2015 Graduate of the Month
Prior to studying herbs, my background was in graphic design, having my own business and eventually working with a major state-wide and local newspapers and full service ad agencies. I moved from the …
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Bianca Cuellar Arteaga, October 2021
My name is Bianca Cuellar Arteaga. Born in Bolivia, I came to Indiana with my mother when I was a toddler to pursue a more opportunistic life. Although beautiful, our lives were faced with many hardships and traumatic experiences throughout the years. From a young age, I realized the impact that the mind-body-soul connection has…
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Brett Wyatt, November 2017
I have always been interested in living and eating healthy. I’m sure it began with my grandfather. He taught me to fish, to plant a garden, and to can fruits and vegetables. He was from an era long pa …
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Carlie Newlander, September 2018
I am a California gal, born in Long Beach but I’ve spent most my life in the northern part of the state. I currently reside in the beautiful mountains of Santa Cruz where my passion for plants and the healing arts has taken root and the local, like-minded community has embraced me with such loving…
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Carmen Portner, April 2019
I was born and raised in Guayaquil, Ecuador. I grew up in a culture where native plants were used everyday in food, medicine and limpias. My mother used to believe that negative spirits can cause disease; so when I would fall “mysteriously” ill, she would take me to the medicine woman to perform cleansing ceremonies…
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Chandra Hartman, December 2017
I currently live in Panama City Beach, Florida and co-own Wild Root, a community-centered hybrid espresso bar and apothecary with my husband. My passion for herbalism grew out of a lifelong love of pl …
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Cheryl Ensing, January 2018
I was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and I currently live in Burlington, WA with my husband. If someone would have told me, when I was young, that someday I would become an acupuncturist a …
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Chloe Groom (Chloe Bee), February 2016
Currently, Chloe is the generator of a heart-centered hub for the alliance of ethno-botany, expressive movement, alternative art, and Earth medicine via transformational workshops and women’s Red Tent …
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Christina Slotin, August 2020
My name is Christina Q. Slotin and I live in Cocoa Beach Florida with my husband Michael and our two teenagers. As a child, my family moved from Mexico to a small farm working town in Florida named Immokalee. Plants have always played a role in my life, my childhood includes fond memories of grinding…
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Cori Ward, May 2013
I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. I have an amazing family –my husband, 3 children and a dog. I am lucky to be so blessed with all their love and support because without them the East West Sch …
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Darcia Dillard, February 2021
This February, I am thrilled to finally say I am an East West Intermediate student with plans to be an Advanced student this June. At the age of 16, I stepped into my first health food store. I can still picture myself walking around that store in Chicago. I purchased three books: Rational Fasting, The Mucusless Diet, and Back…
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Darcy Golden, September 2012
I started studying herbs while in graduate school at Western Carolina University located in the North Carolina Appalachian mountains. I was fascinated by the knowledge that the locals shared on plant …
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Darcy Ogle, April 2021
One of my earliest memories is of picking and eating raspberries in the backyard. My mother taught me to love plants. I come from a long line of gardeners, and my mom tells me that my great grandmother was an herbalist. Currently, I grow native herbs and plants and raise backyard chickens. I’ve pursued a…
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Darlene Kuhn, May 2020
I am a retired JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence), living in Toronto, Canada. I came to herbs and nutrition from a personal health history of “over-reactivity”: i.e., allergies, hay fever, and the toll they take on vitality. I saw this pattern repeating in my children, associated with nervous effects such as anxiety, ADHD. Western medicine, though…
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David O’Daniel, May 2011
Originally from Memphis, Tennessee, I grew up coast to coast and in between. Those experiences fed my wanderlust and set the stage for life on the move. In many ways it was fragmented, but, in retrosp …
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Dawn Bertram, October 2018
I live in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, in the Greater Victoria area (North Saanich). I have lived between Vancouver and Vancouver Island most of my life, and have developed a love for our mountains, oceans and old growth forests. We’re so fortunate to be surrounded by this magnificent beauty which offers so much opportunity for…
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Domini Aalbers, August 2019
Born a sixth generation Montanan, I grew up enjoying the outdoors, hiking, riding horses, camping, fishing and hunting. I love the circle of life and there is no place you can see and experience it more than in the backcountry wilderness. When I worked for an outfitter, my days consisted of hard labor, being in…
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Emily Martin, November 2019
My name is Emily Martin. I’m originally from the small town of Jena, Louisiana but currently live in Alabama. After graduating high school, I earned my BA in Elementary Education. With my husband’s military career and our family moving every 2-3 years we decided I would stay home with our children. Eventually figuring out that…
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Emily Snelling, January 2010
Herbs have always been a part of my life. As a kid, I idolized our family herbalist and would transcribe herbals word-for-word, trying to remember every morsel of information. I dreamed of one day bei …
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Emily Stock, April 2017
I am an herbalist and doula in Moab, Utah, USA. I have a store-front apothecary and product line called Sundial Medicinals, which I retail and wholesale throughout the Four Corners region. I grow ove …
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Erica Macrum, July 2020
I grew up with the wet land plants, white oaks, and hickories in Illinois. My love and connection with plants has been with me my whole life. I remember looking at a beautiful blossoming burdock as a young girl, the vibrant green purple pink of each flower and wondering who is this plant? My family…
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Erin Massengale, October 2014
There are moments to me that it seems strange I ended up on the path of herbalism. I was in the construction/building industry and I was loving it. My husband and I owned a construction business and d …
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Evan Silver, March 2020
I grew up in San Francisco, CA, just a short walk from the city’s famous Chinatown neighborhood. As a child, I was fascinated by the interesting ingredients displayed at the herb shops; I had no idea that years later, I would have my own collection of Chinese herbs. I attended college in Burlington, VT and…
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Gabriel Hernandez Viera, July 2022
My name is Gabriel and I am from Andalucia, Spain. Since I was a little child I felt a deep love for nature that took me to study Biology in the University. After completing my studies, I felt the urge to know life in a deeper way than science could give me. I became interested…
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Gabriela Gioacchini, November 2018
I grew up in the heart of Europe, in the Czech Republic (former Czechoslovakia) during the times of repression and Communist era. During these times it was second nature to grow or forage for food; this is simply what people did. Having a vegetable garden with fruit trees and a few chickens was the norm,…
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Gregory Joynes, April 2016
I lived in Baltimore most of my life. I was drafted into the military and joined the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and was deported for 6 months off the coast of Vietnam. After that experienc …
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Hanni Heller-Ram, November 2016
My name is Hanni Heller-Ram I was born and raised in Israel. My mother is German and raised us on Dr. Schuessler’s bio cell salts and chamomile tea. We had a garden with over 400 species of fruit tre …
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Hara Zabraka, March 2021
I come from Greece where the culture of herbs is a continuum of the ancient Greek tradition. Using folk remedies to treat common health conditions is a memory that I have had, which extends beyond the family environment. My foundation studies are Agriculture Science (BSc) and Environmental Politics & Management (MSc). Thus, for over a…
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Heather Baker, March 2013
I was born and raised in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada. I’ve always been grateful to live in this beautiful, diverse and unique area. I am surrounded by two Great Lakes (Erie and Ontario), the …
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Hesty Morley, October 2016
Hi! My name is Hesty Morley. I have always been fascinated by the human body, how it works, disease and health. My journey began in university where I studied Biochemistry and Biomedical Science. I …
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Holly Brooks, June 2022
“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…
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Holly Hutton, February 2012
The Herbal Tarot Deck was my gateway into the East West Course. I am an artist and am working on a tarot deck. I pulled out my Herbal Tarot Deck as an inspiration and started wondering who the creator …
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Hung Ting Ting, May 2016
My name is Hung Ting Ting from Hong Kong. I am 33 years old and I danced ballet for 14 years. After earning a Bachelor’s of Fashion Design, I became a jewelry designer for several years. A mild health …
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Inga Bylinkina, August 2016
I was born and raised in the mountains of Caucasus in Russia. I have very early memories of my grandmother making herbal teas, remedies, and tending the garden. We used to spend summers with my dad fo …
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Jane Kuntz, March 2012
I grew up in the Yorkshire Dales of England. In my late teens I developed a love of travel – not surface travel, like a tourist, but a sinking into and admiration of other cultures. I did Peace Corps, …
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Janet Tunjic, October 2020
I reside in the remote city of Perth, Western Australia with a beautiful son, husband and dog named Alby. Coming from Croatian ancestry my mother and aunties often resorted to folk medicine from their home land for all sorts of ailments as a child. This was my early introduction to healing through plants. My love…
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Jason Harler, February 2018
I grew up in various places along the coasts of California, the Pacific Northwest and up into Alaska in the ‘70s and early ‘80s. As a very young boy I was always most at home in these old forests, bea …
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Jen Ciccolella, September 2017
I have always been interested in food as medicine and started to explore herbs as a way of healing when my oldest dog was diagnosed with invertebral disc disease as well as a heart murmur at age 5. To …
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Jen Hyde, February 2020
Kia ora and greetings from the southern hemisphere! My name is Jen and I first started getting interested in herbalism working as a wilderness guide in the NC Appalachian mountains. As we hiked, my fellow guides would teach me the plants of the region and we would munch as we walked. We ate rock tripe and sourwood…
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Jenn Atkins, December 2009
Congratulations to our December student of the month, Jenn Atkins, CNC, LMT! My career as a holistic health practitioner formally began through my family business, Brazos Natural Foods, which opened …
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Jenn Doucet, December 2016
I grew up in the boreal forest of northern Alberta, Canada. My love of the natural world was cultivated at a young age by numerous days of fishing,> camping, and foraging for berries and mushrooms in …
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Jennifer Breschini, June 2020
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…
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Jennifer Class, April/May 2023
I’ve always been a little bit of a dabbler in plants – making skin and body care items as a teen, tending a small garden of culinary herbs, drinking simple herbal teas to for mild health complaints, and using natural remedies to treat the various ouchies, owwies, and illnesses my children would pick up. Then…
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Jennifer McDonnell, December 2019
My fondest childhood memories are making “magic potions” over pretend rock fire circles in the forests of the Green Mountains in VT and the Appalachians in New York, the woods I knew as my back yard. I’d rock hop barefoot, seeking the head of the stream to obtain water where it bubbled out of the earth.…
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Jeremy O’Leary, June 2018
I’ve lived in Portland, Oregon for most of my life, with short stints in Minnesota, Montana and Idaho. The plan out of college was to work as botanist, but the Bush Administration happened, and after attempting to get work with something of the naturalist flavor, I figured it was best to separate my vocation from…
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Jerry and Nancy Angelini, March 2011
Jerry and Nancy Angelini are brother and sister students of the East West Herb Course. Jerry just became our new office manager at the East West Acupuncture Clinic, while his sister Nancy is the East …
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Jill Barnattan, February 2013
I am a New Yorker of Mediterranean descent, convinced my herbal sorcery stems from my ancestry. I endured 2 major surgeries before the age of 8, leaving my inner spirit scarred and scared. My father t …
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Jillian Wisborg, July 2016
One of the main reasons I got into holistic health, and learning about herbal medicine, nutrition, iridology, self-empowerment, etc., is because I was upset that there has always been such a cloak of …
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Jim Nymeyer, January 2014
My first exposure to herbs was soon after moving to Montana at age 12 when my mother came down with pneumonia. She took echinacea as part of her healing process, and so my young curiosity was struck. …
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Jodi Horon, June 2013
I was born and raised in Olympia Washington, and lived in Seattle until 2009. I currently live in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with my husband, his two boys and our golden retriever. I …
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Jodi Martin, February 2019
Hi, my name is Jodi Martin. I have been a student with East West since 11/2013. I am from upstate New York but have been living on the Island of Kauai in Hawaii since 2011. I am a mother of three amazing daughters and most recently find myself with an empty nest. While living in…
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Jodi Snyder, January 2009
… Welcome to 2009 and our Student of the Month for January: Jodi Snyder Jodi Snyder is a family generational herbalist. In her family, this art is passed from grandmother to granddaughter. In 198 …
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Joe Eckre, April 2013
My name is Joe Eckre. My friends call me Surya. When I was in the first grade, my father took an interest in nutrition and vitamins. He had problems with his energy level and his new diet and suppleme …
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Joe Granger, August 2017
My name is Joe Granger and I am a third-year student at East West. I am thankful to be acknowledged as student of the month amongst our network of talented healers. I found East West at a very inter …
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Johanna-Maria Wagner, June 2012
Growing up in Austria, I was surrounded by herbs and, more importantly, people who knew how to use them. We never saw a doctor except for compulsory school check-ups; instead, we were treated naturall …
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John Roddy, July 2012
I’ve always loved the magic of Nature. It all began with growing up hiking and surfing the Northern California mountains and coastline. On most nights my dog, Turk, and I would head to the hills to se …
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Jonah Ruh Roberts, January 2015
Finding myself in the place I am now, I feel so much gratitude to witness my life filling with herbs- building my apothecary, building my understanding, having a homestead to invite medicine plants to …
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Josh Williams, September 2015
I grew up just west of Salt Lake City, Utah, and have spent my life surrounded by protective mountains and four very dramatic seasons. Since I was a child I’ve been fascinated by the natural world, an …
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Joshua Farahnik, November 2013
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA, and it was traveling abroad that really enlightened my life path and purpose. Six years ago I fulfilled a dream of traveling through India and this is where …
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Joshua Kuhn, March 2019
My name is Josh Kuhn. I am an Ohio native and have for as long as I can remember felt a deep kinship with the natural world. Over the years I have worn many hats (bicycle builder, found object sculptor, mime) but have always come back to the land. In 2011 my wife Bix and…
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Joshua Laurenzi, January 2016
Growing up in Memphis, Tennessee didn’t allow for much exposure to things like herbalism, just the vestiges of southern folk medicine mixed with the health food store accounts of rare radicals like my …
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Joshua Samuelsen, December 2020
I grew up in London and then moved to Chico, California in my late teens. I studied International Communications at Chico State. During my Chico time, I also began my yoga journey, did my massage certification and other explored other modalities such Shiatsu and Reiki. I also worked for the weekly college paper, writing and…
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Jude Nicholson, August 2014
My great and late father, Paul, was a plant freak in his own right and gave to me my love of the natural and spiritual worlds. My mother tells me that I was conceived at Wind Cave National park in the …
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Judit O’Keeffe, November 2021
When I was a little girl I was interested in many things but could not nail down what I really wanted to do with my life. When I came to the US from Hungary, I started studying Health Sciences at a community college. I was interested in health but I was not aware that schools…
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Julia Hennig, August 2015
Growing up in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea, I have wonderful memories of time spent in the garden with my parents who harvested and preserved their own fruits and vegetables. We also kept beehiv …
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K.C. “Fig” Ortega, April 2012
When I met my husband I had no concept of whole health or herbal medicine. I secretly questioned what had been presented to me as absolute truths… in medicine, politics, religion, etc…but never h …
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Kareem Charlton, December 2022
My name is Kareem Charlton, and I am from the sunny shores of The Bahamas. I worked many years as a certified lifeguard instructor, helping hundreds of persons from all walks of life and various countries. I always had a love for helping people, plants and nature. As a young boy I witnessed my grandmother…
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Karen Darnell, August 2010
I was born Arvella Louise Harris in Richmond, Virginia, but was renamed after adoption. I live in Hubbard, Oregon, population 2800, halfway between Salem and Portland. I’ve been married to my husband, …
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Karen Kimrey, August 2009
Congratulations to our student of the month for August: Karen Kimrey!… … Karen was born under a Cancer sky in mid-20th century America, the first child of nomadic parents, who finally found …
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Karen Wentlandt, July 2019
I currently live in Colorado with my husband. Our three boys are grown and finding their way in this world, just as we continue to find ours. I always believed my calling was to be writer. I pursued that calling as an undergraduate and graduate student. I wrote short stories. I worked on several books,…
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Karin Williams, February 2022
Growing up in England, I have always loved trees, plants and nature walks. I studied Optimum Nutrition in London and that gave me a good background in getting the most out your food. My first interest in Herbalism was when, I was given a Nicholas Culpeper – The Complete Herbal book, I fell in love…
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Karla Gervais, June 2011
I was born in Newport, Rhode Island. At age six, my family moved to the suburbs near Chicago where I resided until 1974. There, I met new friends who taught that healthy eating habits and taking care …
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Karley Martin, May 2017
I am originally from a small town in Calaveras county California, which is in the foothills and upward into the beautiful Sierra Nevada Mountains. I knew since I was a child that I wanted to live on …
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Kate Sinon, June 2014
My direct experience with herbs as medicine only began a few years ago. Even so, I believe that they were always there running a parallel path with me and, like little brain synapses, connections wer …
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Katie MacKenzie, July Student of the Month
A good portion of my life’s journey was spent among the corn and bean fields of Illinois, but I’m a California native currently living in the Sierras immersed in the beautiful backwoods. I’ve always had a pull towards nature, where I feel most at home. I spend as much time as possible enjoying the elements…
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Kelvin Todosi, August 2022
Plants and nature bring me great joy. Sometimes along the way all this delightful stuff I’ve learned helps brighten others’ days too, and to me that is worth all the while. Herbalism was not a word or concept to me until my 20’s. The conceptualization that the wilderness around me was intelligent, symbiotic, full of ever-giving…
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Ken Krantz, November 2015
I’ve lived in Tinmouth, Vermont, for the past 36 years amongst the hills, < fields, and trees. There’s such a diverse amount of plant material here that will keep me busy for a long time to come. My ...
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Kevin McNeeley, September 2011
I’m a home dad in Japan, but I grew up in northeast Ohio before the Internet age. I was the little kid who tried to revive baby birds that fell from their nests. It never worked, but I tried anyway. I …
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Kevin Pennell, July 2009
… Congratulations to our student of the month for July: Kevin Pennell!… Kevin Pennell Saying Kevin has a varied background is an understatement! Having started a career in broadcasting at a …
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