Unlike many herbal teachers you can find, I didn’t grow up living off the land...
I’d love to say I did, but I grew up in the impoverished Mojave desert in military housing.
Thanks to colonization, I've never had access to elders who could teach me the healing traditions of my ancestors...
But I did have books and professors to teach me how cellular biology and phytochemistry worked as I earned my bachelor's degree in Biology and post-grad diploma in herbalism.
I don't preach the doctrine that "natural is the only way" or "everything is toxic and after you".
I used to. And I was... the worst. Through recovering from eating and anxiety disorders and examining privilege and internalized classism, I now encourage & teach leaning on whichever tools you have access to in order to get through this capitalistic, patriarchal hellscape we live in.
I didn’t get to know plants through foraging and wildcrafting them.
I got to know them through cultivating and tending to them in several gardens for over a decade.
I may not fit in with the herbal crowd. But the plants don't mind.
They allow me to continue learning and experimenting. My path has not been traditional. And that’s okay. Your path doesn't have to look like anyone else's path either.
I’m just here to share what I’ve learned so far with all of you, in a way that I’m hoping will feel safe, non-judgmental, and balanced.