Clinical herbal consultant, historian, writer, gardener, community organizer, and scavenger of shiny things. She.her.hers
I grew up on an eighty-acre farm in the Driftless bioregion. My parents grew vegetables and raised cattle, pigs, and rabbits for the market. They heated our home with one small wood stove, and preserved food we stored in our root cellar for the winter. My siblings and I were raised on homegrown food and home remedies, as has traditionally been the practice amongst the rural poor.
When I talk about things passed down in my family, I sometimes forget to mention that both my maternal great-grandmothers were born in the 1800s. Grandma Sadie was born sometime between 1862-1867 and dabbled in community care as a way of supporting her thirteen children after she lost her husband to the flu pandemic in 1919. Grandma Ralston, who was born in 1887, was a lay midwife in her community.
So, that is my direct line to how domestic medicine was practiced in the 19th century. If I sometimes seem old-fashioned, I came by it honestly.
I have a reasonable reputation as an herbal consultant. I am an associate academy educator with The Herbal Academy, and I have presented at conferences around the country including The AHG Symposium. I have written for many herbal publications, including being the staff historian for Natural Herbal Living magazine for several years,
I attended Goddard College in Plainfield Vermont, graduating in 2014 with a double major in clinicaly herbalism and history/anthropology.
I pursue my interest in history by volunteering with various transcription projects including the Szathmary Manuscript Collection, the Meitheal Dúchas digitization project, and most recently the Early modern recipe books on From the Page which is a collaboration between the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Wellcome Library, and the National Archives. I am also just finishing my first season giving tours as a historical interpreter at the Plum Grove
Historic Home.
All of this may sound very conservative, but what I should also point out that I am also a street medic. I have been supporting various movements as a street herbalist for years including Occupy and the George Floyd protests of 2020 during which I was teargassed. Everything I write is written through the lens of leftist, anticapitalist, antiracist, pro-LGBTQIA+, content. So if that’s not your cup of tea, you will want to move along.
Experience
Herbal Historian & Educator – Domestic Medicine
(2020- present)
Having retired from clinical practice during Covid, I am primarily working now as a consultant on various projects related to the use of herbal medicine in both modern and historical contexts. My historical focus is domestic practice during the late Middle Ages and early modern eras.
Associate Academy Educator – Herbal Academy
(2016 – present)
Contributed several units to their Advanced Herbal Program including the Advanced Formulation unit and the Herbarium.
Herbal Consultant & Educator – Naturally Simple Living
(2004 – 2022)
In addition to teaching herbal therapeutics and offering personalized consultations, I presented workshops on the history of Western herbalism at conferences with a focus on early-modern female practitioners.
Staff Writer – Natural Herbal Living Magazine
(2014-2020)
I primarily served as the history staff writer, but I occasionally wrote monographs. The magazine closed down during the Covid pandemic but back issues are available on Kindle.
Event Manager & Teacher – Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference
(2011-2017)
Presented at the conference in addition to helping organizers manage the event and work-trade volunteers. If you walked through the registration line during those years or visited the vending hall, I have undoubtedly chatted with you.
Domestic Medicine 
You must be logged in to post a comment.