My journey with the plants started in childhood. I grew up in the south, in Florida. I did not have a stable home environment and so I spent a lot of time outside the house. I would be down at the lake in our neighborhood all day. It’s surprising an alligator didn’t get me as I was very young, six years old. I would play with the tadpoles in the lake and just being outside with nature was comforting to me, I would come in late at night. The plants started being with me and teaching me at this tender age.

It would be many years until I started working with plants in a different way. I worked at a health food store for a decade and this is where I started to learn that herbs were an alternative form of medicine. I also learned that plants or food were medicine and we can heal our bodies and live long, healthy lives.

The real apprenticeship with the plants came after I quit working over a decade ago and started volunteering at The Florida School of Holistic Living with Emily Ruff. Emily was a herbalist and moon gazer. I would learn by her example, by watching her. She would come in, in the morning, with her “master cleanse” water to sip on all day. She would refill homeopathic remedies for clients and make flower essences. What I learned from Emily is very profound. I learned how to a woman in this world connected to the plants in every way. This was a very different learning than I received growing up while surrounded by boxed and canned meals and feeling hierarchy over everything. I’m grateful for Emily’s example. I’m still learning from her to this day.