Always, the green beings

Immersed in green. The lush, magical, breathable vibrance of a summer forest.

At 13, my favorite place in the world was a side road, an uncommon path through the woods at my home away from home, a very special summer camp near where I grew up in Tennessee. The path went mostly unnoticed. It was an alternative route, most often considered a means to an end. When I had the chance to walk along it on my own, I felt a sense of comfort, like I was home. There, among the trees and vines and flowers, alive with all the shades of earth, I belonged. Those moments nourished me in ways I sometimes try to name — something about the wonder and treasure of this everyday experience of being human. 

It wasn’t long after coming home to the rich forests of Southern Appalachia that I landed sweetly in connection with plants and medicine, widening my relationship with the living world, remembering what it means to be healing. Getting to know stones and mineral medicine, which I’d never much considered before, grounded me and brought clarity with change, a sense of freedom inside and outside of time. These days, I find my path illuminated by the words of wise ones before me, the everyday teachings of the wild ones around me, and the persistent flow of the waters near and within me.

Rooting deep

As keeper of all things medicine and learning for me, my work through Root Deep meanders as paths will do. I’m an herbalist. That’s a lot of what I do here, offering bridges and pathways to connection with the living world, supporting healing intentions with holistic perspective.

Especially in this season of deep change — as we navigate pandemic times and the dramatic consequences of systems of power, as we wrestle out loud and on purpose with the ways our collective stories change — I commit my heart and energy to tending deep my own healing work and the ways we heal together. I trust that our connections with the living world and thus our potential for change are infinite.

My understanding of healing is guided largely by relationship and motivated by the elements. I am honored to have found such potent learning along my journey with teachers like Jeffrey Yuen and Jessica Godino. My healing friends inspire me too. My daily teachers are alive in Southern Appalachia. These are the ones who called me here, to come home. If you’re curious, I share more of my story and personal journey with earth medicine on the blog.

I offer herbalism consultations, earth medicine classes, and other bits in relation to the seasons. While I’m transitioning my apothecary (new space in the works!), I am offering elementally-centered consultations by Zoom. These sessions incorporate elemental awareness and assessment, seasonally-guided conversation, and interconnected recommendations. They’re a beautiful complement to Root Deep courses and other earth medicine learning opportunities. Here’s a link to some of the teachers and resources I’m excited about right now.

Whatever the reason, every day in this work looks quite different than the day before.