My first memory of plants was when I was a little girl. I’d visit my grandma over the summer and we’d play out in her backyard - making up fun imaginary games and playing until the fireflies would come out and then we’d catch them together. One day she brought me to this bush at the edge of her backyard. She picked this long yellow flower and told me it was honeysuckle. She took the bottom off the flower and pulled out this string with a drop of nectar hanging off it like a bead of water - and told me to taste it. I remember the sweetness and the feeling of being a little rebellious. It was the first time I tasted something wild and free - directly from the earth. This memory, and honeysuckle, have followed me on my journey. 

I didn’t know I was destined to become an herbalist. I had studied electrical engineering and then worked in the corporate world. I spent quite a long time in that world - in which I felt I never belonged. I always loved being in nature, talking to plants, and being creative - but I thought I had to prioritise being financially successful and that meant having a particular kind of job. I spent many years living from a place that was disconnected from my body and my intuition. I studied yoga, pranayama, and meditation - trying to gain further knowledge that might help me to connect.

A few years ago at the start of the pandemic, I was drawn to an herbalism apprenticeship called The School of the Sacred Wild. This apprenticeship was so much more than just learning about the plants - it was a new way of life - learning the ways of indigenous cultures and how to tend to the earth. The course taught me how to have a relationship with the plants and to commune with Spirit which is in all things. 

Of all the elements, Water + Earth resonate with me the most. Years of tea meditations and tending to my garden became a way to reconnect with my body. Dirt under my fingernails reminded me of the little girl who tasted honeysuckle for the first time - safe, loved, wild and free.

The plants I have met hold me and continue to teach me more and more the longer I journey with them. Finding this path as an herbalist feels like finding lost pieces of myself. 

My intention with each offering is to hold space for others so that they too can begin to listen to and heal themselves. Remembering that no matter what, the Earth will continue to hold us.