At 25, I had a baby girl and moved back to the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, to be closer to family, and met new plant friends there and in the Northeast as I immersed myself in plant studies with Matthew Wood during a stint in New York. Consistently, I would take any class or field walk or read any plant book I could get access to, as part of my endless learning process.
In 2003, I met Frank Cook, who would became a majorly influential plant teacher for me, as well as one of the greatest loves of my life. We traveled all over the United States, and to Africa, England, Costa Rica, and Australia, studying plants as healers, and we were planning a trip to India when he died suddenly in 2009.
Some of my other teachers of the natural world that I return(ed) to again and again to learn from and with are Juliet Blankespoor, Jessie Wilder, Marc Williams, Mateo Ryall, Chuck Marsh, Luke Cannon, Doug Elliott and Rosemary Gladstar.
In 2005, I met Hart Squire, who became my greatest mentor of all time of how to be a conscious earth steward. Hart hears the land speak in a way that is rare, and every time I take a walk with him, my eyes are opened to something new. He is married first to the land, and has generously and unceasingly shared this love with me, revealing a level of earth tending that I would probably have never known had he not blessed me this way with his loving attention.
Now, Hart and I steward Herb Mountain Farm together, and are as full as can be. But I still see a place here with a temple for women’s mysteries, and the land increasing in health and biodiversity and being an ever growing example of how to cooperate with nature rather than dominate Her. Every year it deepens, this relationship with my plant allies. I am grateful for my life.
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