• And the Plants Will Set You Free

    Through knowing and using the plants that grow around us—the ones in our backyard, the weeds that resist all efforts to control them, the abundance and diversity of the species in the Cascadian forests—we are more whole, secure and free. What’s right under our feet are, by their very nature, agents of freedom. [Read full post]
  • Design Thinking for the Creative Herbalist

    As herbalists, we are naturally using design processes all the time. Working in the plant and human world for the purpose of healing we are constantly dealing in very complex worlds. I want to push you to go past what you know is comfortable and reimagine your practice so you are doing the wildest, most liberating brilliant work that you can. [Read full post]
  • Aesthetic & Beauty in Practice

    It’s touching the dirt, digging roots, preparing and sipping beautiful garden tea blends, smelling the flowers, having my apothecary full of jars containing gorgeous, whole-leaf herbs. Microwaving a wack bag of herb tea is a completely different game. Authentic botanical practice is a lifestyle that honors the sanctity of life and the ecological patterns around us. It’s how we connect to the larger planetary system. [Read full post]

Category Archives: Research

Thesis Published: Does the cultural use of local plants enable coping with diabetes and generational trauma in Salish tribal communities?

For everyone still subscribed & reading: I know it’s been quiet around here this past Winter & Spring. I’ve been focusing on health, TCOB & funneling all my creative energy and writing to the thesis that follows. This paper completes my graduate program and illuminates the connections between plants, culture, and healing; between social constructions [...]

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Shaming & Blaming: The Adverse Effects of Conventional Disease Etiologies

Constructs of health are complex and multi-dimensional. Similarly, diseases arise from a variety of factors and may include genetic factors, lifestyles and behaviors, environment, and a variety of sociopolitical factors. How we frame these diseases and their causation (etiology) determines their role and function in the larger social sphere. Diseases are socially constructed entities. And [...]

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Framing Health in a Context of Interconnectedness

It’s a terribly chilly day here in Olympia. I’ve spent most of the day at my desk, drinking puerh tea, brow furrowed in intense contemplation over some aspects of my developing thesis. I’m exploring the question of the contribution of ethnobotanical knowledge & practices to public health and I face a number of challenges. And [...]

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Ecological Medicine and the Grey Area of Individual Treatment and Systemic Change

I’m unreasonably excited about the ecological medicine movement. Here’s why. For my entire academic and professional life, I’ve struggled in committing (and therefore confining) myself to a particular discipline. Because of the way that knowledge is fragmented, playing within the bounds of one discipline confines my understanding to that portion of the whole system. None [...]

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Are Herbs Still the Peoples’ Medicine? A Literature Review

Historically the beneficial plants have always been thought of as the peoples’ medicine. They were often safer than chemical medicines, cheaper and more accessible to common folk. However, in recently reviewing surveys of herbal medicine use in the United States, a different picture emerges. Survey results are consistent in suggesting that people who take herbal [...]

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