I fell in love with the trees, herbs, and ferns as an undergraduate during several summers studying entomology and botany at The University of Virginia's Mountain Lake Biological Station. Our professor Tom so lovingly explained plant families to us by day and strummed country songs on his guitar for us by night. He was the first person to point out Black Cohosh to me in the woods.

Student teaching in preparation for receiving a Master of Arts in Teaching from The Curry School of Education I was blessed to have an incredible mentor teacher, Marjorie, who encouraged me to 'be myself' as a student teacher in her classroom. This is a lesson I've frequently been thankful for and carry into my workshops today.

While teaching seventh grade science in Arlington County, Virginia, I found myself conjuring up as many activities as possible to get my "kids" outside more. After two years of coaching high school rowing and teaching public school I went back to the woods and taught at Echo Hill Outdoor School on the Chesapeake Bay in Worton, Maryland. It was at Echo Hill where a lovely fellow staff naturalist named Holly told me about the Master of Science in Herbal Medicine degree offered at the Tai Sophia Institute in Laurel, Maryland. As soon as I read through the curriculum, my heart started thumping and I knew herbal medicine was my path.

While at Tai Sophia, I interned at a number of inspiring ornamental gardens: the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden of the Smithsonian Institute, the American Horticultural Society gardens, and Meadowlark Botanical Gardens. Tom Wolf of Smile Herb Shop provided me with an opportunity to get my hands into the dirt of his herb garden. Teresa Boardwine gave me my first taste of making medicine fresh from the woods and the garden. She joyfully took me under her wing and taught me to make tinctures and to blend teas and how to sit with someone in consultation. She truly gave me confidence along my path. Merry meet, and merry part, and merry meet again!

After moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts in early 2006, I continued my studies in Rosemary Gladstar's Advanced Herbal Training Program at Sage Mountain in Barre, VT. This is where I've met so many of my New England herbal sisters.

During the growing season of 2007, I was blessed to apprentice with herbalist and gardener Deb Soule of Avena Botanicals in her magical garden in Rockport, Maine one week each month. Being with the plants as they grow, and forming new relationships with them, is such a delightful process!

Currently, I am grateful to precept one day each month with naturopath Dr. Mary Bove in Brattleboro, VT, whose amazing clinic, Brattleboro Naturopathic Clinic, is filled with children she caught as a midwife!

I offer herb classes at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education and am adjunct faculty at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

I am a member of the American Herbalists Guild, United Plant Savers, and the Northeast Herbal Association and attend and teach at conferences throughout the year.

Throughout it all, and what brings me some of my greatest joy, is continuing to build relationships with the plants and to sit in consultation with wonderful women and children (and some men!) in my practice Wild Carrot Herbs!