Most of us have had SOME association with plants and/or animals.You may be thinking what in the world qualifies ME to teach YOU anything about herbs, gardens or animals?
- From the age of nine I was raised a COUNTRY GIRL in Central Missouri which gave me a solid foundation on which to build my life.
- I have a husband who recognizes my quirky nature and lets me be who I am.
- I have 3 children and 9 grandchildren who have contributed to my education in ways unobtainable by any other means.
- I have lived in 7 states which gave me a whole new perspective of “Bloom where you are planted.”
- I have been self-employed, corporate employed and unemployed. I learned the meaning of “Do what you love.”
- My interest in plants began when I lay in my tree house and smelled the walnuts hanging on the branches…I’d never smelled walnuts before.
- My love of animals began with a little dog named Skeeter. He was my constant companion and as an only child, my best friend and confidant.
- My journey into animal husbandry started the day I helped my dad sew up a large gash on a new born baby pig.
- I began to appreciate plants as a young mother upon receiving wilted bouquets of dandelions.
- In the 70’s, I began to have some knowledge of plants upon discovering our food supply was not supplying real food.
- A fire of desire for plants was kindled in the 80’s when I inhaled aromatherapy for the first time.
- In the 90's heartache and death in my family birthed the craving for the medicinal knowledge of plants.
- The dawning of this new century brought the realization that I was NOT too old to take a new pathway in my life and I enrolled in a four-year odyssey of herbal study and became a Clinical Herbalist. Over the years I’ve studied under Kayla Rowen, Rosalee de Foret, Rosemary Gladstar, Michael Moore and others.
Rocky Creek Valley Farm is the culmination of all that I’m about…joy in simple things, respect for the earth, clean air, fertile ground, fresh food and healthy living.That’s what you will learn in my classes.
This is Goldie....she loves to tell me about her day.
Thumbelina, just chillin'.
After a day spent wildcrafting herbs. This is elderberry.
Winter cover crops in the high tunnel.
Firepit....for eating and swapping stories...
Bountiful harvest.
Herbal bouquet....