This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are joined by our long-time dear friend that will likely be no stranger to many of our listeners—Shana Lipner Grover! As a highly acclaimed clinical herbalist and educator, Shana joins us for a conversation on the upsides and downsides of plant identification apps, and the advantages of leaning on regional herbalists to gain knowledge on the flora, fauna, and funga surrounding us. Listen in as Shana shares an entertaining yet cautionary tale on the potential dangers of using plant identification apps, and why these apps should always be the beginning of your botanical research, not the end.

If you are interested in plant identification apps or actively use them, here are a few of Shana’s tips:

🌱 Shana’s plant identification app recommendation: iNaturalist

🔎 Be aware and follow all wildharvesting regulations and laws in your local area.

🗺️ Seek out plant apps specific to your bioregional area for better identification accuracy.

🌿 Regional herbalists are the only tried and true reliable plant identification apps out there!

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are invaluable to our podcast. Please send us an email at [email protected] to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism.  

Learn more about Shana below! 

🐛Shana Lipner Grover is a clinical herbalist, health and nutrition educator, field botanist, ethical wildcrafter, medicine maker, and forever student of life and wonder is the director and primary educator of Sage Country Herbs School of Botanical Studies in North County San Diego. This 2-year program is a hybrid online and field-based ecology, botany, nutrition, and plant medicine school that guides students through weaving the study of plants and ecology of diverse environments into the practice of making and using herbal medicine. Through mountain hikes, plant walks, farm activities, and a bit of adventure we learn our roles within our local ecosystems. Shana and her husband, Brandon Grover, organize numerous events and herbal gatherings that bring the herbal and farming communities together. Shana writes for Plant Healer Magazine and Herbaria. She runs a clinical practice in North County San Diego that provides inspiration for the Clinical Herbal Formulations course. Beyond her field school, she has taught at a variety of outdoor education, including Art & Wilderness Institute and Solidarity Farm School, as well as writing and teaching 350 hours of herbal medicine and nutrition programs at Healing Hands School of Holistic Health.

 Find Shana on social media!

Instagram @sagecountryherbs

Facebook @Sage Country Herbs

Check out what else Shana’s been up to with us on YouTube!

🌲How to Identify Douglas Fir + Uses and Benefits with Herbalist Shana Lipner Grover

🌱Benefits & Uses of Plantain with Shana Lipner Grover

🌹The Energetics of Rose with Shana Lipner Grover

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

In this Tea Talks Roundtable, Jiling discusses Herbal Oracle Decks with herbalists Maia Toll and Jesse “Wolf” Hardin.

Listen in as Maia, Wolf, and Jiling explore:

• What oracle decks are, and how they might help deepen our relationships with plants, ourselves, and the world
• Maia and Wolf’s processes for creating their oracle decks
• Oracle cards as doorways into the collective unconscious
• Art as a layer-cake of meaning and symbolism
• Conversations with the land
• Bridging known and unknown realities through doorways to magical engagement
• Paying attention as a celebratory evocation

🌿 MAIA TOLL is the author of best selling, award winning books including Letting Magic In, The Night School, and the Wild Wisdom Collection. Her first book was her plant oracle, The Illustrated Herbiary. Maia is also the co-owner of the retail store Herbiary.

You can keep up with Maia’s writing on her Substack Tell Me Something True and visit her at MaiaToll.com

🌿 JESSE “WOLF” HARDIN has been a unique influence in the healing and spirituality communities for half a century, a voice for the wild, numinous and sacred. Wolf’s plant-hearted Hedge Guild Otherworld Oracle joins with the many books he’s written, to inspire and equip an alternate paradigm of empowerment, wonderment and healing.

Visit Wolf at PlantHealer.org

🌿 JILING LIN is a Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc) and herbalist in Ventura, CA. A clinician and teacher, Jiling is also a passionate traveler, artist, and adventurer– currently writing her first book!

Visit Jiling at JilingLin.com, Instagram @LinJiling, Substack @Jiling, and Facebook @JilingLAc.

Other resources:

• Sign up for the FREE Plant Healer Quarterly online magazine
• Visit the Plant Healer Online Bookstore to read Wolf’s books and find his oracle deck
• Check out The Plant Healer’s Path: Wolf’s video series on HerbRally’s YouTube channel
• Check out Maia Toll's fun new Wild Wisdom tattoos, based off the oracle deck
• Read Maia’s other books and oracle deck collection

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are featuring a dynamic duo wife-husband team on a mission to enhance the human connection with the natural world, Allison Poklemba and Michael Kauffman. Allison and Michael are the Founders of Backcountry Press, an independent publishing company that explores books on natural history, ecology, and the western landscape. Today, Allison and Michael will be sharing their combined insights and knowledge on the vast ecology that surrounds our world, and how bettering our understanding of plants can help us to foster a better understanding of ourselves.

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are invaluable to our podcast. Please send us an email at [email protected] to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. 

Learn more about Allison and Michael below! 

🌲 Michael Kauffmann is an educator, ecologist, and author in Humboldt County, where he lives with his wife, Allison, and their two boys. Michael has also served as an ecologist mapping rare conifers across California and is the author of Conifer Country and Conifers of the Pacific Slope and co-author of Field Guide to Manzanitas, California Desert Plants, and The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History.

🌼 Allison Poklemba is a teacher, botanist, herbalist, environmental educator, Co-Director of Dandelion Herbal Center, Co-Founder of Backcountry Press, artist, mother, friend, and always curious student of nature. She has been concocting potions since childhood and teaching at Dandelion Herbal Center since 2002. Allison is a graduate of Cal Poly Humboldt with degrees in Botany and Science Teaching with a specialty in Environmental Literacy – she also carries a special place in her heart just for seaweed!

Check out these FREE eBooks from Backcountry Press! 

🌲 Sip The Forest: A Guide to Conifer Teas

🌊 Intertidal Zone Map  

🏕️ Guide to 5-Needle Pines of the Pacific Crest Trail 

📖 More free eBooks!

Use coupon code MOUNTAINROSE for 20% off Allison & Michaels’ new book/eBook and online classes!

🍄 Book/eBook: Mushrooms of Cascadia: A Comprehensive Guide to Fungi of the PNW

🌿 Online classes: Sea Vegetables of the Pacific Coast & Cooking With Sea Vegetables

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

In this Tea Talks Roundtable, Jiling discusses mobile herbal clinics with the Herbalists Without Borders | Healing Project Mobile Clinic Coordinator, Carolyn Jones, and Botanical Bus Co-Founder and community leader, Jocelyn Boreta. 

Carolyn and Jocelyn share how mobile herbal clinics work, how they can help increase access to healthcare, and what role education plays in their work. They share about the importance of partnerships, meeting people where they are, and the importance of culturally-centered care. Listen for stories about yarrow, other plants that have lit up their communities, and healing community wounds through sharing food, medicine, culture, and love. 

🌿 CAROLYN JONES is an herbalist, author, certified aromatherapist, reflexologist, flower essence practitioner, acupuncture detoxification specialist, and bereavement chaplain. Carolyn is also a faculty member with the Matthew Wood Institute of Herbalism, and the Clinic Coordinator for the Herbalists Without Borders | Healing Project Mobile Clinic. Carolyn is the author of Pick Up Your Bed and Walk: A Self-Care Guide to Improved Health and Incantations.

Visit Carolyn at BeHealed.info and on Instagram @thp_the_healing_project

🌿 JOCELYN BORETA is a community organizer, herbalist and the granddaughter of an Indigenous Farmworker. She is committed to health equity through culturally centered care, and is the co-founder of The Botanical Bus. Before co-founding The Botanical Bus, Jocelyn organized weekly bilingual, bicultural wellness workshops with Cultivando para Salud at LandPaths Bayer Farm and worked as a clinical herbalist at Farmacopia for four years. Her activism has roots in 10-years working as Program Director of the Global Exchange Fair Trade Stores. Jocelyn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Anthropology from University of California Santa Barbara and certification in herbalism from the California School of Herbal Studies.

Jocelyn believes that “Herbalism is activism. It shows us that we are connected to the earth, that we know how to heal ourselves, our families and our communities with the plants that grow around us.”

Visit Jocelyn at TheBotanicalBus.org and on Instagram @Botanical.Bus

🌿 JILING LIN is a Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc) and herbalist in Ventura, CA. A clinician and teacher, Jiling is also a passionate traveler, artist, and adventurer– currently writing her first book!

Visit Jiling at JilingLin.com, Instagram @LinJiling, Substack @Jiling, and Facebook @JilingLAc.

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are featuring the passionate leader of a non-profit organization that is very near and dear to our hometown, right here in Lane County, Oregon: Sonya Carlson of BRING Recycling. In this episode, Sonya and Thomas dive into how waste reduction goes far deeper than simply recycling alone, and by bringing communities together, we can all take hold of our collective and individual responsibility to care for our Earth. Through Sonya’s leadership, educational outreach, hands-on workshops, and community engagement, BRING understands that carving the path toward a sustainable future requires all hands on deck.

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are invaluable to our podcast. Please send us an email at [email protected] to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. 

Learn more about Sonya and BRING: 

♻️️ Sonya Carlson is a passionate leader dedicated to environmental sustainability and community impact. As the Executive Director of BRING, she spearheads strategic initiatives to advance the organization's mission to provide vision, leadership, and tools for living well on the planet we share. BRING, a pioneering nonprofit in the region, promotes sustainability through its core principles of “reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink.” Under Sonya’s leadership, BRING continues to foster a culture of environmental responsibility and sustainability across Lane County.

A significant part of BRING’s mission is its educational outreach, including the DIY Toolbox Tactics Classes, which offer hands-on workshops teaching skills in reuse, repair, and sustainability. These classes empower individuals and businesses with practical skills to reduce waste, conserve resources, and embrace a sustainable lifestyle. Additionally, BRING’s Planet Improvement Center serves as a hub for education, resource conservation, and community resilience, providing access to reusable materials and promoting waste reduction through community engagement.

Before joining BRING, Sonya served as Vice President of Operations at Earth Lab Botanicals and Wise Woman Herbals. Her career also includes extensive experience in policy-making, having served as Chief of Staff for State Representative Phil Barnhart, where she gained a deep understanding of legislative processes.

Sonya holds an MBA with a concentration in Sustainability from the University of Oregon, where she graduated as valedictorian, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from Lewis and Clark College. During her academic career, she conducted greenhouse gas emissions surveys and life cycle analysis. 

A dedicated advocate for her community, Sonya serves as a Commissioner on the Eugene Water and Electric Board and is a board member of the Lane Council of Governments and the Eugene Education Foundation. She is also an active member of the Eugene Rotary Club and was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Oregon Recycling System Advisory Council to implement the Recycling Modernization Act.

With a strong business background and a keen understanding of the challenges faced by local businesses, Sonya partners with them through BRING’s Rethink Business Certification Program to help navigate regulations, best practices, and sustainability efforts. She understands the financial pressures and staffing constraints businesses face and emphasizes the importance of incentives and valuable training to drive participation in sustainability programs.

In her free time, Sonya enjoys spending time with her family, camping, astronomy, gardening, and solving escape rooms. Her leadership and expertise continue to position BRING as a driving force in creating meaningful change for a sustainable future.

♳ For more information on BRING's DIY Toolbox Tactics Classes, visit BRING Toolbox Tactics.

♴ Check out upcoming BRING classes and workshop opportunities HERE!

♵ Learn how you can donate and help further BRING’s mission HERE!

Follow BRING on social media!

Facebook | @BRING

Instagram | @bringrecycling

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

In this Tea Talks Roundtable, Jiling discusses Asian American Herbalism with herbalists Erin Masako Wilkins and Zoey Xinyi Gong.

We explore:

• East Asian medicine views of food as medicine
• Eating through the seasons — from an East Asian medicine perspective
• How to integrate herbs into food
• Everyday recipes for everyday healing
• Current trends in East Asian medicine in popular culture

Learn more about these herbalists below:

🌿 Erin Masako Wilkins is an Asian American herbalist and acupuncturist who has treated patients for years and teaches virtual and in-person workshops. Her book, Asian American Herbalism, intersects North American folk herbalism, traditional Chinese medicine, and Japanese folk traditions. Visit Erin at HerbFolkShop.com and on Instagram @herbfolkmedicine

🌿 Zoey Xinyi Gong is a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) chef, food therapist, registered dietitian, and educator based in New York and Shanghai. She is the author of the Five Elements Cookbook, catering director of The Red Pavilion in Brooklyn. Visit Zoey at www.ZoeyXinyiGong.com and on Instagram @zoeyxinyigong

🌿 Jiling Lin is a Licensed Acupuncturist (LAc) and herbalist in Ventura, CA. A clinician and teacher, Jiling is also a passionate traveler, artist, and adventurer– currently writing her first book! Visit Jiling at JilingLin.com, Instagram @LinJiling, Substack @Jiling, and Facebook @JilingLAc.

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are sharing an awakening conversation surrounding the intersection of herbalism and grief with the author, educator, non-profit leader, and environmental advocate, Emily Ruff. Driven by her profound dedication and compassion, Emily sits down with us to dissect the individual and collective impact that environmental grief has on our communities, and how redefining its influence may play a key role in re-establishing a symbiotic relationship with our planet. We’ll explore how this can be accomplished by leaning on our plant allies in times of loss, which will not only provide us with the medicinal value of a botanical but also strengthen our gratitude for the gifts nature provides us. In turn, this strengthened connection allows us to join the planet on its journey toward healing, hand-in-hand.

In Emily’s words, "Working with herbs for grief does not erase the causes of grief or the need for us to continue working towards collective liberation and justice, but hopefully, it gives us more fortitude and resilience to be able to do that."

🌿 Emily Ruff is a community herbalist who has practiced the art and science of plant healing for two decades. She is an author, educator, non-profit leader, and environmental advocate.

Emily's background in gardening and botany came in childhood while wandering the wilderness and digging in the sandy soils of Florida with her grandfather, a sustenance farmer, and her father, an earth and space sciences professor. Her studies continued through apprenticeships in Guatemala under the tutelage of local healers on the southern coast of Lake Atitlan, in the mountains of Vermont at the feet of Rosemary Gladstar, and in the Central Florida apothecary Leaves & Roots with herbalists Carolyn Whitford and George D’Arcy. Emily received her Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Central Florida and a certificate in Curanderismo at the University of New Mexico.

In 2005, Emily founded the Florida School of Holistic Living as a 501c3 non-profit dedicated to cultivating a sustainable community through education in Central Florida and a robust online curriculum serving students globally. Inspired to cultivate regional community, Emily founded the annual Florida Herbal Conference in 2012.

In 2018, Emily formed a non-profit organization to carry forth Rosemary Gladstar's legacy of conservation, education, and healing through stewardship of Sage Mountain Botanical Sanctuary, where Emily currently serves as director. She has served on the local Selectboard for the Town of Orange and currently sits on the Regional Clean Water Advisory Committee.

Emily’s dedication to preserving bioregional medicinal plant traditions led her to become a board member of United Plant Savers. She served multiple terms as president of the Herb Society of Central Florida and as co-founder of Homegrown Local Food Cooperative. In response to the tragic shooting at Pulse Nightclub, Emily founded the Grief Care Project and later formed the Herbal Action Network to continue weaving the web of compassionate herbalism into community engagement. Emily is an instructor in the Herbal Academy Advanced Herbal Training Course and the Ecoversity Herbalism Program and is a Bach Flower Registered Practitioner.

In 2022, Emily received the American Botanical Council Herbal Community Builder Award in recognition of her service to the community and planet.

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

Marie White is an author, plant educator and environmentalist whose work focuses on medicinal herbs, relationship between people and plants, climate, and community care. She is the author of The Intimate Herbal ('22) and The Herbal Doula ('24), both through North Atlantic Books.

🌿Listen in as Jiling and Marie discuss:

• Marie’s new book, “The Herbal Doula”
• The herbs Marie recommends folks have handy when expecting or raising youngsters
• How herbs can be allies amidst climate change
• Self-care tips for doulas and other caring professions or individuals
• The garden as a space to create remedies for self, family and community— while nourishing other creatures and the environment
• Extending our circle of care
• The power of simple herbs

🌷Visit Marie White at:

• Marie’s Instagram: @marie___white
• Marie’s upcoming Substack: @penseesauvage.substack.com
• Marie’s Linktree: @Marie___White

🌱Resources

• Get Marie’s book, The Herbal Doula, HERE!
• Hailey Strongwater & LOAM 
• Partum Gardens Community Care Collective 
• Naturopathic Herbalist online library 
• Richard Whelan's online library 

🌸About Jiling

Jiling Lin is a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac) and herbalist in Ventura, CA. A clinician and teacher, Jiling is also a passionate traveler, artist, and adventurer. Visit Jiling at JilingLin.com, Instagram @LinJiling, and Facebook @JilingLAc. Get her free Nourishing Life (養生) template or Five Phases (五行) outline. Join her Substack here for experimental eco-somatic writings, and sign up for her monthly newsletter here!  

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com

This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are thrilled to share an eye-opening conversation with the passionate author, knowledgeable educator, and jack of all trades within the herbal world, Nicole Telkes. Listen in as Thomas and Nicole deep dive into how the collision of cultures for millennia weaved our understanding of herbalism in the present day, the troubling history between herbalism and American healthcare, and how we can reconnect the herbal community in a changing world through the core of herbalism itself: the botanicals that surround us. In Nicole’s words, “You can accomplish so much with just a simple cup of tea with people”.

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are invaluable to our podcast. Email us at [email protected] to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism.

🌷Nicole Telkes RH(AHG) is an award-winning practicing herbalist, author, and clinical mentor. She has a background in botanical studies, plant conservation work, community activism, and herbal first-aid clinics. She wrote the books Medicinal Plants of Texas and Herbcraft: The Complete Guide to 21st Century Holistic Western Herbalism. Nicole manages a United Plant Savers Botanical Sanctuary and Apiary and currently supervises the gardens at Bastyr University. She is the founder and lead instructor at the Wildflower School of Botanical Medicine, founded in 2003. She is best known for her work freeing fire cider as one of the Fire Cider 3. Nicole works on the Board of Directors of the nonprofit, Southwest School of Botanical Medicine(SWSBM) to help preserve the legacy of Michael Moore and is starting another nonprofit, The Community Herbalist Alliance.

Southwest School of Botanical Medicine Resources:

Check out Michael Moore’s revamped website launching September 21st HERE!

Subscribe to join the SWSBM newsletter HERE!

Want to support SWSBM work towards maintaining Michael Moore’s website and future projects? Click HERE to make a tax deductible contribution.  

Find where to get your hands on Nicole’s published books below:

🌿 Herbcraft: The Complete Guide to Traditional Western Holistic Herbalism

*Use code Bulk5 to receive 33% off 5 or copies, or use code Bulk10 to receive 40% off of 10 copies! Direct sales only. 

🌼 Medicinal Plants of Texas

Find Nicole on Social Media:

Instagram: @herbcrafter

Facebook: @Nicole Telkes

🌸Iya Angelique "Sobande" Greer is a Tennessee-based Herbalist, Holistic Nutritionist, Wellness Strategist, and Desert Storm Veteran of the U.S. Army. She founded the first African American School of Herbalism in the United States in 1992, the NCB School of Herbalism & Holistic Health. She is the founder of Sacred Waters Retreat, The Afro Botany Immersion Conference and co-founder of "Cook, Cure & Conjure” with Yeye Lusiah Teish. She is currently the Program Director for Earthwise Spirituality & Education founded by Priestess Stephanie Rose Bird. Sobande teaches with Ecoversity and other universities around the country. She has been writing for various herbal publications over the past 30 years, and is a leader and trailblazer in the field of African American Herbal history.

🌷Listen in as Jiling and Sobande discuss:

• The legacies of our ancestors
• Herbs and plants of the African diaspora
• Honoring sacred plants without ingesting them— such as cotton and pennyroyal
• The spiritual aspects of food, herbs, and community
• How plantain and dandelion entered Sobande’s life at a young age
• Important life-long lessons from Sobande’s great grandmother
• How “food as medicine” extends to “food as medicine” for body, mind, and Spirit
• When we ingest plants, we ingest the nutrients of our ancestors

• www.naturalchoicesbotanica.com 
• sacredwatersretreat.com

🏵️Resources:

• Sacred Waters Retreat
• NCB School of Herbalism & Holistic Health

🌿 JILING LIN is a Licensed Acupuncturist (L.Ac) and herbalist in Ventura, CA. A clinician and teacher, Jiling is also a passionate traveler, artist, and adventurer. Visit Jiling at JilingLin.com, Instagram @LinJiling, and Facebook @JilingLAc. Get her free Nourishing Life (養生) template or Five Phases (五行) outline. Join her Substack here for experimental eco-somatic writings, and sign up for her monthly newsletter here!  

This week on Everything You Didn’t Know About Herbalism, we are joined by the passionate and insightful Vice President of Development at the Rodale Institute, Annie Brown. As a true specialist surrounding all things organic agriculture, Annie shares with us how the Rodale Institute was founded during the boom of chemicals being introduced to the farming industry and how one businessman’s intuition led him from the hustle and bustle of NYC to rural Pennsylvania; where he studied agriculture practices of Indigenous populations that grew successful crops without the need for synthetic chemicals. From here, J.I. Rodale taught himself and his family how to effectively grow food without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. This led to the founding of the Rodale Institute in 1947, and the revolutionary term,“regenerative agriculture”, was coined.

From the Rodale Institute's inception nearly 80 years ago, the fight for accessible organic agriculture persists strongly in the present day. Through partnerships and consulting with like-minded businesses, Rodale creates a clear path forward for those seeking to make the crucial transition into organic agriculture by providing research, farmer training, and consumer education. Mountain Rose Herbs is a proud partner of the Rodale Institute. Together, we are working to create a food system in harmony with nature by paving the way for the future of healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people, and healthy planet.

As always, we thank you for joining us on another botanical adventure and are so honored to have you tag along with us on this ride. Remember, we want to hear from you! Your questions, ideas, and who you want to hear from are an invaluable piece to our podcast. Send us an email at [email protected] to let us know what solutions we should uncover next within the vast world of herbalism. 

Learn more about Annie and the Rodale Institute:

🌿Annie Brown is the Vice President of Development at Rodale Institute. She has been working with the Institute since 2012. She and her team oversee all fundraising activities for the organization, including public and private grants, individual donations, and corporate partnerships. Her passion for organic was born from her Missouri childhood where she was raised five miles in the country surrounded on all four sides by chemical/conventional farms. Her mother’s multiple bouts with cancer throughout her life were what woke Annie to connecting environment and diet to overall human health.

Before her work at Rodale Institute, Annie had been involved in the food industry in various capacities ranging from food writer, cooking school co-director, co-founder of a handmade pasta company, sales/marketing director of a Colorado artisanal pasta company, food blogger, and was formerly a partner in a boutique Boulder PR firm focusing on restaurants and specialty food products. Her passion for food began as a young girl where she learned how to cook in her mother’s country kitchen. She created her first cookbook at age six and made her very first dollar selling handmade pimento cheese sandwiches at a local public auction at age eight.

Check out how you can get involved with the Rodale Institute HERE!

Learn how you can join the next generation of regenerative organic farmers HERE!

Join our community! Subscribe to the Mountain Rose Herbs newsletter Subscribe to Mountain Rose Herbs on YouTube Follow on Instagram Like on Facebook Follow on Pinterest Read the Mountain Rose Herbs blog Follow on TikTok Strengthening the bonds between people and plants for a healthier world. Mountain Rose Herbs www.mountainroseherbs.com