Information found on this site should not be taken as counsel or advice. If you need medical assistance, contact a licensed health professional.

We apologize that we are not able to provide more information about the traditional uses of medicinal herbs. FDA regulations view this information as making medical claims. We encourage you to educate yourself and read, read, read about herb uses as we follow the current rules: “This statement was not evaluated by the FDA. Our products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” 

My Story

So, first, a little herbal history:

Just as nature provides the only true nutrition for our body, mind, and soul, before we had licensed physicians and patented pharmaceuticals, herbal plants were our medicine.  Indigenous peoples around the world wildcrafted plants along their migration routes and found ways to store or process them for later use. These plants, both as food and medicine, were used to keep their tribes healthy and to treat all types of ailments, from healing injuries to battling cancer.  Over time these practices developed into structured formularies and ideologies, and became the basis for medical systems still in use today, including Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western Herbalism. 
As the U.S. was colonized, immigrant physicians found that the plants that grew here were different than those that were native to their former European homelands. They learned how to use local herbs from native American peoples in each region of the country and bioregional herbalism became the basis for their practices. During the Civil War, physicians had to rely on herbs available in the battlefield, which could be far from their home practice, and this expanded their knowledge of western herbs. This trend continued as doctors spread across the country, to serve the newly colonized territories, until the early 20th century, when the modern pharmaceutical industry developed and lobbied for its dominance as standardized medicine in the U.S. 
Still today, the teachings of our early physicians are being passed down in some cultures and to some extent, in herbal education programs. But, with the wide availability of global commerce and increased interest in herbalism over the last fifty years, the overharvesting of herbs from around the world has become common, resulting in many herbs nearing extinction in the wild. 

Please purchase herbs from reputable sources only as needed and limit harvesting from threatened environments. are endangered in the wild. ​   

As for my story, learning has always been my passion and I have always been a student. My early interests included accounting and business management, computer science, interior design, and sustainability. These provided for my livelihood and have served me well as an entrepreneur. I have used natural remedies all of my adult life and my first opportunity to study and intern in this field was in herbal allopathy (the use of herbs in lieu of pharmaceuticals). Upon my certification as an herbalist, I started my practice, focusing on engaging patrons of various farmer’s markets in South Austin and surrounding areas. Committed to using certified organic ingredients, I developed a broad line of “wellness” products. This included, of course, herbal teas and extracts, as well as lines of organic culinary spices (“Food as Medicine”) and natural skin care. My goal was to offer natural and organic products to meet all our daily needs. 

Knowledge is power. I have never stopped learning.  I am continually reading research, attending seminars, webinars, and conferences. Along the way, I've picked up some supportive assessment skills (e.g. pulse and tongue diagnosis), deep dives into several specialized fields of study, and an understanding of integrative medicine, which recognizes the mind-body-soul connection and how this influences our health. Eventually I was introduced to the science of Functional Herbalism. This involves the ongoing study of how our bodies function (believe it or not, there are many aspects of human body function that we still do not understand) and what causes dysfunction, which, if left unaddressed, leads to disease. The premise is that by understanding the root causes of dysfunction in the body, there is opportunity to restore healthy function and thereby, address disease. This has been the platform of my practice ever since.

Herbalism is not a simple science. The actions, body system affinities, indications and contraindications of each herb can take years to master.  I have hundreds of hours of education in a broad range of maladies, clinical skills and natural therapies that I have documented in a searchable database (now over 1,000 pages long) for my ongoing reference.  The applied practice of herbalism is even more complex. The most important concept that I have learned is that every person is unique with their own combination of genetics, constitution, life experiences and environmental exposures, so every set of dysfunctions and every presentation of disease is unique to that person.  One size doesn’t fit all, it just fits the one experiencing it, so my goal is to help each of my clients identify their underlying dysfunctions and provide them with the support that they need to restore their health. I was taught and practice the doctrine “treat the person, not the disease.” Working the markets, seeing many clients every week, exposed me to a broad range of conditions and protocols to address a wide range of health goals.

Then, in 2020, the pandemic changed everything. My natural reaction was to turn my focus to the latest research into effective natural therapies and help my community prepare. But the frenzy of fear that soon followed threatening to quickly wiped out any herbal products that might offer to the market. Global supply chains were overwhelmed. In intuition kicked it, and I knew that, above all, I revere the herbs. I respect their life force and the knowledge they share with us mere humans. I made the decision to step back from the markets and just focus on supporting each individual client as the need arose, to use the herbs as nature intended.

This change in my business model has allowed me more time to focus on each of my client’s unique needs, more time for research, studies, and personal growth as a practitioner. As we age, we often find ourselves reassessing our values.  I find now that I no longer have the desire to produce product lines for mass distribution.  My focus now is helping those in my own community who are struggling with their health and don’t know where to turn.  Medicine Woman Herbs is committed to “doing the work” to investigate what influences brought each person to where they are now, contemplating the best course of action to get them back on track and providing the tools that they need to do that.  For me, it is a commitment to my clients to provide them with the support they need to make informed decisions (empowering them with the power of knowledge), with the goal of improving not only their health status, but also their quality of life.

Medicine     Woman

​About Medicine woman herbs​​​​​​​