I’m Katie Lynne, and I’m your herbal matchmaker, dedicated to bringing healthy herbs to you and your life for a healthier, happier home. I’ve spent the last ten years studying and practicing sustainable agriculture, healthy living, reflexology, and of course herbalism! I believe in a full spectrum approach to living, and living well.
Biltmore Gardens
Over the years I’ve learned which herbs work for me and when. I only began learning the herbal nuances when I apprenticed at Pine’s Herbals Apothecary and brought home an 850 hour Holistic Herbalism certification from the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine. My hope is that you don’t have to move to a different city and spend the next 7 months in a classroom like I did just to benefit from herbs.
As a Holistic Herbal Practitioner, I help you discover the best combination of herbs, supplements, diet, and lifestyle plan, made especially with you in mind to bring about optimal health. There are few people I know who will faithfully take 3 cups of tea 3 times a day! So finding the simplest plan and the most effective herbs that fit you and your lifestyle is essential to ensure the greatest success!
My Personal Journey
I learned a lot about the American food system while studying sustainable agriculture, how it affects the environment, society, and our bodies. It was natural to progress from healthy organic eating to encompass the herbal world. “Food as medicine, herbs as supplement” became my motto.
After earning my bachelors degree, I became program director of Farmington’s Growing a Healthier Future, an after school children’s program which fostered gardening and cooking skills, nutritional knowledge, and a love for the environment. I don’t know if you’ve worked with children before, but most of them won’t believe you when you show them a tiny seed and tell them to expect tomatoes.
Jennifer, from Forget-Me-Not Farm, and I tasting our first Czechoslovak tomato.
Over the year the children cooked snacks from their square foot gardens, baked healthy alternatives to sweets, built cold frames and row tunnels with the Master Gardeners Club, and saw up close the beavers and heron nesting grounds in the community center’s Nature Park. I had a similar experience working with the Ithaca Children’s Garden in New York.
After working and managing on two different organic farms in Sunshine, NC and Candor, NY, I started setting my sights toward physical health. Surprisingly it first came in the form of reflexology. Reflexology is the art and science of manipulating different reflexes found on the body to produce a response from the body. When I first came to reflexology, I had hard callusing on my lung reflexes, and reflective scarring on my lungs from a brutal one and a half month battle with a respiratory virus. After a few months of regular reflexology, the calluses were gone. The reflexologist told me to get my lungs checked again, and when I did, there was no more scarring. Over the last four years I’ve helped many clients overcome edema, plantar fasciitis, back pain, headaches, and many other chronic issues.
Reflexology is a therapy entirely unto itself, as is acupuncture or chiropractic work, but I always felt like I wanted to do more. Clients kept asking me for advice not only on what reflexes they could work themselves, but on what to eat, what to meditate on, or what herbs they could take themselves. I’ve used herbs for many years to boost my own health and ease ailments, but I knew I needed more information before passing on any advice.
I’d been thinking of attending a particularly good herbal school for over a year, but the choice to apply was a last minute decision, at best. I was in a serious relationship and owned a thriving reflexology business, so I wanted to make sure I could go all in. I even phoned the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine to make sure I wasn’t going to be wasting my time by filling out an apprenticeship application because I was so late. I scooped together my recommendations from a few wonderful colleagues and friends and in a couple of months I was happy to be accepted as a full time student and apprentice.
The apprenticeship at Pine’s Herbals was easily the best experience. I got one on one time from an experienced herbalist, medicine maker, and clinician (over 25 years) as well as other seasoned apothecary employees. I was able to go on extra scouting and wildcrafting excursions and learn how to make top quality medicine from harvest to finish. My apprenticeship added over 450 extra hours of experience to my initial training.
Loupe for Botanical ID
During the course of 2017, we went through rigorous coursework ranging from anatomy and physiology, to botany, chemistry, and materia medica. The class experienced the flora of the Appalachians surrounding Asheville, NC and Rutland Ohio. We also spent a week at Hostel in the Forest on the Georgia Coast, where I contracted Lyme Disease from a nymph tick off a Saw Palmetto.
This was my first ‘life changing’ experience with using herbal medicine. Up until this point, I had used herbs to treat minor ailments such as digestion issues, headaches, insomnia, and localized pain. As someone who hasn’t had even the flu since she was 7, this was intimidating. High doses of immune boosting herbs, topical applications to the bite, and a quickly changed diet put a stop to that though. I’m not listing the herbs I used here because I want to make it clear that Lyme Disease is not one to mess with. This was a personal choice to not use antibiotics and as a trained herbalist I felt comfortable using the herbs and a Lyme Protocol. I also treated the bite immediately and stuck with the protocol long after the bite.
Herbs are the first line of defense I look to now. My fiance and I have an entire cabinet and shelf dedicated to herbs, tinctures, essential oils, and handy information books. Our ‘ready to use’ tinctures and supplements are handy in this adorable happy home cabinet on our dining table,
a good reminder that herbs are a part of my daily health and wellness, not just a magic bullet I turn to after I’ve made myself sick!
If you’ve been following since Christmas on my Instagram, you’ll see our cute little herb garden is all grown up now, 60 days after planting currently. Having fresh herbs close to the tea kettle reminds me to add a little here, a little there to rice, soups, teas, salads etc. Having fresh herbs is a blessing and a treat!
I’m a woman who loves the natural world, and am thankful that we can reap so many benefits from coexisting with nature. I hope to share with you the secret world of herbs, how to coexist, appreciate, and let them into your home and daily life for peace, thanks, and health. Now that you know more about me, it’s time we met! Schedule an appointment, and we’ll see which herbs are best matched to you!
