I am a writer and anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through my work with plants, herbal medicine, and the botanical industry.
In 2016 I launched a Kickstarter to document the people and places behind the finished herbal products we find on our shelves. To my astonishment, I raised over $60,000, much of it in donations of $35. That began the research on which this book is based. In 2017 I launched the multi-media website, the Sustainable Herbs Project and in 2018 the project was renamed the Sustainable Herbs Program  under the auspices of the American Botanical Council.
Before beginning this journey, filmmaker Terry Youk and I co-produced, Numen: the Nature of Plants, the first feature length documentary celebrating the healing power of plants. That film was inspired by my experience studying herbal medicine with Rosemary Gladstar at her teaching center at Sage Mountain.
Before turning to herbal medicine, my heart was in Nepal and the Himalayan mountains. After college, I spent 18 months working in Tibetan refugee communities. I later returned to conduct research for a doctorate in anthropology. The ethnographic memoir, Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, is based in part on my research Nepal and how I continued to explore questions of culture and community after my return home.
I was a 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar documenting the supply chain of medicinal plants in India and have taught Asian Medical Systems, among other courses, at Dartmouth College.
Though my work focuses on the herb industry, I am interested in much broader questions about our role as citizens of the world and how, through our choices about the commodities we buy, we impact that world.
What might exploring stories about efforts to responsibly source and produce herbal products show us about living more lightly on the earth? What insights do these stories offer for how to treat each other, the earth, and ourselves with more care and respect? And finally, what can we learn about creating worlds that are healthier—physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually?
I live with my family in central Vermont.