Herbalist

Kelly has been on an herbal-inspired path since 2000 when she moved from West Yellowstone to a beautiful 10-acre homestead in Yaak, MT. What started as a hobby getting to know native plants soon snowballed into a farmers market booth, bottles of tinctures everywhere and herbs hanging from the roof rafters. After attending the East/West School of Herbology, Kelly opened her own clinic in Bonners Ferry, ID and taught local plant identification & medicine making classes. Moving to Missoula in 2013 presented the opportunity to work at Meadowsweet Herbs! Between working at Meadowsweet and seeing clients locally, Kelly decided that owning Meadowsweet would be her dream job: an opportunity to serve the Missoula community with herbalism and create jobs for fellow herbalists, all while promoting a return to natural health & healing. Some of Kelly's favorite things are her amazing husband and three beautiful sons, gardening & wild-crafting, learning new things about plants & the wonderful community that is Meadowsweet.

Herbalist

Cat’s love for plants began early as she grew up alongside thousands of trees at her family’s ornamental plant farm and nursery. While in college, she studied Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia and tended a large historic garden on campus. This is where her devotion to plants really began to blossom.

She first became herb-curious in 2014 as she looked for alternatives to allopathic medicine and started cultivating more medicinal plants in her home garden. In 2018 she attended her first herbal gathering, the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium, a wonderfully transformative experience for her. She later attended the California School of Herbal Studies in 2022 and moved to Missoula shortly after. After working at Meadowsweet Herbs for a couple of years, she relocated to Red Lodge, MT.

Cat is also a graphic designer, fine woodworker, and textile tinkerer. She loves getting “lost” in the woods, fire tending, and so much more.

My name is Alexis. I arrived in Montana in 2018 to embrace the wild spirit and strong community of the Big Sky state.

Since moving here, I've earned a Master’s of Science at the University of Montana, then taught marketing to undergrads. During my time in school, I founded Digital Marketing Missoula, which provides custom marketing solutions for small business with a personalized and local touch.

Each May-October I get my hands dirty by finding a farmer/rancher in need of some help and haul my travel trailer onsite and immerse myself in their unique operation.

As of fall 2024, I am committed to creating an immersive farmstay on leased land in the Blackfoot River valley, just five minutes west of the cute town of Ovando. The name of this new venture is Orion Farmstead. Our goal is to provide short term rentals to folks looking for an experience that combines education, amazing local foods and products, and a portal into a different way of life.

Cathryn was lucky enough to grow up in the far corner of Northwestern Montana, building tree forts, picking huckleberries and squishing puffballs. As a child, the forest was her playground and it no doubt still is today. She has been foraging around Missoula since moving here in 2013 and has a profound love for this land. She currently attends school for herbal medicine through the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine while working as an herbalist for Meadowsweet Herbs and has completed the Herbal Foundations program through the Green Path Herb School. She has been serving on the board for the Western Montana Mycological Association since 2018 and teaching a wide variety of classes surrounding wild food and medicine through her business Wild Wanders since 2022. Forever a happy student and honored to also be a teacher.

Sydney grew up speaking to the basswood tree in front of her home and animating the lives of flowers that captured her heart. It took many years before these seeds of plant-knowing found the conditions they needed to flourish...and flourish they have! She jointly runs Wild Wanders, a Missoula-based business in which she leads foraging walks, herbal makery sessions, and forest communions, and creates medicine for a wildcrafted Community Supported Apothecary. She has also taught for and served on the board of the Western Montana Mycological Association since 2018. It is her life’s joy to resource people in their journey to remembering their relationships with the plants on which our lives and spirits depend...and finding awe and joy along the way! Fierce mama, cultivatrix, song healer, and intuitive, it is her prayer that her offerings help us remember our roles as stewards of this land.

I was born and raised in Missoula, MT, I have moved away many times but life keeps bringing me back to this beautiful mountain town. My introduction to plant medicine was through mycology and the medicinal benefits of edible fungi. I always loved hiking but it wasn't until I became more interested in where to find mushrooms that I started to really explore the different habitats in Montana and surrounding areas. While learning mushrooms secrets and habits, I started learning about wildflowers and their medicinal values. From there my interest in plant medicine flourished and I have since made an effort to incorporate aspects of that world into my daily life. I will soon have a BS in Animal Medicine and have plans to continue my path in the animal welfare field with an emphasis on plant medicines and their effects on the endocrine system and gut biome. I enjoy wandering around in the woods with my two dogs, sipping coffee and playing cribbage with my partner, learning new skills, cooking, and shooting film photography.