Herbal Connections, Yo

In the 17th episode, “Herbal Connections, Yo” of the Positive Fantastic podcast I interviewed my dear friend and amazing herbalist Keoma McCaffrey. Keoma and I met in herb school, and immediately became close friends. Every time we went to herb school, she blew my mind with what she had created.

She wasn’t just an amazing student, she was really already a fully engaged herbalist in her own right. While most of us had the good sense to seek out an herbal school to learn more, Keoma came to the table with a full buffet of courses already prepared. There’s not really a hierarchy in herb school, but if there had been a valedictorian, Keoma was obviously it.  Every single month that we met for school, she brought amazing medicinal products that she had grown in her garden and processed at home. Every time, without fail, she wowed me with her abilities.

Keoma was an avid woodworker and had her own company called “Willow the Wisp” and over the years she has gifted me several gorgeous wood carved pieces that she had crafted as well as functional art pieces, like the hand hewn sauerkraut pounder that, before the fire, was one of my most relished possessions.

After our first year in herb school, our teacher, Donna D’Terra asked us both to become part of the teaching team. So, Keoma and I got to have several more years of playing with plants together at Donna’s Herbal Motherland. She taught an herbal craft project each class, and I taught some kitchen witchin’, usually a fermentation project of some sort. 

Part of what I love the most about Keoma is her blend of commitment to her craft and her love of laughter. She embodies a clear reverence for the plant world and a humility that I find very refreshing. Keoma shared her herbal lineage of teachers during our podcast, and I appreciated how she gave accolades to the ones who have come before, and since I share the same lineage of Donna D’Terra who learned from Rosemary Gladstar, who learned from Juliette Barclay Levi who lived with and learned from the Romani people of Europe.

I was grateful that Keoma knows who she is and where her knowledge comes from —we would all do well to appreciate that folks that have helped us become who we are. When I am around Keoma, we laugh so hard —mostly at ourselves, but with absolute love and joy. We are both loud, outspoken, and zany women, and we know it. Our presence in each other’s lives amplifies our own permission to take up the space we need to be our fullest expressions of ourselves. 

And as much as I appreciate Keoma’s reverence for the art of herbalism, I also adore her irreverent humor. I remember one day at herb school, Keoma took me aside to tell me something important. “You know that toilet that’s up in Laytonville?” I shook my head, “yes,” for Laytonville does have this very iconic toilet seat in the middle of a field, right on the 101, not far from the “Don’t Forget the Magic” sign, which has always held a special place in my heart, and which Keoma’s family put up! “Well, I tell you, that’s my toilet. I put it there, and yesterday I was coming back from town and lo and behold there was a tour bus that had pulled over and people were taking selfies with my toilet!” I roared at this admission, so pleased with my good friend Keoma and her good sense of humor. 

Every episode of my audio podcast has a complimentary video segment that I put together for my Youtube channel. Because, why not? I love the written word, I love audio, and I’m learning to navigate super amateur video arts. Filming with Keoma was an uproarious experience. We both laughed so hard that we literally cried. After about a dozen out-takes, we finally stopped laughing long enough to make our video. My son, who was happily eating a chocolate cake that Keoma had made in the next room over, kept asking “What’s so funny?” Which only made us laugh even more. 

It felt so good to be able to visit Keoma and interview her for “The Positive Fantastic.” In addition to our skipping along memory lane, I got to hear about Keoma’s company Anarchy Herbals, her upcoming book about Tea, her national herbalist database project connecting farmers with medicine makers, and the school that she founded called the Central Vally Herbal Studies Program. This woman rocks.

Check out my channel at YouTube.com/morinatura to a see video of Keoma in her classroom and garden for the Central Valley Herbal Studies Program with fun out-takes!!!

Keoma begins accepting students for the Central Valley Herbal Studies program annually in January. Classes start in late February or early March and run for one Saturday a month for 9 months. Alternatively, Sundays are available for drop in classes for people that want to check out Keoma’s offerings about specific herbal teachings. 

You can follow Keoma on her Facebook page about her herbal classes called: centralvalleyherbalstudies 

You can email her directly about class offerings and opportunities at anarchyherbals@yahoo.com

Or you can call this amazing green, cottage, kitchen, hedge, and hearth witch for more information about Herbal Connections, Yo, you can call her to discuss the herbalist database she’s creating, the herbal studies program she founded, and/or the tea parties she’s leading at (707)354-0760.