Clinical Herbalist, RH (AHG)

The author of several books on herbal medicine and healing, clinical herbalist Elaine Sheff has been passionate about sharing herbal knowledge for over 35 years. She is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild, teaching workshops, and at conferences, both nationally and internationally. She is a graduate of the Rocky Mountain Center of Botanical Medicine and the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. Elaine has an International Certification in Aromatherapy from the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy and is a certified Instructor of the Fertility Awareness Method. She is the Co-Director of Green Path Herb School, where she strives to inspire and empower students and clients to remember their connection to the earth, the plants, and their own healing process. An avid gardener, Elaine is also the president of the Montana Herbal Festival. You can often find her marveling at small flowers in mountain meadows.

Horticulturist and Herbalist

Originally from the Midwest, Sarah was in search of a more wild place! She came to MT in 1999 and graduated from the University of MT in 2001. Montana quickly showed her the diversity of the plant world and she was hooked. Fast forward two decades and she is now creating new programing for Missoula County and MSU Extension as the new Horticulture Extension Agent! “I love connecting people to plants and seeing the inspiration that a good harvest can bring! Herbal concoctions and medicinal plants are her specialty, and she loves to spend a lot of time roaming around in the woods! She is one of the founders of the MT Herbal Festival. Hiking, skiing, and hot springs soaking are some activities I enjoy doing with my two girls!!”

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

Lindsay is an Herbalist and student of a Flower Essences Practitionership living in Missoula. Lindsay's relationship to plants started with gardening from an early age in Maryland, developing quickly when she moved to Montana in 2013 with more access to wild nature and a search for her own healing. Yarrow, Fireweed and Hawthorn were early plant allies and friends that wanted to connect energetically, which ultimately led to Lindsay using plant energetics in her own healing and herbal practice. Moving to Missoula in January 2019, she graduated from Green Path Herb School later that year and is now working towards her Flower Essence Practitionership with Alaskan Essences.

While plant medicine has been a focus of hers for the last 7 years, most of her career has been in marketing and design. She is thrilled to be able to offer these skills and knowledge to support the Montana Herbal Festival board.

In her spare time, Lindsay grows, prepares and donates herbal goods through her mutual aid project, Allied Apothecary. She believes that herbs are medicine for the people and hopes to spread science-based herbal knowledge freely and openly to support access to low-cost personal care in the community.

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. In college, Cat studied Landscape Architecture at the University of Georgia, learning how to design outdoor spaces with plants as her palette. While in school, she tended a large historic garden 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 graduated from the California School of Herbal Studies in 2022 and moved to Missoula shortly after. She is now furthering her herbal education through her work at Meadowsweet and is sharing her passion for plants with the Missoula community through volunteering with Garden City Harvest and the Montana Herbal Festival.

Cat is also a graphic designer, fine woodworker, and textile tinkerer. She loves getting “lost” in the woods, fire tending, and spontaneous acts of creativity.