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Hi there,

We moved in June.

We packed up our home of five years, our two cats, our toddler, hundreds of jars, and my classroom. We traveled across the Delaware River and moved to a town that is 20 full minutes away.

You probably know my story by now: I started Locust Light as a one-acre herb farm (in PA) then scaled down to a quarter-acre teaching garden (in NJ) and happily grew herbs and taught classes there for five years until my lease ended. I rented a classroom (in NJ) for two years. Now, we have moved back to PA. I have an office (blessedly), but no classroom. No teaching garden, no farm.

I had decided, back when my lease ended, that I wouldn't start another farm until I owned the land. It's simply too costly (time, money, emotions) to keep starting a new farm every few years.

So here I am. The dream of Locust Light remains the same: to be a place where people can connect with plants as living beings. The dream is big, and I'm committed to it, though the physical footprint of Locust Light has gotten smaller and smaller over the past nine years.

A move of twenty minutes is, objectively, not far. But I live in a hyper-local way: my library, my creek spot, my post office, my coffee shop. The person I wave to on my daily walk. These places are now too far to frequent, especially with a toddler in tow.

The toddler is blissfully happy at our new home but also hasn't been sleeping, which is to say we are not sleeping, so we've been moving through life in a fog.

Our summer has felt like a swamp, a mire, a haze, a struggle to keep the dishes washed.

I've stolen a few days to journal and plan, and I came across this phrase:

You are dis-oriented to be re-oriented.

So that's what I've been focusing on when the disorientation of the move and sleep deprivation leaves me feeling like it's work just to exist:

What am I being re-oriented toward?

I've also been reminding myself of everything that has remained constant: my relationships, my dreams for Locust Light, the river that I keep moving back and forth across.

So here's the short of it: You haven't heard from me in 3 months because I moved and I'm still putting my life together.

I won't be offering in-person classes again until 2025. (I need to find new places to teach!)

​Online classes continue to be available. I hope to (finally!) update and relaunch Herbs for Living in the next few months.

I am updating my consultation offerings to make them simpler and more accessible- stay tuned!

There is still time to apply for David Winston's Two-Year Herbalist Training Program - more below.

And, hopefully, I'll be working normal hours again from here on out.
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yours in re-orientation,

Amanda

David Winston's Center for Herbal Studies

Two-Year Herbalist Training Program

There's still time to apply! The program starts mid-September, so this is the time to apply if you're interested.

Basics about the Two-Year Program:

• 2-year course starting in Sept. 2024
• Classes are Tuesday nights, 5:00-9:30pm EST, held virtually
• Classes are live (you can ask questions!) and also recorded
• Recordings are available for the duration of the program and for a few months after the program ends.
• There are local plant walks for local students that are filmed for distant students.
• You learn how to be a clinical herbalist. Very thoroughly.

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Community Bulletins

• ​Bluestem Botanicals, a local herb farm, has opened a store in Doylestown!
• The BotanicWise Women's Herbal Gathering is coming up - Sept. 13-15. I'll be there! I'm excited to hang out with herby friends. If you're looking for herbal community, a conference is a great place to start.
• Want to study Anatomy & Physiology geared toward herbalists?

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