OUR INSTRUCTORS
Our courses and workshops are taught by incredibly knowledgeable herbalists, master gardeners, botanists, and healers from diverse backgrounds.
Teresa Boardwine, RH (AHG)
Teresa is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild and has been a practicing herbalist for over twenty years. She founded Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine in 1994, and she still teaches most of the school’s programs while also providing clinical consultations for clients in the community surrounding Green Comfort. Before she discovered the powerful world of plants, Teresa’s career was in teaching, which allows her to develop curriculums that integrate both the science and the art of herbalism.
During her time at the California School of Herbal Studies, Teresa had the opportunity to learn from many of the great herbalists of our time, including David Hoffmann, James Green, Amanda McQuade Crawford, James Snow, and Michael Moore. Teresa served as an herbal educator at Smile Herb Shop in College Park, Maryland and then went on to open Dreamtime Center of Herbal Studies with fellow herbalist Kathleen Maier.
Teresa is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild who has taught workshops at various companies and lectured for national conferences such as Medicines from the Earth Symposium, Southeast Women’s Herbal Conference, North Carolina Herb Conference, UVA, Monticello Fall Harvest Festival, and the National Natural Pharmacy Association. She has authored 2 books; Cordially Yours and Herbal Spa with an accompanying DVD of recipes.
Stratton Semmes, RH (AHG)
Stratton Semmes has lived inside and outside of Rappahannock County since 1970, and has been living in the county now full-time for 7 years. She is a registered landscape architect who received her master’s degree at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She has had design practices in both California and Maryland, and has taught at Morgan State University, California State Polytechnic University, and George Washington University.
Following a motor vehicle accident, when she arrived at the hospital via helicopter and woke up to find herself wearing a Jane Doe bracelet, she became interested in alternative methods of healing. Her interests have led her to the study of biofeedback, nutrition, shamanism, and herbal medicine. Stratton began her studies with Teresa Boardwine of Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine, and has studied with other herbalists, including Matthew Wood, Margi Flint, and David Winston. She is a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalist Guild.
Stratton gets great satisfaction inspiring and educating others so that they may learn to use herbs to benefit their own wellbeing.
Lenna Frances Keefer
Lenna Frances Keefer, is a lifelong student of alchemy, art, sciences, botany and the inter-connectedness of life relationships. She runs Tara Luna Y Sol Botanical Arts, a family business which teaches, practices and pollenates ideas, skills and crafts including biodynamic agriculture, basketry, botanical illustration, herbalism, plant whispering, native plant ecology, and sustainable co-creative land stewardship. Her formal education includes biology, botany and cartography and she has been studying and practicing biodyanmic gardening for many years. Lenna is grateful for all the teachers before her, and indigenous cultures. She aspires to play outside with Queendom Plantae and the Cosmos with children of all ages. Lenna continues to teach at Yoga Jam, an annual outdoor festival in Floyd, VA and she provides flower bouquets to the annual Medicines From the Earth Conference.
