Byron Ballard, BA, MFA, My Village Witch

Byron Ballard is a western NC native, teacher, folklorist and writer. She has served as a featured speaker and teacher at Appalachian Studies Association, Southeast Wise Women’s Herbal Conference, ConVocation, Glastonbury Goddess Conference, Sacred Feminine Rising, Sisters Rising, Starwood, Appalachian HerbFest, and others. She is senior priestess and co-founder of Mother Grove Goddess Temple and the Coalition of Earth Religions/CERES, both in Asheville, NC. Her essays are featured in several anthologies and her books include “Staubs and Ditchwater” (2012), “Asfidity and Mad-Stones” (2015), “Embracing Willendorf” (2017), “Earth Works” (2018), “Roots, Branches, and Spirits” (2021). “Seasons of a Magical Life” (2021). “Small Magics” (Fall, 2025) and “Feral Church” (2025).

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Lisa Bedner, RN, RH(AHG), Pipsissewa Herbs 

Lisa is certified as a Professional Medical Herbalist by the American Herbalist Guild. She is traditionally trained, by her family, as a Native American herbal practitioner, following the teachings of Tihanama, Cherokee, Lenape, and other Nations. As a Medicine Woman and healer of the Tihanama, she practices many of the traditional ceremonies, including sweat lodges and the Healing Drum. Lisa has also studied Western Herbalism and has more than 30 years of experience as a Registered Nurse, understanding both the allopathic and alternative modes of healing. Pipsissewa Herbs grows more than 100 species of medicinal herbs, manufactures traditional herbal medicines, and the farm is certified as an endangered Medicinal Herb Sanctuary by United Plant Savers. www.pipsissewaherbs.com.

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Rebecca Beyer, Herbalist, Blood & Spicebush

Rebecca Beyer is an Appalachian folk herbalist, author, artist and musician who resides in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She has a background rooted in both agricultural science as well as Appalachian Studies in Ethnobotany. She is passionate about the crafts, history, and traditions of Appalachia and all its beings.

 

Howl, Primal Provisions
A cunningman hailing from the Gulf Coast in Mobile, AL, Howl comes from a line of several rural South generations with predominate British Isle, Iberia, and Bavarian Alps European land ties before his ancestor’s migration to Turtle Island. He’s had the honor to call many places home from North Louisiana, Birmingham, New York City, New Orleans, Austin and the Pacific Northwest. While in these places, he learned from various mentors and masters of their crafts — mathematics, land husbandry, herbcraft, occultism, nature attunement, ancestral & survival skills, culinary arts, various fighting and physical arts, woodworking, among many others. All these influences allow him to approach each situation at the liminal space betwixt modern, natural, spiritual, and philosophical realms. Having dedicated himself to the Teutonic Nature Current, his main tools of the trade revolve around rewilding, nature focus, great temporal presence, relations with our other-than-human kin, folk healing, animistic living, and ancestral wisdom. He serves as co-founder and herbalist for Primal Provisions where he shares these threads via animal based folk medicine products and classes.

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Leah Larabell, Clinical Herbalist, Owner of High Garden Tea 

*Conference Sponsor*

Leah descended from a long line of Celtic Cunning Folk and found her ancient gifts in the world of herbalism.  Leah has trained and practiced herbalism for over 20 years and has not only studied Southern Folk Medicine, but lives it.  She is a trained clinical-level herbalist and environmentalist.  Leah is the creator of High Garden Tea, PlantFolk School of Herbalism,  and Sipping Teas and Hugging Trees Podcast.  She is a forever student of nature. Learn more about her at www.highgardentea.com. 

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Phyllis D. Light; MA, RH (AHG), Founder of Appalachian Center for Natural Health

Phyllis D. Light is a fourth-generation herbalist who has studied and worked with herbs, foods and other healing techniques for 30+ years. Her studies in Traditional Southern Appalachian Folk Medicine began in the deep woods of North Alabama with lessons from her grandmother, whose herbal and healing knowledge had its roots in her Creek/Cherokee heritage. Phyllis’ studies continued as an apprentice with the late Tommie Bass, as well as other herbal Elders throughout the Appalachians and the Deep South. In addition to Traditional Folk studies, Phyllis has studied Traditional Western Herbalism, Nutrition, Exercise Science, Body Work and Energy Medicine. She has a Master’s Degree from the University of Alabama in Health Studies, is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild and is on the board of directors of the American Naturopathic Certification Board. http://www.phyllisdlight.com.

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Joanna Mann, Herbalist, Farmer, Co-Owner of Walden FARMacy 

Joanna is co-owner of Walden Farmacy in Bessemer, AL where, alongside her husband, she has the joy of working with plants daily on their regenerative herb farm and homestead. Trevor & Joanna craft small batch herbal remedies with the belief that every person has the capacity to bring themselves into health and wholeness, and that when they do that health ripples out to everything they touch. They call themselves "holistically regenerative" because they grow their herbs in a way that heals the land they farm, believing the health of their community is tied to the health of the land they inhabit. www.waldenfarmacy.com

 

Trevor Mann, Permaculturist, Walden Farmacy

Trevor grew up in Hoover, AL, just across the railroad track and mere miles from the land that would become Walden Farmacy. Always a little different in his thinking, Trevor knew the conventional path was not for him, so he began saving for a cross-country road trip after high school. His travels shifted him and opened his eyes to his greater possibilities in life. Upon returning from his trip, Trevor pursued a spiritual path with a general idea that he was here to bring healing to the earth. When a friend introduced Trevor to permaculture a fire within him was lit that would soon take over and become not only his career, but also his passion. After meeting Joanna and pursuing market gardening for a year, an auspicious mushroom find yet again shifted Trevor’s focus into growing herbs. Trevor received permaculture design training from Spiral Ridge Permaculture and graduated from the family herbalist program at the Appalachian School for Natural Health. www.waldenfarmacy.com

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Christy Miu, Yoga Instructor

When Christy started her own healing journey, she faced many challenges. She thought that yoga could not be for her: she was not flexible, she was stressed, traumatized and felt "unfit". ​ However, she discovered that you don't adjust your body to fit yoga; you adjust your yoga to fit your body! Christy has been a student in the field of yoga since the early 2000s. She has hundreds of hours of training through White Crow Yoga of Nashville, Sacred Awakening/Asmi Yoga of Oregon, Chattanooga Yoga Center, davidji Meditation Academy and Pranamaya studying functional and yin yoga under Paul Grilley. ​

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Michelle Rigling, PhD, The Cavewoman Way

Michelle is the founder of The Wild Medicine Conference and The Midsouth Women’s Herbal Conference. She is a doctorate-level Transpersonal Counselor, Certified Eco-Therapist, and Trauma-Informed Psychedelic Facilitator. Her Private Practice, The Cavewoman Way, is based in Chattanooga, TN and offers soulful retreats and counseling. While Michelle has completed a variety of trainings and apprenticeships, she considers a childhood of playing in the woods, looking for fairies, hearing magical stories and finding belonging among the trees as her most important “training”. www.thecavewomanway.com.​​​​​​

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Tammi Sweet, MS, LMT, Herbalist, Heartstone

Tammi Sweet is the author of The Wholistic Healing Guide to Cannabis and Beginner’s Guide to Growing Cannabis and Making Your Own Healing Remedies. She is cofounder and codirector of The Heartstone Center for Earth Essentials near Ithaca, New York, where she offers workshops and classes in herbal medicine and online courses in anatomy and physiology. She holds a master’s degree in endocrinology and has been teaching anatomy and physiology to a range of students in a variety of learning environments including massage school, herbal school, and college for the past 30 years. She lives and works in the beautiful hills of upstate New York.