The Elder Tree Podcast

During this episode, I chat with Kristin Zanotti, an integrative Naturopath with over 10 years experience working alongside some of Australia’s best integrative practitioners, including Dr Oscar Serrallach, whose book ‘The Postnatal Depletion Cure’ she was honoured to contribute to. Her roots are in South Western WA, in beautiful Cape Naturalist amongst the old growth forests and close to the ocea...

Astrologer, Ayurvedic Herbalist and Marketing consultant Benjamin Haynes talks to Stephanie Hazel about how his shift from sought-after marketing and advertising strategist to yoga teacher and Ayurvedic practitioner are all part of his astrological chart. They discuss how astrology offers us a map of the archetypal energies that shift and change in the living world of which we are a part, and how...

Robin Clayfield is a Permaculture pioneer, educator, facilitator and best-selling author who is passionate about healthy groups, organisations and communities, their structures and governance and most importantly, their facilitation and group dynamics. She presents and consults around the world to support global health, group and personal well-being, and whole systems change through using Permacul...

Today's interview is a great discussion with Cat Green from Everyday Empowered. Cat is a home herbalist and grassroots community herbal organiser and educator. She's passionate about making it easy -and normal - for people to make simple, effective herbal remedies at home. She believes home herbalism is all about reclaiming our capacity to care for ourselves and our families, as well as re...

Sue Daly is a Naturopath of 25 years, with a wealth of experience and a background in education. Her passion is herbal medicine and she’s recently released Sappho, a divine skincare range featuring healing botanicals.  During our chat, Sue shares how a love of spending time in nature as a young child, led to a calling to complete a home remedy herbal medicine course when her children were young. T...

Lily of The Herbs and Stephanie Hazel go deeply and humbly into the mystery of herbalism: how little we actually know about plants, how true herbal mastery means being able to hold what you do know and the endless mystery of what you can't know, how finding yourself walking the plant path can be a mystery of its own. They share powerful personal stories of Mugwort that span expelling enormous...

Blake Hudson, also known as the Eartheartisan, is a leader in the world of permaculture consulting, design, and education. With a passion for utilising cutting-edge technology to conduct site analysis and read landscapes, Blake is able to provide tailored edible garden plans or "green prints" for clients seeking to grow organic food in their home gardens. From urban blocks to hobby lifes...

Monica Francia is a herbalist, naturopath, nutritionist and herbal educator who is a passionate about community herbalism. Monica has a strong values-based practice with a focus on accessibility, social justice, equality, and environmental sustainability. She works in the clinic at Goulds in Hobart, Tasmania for the past 6 years. Monica works hard to co-create more community resilience via her com...

In this episode, I welcome Women’s Health Naturopath, Emma Jacques to the podcast. Emma’s always had a love of eating and growing good food and spending time outside in nature and in her garden. Undertaking a 4 year Bachelor Naturopathy degree while also birthing and caring for 2 children and coming face to face with ‘mum burnout’, inspired her to focus on Women’s Health and in particular ‘Motherc...

Stephanie Hazel interviews environmental activist and cofounder of the Deep Ecology movement John Seed on how Deep Ecology is a powerful philosophy for herbalists, plant folk and all humans living with grief and confusion around the devastation of the natural world. By getting humans out of the driver's seat of existence, and remembering that we are one strand in the web of life not the spider...

'The Perma Pixie' is Taj Scicluna's small business, based on her deep poetic love of the Botanical Realm. Taj is an artist who fuses together her love of Herbalism, Foraging, Writing, Cooking, Ecosystem Health, Personal Health and Education into a cohesive offering. Her business is a platform for creativity, a place to weave the romantic wonder of the botanical into something tangible...

In this episode I interview Christopher Smith, who is an extraordinary person doing some really important work in the herbal community in Australia. Christopher is a herbalist, horticulturalist and herbal educator He draws on over 40 years of horticultural experience to grow a line of rare and endagered herbs at the herb farm he runs called Tinderry Mountain Herbs, at Tinderry Mountain near Canber...

During this episode, I chat with Zoe King, a Bachelor qualified Naturopath who runs a Norfolk Island based clinic, dispensary and store. She’s a new mum and understands first hand, the unique challenges facing mothers who also juggle small business ownership. During our chat, we touch on Zoe’s first experience of plant medicine as a small child. Her Mum loved to care for the family using home reme...

The Elder Tree founder, Tatiana Dawn (aka Twiggy) talks to us about her profound early experiences of being known by plants and the the land of her childhood. We discuss how medicinal herbs can remind us of our profound interconnectedness with all of life; their way of being effortlessly connected with the rest of the living world can act as a doorway for us to be reminded of the sacredness of lif...

Koa Windsong has been cultivating an extensive knowledge of Australian bush tucker and survival skills, living off the land for much of the last four decades around the northern rivers of NSW and Far North Queensland. As a respected elder, he is a wisdom sharer, inspiring and teaching his knowledge to people of all ages with practical in-person workshops about the local wild foods and medicines an...

Dipaunka Macrides is an alchemist, teacher, author, aromatherapist and herbalist elder in Gidgeegannup, WA on Nyoongar country. In this interview we explore Dipaunka's world andhis influences and inspirations as a herbal medicine teacher.  We talk about his dispensary which boasts over 350 tinctures- 90% of which he makes himself.  We uncover Dipaunka's motivations to become a herbal edu...

In today's episode, I’m chatting with Sally Kingsford-Smith, a Naturopathic Herbalist, Reiki Practitioner and teacher, practicing on the land of the Wangal people of the Eora nation. Sally is a graduate of the Dorothy Hall School of Herbal Medicine and through her teachings, continues Dorothy’s legacy. During our chat, we delve into Sally’s first forays into the plant world, playing with the fairi...

Lis Conlon is a deeply experience herbal medicine practitioner and teacher, whose diverse teaching experience spans teaching 5000+ students in Naturopathic colleges about research in evidence based medicine, to facilitating shamanic drum journeys. She emphasises that anyone can have a sacred experience of the plant world, and shares some of the more memorable of these in her life. We talk about he...

Erin Young is a mover and shaker in the realm of social permaculture and tunes in with us from Kabi Kabi country near Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast. As a certified Human Potential Coach and Sociocracy trainer, she shares insight into how she brings nature-informed frameworks and a holistic toolkit to help individuals and forward-thinking organisations balance nervous systems to establish safety an...

In this episode, I had the great pleasure of interviewing a teacher of mine- Sandra Parker who has been a clinical herbalist since the 1980s and is based in the beautiful location of Deloraine in Tasmania. Sandra is an incredibly wise and experienced herbalist who has been manufacturing herbal medicine since the year 2000.  She had the amazing opportunity to learn from and work with the renow...

Caroline Parker is a herbalist, forager, farmer and facilitator, with a studio in the misty Wombat Forest on Dja dja wurrung and Wadawurrung land where she blends her award winning teas and tisanes. During our chat Caroline shares her introduction to the world of plants as a suburban kid growing up in the 80’s and 90’s. Her Mum’s a very keen gardener and the family loved to visit the local nursery...

Stephanie Hazel interviews medical polymath Jimi Wollumbin, who shares his research on the deeply mythic, mystical and sophisticated roots of Western Herbal Medicine - digging all the way back to Ancient Greece to discover teachings on Qi and Numa, underground group psychedelic journeys and forgotten Hippocratic traditions. We discuss the difference between Immanence and Transcendence as ways of e...

Elizabeth Jinks is a midwife, mother of seven, seed saver and a syntropic food forester. With a Masters' in Primary Maternity Care, she is committed to delivering informed, personalised care that empowers women to birth well, whether in a hospital, birth centre or from the comfort of home. From birthing six of her babies at home with the same midwife, Beth is passionate about offering this con...

In this episode, Tatiana Dawn interviews her partner Sam Marsh who has been running wild plant foraging walks and tincture-making workshops for the past 3 years at their permaculture farm in Ravenshoe, QLD. Sam shares his mentors and inspirations such as Koa Windsong, Kevin Kossowan, Arthur Haines, and even Tatiana.   He speaks of his biggest inspirations being people who have deep conne...

This episode, Jen Campbell, a a traditional herbalist in Bunbury WA on Wardandi Noongar country, shares how a life changing accident provided the portal for her to discover her passion and special connection with herbal medicine. Jen has a strong focus on bringing herbs back to the community and into our homes. She’s passionate about making herbal medicine more attainable and accessible to all mem...