Backyard Wildcraft

09/22/2026

07/08/2026

Integrity. Dedication. Community. Stewardship.
These are the words that come to mind when I think of Elise Higley and Jeff and Oshala Farm.

I watched them start the farm after being in herb school with Elise in 2012 and they grew the best quality herbs I could find outside of my own garden or forest.

In 2020 I got a job there in the Herb Lab which I continued until just a month ago. It was such an honor to be part of a dedicated team bringing healing both to the land and to so many humans. My family needs and my own business pulled me away from the job, but I left knowing I would be back often to pick up herbs, for community events, and just to check in on this place and people that had become a second home.

When I heard about the fire, my first thought was that they wouldn’t be able to keep the staff employed. Even with acres of herbs yet to be harvested, if there isn’t a way to dry, process and store the herbs, they wouldn’t be able to be used. So not only would the buildings, seeds, and previous harvests be gone but what was in the ground was as good as lost in my mind.

But then I remembered who the Oshala family is. They say if there’s a will, there’s a way. And there is more “will” in that place than anywhere I’ve ever known.

So of course they will rebuild! It will take time and in the mean time, our donations will help keep the long term committed crew employed to do the work that it takes to get rebuilt.

A donation here is so much more than just money to build a structure. Elise and Jeff have put all of themselves into building a business based on integrity, stewardship, and community. Now we have the opportunity show up and invest in continuing to build a world based on those values. They can’t do it without us.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-rebuild-oshala-farm-after-devastating-fire/cl/s?utm_campaign=fp_sharesheet&utm_content=amp20_t1&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link&lang=en_US

05/20/2026

This is such a great event right in our backyard! There’s still space to register, it’s happening in about a month!

05/18/2026

What a magical weekend with seaweeds! Huge thanks to Katie Baker of Tide Pool Herbs who introduced us to so many new slippery, nourishing friends! We learned, gathered, cooked, did facials and foot baths, and savored this beautiful weekend on the Southern Oregon coast.

If you’re interested in joining us next time, let me know!

04/13/2025

I’m honored to be part of this lineage as a grand-student of Michael Moore.
The free resources still available on his website are incredible! https://swsbm.org/
What a gift he was and continues to be to the field.

03/25/2025

We had such a sweet (pun intended 😉) time at family Maple Camp with the a few days ago learning all about tapping big leaf maple trees! I knew it was possible but had never realized how possible it is.

Thanks to my brother-in-love Allen for discovering it and sister Megan for making it happen for us to attend. And thank you to the trees for capturing sunlight and transforming it into sweetness 💫

Next winter you’ll find me tapping some big leaf maples for sure! And hopefully some alders and black walnuts too!

03/04/2025

Weekend One of Beyond the Backyard is just around the corner, April 11-13 in Port Orford!

We’ll be learning about seaweed with the delightful Katie of , harvesting our own sea salt, meeting and working with coastal and wetland plants, making an herbal preparation together, and enjoying a freshly caught local seafood meal, all while staying in a cozy cottage. 💫😍🤩

If you long for in person time with plants and plant people, this could be the program for you! 6 monthly field trips in various places around the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion.

Register and more info here: https://www.backyard-wildcraft.com/events/beyond-the-backyard-port-orford-weekend