In the early 1970s, disgruntled with straight medicine and an educational system where soldiers with big guns were posted on campus, Cascade Anderson Geller channeled her political activism into healing and started three food cooperatives across the U.S. Taking advantage of her love of the outdoors and her Appalachian family heritage of wildcrafting herbs and foods, she decided to pursue becoming an herbalist as a way to gather up her passions into one basket. In 1979, she was a founding member of the Everett House Healing Center in Portland, Oregon, where she saw clients and taught classes.

She served on the faculty of the National College of Naturopathic Medicine, Bastyr College, Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, and the California School of Herbal Studies and taught at many other institutions and conferences. She was trained by a host of people who walk their talk, including the late Ella Birzneck, Norma Myers, and Juliette di Bairacli Levy, as well as many others living in remote regions across the Earth.

This interview covers Cascade’s origins as an herbalist and answers HerbMentor member questions.