Little Oak Apothecary

The solstice brings us deep rest, and the greatest gift of stillness.

This great stillness is not a time to fear the dark, but listen to its invitation; to allow pause into our lives. Nature stands silent right now.

The solstice also brings us the birth of light. As we step forward into winter, we begin to welcome back the growing of days again. We can welcome back our own light as well.

So today I encourage you to pause and rest. You do not need to grow right now. You do not need to transform. Reflect on what you will leave behind in the great night, and what you will welcome again in the coming light.

But more than anything, this is your time to stand silent—to rest. Happy solstice dear ones. May you find the rest you need today.

Hi hello, it’s been a minute!

As we walk through the last days of autumn and approach the winter solstice I’ve been thinking a lot about rest.

I have been quiet in my practice for almost a year. Stepping back from foraging and medicine making, but growing in teaching and growing in my own education.

I’m proud to say this month, I graduated as a student of the immersion program. I first became a student within the in depth programs Chestnut offers in late 2018, and these past four years have been inspiring and challenging.

In my personal life, I am slowly reaching the end of the most challenging project I’ve ever taken on: building my own cottage on my parent’s little acreage here in the Hills. It’s been the hardest year of my life and also been really cool to see all one can accomplish with help and persistence.

I also met someone lovely, who has been supportive, caring, and makes me laugh. It feels wonderful to feel so seen.

With all this to say, I am feeling deeply ready for rest. I am ready to step into the silent stillness of winter and bed down. So I may continue to be quiet for a bit longer, but I am excited for what 2023 holds. I’m looking forward to the gardens I will grow, the classes I will teach, the medicine I will make, and the wild places I will commune with.

Wishing you all a beautiful end of autumn, and the most restful winter season ahead.

Have you ever wondered why you can find many an oak leaf, but not often a large amount of acorns at a tree’s base here in the hills?

Though our furry forest friends are strategic collectors, they aren’t taking every last acorn. The truth is, our most common species of oak here in the Black Hills is the Bur Oak, Quercus macrocarpa, also sometimes called the Mossycup Oak. This variety of white oak is hardy, strong and very slow growing.

The Black Hills is just about their most western range, and they won’t produce acorns until they are 40 years or older!

My practice is actually named after the bur oak. For they may be small and slow to grow, but they are strong and their roots go deep. Happy Monday dear ones, I hope this week is good to you!

Just a forest hermit taking a study break to commune with the dried grasses and plants this windy day.

Happy Sunday loves, I hope you found time for yourself this weekend. And I hope you are enjoying the first of many a long, cozy evening.

When I return to wild places, I find myself again.

The wind through the pines reminds me how to breathe in and breathe out.

The movement of stones under my feet remind me of balance, and what it means to feel grounded.

What lessons have you found in nature recently?

•Hello November•

Season of descent,
Season of leaf litter and chimney smoke.
Season of long shadows and golden light.
Season of roots and rose hips.

Welcome sweet month.

The three acres I moved to in August is the land I was raised on. It’s been so special to reconnect to this place again after being gone for over a decade. It’s fun and challenging having my parents for neighbors, and the act of returning home has so many layers.

Thinking a lot about how big this transformation has been, and I’m really thankful for the solitude of winter to adjust, rest, and re-emerge anew.

Already day dreaming about the bramble patch I want to introduce to this hillside, and the trees I’d like to plant in the lower field. What kind of future are you dreaming about?

Hello October

Season of rose hips and quiet goodbyes.

Of long shadows and golden sun.

Season of trees and their language.

How I missed you.

Brb just thinking about these monster rosehips from a beach in Massachusetts last year.

Plant alchemy is amazing.

Autumn has arrived. A season of transition and great exchange. While the natural world is in a stage of release—dropping leaves and fruit, setting seed, and pulling energy back down to the roots—our ancestral role as humans is to harvest this bounty, build our stores up for winter, and save seeds for the future.

This season I encourage you to step back into your original nature. Find your rhythm within this exchange, and find ways to live more in step with the season.

Some ways to help form this rhythm again is to ask yourself:
• what seeds for the future do you want to save? Emotional or physical.

•What abundance can you harvest in your life? Emotional or physical.

•What can you release this season?

Living seasonally is a beautiful way to form a stronger bond with the natural world around you, and in turn a stronger bond with your own spirit.

Happy autumn my loves. 🍂

We have reached the last golden day of summer.

I hold a lot of gratitude for this season, and the abundance that bloomed over the last few months.

I invite you to take time to revisit what blossomed in your life and celebrate abundance, no matter how small.

Birds are gathering, wasps are rising up, and the nights are becoming cooler. 🍂

In the last few days I have begun to see the shift in the behavior of the winged friends around the forest, and their gathering energy to take flight tells me we are in the last few truly warm days before Autumn arrives.

What signs are you seeing in these very last days of Summer?

Sweet yarrow, still blooming on these last sun soaked days of summer. We are entering into the great season of transition; of exhale and release.

I welcome the return of Autumn, but I will stand here and soak up the last bit of summer alongside dear Yarrow.

Taking a moment to appreciate how stunning the blooms of Artemisia frigida better known as fringed sagebrush are.

There are a few beautiful varieties of sagebrush growing throughout my region, and though wormwood is always a showy find, my heart belongs to the tumbling fringed sagebrush, and the way it glows after an autumn rainstorm.

It is so so smoky in the Black Hills, but we are the lucky ones, with no active fires currently. This smoke is blowing in thick from fires in Oregon, and my heart goes out to everyone affected.

For anyone struggling with the smoke, now is the time to lean into your hydration and demulcent herbs. Licorice, slippery elm, and marshmallow root are a few easy to come by herbs that will really help support you during these dry smoky times. One of my favorite ways to use demulcent herbs is by making a cold infusion tea.

Don’t forget your sinuses! Steam inhalation is another soothing way to help feel better, and any tea you may reach for to drink, you can make in a bowl to lean over with a towel draped over your head, and simply breathe in deeply. The steam will carry the goodness of soothing herbs into your sinuses and help revive your mucosal membranes.

I have been leaning into this prolific wild w**dy friend, curlycup gum w**d, (Grindelia squarrosa ). This lovely little plant is similar in medicinal benefits to Calendula. But the real star component to this herb is it’s sticky resinous blooms. The resin from these buds sooth bronchitis, dry lingering coughs, asthma, skin abrasions, poison ivy rashes and so much more.

One of my favorite methods for working with Grindelia is to infuse it into honey, to be stirred into teas or used as a base for a healing syrup.

You’ll find curlycup gum w**d growing along roadsides, areas of disturbance, and forest clearings. Make sure you are foraging from clean locations, and wear gloves or else you’ll have the stickiest hands in the west!
**d

Waking up to cooler, crisp mornings has me eagerly anticipating rosehip foraging. A hard frost will be here any day now in the higher elevations of the Black Hills.

I’m working on more extensive plant profiles of the amazing medicinals of my region, and I’ll be sharing soon, so stay tuned! 🍂

I woke up to a gloriously cool morning that quite suddenly felt like fall, with temps in the 40s.

And what do you know, and I found a very wild little apple tree in the middle of the woods. Maybe remnants from a homestead long gone?

Either way it felt like a very magical welcome back to the harvest season. Now to see if I can successfully germinate some of these rogue apple’s seeds!

Me and my jazz hand are here to remind you to join and I for our last plant walk of the summer! This Sunday, September 11 at 9:00 am.

These walks are so much fun. I truly love getting to spend time in the forest and talk about the amazing medicine we can connect with in nature. And Rebecca curates a beautiful flow that connects to the plants I showcase throughout the walk.

It’s a special time! Sign up on the MINDBODY app through the yoga studio. Information and directions to the trail will be emailed to you. Can’t wait to spend the morning with you all! 🌿

Stumbled across a beautiful carpet of Bunchberries, also known as creeping dogwood.

These wild native berries are a new find for me and I am excited to learn more about them. After a bit of quick research, I’ve found they are edible, high in pectin which is widely used for making jams and jellies, but is also known to lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels, and their stems and leaves contain analgesic properties.

As always with sustainable and ethical foraging, I only forage for herbs and plants that are widely dispersed in an area and are not rare or endangered. Though it looks like bunchberry is fairly common, it is a rare sight for me so I left these where they were happily tucked into the forest undergrowth.

Happy exploring! Don’t forget to slow down and look at your surroundings my friends, you may spot something new!

Hello dear ones! There are quite a few new faces here, after my sweet school, featured my student testimony. So I thought I would introduce myself to you all!

My name is Sarah (she/her) and I am an herbalist and general forest hermit, living in the profoundly beautiful Black Hills of a South Dakota. I want to start by acknowledging that the traditional Lakota name for this land is Paha Sapa, and it is Oceti Sakowin territory. I stand in solidarity with the movement.

I have been a lover of plants my entire life, building a strong connection with nature at an early age. I began studying herbalism full time in 2018, and my practice has been centered around connection with the land around us.

My practice is a blend of education, exploration and medicine making. I craft small batch medicinals, using wild foraged or organically grown herbs by myself. I believe true vitalism and wholistic living begins by connecting with the plants and environment around us so I never use outsourced herbs. I love the strong connection I feel when I make medicinals with plants that I have seen start from seed, or plants I have visited in the wilds and ethically and sustainably foraged.

I also teach workshops and lead plant walks throughout the year here in the Black Hills area (shoutout to for hosting me for most of these!) and I have a real love for education. Being able to spark curiosity and connect others to the magic of nature means everything to me and has helped me grow more than ever.

I recently completed (well mostly completed) converting a garage on the three acres I was raised on, into a sweet little cottage. I feel so grateful for the access and ability to create this home, and for land access to grow my own gardens.

I will forever be a student and have a lot to learn, but I feel thankful for the strong foundation I have formed so far, and I am just thrilled to be on this green path.

My inbox is always open if you have questions! I hope you have a beautiful day. 🌿✨

This calendula reseeded it self from last season, sprouted and survived being eaten almost completely by a rabbit, and has had zero care from me while I was working on the cottage.

I’m proud of them and how hard they are working to bloom. Let’s all be like calendula. ✨

This poison hemlock lines a section of my favorite trail 5 minutes from home. I walk here almost every single day, and I’ve watched her mature and grow taller than me—well over 5 and a half feet at this point.

I don’t think I would have ever guessed that a plant I would form a relationship with and befriend in a way would be a poisonous one that I won’t ever forage or work with in my practice. And this is what I love most about nature. This is why I will always stand in awe of the connection waiting to be made between ourselves and the plant world.

Every day I say hello as I pass her by and I am listening for what lessons she holds for me. Maybe a lesson in boundaries, or what it means to stand tall. A lesson in simply existing, and blooming no matter what the world may say about you.

So very excited for our July yoga walk + plant talk!

Join us this Sunday, July 10 at 9 am. Sign up on MINDBODY through , and you will get an email with all the information for the walk.

We can’t wait to see you on the trail.

Just a soft reminder from a field of crown vetch to remember to find moments of beauty and care for yourself, even when everything feels overwhelming.

Body sized burdock is my kinda burdock.
**dymedicinals

It was a beautiful day spent in the forest for Yoga Walk + Plant Talk with and I’m just so thankful for each and every one of you who joined us and listening to some of my favorite facts about the natural world around us.

Don’t worry if you missed, we will be doing walks all summer long, our next one being July 10.

Have a beautiful rest of your Sunday everyone! Don’t forget to ground your spirit in some nature if you can.

Hi hello! I’ve been a touch quiet here on the gram, but I wanted to pop by and let you all know Yoga Studio Inc., Rapid City, SD and I will be hosting our first Plant Talks + Yoga Walks of the summer next Sunday, June 12 at 9:00 am.

We will be talking about plants, and our connection to nature and our bodies and we would love to see you there!

Visit and sign up on the MINDBODY app to join us, and DM me if you have any questions!
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Hello everyone! I know I’ve been pretty quiet as of late, I’ve just been super busy chugging along with my cottage build.

If you haven’t seen previous mentions, I am converting an old garage into my own little cottage out in the Hills. It’s been a long process, a lot of stress, but a lot of fun as well.

I won’t officially move for a few weeks, and will probably have a list of things that still need completing, but I truly couldn’t be more excited to finally begin packing things up.

First on the list of packing is the apothecary! So it’s time to close the online Apothecary temporarily, but don’t worry I’ll reopen with some new celebratory items midsummer once I’m all settled.

I’m an overwhelmed, saw dust covered EXCITED forest hermit and I can’t thank you enough for always being here cheering me on. I promise I’ll post some photos soon!

Little Oak Apothecary added a Shop on Website button to their Page.

My favorite smell in all the land. Welcome back Dodecatheon!

The most beautiful early spring native blooms that are not always given the spotlight they deserve.

• Lomatium foeniculaceum, known by its common name as carrot leaf desert parsley, or biscuitroot. This is a native plant and indigenous food staple.

• Another species of Lomatium, that I can’t quite nail down, but I think is maybe “common desert parsley”. They are referred to as biscuitroot because their starchy bulbs indeed taste bread like from the research I have done—I have never foraged for biscuitroot myself, as I tend to stick to the wild w**dy friends.

•This last beauty is what I believe to be a kittentail, but I have also been considering Salix arctica also known as the Arctic willow.

Why I lean towards the arctic willow is a lesser known fact about South Dakota. That is the story of Niels Ebbeson Hansen, a horticulturalist from the 1800s. (Swipe to see photo)

When Niels first laid eyes on the great northern plains, he proclaimed them to be his “American Siberia.”

He made it his life’s work to study and cultivate cold hearty crops that would survive the harsh seasons of South Dakota—and in doing this he made multiple expeditions to the tundra to collect seeds, and brought these species back to the northern plains.

The power humans can have on the ecosystem is fascinating. The way seeds move with people around the world is so cool. So are these beautiful spring native plants.

Walk gently my friends, and don’t forget to pause and notice the forest floor now and then.

The crab apple blossoms in my back yard, today vs. April 30th 2021. We have definitely had a colder spring this season and the plants are slow to wake up.

I love the way the elements all weave together and that I get to observe the dance between weather, the seasons and the plants in my bioregion.

Are you noticing any differences this spring compared to last spring where you live? I’d love to hear!

The sensitive ferns/Onoclea sensibilis are popping out to say hello.

Happy earth day! I wanted to talk a little about my practice as a bioregional herbalist.

Since I first began deepening my relationship with plants and studying herbalism full time, nearly 4 years ago now, my heart has been rooted in connection to the land and connecting others back to nature.

My focus has always been on learning how I can live in step, in a more loving and nurturing way with the landscape around me. And how I can help others do so in a respectful way.

When I work with plant medicine, the only way that felt true to my heart has been to practice growing my own herbs from seed, and regenerative wild foraging. It is a form of connection that has taught me so much.

Foraging is a practice that I hold a lot of respect for. I have spent years studying the safety, ethics, and sustainability behind foraging wild medicinals, and it is why you will never see me with a large stock of products to sell. It is also why, when I speak with others about wild foraging, I want to instill the importance of pausing and asking, “do I need this plant? Have I asked this plant’s permission to use its medicine? Is this medicine mine to use?” I know I have a lot to learn myself in how to walk on this land in a gentle way, so let’s learn together. That is the heart of connection to me.

I hold a deep reverence for the indigenous land I occupy, and it is deeply important to me to respect the traditions, medicines, and people who tended this land before colonization. There is no connecting to the land without understanding it’s history of colonization, and oppression, and that I was born on stolen land.

I will always be a student and I don’t think a day goes by that I won’t learn something amazing about plants. I want to thank everyone who has followed my journey so far, whether you have purchased a product, joined me for a class, or held a conversation with me, I’m so thankful for you. I hope I have connected others to the magic of nature and I hope I get to keep doing that for a very long time!

Hello, yes, can we please talk about how absolutely adorable Dandelion stigmas are? Those are the little curly doodads sticking out of each floret.

Stigmas are the top part of the pistil, which is the term for the female reproduction part of a flower. The stigma’s job is to catch pollen and filter it down to the ovaries within the flower.

Did you know Taraxacum officinale (dandelions) are also not one singular flower but a cluster of thousands of tiny flowers arranged in a “disk and ray” floret arrangement? This is a common identifying factor in species of the asteraceae (sunflower) family.

So the next time you see a humble little dandelion, take a moment to get up close and see how absolutely amazing they really are!

“There is an ancient conversation going on between mosses and rocks, poetry to be sure. About light and shadow and the drift of continents. This is what has been called the "dialect of moss on stone - an interface of immensity and minute ness, of past and present, softness and hardness, stillness and vibrancy, yin and yan.” —Robin Wall Kimmerer; Gathering Moss

I’m so excited for another summer of Yoga Walks + Plant Talks with

Dates and locations will be announced later this spring. Join us for a hike, a plant lesson from yours truly, and a beautiful yoga flow in nature.

These are such a joy, and I can’t wait to see you all in the forest again this summer!

My heart is singing! I woke up to a misty, rain soaked morning, and once I made my way into the forest I was greeted with soft Pulsatilla patens, or better known by their common name, Pasque Flowers.

I have had a lifelong friendship with this flower, and they are the true marker of spring here in the Black Hills. The first bloom to peek her head out of the underbrush of the forest floor, wearing a soft downy coat of white hair to protect from a chance of early spring frost.

What are the first signs of spring in your bio region? I’d love to hear!

Happy Saturday dear ones! I had a lovely conversation with a friend this morning and I am feeling very inspired for what this year will hold and the excited opportunities unfurling with spring. Wishing you all a weekend as joyful as this little Kinnikinnick Berry.

•My favorite color palette•

My hikes as of late have been a mix of excitedly looking for the beginnings of spring, but appreciating all of the color that fills the forest all season long, like this pretty lichen.

Learning to appreciate the beauty of every single day.