Plant-Powered Collaboration: An Herbalism Brand Shoot
My mom passed her love of plants and gardening to me at a very early age (though there were a few teenage years where I had to pretend I didn’t think it was cool). We were always taking care of plants inside and out. Though we weren’t always successful, I came to love the process of caring for another living thing. In college, I tried my hand at growing edible things: tomatoes, cilantro, and strawberries. In the beginning of covid lockdown, I built planter boxes and had over 60 plants by the end of the summer. I’m definitely not an expert with plants by any means, but working with them does bring me joy. It was no surprise that I eventually became fascinated with herbalism.
In February of 2021, I was struggling. I’ve dealt with chronic pain most of my life, and it had been getting worse for months. Along with the rest of the world, I was also struggling with the changes brought on over the past year and all the horrible things that had been brought to light. I got covid for the first time and was out of work for almost 2 weeks. During that time, I started watching a show called Outlander. The main character is an herbalist healer and I was immediately obsessed. Between the isolation, the brain fog, and binging about 6 episodes a day, I found inspiration. Getting covid and watching Outlander at the same time led to a life-altering ‘ah ha’ moment. It became undeniably clear to me that I had so much more power over my life and health than I was giving myself credit for. It was the revelations from that time period that led me to quit my job, pursue photography full time, and find alternative ways of reducing my chronic symptoms.
After I got better, I dove into herbalism headfirst. I bought books, I attended workshops, I followed all the Instagram accounts. That’s how I found Cassidy of Moss Herbalism. She’s a clinical herbalist based here in Seattle. We had been following each other for a little while and I’d been thinking about asking her if she was interested in a trade when she messaged me asking the same thing! We met at Green Lake Park one day and instantly clicked. Cassidy is a wonderful listener and she’s passionate about finding tailored solutions that fit with your lifestyle. She has so much knowledge and is skilled at presenting it in a helpful and digestible way. On top of all that, she had so many fun ideas for her brand shoot and we had the best time frolicking in the plants at the Seattle Greenhouse!
Inspiration: botanical, dreamy, healing, witchy
