Earthwalk Teachers
MELANIE ROSE SCOFIELD
Melanie opened the doors of the Earthwalk School of Herbal Traditions in 2016- Midcoast Maine’s very own herbal school! Melanie has a background in nutrition, herbs, and energy medicine. In 2005 she completed her nutritional consultant training with the Global College of Natural Medicine, as well as her first apprenticeship with the Boston School of Herbal Studies. In 2007 she completed her Advanced Clinical Herbalist Training, also with the BSHS, at which time she became a core faculty member and led apprenticeship programs for several years. The Earthwalk Apprenticeship is now completing it’s 7th year and we are overjoyed with the herbal learning community that has been created in that time. She feels incredibly blessed to have worked with such gifted teachers who have helped to shape her into the teacher she is today: Madelon Hope, Tommy Priester, Matthew Wood, Linda Patterson, Rocio Alarcon, Margi Flint, Kurt Leland, and many others. Melanie’s main passion is teaching others to cultivate their innate wisdom and fine tune their own intuitive abilities. She is available for private health consultations and for teaching workshops.
JILLIAN HYLLANTREE TWISLA
Jillian Twisla is an herbalist, health educator, passionate gardener and mama. She has a background in clinical herbalism, naturopathy, permaculture and plant mysticism. She studied Naturopathy and traditional European herbalism at Southern Cross University in Australia and has been lucky to learn from many incredible American herbalists as well. Jillian’s clear and grounded teaching approach is deeply appreciated and we at Earthwalk are honored to have her on board as a core faculty member. She co-facilitates the Community Herbalist Training and the Advanced Clinical Mentorship while helping out with the First Level Apprentices. Jillian lives close to the Earth with her family in Hope, Maine, where she offers classes, courses, and consultations. http://www.hyllantree.com
ROCHELLE BACA
Rochelle is a Traditional Herbalist, Medicine Maker, and a passionate educator with a focus on Sacred Plant Medicine. She was born and raised in California and began her relationship with plants in her early teens, delving into books by Rosemary Gladstar, Susan Weed, and Prescriptions for Nutritional Healing. These books inspired her to begin a life-long study of plants, whole foods, anatomy and natural healing. Now Rochelle resides in Maine, has completed the Community Herbalist Training and the Advanced Clinical Mentorship thru Earthwalk. She spends much of her time making products, offering health consultations, and teaching Rosemary Gladstar’s Science and Art of Herbalism for a number of years. Other teachers Rochelle has studied with include Rosemary Gladstar, Rocio Alarcon, Margi Flint, Sam Coffman, Nancy Phillips, Anne Marie Tedeschi, Megan Brown, and Helen Ward. Earthwalk is honored to have Rochelle join our team.
STEVE BYERS
Steve Byers is a Clinical Herbalist in Belfast, ME and has been an instructor at the Earthwalk School since 2017. Since a young age, plants have been drawing his attention and teaching him how to be in sacred relationship with the world to find the food, shelter, and medicine we need in a harmonious way. Steve has spent years studying with teachers Gail Faith Edwards, David Winston, and at the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism. Other close teachers have included Cattail, St. John’s Wort, Blue Vervain, Yarrow, and Boneset.
Steve runs the Herbal Medicine Wellness Clinic which offers integrative health consultations and stocks herbal tinctures and bulk dried herbs. Steve has a deep understanding of the body and the energetics of the plants and we are grateful to have his expertise as a teacher for our programs. He is committed to supporting indigenous rights, Wabanaki sovereignty in Maine, and invites conversations about decolonizing our relationship with plants and healing.
PAT HARPELL
Pat Harpell is not good at retiring. Prior to returning to Maine in 2019, she founded the South Carolina Herbal Society. Running programs to educate the general public, collaborating with the Charleston Horticultural Society, Medical University of SC, and Low Country Local First (a farming collaborative), she eventually introduced the first Herbal Apprenticeship program to Charleston, SC. When she is not traveling, gardening, knitting or sewing, she is a guest teacher and speaker on topics ranging from herbalism and garden design to meditation and Yoga Therapy. She has run two Yoga Teacher Training Schools with a dedication to under-served populations. Pat has had the great honor of taking herbal and medicinal studies with Sarita Shrestha, MD, Rosemary Gladstar, Matthew Wood, Madelon Hope, Tommy Priester, Phyllis Light, Margi Flint, Anne McIntyre, David Dalton, Dr. Ming Wu, many other sages, and her greatest teacher, Mother Nature. Now in her third retirement, Pat’s goal is to pass on the information and knowledge she has learned over the years to the next generation of open hearted individuals.