Lineage

Nicole is the first of her family born in North America.  Her story really begins in war torn Europe.  Nicole’s maternal side escaped Poland to land in Canada in the early 50s after her mother was born in England.  Her father escaped Hungary during the revolution of 56 and ended up in Texas with some distant relatives.  Her parents met in school in Paris in the 60s and came back to Texas, where Nicole was born.  Her love for herbs and wildcrafting has roots  that stem from her childhood spent with her maternal grandmother and a close family friend Pani Miela.  Malgosha(maternal grandmother) and Pani Miela were  mushroom and berry foragers and she spent summers in Ontario with them as a child.  Pani Miela was also a herbalist and massage therapist and gave her her  first digestive bitters from wild plants.  They taught her how to walk in the woods as a child, how to cook, and many stories about forest folk.  Her paternal grandmother passed in 2014 in Hungary at 96 years old, she grew all of her own food and used herbs unti her passing.  They never spoke each others language, but through her she finds herself following in her footsteps as well as she grows her own food and herbs.  She still visits her family overseas and is dual citizen of Hungary.  With herbalism, she follows whatever herbal traditions work and uses the herbs growing around her in a holistic paradigm.  Like many new Americans, most of her family traditions are lost to war and language barriers. She practices from the traditions passed mainly from her many teachers she has had the honor of sitting with listed below.

Educational Background
Nicole dedicated herself to the study of ecology, botany, herbal medicine, holistic healing, and bodywork since the mid 90s. She specializes in educating about the responsible harvesting and use of native and weedy bioregional plants as medicine. 

Institutional Learning:
BA Environmental Resource Management, minoring in Botany at the University of Texas in Austin.

Awards

  • Community Service Award from the American Herbalists Guild 2019 for my work to free fire Cider
  • Community Builder Award from the American Botanical Council 2019 for my work to free fire cider

    Work Experience and Holistic Healing Education:

    • American Botanical Council educator 1998-1999 

    • 500hour program with Michael Moore in 2000 at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine with michael Moore in Bisbee, AZ 

    • Zen Shiatsu Program level 1 and 2 Austin TX 2003 

    • LMT-Massage Therapy Program at The Star Institute Austin TX 2004 

    • Marma Point Therapy Intensive with Dr Vasant Lad at the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque NM 2007 

    • Millenium Seed Bank Collector for the Kew Gardens 2008

    • Ayurvedic Hands On Therapies Intensive with Sonia Masocco at the Ayurvedic Institute Albuquerque NM 2008 

    • Clinical Intensives: Refining Clinical Skills with Margi Flint of Earthsong Herbals, William Morris, and Matthew Wood MA 2010, 2011, 2012

    • 2012-2014 Continuing Education with Paul Bergner and Karyn Sanders

    • Advanced training in Myofacial Release, Cranial Sacral Therapy Level 1 and 2, Arvigo Methods of Uterine Self Care, Hot Stone, Kinesiology, Medical Astrology

    • Assistance with the Texas Medical Association Botanical Medicine Exhibit 2017
    • Hurricane Harvey Gulf Coast Herbal Aid 2017

     Herbal Mentors

    Nicole has apprenticed and worked with several individual herbalists, herb stores, and in clinics around the country. Some the herbalists she has taken classes or worked under that have shaped her practice include: Jasmyne Cleft, Greta de la Montagne, Filiberto Delgado, Margi Flint, David Winston , Matthew Wood, Paul Bergner, Susun Weed, Karyn Sanders, William Morris, and Maria Elena Martinez.

    First Aid Clinics I’ve worked in:

    • Asylum(haha) in the Oregon Wilderness
    • Active Resistance Toronto
    • WTO Seattle
    • FTAA Protest Tucson AZ
    • EF Rendezvous Wilderness Clinics several years
    • Dandelion Clinic for the International Reclaiming Convergence Texas
    • Plan Z Appalachia Radical Faerie Sanctuary North Carolina
    • Hurricane Katrina Free Clinic New Orleans 
    • Sundance Free Clinic in Northern Arizona
    • Hurricane Harvey Gulf Coast Herbal Aid
    • Occupy Medical Eugene Oregon

    Guest Speaker

    • Moonflower Herb Fest Austin TX
    • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center TX
    • Heart of Texas Herb Symposium TX
    • Traditional Roots Conference OR 
    • International Herb Symposium MA
    • Womens Herbal Symposium NH
    • Herbalismo Conference TX
    • Eclectic Herb Company Internship OR
    • Plant Medicine Summit Online 
    • Survival Summit Online
    • Grow Network Home Medicine Summit Online
    • Mother Earth Living Fair TX
    • Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference AZ
    • Yerba Nomadica AZ
    • Pacific Rim College Victoria BC
    • Port Angeles Garden Club WA
    • Arctos School OR
    • Farmacy Herbs RI
    • Free Herbalism Project OR
    • Breitenbush Herb Conference OR
    • Mother Earth Living Fair OR TX
    • Plant Medicine Summit Online
    • Whole Foods Team Member Trainings

    Podcast and Radio Guest 

  • The Herbalists Path with Mountain Mel
  • The Practical Herbalist with Sue Sierralupe
  • Roots Rhizomes and Runners with Lauren Giambrone
  • The Herbal Highway with Karyn Sanders
  • The People’s Pharmacy Radio Show
  • The Dirt Doctor with Howard Garrett
  • KOOP Regular Guest Spot Herb Blurbs on Tales from the Golden Cabinet
  • DJ on Free Radio Austin