About Us

Get To Know
Our Team!

Green Path Herb School

Green Path Herb School was founded in 2013 by herbalists John Goicovich and Elaine Sheff. Elaine and John have been teaching about herbs since 1994. After founding Meadowsweet Herbs (a retail and manufacturing herb company) and owning it for 18 years, Elaine and John were ready to move on to their greatest passion: full-time teaching.

Our herb programs range in content from classes for beginners seeking basic knowledge about how to help themselves and loved ones to advanced programs for students who want to practice herbalism as a vocation.

Green Path strives to inspire and empower students to connect to the earth, the plants, and their own healing process. Over the years, Green Path has had many amazing students graduate from its programs. We like to think of ourselves as creating a ripple, and see our students carrying the art and science of herbal healing out into their communities and further into the world.

Meet the team

ELAINE SHEFF
CO-DIRECTOR, CLINICAL HERBALIST, RH (AHG)

  • The author of several books on herbal medicine and healing, clinical herbalist Elaine Sheff has been passionate about sharing herbal knowledge for over 30 years. Her latest book is Naked: Botanical Recipes for Vibrant Skin and Healthy Hair. Elaine is the Co-Director of Green Path Herb School, located in Missoula, Montana, where she strives to inspire and empower students and clients to remember their connection to the earth, the plants, and their own healing process. She is a professional member of the American Herbalist Guild and teaches workshops, and at conferences, both nationally and internationally. As a certified Instructor of the Natural Family Planning and Fertility Awareness Methods, Elaine has helped many couples to avoid or achieve pregnancy naturally. She has written numerous articles about her family’s journey with epilepsy and a special needs child. Elaine has written for publications including the Journal of Medicinal Plants and their Applications, Mamalode, and Aromaculture magazine. Elaine is one of the founding members and the current the board president for the Montana Herbal Festival. You can often find her bent over an herb in her garden or marveling at small flowers in mountain meadows with her husband and sons. Elaine is one of the founders of the MT Herbal Festival. Elaine’s workshops have been featured at conferences including Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference, Montana Herb Gathering, Northwest Herb Symposium, Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference, Spokane Herbal Faire, Pacific Women’s Herb Conference, Inland Northwest Permaculture Convergence, the Ecoexpo, the Mountain West Herb Gathering, the American Herbalists Guild Symposium, and the Montana Herbal Festival.

JOHN GOICOVICH
CO-DIRECTOR, HERBALIST

  • John first started working with plants in the early 1990s on the coast of California. It was not until moving to the Rocky Mountains in 1993 that his interest became a lifetime commitment. John’s first love of herbs was always the connection between plants and people and the personal involvement in making one’s own remedies. John is a graduate of both the Rocky Mountain Center for Botanical Studies and the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine. He is the co-founder of Meadowsweet Herbs.

ROBYN KLEIN
HERBALIST, BOTANY

  • Robyn’s herbal education includes Dominion Herbal College (1982) and Southwest School of Botanical Medicine (1995). After completing a MSc degree in plant sciences (2004), and as an adjunct instructor at Montana State University, she’s been teaching plant identification since 2016 to K-12 teachers (MSU masters program). Recently, she’s been presenting plant identification webinars online at the Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference (2021, 2022); American Herbalists Guild (2022); Canadian Herb Conference (2022, 2023); Citizen Botanists, Montana Natural Heritage Program (2023); Montana Herbal Festival, Missoula, MT (2023). Her gardens are a mix of native, Chinese, and European medicinal species, and the odd carrot. Her favorite hobby is diving into rabbit holes to phytosleuth mysterious medicinal plants.

KAREEN ERBE
PERMACULTURE

  • Kareen is the owner of Broken Ground, a permaculture business in Bozeman, Montana, USA, that teaches people how to grow their own food and become more self-reliant. She has taught hundreds of students through her workshops, both live and online, and offers consultations and permaculture design services. She and her family live on a ¾ acre suburban homestead with large kitchen gardens, a food forest of fruit trees and berry bushes, a greenhouse, a pond, beehives as well as chickens and ducks. Kareen is a regular contributor to Rocky Mountain Gardening Magazine and can be reached through her website brokengroundpermaculture.com.

WILLIAM FRANKLIN ND, CES, PES
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY & NUTRITION

  • Dr. William Franklin graduated from East Tennessee State University with a bachelor of science in Exercise Science and completed coursework for a master of science in Exercise Physiology. He completed his doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, AZ in 2008. Now with over 30 years of experience in healthcare, Dr. Franklin has dedicated his practice, Round Tuit Wellness, to the empowerment of its clients in their pursuit of positive health, overall fitness, and rewarding athletic performance. After many years and thousands of dollars looking, he can confidently say that there appears to be no magic bullet. Our state of health is the direct result of our way of life. To this end, Dr. Franklin focuses on teaching you to positively affect your health by making targeted changes to your way of living. He wants you to remember that small steps complete the journey, and the best stories are about that journey, not just the destination. Find out more about William here.

JUDITH POELARENDS
FLOWER ESSENCES

  • Judith’s roots are in The Netherlands where she had a career as a scientific researcher in animal health. In 2007 her search for more meaning and happiness in life led to the discovery of flower essences. In 2008 she did a one-year class on flower essences and started doing consultations for people and animals. In 2013, during a flower essence workshop in Alaska, Judith met Steve Johnson, the founder of Alaskan Essences. She moved from the Netherlands to Victor Montana in 2015. After Steve passed away in March 2017, Judith decided to continue the Alaskan Essences and she is now the Director. She enjoys teaching about flower essences and their amazing empowering qualities.

MONTICUE CONNALLY, HERBALIST
AFRICAN AMERICAN HERBALISM

  • Monticue Connally is a Colorado Community Herbalist and Medicine Man who resonates with the sounds of African Drums, Rhythmic Chanting, and Afro-Caribbean Folklore. He taught for the Denver Botanic Gardens Herbal Certification Program and is also co-owner of Jiridon Apothecary, a business specializing in loose-leaf herbal tea remedies. He now teaches for the Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism and Lead Herbalist for the organization- Front Line Farming. He also sees patients out of his home in Englewood Colorado. Monticue uses music, humor, and fun to teach people in urban areas how to access the earthly medicines growing around them. He received the Preventative Care Leadership Award from the Be Well Health Initiative in 2019 for being of service to diverse black and brown communities, pushing them towards the accessible and immediate plant medicines growing all around them.

KATRINA FARNUM, GUEST LECTURER

  • Katrina Farnum is the owner of Garden Mother, a holistic mind and body care company located in Missoula Montana. She works with plant therapeutics with an emphasis on medical cannabis. She has always been a plant enthusiast and has a seed kink that could swallow a bank account. Katrina spent years transforming plants into everything from lipstick to suppositories. If you combined Punky Brewster (the cartoon), salted caramel and tumbleweed, you'd be edging in the direction of her personality. Katrina loves teaching and working with humans who want to improve upon themselves.

HEATHER ELLSWORTH L.Ac. MAcOM
CHINESE MEDICINE

  • Heather Ellsworth is a licensed and board-certified acupuncturist, herbalist, and practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Advanced Japanese Acupuncture. She graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in Biology with a Botany emphasis. Then continued her studies in western herbalism with Michael Moore at the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and became a Certified Clinical Herbalist in 2003. In 2009 she graduated from the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine with a masters degree in Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, she is also a Board certified Chinese herbalist. After finishing her studies at OCOM she completed a year and a half post-graduate training in Portland, OR with Dr. Hong Jin DAOM, M.D.(P.R.C.), specializing in women's health, infertility, and pregnancy support.

MARIA NOEL GROVES, HERBALIST
GUEST LECTURER

  • Maria is the bestselling author of Body into Balance: An Herbal Guide to Holistic Self Care (now a core textbook in herb schools across the country), Grow Your Own Herbal Remedies, Herbal Remedies for Sleep, and forthcoming books. She runs Wintergreen Botanicals Herbal Clinic & Education Center in New Hampshire, offering both on-site and distance herbal study programs and health consultations. 

    She’s a certified clinical herbalist with the Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and is a registered professional herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild. She lectures internationally about herbal medicine and has written about herbs for various publications for more than two decades She’s a guest instructor for the Herbal Academy, Maryland University of Integrative Health, and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Her fundamental belief is that Good Health Grows in Nature. 

ANITA NUNEZ, HERBALIST
HARM REDUCTION FOR HERBALISTS

  • Anita Nuñez is a fourth-generation gardener and herbalist with a strong connection to her community and the land of Central Florida. She centers decolonization and harm reduction in her approach to herbal medicine and agriculture. She is co-founder of On-Po!nt, a QTBIPOC-led harm reduction group, as well as co-director of Neighborhood Fridge, a QTBIPOC-led food justice organization. She maintains a big garden with over 30 species of medicinal plants and is passionate about health education.

CHRISTOPHER SCIPIO
HERBALIST, CARIBBEAN HERBALISM

  • Herbal medicine has always been part of my life. I was born two months premature in 1965, weighing only four pounds and unable to breathe, with doctors giving me just a 10% chance of survival—but my twenty-year-old mother, determined not to lose another child after a devastating loss the year before, willed me to live, and after a month in an incubator and oxygen tent, I survived. After we immigrated from Trinidad to Canada in 1969, I remained a sensitive, undersized, and sickly child until I spent two years back in Trinidad with my grandmother, a shaman, herbalist, and Shango priest who immediately recognized my frailty and transformed me through herbal baths, medicinal teas, and even garlic powder in my socks—unpopular but effective—turning me from the smallest kid in class into a 6'3" rugby and football player. I have never forgotten the lessons and miracles I witnessed, which formed the core of my beliefs and practices. I began practicing massage at eighteen, treating anyone who sought healing through herbal medicine and traditional modalities, and thanks to natural remedies, I have rarely needed medical attention. While I respect modern medical knowledge and acknowledge the importance of some drugs and surgery, I am also aware of over-prescribing, dangerous side effects, and invasive practices. I combine my family's multi-generational expertise in herbal medicine with diet, exercise, and holistic healing, believing our bodies are great healers and nature the great medicine cabinet—the challenge is honouring both in the best ways we can. Find out more at www.abd.natropractica.com

NIKKI DARRELL
HERBALIST, PLANT SPIRIT MEDICINE

  • Nikki Darrell has been working with plants, their medicine and healing, for over 4 decades as her fascination with the green beings started in early childhood, and her primary teachers are the plants she works with. She has worked as a research scientist in the field of plant science; a practitioner of herbal medicine, aromatherapy, aromatic medicine, reflexology, massage, and bodywork; a gardener; an educator at all levels from introductory to 3rd level; campaigner; author of several books (including Conversations with Plants the Path Back to Nature and the Essential Oil Manual) and many articles. She holds a diploma from the School of Phytotherapy and a Masters in Social and Co-operative Enterprise which she embarked on due to her love of sustainable community development. Her passion and vocation is as a plants woman and medicine person. Nikki and her husband Alex Duffy run the Plant Medicine School https://theplantmedicineschool.com/ based near Gorey County Wexford, Ireland. The School offers an Apprenticeship in Community Herbal Medicine and a Clinical Practitioner Diploma course which is accredited by the Irish Register of Herbalists, an Aromatherapy Diploma accredited by the International Federation of Aromatherapists and introductory courses in herbal medicine and herb growing, as well as forage walks and has groups of students visit the garden to learn more about identifying and using the 300 plus species that grow here. They also teach Nature Resonance Medicine at various levels up to facilitator including plant communication.

THE WILD WANDERS TEAM
MEDICINAL AND EDIBLE FUNGI

  • Would you like to see how fancy, wild, and free foraging can be?! Wild Wanders, aka Cathryn and Sydney, would love to show you the how and why of wild harvesting. Sharing their love of mushrooms and serving on the board of the Western Montana Mycological Association together since 2018, they decided it was time to bring their passion for plants to the people and started Wild Wanders in the spring of 2022. They have been leading foraging walks, and teaching wild food and medicine-making classes as well as hosting events surrounding intuitive plant connection ever since. Aside from their regular run of events they also offer private excursions and land consultations, foraging services for restaurants or events, and wild foraged products for purchase, including an annual CSA (Community Supported Apothecary) subscription.

RITA HOGAN, HERBALIST
HERBS FOR ANIMALS

  • Rita has been working one-on-one with dogs and owners for 20 years.  She learned about the power of plants from her father. He was a prolific gardener who knew what plants to use to help keep our animals healthy. This led her to herbalism in her late twenties. Rita’s practice has grown throughout the years, encompassing the use of food energetics, western herbs, phytoembryonic therapy (plant bud medicine), spagyrics, homeopathy, essential oils, flower/crystal/mineral essences, and energy work. She wrote for Dogs Naturally Magazine for five years and continues to write for their blog and others like Adored Beast Apothecary. Rita speaks on canine herbalism and teaches classes promoting holistic canine herbalism. She works specifically with dogs of all types and the humans that love them.

GRETA DE LA MONTAGNE
HERBALIST, AYURVEDA & FIRST AID

  • Greta de la Montagne RH(AHG) is an herbalist, bodyworker, and Ayurvedic practitioner specializing in botanical medicine and herbal first aid for nearly 30 years. She operates Gentle Strength Botanicals and Massage Therapy near Arcata, California, and travels to regional West Coast events to set up the MASHH Clinic. Greta cultivates medicines for her apothecary in the Michael Moore Memorial Medicinal Herb Garden. She founded the MASHH Clinic Collective in 1997, which supports off-grid events and educates activists in Street Medicine. Greta has taught at several herbalist symposiums and gatherings. She also volunteer-directs the non-profit organization Southwest School of Botanical Medicine which supports Michael RS Moore’s legacy website at www.swsbm.org.

MELISSA MUTTERSPAUGH
HERBALIST, GUEST TEACHER

  • I’ve spent over 20 years learning from plants, with plants, for plants—and it’s been a wonderfully wild ride! From running my own herbal product line that was sold in major health food stores & even outdoor stores like REI, to training under the legends of herbal medicine, I’ve lived and breathed this world. My journey down this herbalist's path began when I was a backpacking guide and wilderness therapist, always finding myself happiest outside, connected to nature. Now, living in the mountains of Oregon, I’ve combined my love for nature and herbs into a mission: empowering moms to care for their families with herbal remedies that are not only safe and effective but also rooted in the deep wisdom of plants. Whether you're caring for your family or even your community, I’m here to guide you every step of the way—making herbal medicine simple, accessible, and most of all, powerful.

SARAH HOLDEN
HERBALIST, BOTANICAL DRAWING

  • Originally from the Midwest, Sarah was in search of a wilder place! She came to MT in 1999 and graduated from the University of MT in 2001. Montana quickly showed her the diversity of the plant world and she was hooked. Fast forward two decades and she is now creating new programming for Missoula County and MSU Extension as the new Horticulture Extension Agent! Sarah loves connecting people to plants and seeing the inspiration that a good harvest can bring! Herbal concoctions and medicinal plants are her specialty, and she loves spending time roaming around in the woods! Sarah is one of the founders of the MT Herbal Festival. Hiking, skiing, and hot springs soaking are some activities she enjoys doing with her two girls!!

NICHOLE MCFARLANE
HERBALIST, HERBAL BUSINESS

  • I’m Nichole McFarlane. I’ve worked in just about every industry out there. By profession, I am a project manager, and that has allowed me to learn a heap of skills that I can share with you. I am also a registered herbalist. Which gives me the edge over traditional marketers because...Well, I GET IT! I know you’re passionate about what you do, and maybe not so well-versed in how to get yourself there. That’s where I come in! I’m your personal marketer/project manager/web designer/the list goes on...who is also a herbalist! My mission is to help you and other people fighting for wellness build a brand that you love. And that doesn’t take away your passion for what you do.

    Connect with Nichole ravenstarherbals.com

STEPHANIE RAVEN ND
PHYSICAL ASSESSMENT

  • Dr. Stephanie Raven (she/her/hers) is a licensed Naturopathic Doctor and Herbalist. Some of her primary clinical focuses include sports medicine, chronic pain, pelvic floor dysfunction, digestive health, hormonal health, and burnout. She also provides gender affirming care, including hormone therapy. Stephanie practices trauma-informed care and strives to create a welcoming clinical environment for patients of all ages, genders, and body types. Stephanie believes that community is critical to well-being. One of her primary goals with Aralia Health, her Missoula-based clinic, is to offer accessible and affordable healthcare to the local community. She believes we should all be equipped with the skills to improve the health of ourselves, our families, and our communities.