Meet Sara Katz, an Herbal Pioneer
For Sara, herbalism is more than just a career, it’s a way of life. It all started in her youth when she
was a caretaker on a farm in West Virginia and started picking wild plants for a local co-op. She was
captivated by the power of herbs like Goldenseal, Dandelion, Yellow Dock, Plantain, and Horehound.
This calling led her to Oregon, where she would eventually start Herb Pharm with Ed Smith in 1979. Sara
credits Ed as her first herbal mentor, saying “he had the most amazing way of understanding and
explaining the action of herbs in the body.” Rosemary Gladstar also played a pivotal role, inspiring her
with kindness and a strong sense of community.
Today, Sara offers that same spark to other budding herbalists with this advice: