I’m Hailey.

I have been surrounded by gardens my entire life.

I would sit by my Momma as a little girl and watch her dig holes to plant flowers. My daddy has tilled the dirt and marked out straight rows for the vegetable garden as long as I can remember.

I didn’t know it then, but these early interactions with plants sowed seeds for my future learning about the healing powers of foods and herbs.

I was 25 when I stopped taking birth control pills. I still have that last pack. It felt like such a pivotal moment for me. My friend Sarah told me about cycle syncing and Alyssa Vitti, and I began to dive deeply into learning about using foods to heal my cycle after having been on birth control for almost 10 years.

Maybe a year later, that same dear friend Sarah referred me to Phyllis D. Light’s book, Southern Folk Medicine, and in my heart I felt so strongly, “this is what I’ve been looking for!” Although I had successfully balanced my hormones and regulated my menstrual cycle, I was still searching for my career path. As I was doing some deep soul-searching with my friend and sister Amberly, she encouraged me to follow the nuanced nudges I was feeling to follow a less-travelled road. I followed these gut feelings in spite of not knowing what a career as an herbalist would be like for me, and I began learning from Phyllis in her herb classes soon thereafter.

In 2023, I became a mother. The journey from pregnancy to motherhood was a very exciting time for me. I loved my job and it had allowed me to surround myself with a powerful community of like-minded women. I even had the great honor to be pregnant at the same time as my dear friend Tess. Throughout my pregnancy, I honed my herbal knowledge and deepened my passion for using food as medicine.

Today, I look forward to opening up to share this knowledge with the community around me in Knoxville and beyond. The tools to heal your body are available. Food is medicine.

Hailey Ward-Maldonado, November 18, 2023