About | Danielle Caster

Hi! I’m Danielle Caster

CLINICAL HERBALIST - GARDENER - MOM OF THREE - AND SOMEONE WHO HAS REBUILT HER HEALTH FROM THE GROUND UP

Plants have always been woven into my life in small, almost accidental ways. I grew up outside, a kid of the 80's & 90's. Wandering, exploring, pulling horsetail stems apart by the river like the tiny puzzle they are. But it wasn’t until much later that I realized how much those early moments mattered.

I became a mom young — pregnant at 16 — and life got very real, very fast. I spent years doing what so many women do: taking care of everyone else while putting myself last. In 2000, I took a full-time job at the local hospital and stayed for 17 years. Between work, kids, sports, and survival mode, I barely had time to breathe, let alone think about my own well being.

When my husband and I bought our home in 2008, I dreamed of a big garden, but it wasn’t until 2017 when I left my job at the hospital that I finally had time and planted it. Watching my first seedlings grow grounded me in a way I didn’t even know I needed.

Around that same time, my own health was a complete mess. I kept getting passed from doctor to doctor without answers. I felt dismissed, confused, and exhausted.

So I turned to the plants. I leaned into acupuncture, herbs, and real lifestyle changes — not because I wanted a new career, but because I wanted to feel like myself again.

But that’s where everything changed.

How Herbalism Found Me

In 2020, I signed up for an 8-month beginner herbalism course just to understand what I was already experimenting with in my garden. I had no idea it would become years of education, hands-on study, deep personal healing, and eventually, the work I love today.

Herbalism wasn’t something I just learned — it became something I lived.
I grew the herbs.
I used them.
I felt the shifts in my own body.

Along the way, I made big lifestyle changes too:
I quit smoking in 2019.
I stopped drinking in 2021.
I changed the way I nourished myself and eventually found that being plant-based made me feel my best.

Movement became part of my life too — not perfection, just consistency. I truly practice what I teach. I won’t tell you to walk and strength train while I’m sitting on the couch with pizza and ice cream. That’s not how I operate.

Outside of herbalism, life is full:
I have two teenagers who play sports, and honestly, attending their games is a part-time job — one I absolutely love.

I go to comedy shows as often as I can.

I love to travel to new places, and revisit some of my favs. I feel like I belong on the redwood coast. Maybe someday it will become my home.

I love basketball and am a huge Kings fan, and have been riding the emotional roller coaster that comes with that since the early 2000's.
And I’m a big reader, even if I did take a several-year break after my third baby because… well, motherhood.

Here’s the heart of why I do this work:

I know what it feels like to be overwhelmed, dismissed, stuck in survival mode, confused about your own body, or scared that nothing is going to change.

I’ve lived it.
I’ve come through it.
And now I help women move through it too — with nourishment, education, humor, and steady support.

I don’t just talk the talk.
I live this work.

And I’d be honored to walk alongside you while you reconnect with a body that’s been asking for care for far too long.

LETS GET STARTED

Education & Continued Learning

Herbalism isn’t something you “finish.”

It’s a lineage — a passing down of knowledge, story, practice, and care from one generations of herbalists to the next. I feel honored to be part of that lineage, learning from those who came before me and carrying that work forward to the women I support.

My formal training began in 2020 with an 8-month foundational course that opened a door to a world I can't get enough of. Since then, I’ve completed years of clinical education, mentorship, and in-depth study specifically focused on women’s health — cycle balance, fertility, pregnancy, postpartum, thyroid function, hormones, nervous system regulation, and the realities of living in a body that’s constantly adapting.

A few of the teachers and programs that have shaped my work most deeply include:

Land of Verse — 3 Year Clinical Herbalist Certification & 1 Year Advanced Clinical Mentorship

Studied with: Laura Ash, Kelsey Barrett, Drea Moore, Madeleina Bolduc, Shereel Washington, Erin Wilkins, Yvonne Matthews, Sarah Jane Fairless, Claire Ragozzino, Shayne Case, Bevin Claire, Tessa Kappe and Matthew Wood
Focus areas: energetics, tissue states, formulation, medicine making, clinical skills, case review, Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, botany, first aid, nutrition and practical herbalism grounded in tradition.

Bloom & Grow (Camille Freeman & Liane Moccia)

Specialized study in:

Fertility
Pregnancy & Postpartum
Nervous System Support
Hormone Deep Dive

School of Evolutionary Herbalism (Sajah Popham)

Training in:

Clinical Herbalism
Medical Astrology
Vitalist and alchemical herbal traditions

Additional Teachers & Influences

Christopher Hobbs — Medicinal Mushrooms
Dr. Elizabeth Guthrie — Trauma-Informed Herbalism
Lisa Fox — Menopause & Midlife Health
Aviva Romm — Hormone Intelligence & Botanical Medicine for Women's Health
Kat Maier — Energetic Herbalism

But my education doesn’t stop in the classroom.

I continue to learn in community — attending herbal gatherings around the country, connecting with other herbalists, studying emerging research, and listening deeply to the women who sit across from me.

Herbalism is a living practice.

And the more I learn, the better I can support the women who come to me wanting clarity, nourishment, and real change.

Always learning.
Always growing.
That’s the heart of this work.