Living the teachings: an alumni spotlight

by Polly Muller-Girard

I remember the fragrance and the color of the rose garden in a nearby city park from when I was two. When I was a little older, I spent a lot of time up high in the branches of a friendly (and sappy) Norway spruce. I believed the tree was talking with me and well into my adulthood I would visit her. As an adolescent, I was the weird one who read every Euell Gibbons book about foraging herbs and food. I started reading about herbs — my first book being about the doctrine of signatures — though I don’t think I understood it very well back then. 

There were so many thoughts and observations I had that weren’t anchored or made into whole cloth until I went to ArborVitae. What I experienced and learned there gave me all the tools to grow more into the parts of my life that were close to my heart but that had not been fully expressed. Being at ArborVitae felt like coming home. I love the sense of kindness and community that was always present there. The ArborVitae experience was very motivating, and I'm always asking myself how I can live the teachings.

Chamomile is a plant I always come back to and use a lot. So gentle yet so powerful and versatile in its applications both internally and externally. I’m a person who enjoys the gentle mother energy of it. The other one is witch hazel, which for me is more of a spiritual connection. I do use it topically, but it is more an inspiration. It grows abundantly in the woods near my home. I always keep it close: I have a drawing of witch hazel on my desk that was gifted to me by my ArborVitae classmate, Jill Karkosac.

In addition to my three-year certificate from ArborVitae, I have a Master’s degree in Information Systems and twice attended Union Theological Seminary (20 years apart) without getting a degree. Having worked for over 50 years, I’ve lived many lives. I’ve worked at a plant nursery, a jewelry store, an aluminum foundry, a medical supply business, a court reporting agency, a large advertising firm, a university, a company that owned and managed fertility clinics, and several hospitals. I have most enjoyed the work that I’ve done that has created something new that was useful: growing plants, creating IT systems, cooking, making medicine, and fiber arts: spinning and weaving. 

In this spirit, I created Herbal Offerings, an online directory of clinical herbalists. If you are a clinical herbalist or looking for one, please check it out! I wanted to provide an alternative, inclusive, free directory with great search features so that clients can easily find their ideal herbalist. Clinical herbalists also need a resource to help find referrals when something outside their scope arises.

The website launched in February so it’s quite new. I spend most of my days web searching and social networking looking for clinical herbalists to invite to join the directory. I think there is something really special about meeting with clients in person and my ideal state would be that anyone seeking herbal care could find an herbalist within a reasonable distance of their home. That means signing up a lot of herbalists. I’m also constantly fiddling with SEO and trying to get a higher search rank for the site, which is maddeningly slow. Ways you can help:

• promoting or linking to the site

• joining as an herbalist 

• use the site to find an herbalist

Also please note that the site has separate directories for clinics (free and paid), herb schools and herbal events. I add new content almost daily. If there is an event you’d like to see listed, please just send me a link to details.

Right now I have semi-retired from IT work and am spending more time in the garden — both my own small garden and helping to maintain the public herb garden at the John Jay Homestead in Katonah, New York. Please visit if you ever get the chance! 

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Polly (Paulette) Muller-Girard is an ArborVitae alumni.