The Herbalist: Heather Borkowski ’02

Herbs are a connection to the natural world, says Heather Borkowski, yet too often, modern life severs that connection. As an herbalist, educator, and wellness coach, Borkowski seeks to reestablish those links to nature, both for herself and for her clients.

“We’re inside so much, sitting at desks, staring at computer screens,” she says. “But humans need tactile experiences and connections with the cycles of the seasons. I love creating sensory experiences that bring joy, grounding, and wonder into your life.”

In studying the medicinal and therapeutic properties of plants, Borkowski takes her place in a long line of herbalists whose practice predates recorded history. Thousands of years ago, the Sumerians, Egyptians, Chinese, Indians, and Native Americans developed various forms of herbal medicine. Clay tablets dating from 3000 BCE recommend medicinal uses for myrrh, cypress, and opium poppies; an Egyptian papyrus (circa 1500 BCE) prescribes a paste of dates, acacia, and honey for birth control. Even today’s chewing-gum flavors owe their beginnings to ancient herbalism, which recommended mint for digestive health.

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Borkowski is quick to clarify that she is not a medical practitioner: “I’m a guide and mentor. I use plants and the seasons to reconnect my clients to the natural world, and to their own bodies and spirits as well.”

What inspired your interest in herbalism?
I spent nearly a decade on small sustainable farms in Nova Scotia, Washington state, and the San Juan Islands. During that time, I spent hours in the field weeding, but as I learned more about herbs and wild edibles, I discovered that what we called weeds were actually filled with more nutrients and health-giving properties than the crops I was growing specifically for market. It’s empowering to learn that you can go out and gather the things you need to be well. I was already into healthy eating, but [studying herbs] took it to the eating and deepen their connection to food, beyond what they were seeing at the local farmers market. So I began studying with herbalists, including Rosemary Gladstar, who is often called the godmother of American herbalism for making the practice popular in the United States.

You majored in geology. Has your science background influenced your study of herbs?
Definitely. Herbalism is both an art and a science. My science background has made learning the botany, the plant constituents and body systems, and reading research papers much easier. I have found a path that feeds my love of the natural world and science while also nourishing my creative, intuitive, and sensory side. I wanted to educate people about seasonal eating and deepen their connection to food, beyond what they were seeing at the local farmers market. So I began studying with herbalists, including Rosemary Gladstar, who is often called the godmother of American herbalism for making the practice popular in the United States.

The Luthier: Carter Ruff ’95

As an English major at Carleton, Carter Ruff once fancied himself a poet. Today, as a luthier, he works with wood rather than with words—but when you get him talking about his craft, he can still wax poetic.

“There’s something amazing and powerful about an object that was made by hand by someone who really cares,” says Ruff, who owns Subterranean Music Works in Bath, Maine. “Manufacturing has gotten so sophisticated that you can find almost everything online, and I suppose that’s wonderful in its own right. Yet there’s so little marvel in that. Something is lost without human interaction.”

Ruff has been crafting and repairing guitars and other stringed instruments full time since 2002, creating custom designs for professional musicians and avid amateurs alike. But his attraction to the art of building and repairing instruments extends back to childhood.

“I’ve always been a person who needs to make things,” he says. “When I was a kid, I took my toys apart to figure out how they worked. I had a little workshop in the basement where I made model rockets and railroads.”

Ruff learned to play the guitar while he was in high school, but true to form, he was as curious about the workmanship of the instrument as the music it could produce. After Carleton, he headed just down the road to the technical college in Red Wing, where he enrolled first in a violin repair and restoration program, then in a guitar-building course.