Lucia Wiley Hawkins
LOO-shah WHY-lee HAWK-kins
she/her/they/them
Ecologist * Educator *
Land Steward * Community Herbalist
Holistic, Integrative, Trauma informed
Advocate and Care Provider
in Solidarity
Educate, Advocate, Create.
Protect and Connect.
Lu and Kinga, Aquidneck Island, 2019
A forever student learning from direct source and direct experience as much as possible for as long as possible.
My Formal & Experiential trainings & education
Biological Sciences: with an emphasis in methods in practice, Ecology and relations.
Middle level and secondary education: with an emphasis in supporting outliers, those with special needs, and responding to - repairing the inadequacies and inequities of our public and private education systems that reflect the sociocultural systems of harm, supremacy, colonization and other forms of violence.
Resource economics: using market dynamics and economics as social agreements to help protect all that we completely and utterly depend on. Decolonize and decommodify Land and all Kin and Living Beings.
Crisis prevention and response, first aid, behavioral health, family and individuals, holistic and trauma informed.
Indigenous folk herbalism, primarily informed by my Ancestry and where I am in place and space; ethnobotany of the Lenni Lenape and Indigenous Peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, traditions of the Levant, of Zashkov, of Derry, of Germany: always Land Centered, across generations, in Respect, Reciprocity, Responsibility.
Ongoing Professional Development in Herbal Traditions:
I am always learning directly from the Plant Elders and Teachers as I am working with them across seasons, generations, seeds, growing them and centering them. I grow and help tend 50 different Plants, from seed, across years. I attend workshops, conferences, and am embedded in community, always learning.
Most recently and am currently studying at the Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine.
Employment Experiences since 1999 inform my work at MF:
Health care:
behavioral, family health, mental, integrative. home based, data driven, people centered. Thousands of hours of in home or in facility treatment provided.
Meraki Farmacy continues this centering of PEOPLE; building relationships with you, listening to what you need, what the barriers to care are, and co-creating care protocols that are inclusive, informed, accessible, enchanting and empowering.
STEM and Environmental education:
I have taught pre-school, elementary, middle, and college aged students in the sciences including chemistry and nutrition. I was the first undergraduate TA at URI, Dept of Natural Resources Science. I have thousands of hours of logged teach time in learning communities across agencies, ages and interests.
With MF, I am always educating: working with clients 1:1 in holistic care appointments, at every community event, through writing and speaking online, and during public speaking engagements.
Curriculum and Education:
development, alignment with standards, accommodations for diversity of learners, training other instructors, and of course - facilitating learning through experience, in community.
At Meraki Farmacy, I create and provide programs for diversity of learners in Foundations of Practice, Herbal Infusions, Tastes and Energetics, Embodied Discovery, and more. Participants leave enchanted, empowered and with a reference book written by me.
Logistics:
special events, mobile Mad Science programs, equipment management, overseeing staff and materials across two states and 100 programs for 8 years.
Through Meraki Farmacy, I schedule and deliver services at 30-50 community events annually, 2023-2025.
Regenerative, organic agriculture and stewardship, centering Respect and Reciprocity with Land
Organic dairy farming, organic vegetable farming,
Lead educator at a working educational farm raising pigs, goats, chickens, creating a forest playground and a children's garden, and creating and implementing educational programs.
Organic, bioregional herb farming centering land and ecosystem repair after years of abuse and neglect, on land I do not own. Because that is the Meraki Farmacy way.
Awards and Certifications
President's Award for Literary Excellence, 2000
Certified Teacher Assistant, CCRI 2003
Outstanding Performance as a Behavior Specialist, Perspectives Corp, 2005
Dean's List, URI, 2007
Outstanding Volunteer, honorable mention, Providence School System, 2007
F.E.A.T. Rhode Island Certificate of Participation, Autism: Sharing the Knowledge, 2007
25 years of exemplary performance reviews and client surveys meetings and exceeding expectations
Formal Education and Trainings
Graduate of University of Rhode Island, BA in Biological Sciences with extensive coursework in wildlife- conservation- ecology and secondary education with middle level endorsement.
20 hours continued professional development in Early Education and Care for Family Child Care Assistants, 2015, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Nurse Assistant Training course, with honors, American Red Cross, Lebanon, NH, 2018
Licensed Nurse Assistant, State of NH, 2018
Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers certification, every two years since 2000
Basic First Aid, American Safety and Health Institute, 2021
PASA Full conference participant, 2025, 2026
Teaching with other Schools
PA School of Herbalism's 3rd annual Hawthorn Botanical Gathering, 2025 Presenter
Ecotopian Earthcare's 2nd Annual Paw Paw Festival 2025, Presenter
PA School of Herbalism's 4thAnnual Hawthorn Botanical Gathering, 2026 Presenter
Northern Appalachia School, Guest Teacher for the Foundations of Bioregional Herbalism cohort 2026 -2027
I trust the continuity of my work is apparent. Every shape my work takes is simply a new growth from a care continuum that centers agency and relation.
My work has been focused since 2015 into Meraki Farmacy, a regenerative, organic herb farm that formulates folk remedies in house for family and community health. This is informed greatly by all those educational and employment experiences listed above, AND personal practices with the healing arts including indigenous herbalism and evolutionary astrology, trauma informed integrative health care, and an innate, lifelong desire to protect and connect.
I am passionate about bridging - People and Plants, Possibilities and Paradigms, Traditional healing arts and the urgent existential needs and crises of our times. People come to me with many types of questions and concerns, interests and curiosities. Ultimately they are all seeking direct, intimate experiences - with their own agency and autonomy, with the Land and Plant and More-than-human Kin, with indigenous practices and wisdoms lost under colonization and conformity in western society, with something cohesive and full of integrity, with a sense of security and belonging.
I am very interested in the ideological and philosophical paradigms that serve to empower and return folks to interdependence, in expanding consciousness and imagining what else is possible for the qualities of life for all living beings. In the interest of accessing our imaginations and creative powers, lived experiences of safety are highly indicated, corroborated by the amount of violence and systemic harm of our society and western culture. Through relationships with more-than-human kin, relational healing is accessible, ancestral, connective, and imperative.
THE PLANTS
Every Single Plant on this Abundant Earth has Intrinsic Value, is an Elder and Teacher and Kin.
Every Single Plant has the right to exist unencumbered, is a sentient and conscious being, is embodiment of Light, feeds /nourishes /protects / reciprocates life, and there fore has so much to teach us. Plants do not exist only to serve humans.
One of the primary barriers to care is thinking and acting otherwise.
It is our honor, right, and responsibility to honor and protect them. If you are learning or working with folks that perpetuate hierarchy, supremacy, or exploitation I urge you to reevaluate how and what you support. If you would like to learn how to spot the traps, join me in learning communities.
Here is a not all encompassing list of The Plants grown in and on purpose here; The Teachers, the drivers, the guides, the sentient beings, The Plants, oh thank you, Plants! And Pollinators! And Processes!
Bio regional Native Introduced
Annual Perennial
Energetic bodies of the Cosmos and of Earth
Lu’s primary Teachers along the Paths
In no particular order, colloquial names
Motherwort Mugwort Comfrey Calendulas Yarrows Mints Lemon Balm Thymes Dandy Lion Hyssop Anise Hyssop Gotu Kola Tulsis Mullein Borage Rudebeckias Sages Plantains Tithonia Oregano Fireweed Asters Cup plant Corns Beans Squashes Evening Primrose Tobacco Bee Balms Thyme Asters Hawthorn Rose CA Poppy Cempasuchil Clovers Rye Lobelia Queen Anne’s Lace PA Flax Valerian Violets Oats Solstice Wort Lavender Rosemary Nettles Cinquefoil Fennel Chamomiles Blue Vervain Skullcap Various annual and perennial grains, food crops Zinnias Cosmos Thujas Quaking Aspens Hemlocks Spruces Pin Oak Maples Grapes
Who do you Learn With?
It is IMPERATIVE for your Safety, Agency, Integrity and Shared Responsibilities to think critically, with discernment, when looking for information and resources about . . . . anything.
Herbalism is a wide umbrella of practices, and all trustworthy practitioners adhere to the same ethical standards, regardless of beautiful diversity and traditions.
The ages of Social Media and AI threaten safety and the craft. The degradation of herbal cultures MUST have your protection via RELATIONSHIP and doing your own healing work around relational values, supremacy, colonization, extraction, commodification, appropriation, and other degeneration.
You must share the responsibilties of keeping each other safe, and connected, including the Plants.
In every one of my books and classes I give you a list of colleagues and teachers whom I trust and highly recommend. Citing and referencing People you learn from is not just the bare minimum of respect, it is also protecting people.
If it is a hot trend on the socials, from influencers, from the overculture wellness industry, IT IS A RED FLAG, yall.
If it doesn't include collective, community issues and relations, it is a red flag.
If you are profiting off closed practices, you are a thief, and perpetuating violence.
No excuses, only accountability and repair.
Here are some People in Practice that I Highly recommend you CENTER and fair exchange with, share their work, and align with. Herbalists and other healing arts practitioners.
LEARNING
Terra Sylva School of Botanical Medicine https://www.terrasylvaschool.com/
Northern Appalachia School of Herbalism https://www.northernappalachiaschool.com/
Herbal Medics Academy https://herbalmedics.academy/
Karen Rose https://www.sacredvibeshealing.com/about-karen-rose
Layla Feghali https://www.riverroseremembrance.com/
Jim McDonald https://www.herbcraft.org/
PA School of Herbalism https://www.paherbschool.com/
Dana O'Driscoll https://thedruidsgarden.com/about-the-druid/
Jennifer Tucker http://jennifer-tucker.com/Studio_at_Hill_Crystal_Farm/The_Studio_at_Hill_Crystal_Farm.html
Herbalists who either Tend Land directly and or source Plants directly from small Farms
Althaea Apothecary https://allegheniesmarketplace.com/store/althaea-herb-farm-apothecary/
Damiana of La Luneria https://www.laluneria.com/
Ms Tea Botanica https://msteabotanica.com/
Every Light Wellness https://www.everylightwellness.com/
My Herbal Apothecary https://www.myherbalapothecary.com/about
Source your Seeds, Roots and Herbs from Trusted Stewards in Alignment with Best Practice
Local, regional, organic, regenerative Herb Farms
Foxtrot Farm https://www.foxtrotherbfarm.com/
Meraki Farmacy
Bluestem Botanicals
Fedco Seeds
Strictly Medicinals
Frontier Co-op
