Christa Sinadinos

Christa Sinadinos has been studying and working with medicinal herbs since 1989, and has practiced clinical herbalism and aromatherapy since 1994. In 1998 Christa founded The Northwest School for Botanical Studies in order to teach courses on botanical medicine. Since then, hundreds of students have completed her clinical and professional herbalist training programs. She incorporates Western, Ayurvedic, and Chinese constitutional therapies into her practice and her teachings and works with clients ranging from infants to seniors.

Christa is also the proprietor of the herbal extract business Alpine Meadow Botanicals. She maintains an extensive herbal pharmacy with many organic, locally cultivated herbs, as well as herbs she has carefully wildcrafted or grown. She is dedicated to the conservation and cultivation of medicinal herbs, and maintains an herbal demonstration garden containing more than 200 species.

Christa believes in the sharing of knowledge and information about botanical medicine and writes about the medicinal uses of herbs. She regularly contributes articles to the journal Medical Herbalism and to Starwest Botanicals Newsletter, and is one of the herbalists featured in the book Herbal Teas, by Kathleen Brown. Christa has also published the Alpine Meadow Botanicals Compound Guide, and aims to publish her own book on medicinal herbs. In addition to her writings, Christa has lectured at the California Women's Herbal Symposium, Humboldt State University, Mad River Community Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and at Moonrise Herbs.

Christa is one of the founding members of the Arcata Women's Business Group. She also co-founded the Herbal Practitioner's Guild with herbalist Greta de la Montagne, and is a professional member of the American Botanical Council, American Herb Association, American Herbalist Guild, and United Plant Savers.

Outside of the herbal realm, Christa's passion extends to food, nature, and dance. She enjoys gardening and cooking nourishing meals, and loves to dance samba and salsa. Christa lives in Humboldt County with her husband Howie Kaufman and their son Jayden.

Christa's history, mentors, and teachers

Christa & Tulips

Christa was born and raised in East Lansing, Michigan. Her fascination with plants began with the many hours she spent playing and wandering in the woods. At the age of four, Christa remembers being enchanted by wild plants that she could gather and eat.

As a child, she was immersed in Greek culture and traditions. Her grandmother, Lefkothea Sinadinos maintained a garden filled with Mediterranean herbs and vegetables until she was 97 years old. She taught Christa the importance of maintaining radiant health by incorporating nutritious foods and herbs into her daily meals. Christa's grandfather, Lefty Brown taught her to gather and prepare wild mushrooms. Christa was captivated by plants at an early age and she desired to learn more about plant medicines and edible foods.

Christa studied with Michael Moore at The Southwest School for Botanical Medicine. Michael imparted his knowledge of numerous Western medicinal herbs and he sparked Christa's interest in physiology and constitutional medicine. She continued her herbal studies with Adam Seller at The Pacific School of Herbal Medicine and attended various herbal conferences and intensives. From her teacher Nancy Anagnost, Christa also learned valuable energetic practices and tools that have helped her tremendously in her practice. Perhaps more than any other teacher, Christa has learned the most from the quiet time that she spends in her garden and in nature.

Christa is thankful to all of her teachers, clients, and students, from whom she has learned so much on so many levels. She is also grateful to the plants which are her eternal inspiration.

Lefkothea Sinadinos

Christa & Mom

Juliette De Baricali Levy

A special thanks to the members of the Arcata Women's Business Group for inspiration and support! The members include the following: Janet Czarnecki (Redwood Roots Farm), Erin Derden-Little (Redwood Roots Educational Program and C.A.L.F.), Desiree Meinardi (Muddy Boots Landscaping & Samba na Chuva), Amy Bohner (Alchemy Construction Inc.), Suzy Haggerty (Suzy Haggerty Designs), Maria Levy (Ms. M's Catering and Samba na Chuva), and Amy Johnson (Footprint Biodiesel).

Guest Teachers

Kevin Cunningham

Kevin Cunningham has been farming in Humboldt County for seven years. He is dedicated to sustainable and organic agriculture and has learned from many local mentors including Paul Giuntoli, Bert Walker, and Jennifer Greene. He runs Shakefork Community Farm the county's first grain share farm. He has a BA in Sustainable Community Development from Prescott College. He has also studied Biodynamic Agriculture with Harald Hoven at the Rudolf Steiner College and Permaculture with Penny Livingston-Stark. He has been home brewing for over five years and specializes in herbal meads, beers and fruit wines. Being a beekeeper his focus is on honey as a fermentable sugar and a collector of potent herbal medicine.

Contact Kevin at Shakefork Community Farm (707) 834-5001.

Janet Czarnecki

Janet Czarnecki is an organic farmer with twenty-five years of experience. She is the proprietor of Redwood Roots, a CSA Farm (Community Supported Agricultural Farm). She practices sustainable farming methods and teaches classes locally.
www.redwoodrootsfarm.com

Erin Derden-Little

Erin Derden-Little grew up in Arcata, Humboldt County, but developed her interest in agriculture and food as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bolivia. In 2006 she completed a Masters program at UC Davis in the areas of agricultural and community development. Erin returned to the North Coast to work on the field crew at Redwood Roots Farm where she now coordinates educational activities for youth and adults. Support from farm owner Janet Czarnecki and a partnership with the Community Alliance with Family Farmers and its Farm to School Program makes it possible for Erin to bring 500-650 students to the farm each year to learn about food production, nutrition, and ecology. She speaks regularly about the benefits of gardening with children, and leads workshops on topics such as soil and compost.

Tina Glaessner

Tina Glaessner is the owner of Crimson-Sage Nursery, a certified organic medicinal plant nursery in the Klamath River Valley in Orleans, California. Known in the herbal world as “Tina Goat,” she has been growing medicinal and food plants of all kinds for 25 years. After starting as a market gardener she eventually began specializing in medicinal herbs, and now sells her nursery plants to customers nationwide. Tina also makes a line of hand-crafted herbal products called Mama Goats Garden. Her goal is to empower gardeners and herbalists alike to grow as many of their own medicinal herbs as possible, bringing a direct plant connection back to the forefront of herbal medicine.
Crimson-Sage Nursery website: http://www.crimson-sage.com

Rita Jacinto

Rita is a plant person. She has been growing and tending plants since she was a little girl following her dad around the garden. Roaming the woods and marshes of Cape Cod as a child it seemed there was a story for every plant. Most of them began, "the Indians used to use that plant for..." She has been listening to their stories ever since. Rita and her partner Laurie Levey run Flying Blue Dog Farm and Nursery in Willow Creek, California where they specialize in culinary and medicinal herbs and open pollinated and heirloom vegetables, all with stories of their own.
Flying Blue Dog Farm and Nursery website: http://www.flyingbluedogfarm.com

Rose Madrone

Rose Madrone is a botanist, educator, and herbalist. A graduate of the California School of Herbal Studies and Humboldt State University, she teaches both plant identification and about the intricate lives of plants. She has been working with the world of plants for over twenty years.

Linda Redfield

Linda Redfield, N.C. is a State Certified Nutritional Therapist, and Nutrition Response Testing (sm) practitioner and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from UC Davis, and Diet Counselor and Nutrition Educator Certificates from Bauman College. She also has completed many hundreds of hours of clinical nutritional training seminars.

Linda has been counseling and teaching in the holistic health field for over 35 years. She was a staff member of the East West Center for Natural Health Education in Eureka California for 15 years, where she taught whole foods cooking and nutrition classes and catered weekly whole foods meals for up to 150 people.

She has also been gardening and farming for almost 40 years, managing the greenhouse for a 15 acre organic vegetable farm for over 10 years.

She currently is a local chapter leader for the Weston A. Price Foundation, whose mission is to restore nutrient dense food to the American diet through education, research and activism, and is also a professional member of the International Foundation for Nutrition and Health which is dedicated to the philosophies and laws of nature advocated by such nutritional pioneers as Dr's. Royal Lee, Melvin Page, Francis Pottenger, and Weston A. Price.

She can be contacted for more information at 707 834-2501 or linda@holisticselfhealing.org