Who is Ayla Rose?

Ayla Rose is the feral housewife of the Hearth & Heart homestead, a small-but-mighty half acre of land in Painted Post, New York. Born in the year of the Earth Dragon under the Earthy sign of Taurus, she grew up in the small town of Dayton, Maryland on a 22 acre horse ranch a quarter of a mile off the road surrounded by woods. During a horse show, a male elder approached her while she was putting worms on her tongue to gross out her friend and told her that she could eat Red Clover. At the time, she had no idea how impactful this exchange was…

Though she found respite with the animals, trees, plants, and spirits of her childhood home, growing up with a Cinderella story led her to become suicidal at the age of eleven. Her father, experiencing the grief of suicide a year before she was born and fearing for his daughter’s life, brought Ayla to John Hopkins Medical Center. After years of pharmaceuticals, stays in the mental ward, and a decline in both her mental and physical health, she moved to Albany, New York to live with her mother at the age of fifteen. Life in the city was not kind…

After seventeen years, two children, and a whole lot of traumatic experiences, an accident causing major brain trauma and being drugged and almost abducted while visiting China in 2019 changed her life completely. With her brain bruised and confused, her concept of reality crumbled. So far from her connection with Gaia, she went to CVS and stood in the supplement aisle and prayed for something to help her. Evening Primrose caught her attention, came to her aid, and remains as one of her closest plant allies today. She moved out of Albany and away from the past that she recognized to be binding her in 2021.

She landed in Painted Post, where she and her partner, Adam Guinn, began creating a life together, and a son in 2022. Though town-locked, the Hearth & Heart homestead had been left to grow wild for many years, and the abundance of a variety of medicinal and magical plants was both an inspiration and a catalyst. Born in the age of the Internet, and without a clue of or a connection to the herbalist community, she first turned to plant identifying apps, Google searches, and conscious observation to learn about the plants that surrounded her. Even as her knowledge grew, she craved both teachers and peers.

Upon visiting Healing Spirits Farm for the first time, she saw the announcement of a one time only apprenticeship program with Matthias and Andrea Reisen, and though she had no idea who they were, she felt a kindred and a pull to participate. The seven months that followed were life-changing; reopening her eyes, reawakening her Spirit, and realigning her path.

As both a budding and blooming herbalist, Ayla Rose has made many mistakes and has dealt with much imposter syndrome. As a mom of two teenagers and a toddler, she struggles to find a balance between her service to others, to her family, and to herself. She knows that the plants have called her to do important work, but she also knows that her children are her most important work. Still budding and still blooming, Ayla Rose walks the Earth Medicine path, sharing her gifts and her story with an unfamiliar sense of belonging and confidence; remaining open to and appreciative of all of the learning, experiences, and connections along the way!