The entirety of the Midwest Women’s Herbal platform was founded by Linda Conroy, a Wise Woman Herbalist that is currently residing on a small homestead in Southwestern Wisconsin.  Linda has lived all over North America and has over 30 years of experience in women’s health and community,  herbalism, social work, and wild food harvesting amongst many other things. Linda is also the owner of Moonwise Herbs, a heartfelt business offering herbal products, a colorful array of educational apprenticeships, workshops, and herbal medicines. Linda has been a mentor to many women and continues to empower her community to live full and nourished lives.

Midwest Women’s Herbal was planted when Linda saw a need for women to gather, learn, and deeply nourish themselves and the community through a deeper connection with the plants, fungi and overall, the Earth. From this seed she wove together her dreams, connections such as United Plant Savers, and resources to then plant some seeds and dig deep. The Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference was born from her efforts to keep the Wise Woman tradition alive, and gather with an intention of food in the belly, support in the community and curiosity in the mind. 

From the first ever Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference (MWHC), the energy and enthusiasm was there. Women’s needs were being met in a way that they hadn’t really been before in the Midwest. With winters being long and at times community being sparse, the MWHC was a truly beautiful mycelial network of women coming together and bringing their strengths to the table. This is still a large part of the inner and outer workings of the conference. Women who are called to do so, come forward and offer their strengths and their time to help put together this deeply nourishing conference for women of all ages, backgrounds, cultures and levels of knowledge. 

After 12 years of evolving, the MWHC has grown into a curated and intentional village-like platform that holds so much more than could have ever been imagined. The list of offerings ebbs and flows with what needs are being expressed. MWHC now offers two in person conferences annually, an online series over the winter season, teleseminars, and an herbal classroom that presents excellent and trusted educators, topics, information and structure so you can learn at your own pace and on your own time. Honoring the elders in the community and documenting their work in a more permanent form has also become a passion point for MWHC. 

There is no doubt that herbalism is the heartbeat of the conference, but those who came before us gave us our hearts to begin with. Passing down sacred knowledge and songs, tips and tricks, meals and mendings, MWHC desires to honor the elders in the community the best they can, giving them a voice, a face and a name; a true sense of timelessness.

Over the years there have been countless world-renowned Keynote speakers and elders alongside brand new herbalists just getting their footing in the field. This co-created community holds the space for women of all knowledge levels to lovingly show up and bring forth the knowledge that they are burning to share. In this sacred space being held, women have the ability to foster life-long, deeply rooted relationships. Incubating growth and redundancy, there is both a role for everyone to blossom in and the opportunity for needs to be met more lovingly. This is a nourishment in and of itself.

Nourishment is a major focal point of the MWHC. This is a word you will hear used again and again. This entails both the depth of the quality of food being served as well as the quality of the time being spent. The food is prepared caringly with primarily local, whole and nutrient dense ingredients by women and in turn, women owned businesses. The idea is that women who are well nourished will learn well, go home to lead healthier lives and therefore contribute to creating a healthier community. They will show up and be the best version of themselves. They will pass this knowledge to those around them. This is the spiral that we are ever turning on. This is the spiral that is the core of the conference. 

The only way to truly know this community, the web of interconnectedness and empowerment, is to be present. To walk into the space and allow yourself to be fully held. To dive in with curiosity, an open heart, and a good sense of humor.

For 12 years, MWHC has been committed to using creativity to bring unique offerings to this community. There is a lot of love and time put into this village that has been created, but the offerings aren’t complete without your presence! Come join the ever-growing sisterhood that has become the MWHC. Bring a friend, a mother, a sister or grandmother and submerge yourself in this deeply nourishing, ever changing spiral of the self alongside our greatest green allies! 

Herbalism is our heartbeat. As our sisterhood grows, we beat louder.