Event Information
The 9th Annual Red Earth: The Mountain West Women's Herbal Gathering will be held August 1st to 3rd, 2025 at 13 Moons Ranch in Carbondale, Colorado.
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Rustic camping on Friday and Saturday as well as Friday dinner through Sunday lunch are included. Lodging, RV/car camping and other add-ons such as extra nights on the land and extra meals will go on sale closer to the event. Note that tickets are transferrable, but not refundable unless the event is cancelled by the organizers.
Holding the Center 2025
We are three extraordinary women with a vision. We are calling our collective "Holding the Center", as we pragmatically and magically plan this amazing annual gathering of wise and witchy plant women with love and intention.
FOUNDER, LEAD ORGANIZER & CEREMONIAL DIRECTOR
Astrid Grove
Astrid Grove celebrates life with her husband, her two daughters, and her many farm animals. Her passion lies in facilitating and supporting women's empowerment through midwifery, hands on healing, plant medicine and sacred ceremony. She has sat at the feet of many wise women teachers and is now claiming her role as a mentor herself in co-creating The Wise Woman Sisterhood 12 month apprenticeship.
To learn more about Astrid go to www.astridgrove.com and to learn more about the apprenticeship go to www.thewisewomansisterhood.com.
FINANCE & SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR
Mikala Price
Mikala was born and raised in Colorado Springs and spent several years out of the country, living in Spain, where her plant journey began. There she worked with wild plants from the Spanish countryside.
Since being back in Colorado, she’s pursued her interest in herbal studies and is working towards her dreams of sharing herbal medicine and products with all. The community she’s found through her love for plants has been life changing, and the women she’s met at Red Earth are a large part of that.
Mikala’s excited to help contribute to making this event possible and fostering a space for such incredible women to create such powerful relationships and experiences.
Technology Coordinator
Erin Lester
Erin has been on a journey of reconnecting to the earth and her innate ability to create and heal for the past 20 odd years. She has been learning that nature heals, stillness and movement can clear our inner channels, herbs are nature's magic, pregnancy and birth are outer-worldy, meditation and prana connect us to ourselves and truth, that being a woman is amazing, we can't force change upon those we love and that very little is black and white in life.
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Erin is learning to fall in love with herself and offer up her gifts. She has been and done many things. Having lived in many places she is happy to call Colorado her home. She enjoys helping others. Currently, she feels drawn to her work as a birth worker (doula and midwife assistant), a movement teacher (yoga, gymnastics, natural movement), a homeschooling mother to her two, dear children, and learning the healing powers of plants.
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Red Earth and its wonderful community have had a huge influence on Erin in the past seven years. She is honored to be supporting Red Earth on the organizing team as the Tech lead - utilizing her gifts from decades of experience working with computers and websites.
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Red Earth: The Mountain West Herbal Gathering Support Team
Sponsorship & Marketplace Co-ordinator
Bianca Camacho
Bianca has spent many years in the wellness world, holding a master's degree in nutrition and vast experience in fitness as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. She is a seasoned artist and creative, who's love of art came from her mother and grandmother, both lifelong artists.
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Having been captivated by botanical art for many years, and now a budding herbalist, she is excited to bring her passions together to share the love of art, health, and plants with anyone who is interested.
ASSISTANT TO THE CORE ORGANIZERS
Chantel C Recksiedler
Chantel has called Colorado home for the past seven years, recently moving to Summit County to be closer to the mountains and away from the busy city. She is someone who loves to be outdoors—whether that’s hiking or unwinding in a hot spring. Chantel also finds a lot of joy in cooking, reading, trying new art, and diving into herbalism. (She's still learning, but it’s been an exciting journey so far!)
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She has attended a number of retreats, but Red Earth truly resonated with her last year and she's overjoyed to play a more intricate role in this special gathering. The opportunity to serve sisters is a gift.
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Outside of Red Earth, Chantel works in environmental advocacy - which keeps her connected to her passion for the planet and the importance of taking care of it. At the heart of it all, she is a simple soul who enjoys the little things and tries to live with intention, staying grounded in nature and the community around her.
WORK EXCHANGE COORDINATOR
Laura Linnebur
Laura was raised on a ranch in Eastern Colorado where she developed a love of spacious skies, connection to the land, and seasonal rhythms. Laura’s relationship with plant medicine stems from her background in floral design, where she has worked in both studios and fields, learning the language of flowers and the wisdom they hold.
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She completed Living in Rhythm's apprenticeship in evolutionary astrology and core calibration, a method synthesizing seasonal archetypes and movement. She is currently studying somatic therapy, as well as the spiritual well-being of women through the medium of menstruality. In addition to her work in embodiment, Laura specializes in regional artisan grain markets, developing relationships between growers, makers, and enjoyers. When at play, she loves hiking, writing poetry, painting, and cooking nourishing, colorful meals with loved ones.
Laura is passionate about facilitating connection between people and foundational ways of knowing. With her multidisciplinary approach to collaboration, it brings her joy to help individuals explore their authenticity and offer their gifts from a place of alignment. She is excited to support Red Earth’s next generation of work exchange women to co-create a fluid, supportive container for learning.
Design & Henna
SarahKate Butterworth
SarahKate Butterworth has been an artist all her life, though she didn't find her medium of henna until she was just about 30. In the past 20 years of artistic expression, she had adorned thousands of women, especially pregnant mamas (her favorite canvas).
The Green Cauldron, her beautiful home studio in Boulder, is a sacred space for women to celebrate rites of passage or simply sit back in the henna throne to be adorned for any occasion - birthdays, graduation, romantic surprises, bonding with friends or family. This private space is ideal for small gatherings of women to create ceremonies with body art. Empowering women with body art and photography is one of SarahKate's callings in life.
The henna that is prepared for Red Earth is mixed by hand and includes organic henna powder, black tea and sugar. There is a natural dye molecule in henna that dyes the skin and the "tattoo" lasts about a week. See SarahKateButterworth.com to view an immense gallery of art work, read her blog, and be inspired!
Grounds Coordinator
Tracy Zuschlag
Tracy began life in the suburbs of MD and at age 10 moved to a small rural farm 45 minutes NW of DC. Her family raised chickens, ducks, goats, a pony and gardens. She attended college at St Leo College, FL and earned a degree in hotel/restaurant management. She moved to Vail and then Steamboat Springs, CO in 1989 where she worked at a couple restaurants and then, in 1990, she began a career with a non-profit.
She has worked in many roles including as the Conference Director for her last 5 years. She managed 2500 attendees and 100 exhibitors for a 4-day, concurrent session event held at conference venues around the world. She left this position in 2000 to raise a family and in 2009 began school again studying to be an Ayurveda Practitioner and LMT. In 2011 she finished school and opened a practice in Steamboat Springs in 2012. There she consults with clients on diet, lifestyle and a multitude of health conditions, along with various bodywork modalities.
She continues to advance her knowledge and education every chance she can. Tracy loves travel and exploring the great outdoors with her family and pets to hike, ski, and wild harvest and craft wild plants for her family and clients.
