About Eliza Travisano

My love for the natural world was fostered by my parents- avid birdwatchers, plant appreciators and wild food enthusiasts. Growing up, my family hunted, fished, dug clams, gathered berries, collected scallops and tried many Euell Gibbons recipes from his delightful wild food tomes. We canned tomatoes, made applesauce and boiled berries into jam. One year we boiled huge pots of Maple sap on various electric burners and Coleman stoves for a month to reduce it all down to a gallon of precious syrup. We made some terrible tasting Dandelion wine. My mother used Plantain (Plantago major) on our cuts and scrapes. I still remember how I felt when I learned there was a plant growing wild in our yard that my mother used as medicine. To me, at five, this was clearly magic.

In my teens, I became fixated on the bulk herb section of a local food co-op. I couldn't stop wondering what all of those leaves, seeds and flowers could be used for. I bought all the herbal books I could find and experimented with herbs for a few years (adding Goldenseal to soups and other culinary disasters) before I moved to Tucson, Arizona.  

In Tucson, I began my herbal education in earnest, attending the Sonoran Herb Institute with teacher Pam Hyde Nakai in 2001. Soon after, I returned to the northeast and apprenticed with Stephan Brown of Great Cape Herbs in Brewster, MA.  After a couple of years I began managing the apothecary and worked there until 2012. In 2008, I attended the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine where I completed the Community Herbalism Intensive program with 7Song.  

My herbal studies continue and over the past 15 years I have taught herbal medicine classes and workshops at libraries, herb festivals, herb shops, community centers and at the College of Pharmacy at The University of Rhode Island.

I feel excited to be starting Medicinal Plant School of Rhode Island where I hope I will inspire others to pursue their interest in the rich and fascinating world of medicinal plants.