Our Story
As told by Becca…
Observatory Peak, 2018
In 2014, I left my life in the city for good and landed at Breitenbush Hot Springs where I spent four years cooking, baking, facilitating writing and meditation programs, and studying tarot, astrology, and parts + shadow work. It was here that I finally understood why the Chicago life I had grown up in and the Portland life I tried to love in my thirties never felt quite right: Riparian Zone Nymphs don’t thrive amidst skyscrapers and concrete, and I finally understood that I was one of them.
Wild morels and dandelion greens
A few springs later a bushy-bearded Seth showed up at my cabin in the woods and wanted to stay for good. He carried an axe to clear the trees that had fallen over the trail that winter and carved me a walking staff decorated with a crescent moon, so I let him.
It didn’t take me long to realize that I should wear close-toed shoes on every walk we went on in the tangled old forest, for trails were seldom traveled with this Woodsman. There were too many things to find off-trail—a pitch-laden branch perfect for a natural torch, fiddlehead ferns and morels to collect for dinner, fallen fir and yew trees just waiting to be carved into spoons, spatulas, and bows.
Pearly everlasting and fireweed.
Before long, you couldn’t walk through the “extra” room in our 300 square-foot cabin without stumbling over shafts of wood or knocking your head on all the daisy, kinnikinnick, fireweed, pearly everlasting, and other wildcrafted plants hanging from the ceiling.
Eventually these dried leaves and flowers became healing tinctures, potions, elixirs, bath teas, and salves. Found pieces of wood became Woodsman-tracking trails of curly shavings and magic wands. Long slow mornings on our adventures manifested as colorful drawings, and the dark hours of the Cascade winter were crocheted into mandalas, wall hangings, rugs, pot holders, and fuzzy cowls.
Seth and foraged herbs at Monan Lake, 2017.
When a large number of the staff at Breitenbush got hit by an epic flu that winter, we began selling elderberry elixir and tinctures made from Ponderosa Pine Pollen, Oregon Grape Root, and Red-Belted Conk in the staff store.
Our first batch sold out in 24 hours, so we kept making more. We needed a name to stick on our products and, without discussion, we knew it would be Nymph and Woodsman. Our lives and product line have been expanding together ever since.
We now live at Full Bloom Community and Farm in Southern Oregon where we cultivate medicinal herbs and native wildflowers; wander the woods to harvest wild medicine and tasty treats; make art; and offer astrology and tarot readings to others on their quest for a life of love and beauty. Visit our online shop and let us love you up with our healing goodies!
Seth picking chamomile at Full Bloom.
A little more about Seth
Seth grew up on the Oregon coast doing all the things that Oregon's children get to do--camping, firebuilding, mountain climbing, wildcrafting, and chopping wood. As an adult, he has worked and lived in Oregon, California, Alaska, and Hawaii, and has traveled through many parts of the Pacific and Europe. He is now making his dreams come true in one of Oregon's sunniest spots.
Becca harvesting nettles at Full Bloom.
A little more about Becca
I grew up on the north side of Chicago dreaming about all of the things Oregon kids get to do, so I moved Out West shortly after graduating high school. In the years since, I’ve facilitated wilderness expeditions; cooked and baked amidst wild beauty; taught creative writing and mindfulness seminars for Prescott College, the University of Montana, Breitenbush Hot Springs, and my own writing studio; became an astrology, tarot, and shadow + parts work practitioner; discovered the joy of drawing; and fallen in love with the healing power of plants.
About our Logo
During our first long, dark, and snowy winter together in the Oregon Cascades, Seth and I cozied up in our cabin and spun dreams about the life we wanted to create together in the sunshinier land of Southern Oregon.
We knew that we were on a shared mission to spread more love and beauty in the world, so those words ride high on our logo. We also knew we were going to do so by offering our wildcrafted and artisan goods, so that explains the bottommost words.
At the bottom of the logo is a bow shooting an arrow straight through the hatchet and dandelion. During the year that we spent together at Breitenbush, Seth began making a bow and a set of arrows from a Douglas Fir tree that had fallen across the river trail. We spoke a lot about how arrows represent action in the tarot, and how we can only hit the targets of our intentions when we take actions to get there.
Ringing the logo, we have a tincture bottle, a hemp leaf, a morel mushroom, and a cup of tea to represent some of our myriad offerings.
To explore the wellness tinctures and salves, greeting cards, calendars, and my book—The Soul’s Delight: Recipes for a Life of Love and Beauty—scootch on over to our online shop!
In love and beauty, Nymph and Woodsman
In the center, a dandelion and a hatchet cross one another, obvious symbols of the Nymph and Woodsman.
The hatchet also represents our intention to offer goods and resources that help clear tangled spaces inside and out so that we can build the structures that actually support ourselves and others—be they wellness potions, new habits of mind, tools for self awareness, or healthy daily rituals.
We chose the dandelion because this widely spread, humble, cheerful, and much maligned “weed” is actually a super healing plant. It’s a reminder that good medicine can be found almost anywhere and is thus accessible to us all. As one of the earth’s most wild and gorgeous healers, the dandelion also represents the mystery and magic inherent in all that we create.
