Emily Ruff
3 Courses • 8 StudentsBiography
Herbalist Emily Ruff serves as Director of Sage Mountain Botanical Sanctuary, continuing the three-decade legacy of Rosemary Gladstar stewarding 600 acres in Central Vermont with a mission of conservation, education, and healing. Her journey with plants began in childhood learning botanical names in her backyard with her father, a botany professor. Emily has served as Executive Director of the Florida School of Holistic Living (501c3) for the last fifteen years, following the passing of the school’s founder. Following in Rosemary’s footsteps, Emily’s dedication to preserving bioregional medicinal plant traditions and ecosystems led her to become active as a board member in the organization United Plant Savers. Inspired by a need for greater connection among her regional community, she founded the annual Florida Herbal Conference in 2012, and served multiple terms as president of the Herb Society of Central Florida. Most recently, Emily founded the Orlando Grief Care Project, to distribute herbal aid to those impacted by the tragic shooting at Pulse Nightclub in 2016. Soon after, this work took her to the frontlines of earth advocacy at Standing Rock, where she organized and served with the Medic & Healer Council, and continues to serve on the board of the Mní Wičóni Clinic and Farm. Emily serves the local Vermont community as elected chairwoman of the Town Selectboard of Orange, Vermont. Emily’s work was featured on the cover of the Business Section of the Boston Globe in July 2019 in a feature article titled “Making Medicine on the Mountain.”
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