Emily Ruff is a community herbalist who has practiced the art and science of plant healing for over a decade. Her studies have taken her around three continents where she has studied under healers of many traditions. Her background in gardening and botany came in childhood while wandering the wilderness and digging in the sandy soils of Florida with her grandfather, a tobacco farmer turned urban gardener, and her father, a botany and astronomy professor.

Her journey into herbalism continued through apprenticeships in Guatemala under the tutelage of local healers on the southern coast of Lake Atitlan, in the mountains of Vermont at the feet of Rosemary Gladstar, and in the Central Florida apothecary Leaves & Roots with herbalists Carolyn Whitford and George D’Arcy. Emily’s academic studies include Ethnobotany, Philosophy, and Women’s Studies at the University of Central Florida and Curanderismo with the University of New Mexico.

In 2005, Emily founded the Florida School of Holistic Living as a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to cultivating sustainable community through education. The school offers classes and workshops in the Orlando, Florida area with a robust online curriculum. Inspired by a need for greater connection among her regional community, she founded the Florida Herbal Conference event in 2012, an event that continues to sell out annually.

In 2018, Emily formed a new nonprofit organization to carry forth Rosemary Gladstar’s legacy of conservation, education and healing through stewardship of the Sage Mountain Botanical Sanctuary, where Emily currently serves as director. Leadership and advocacy in local and state government supports the mission of conservation in Central Vermont, where Emily serves the Town of Orange as chair of the Selectboard and Deputy Health Officer.

In 2022, Emily received the American Botanical Council’s Mark Blumenthal Community Builder Award in recognition of her work in Orlando Grief Care Project, Herbal Action Network, and Hospice Outreach activities.