We recently connected with Lucretia Jones and have shared our conversation below.

Lucretia, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s go back in time to when you were an intern or apprentice – what’s an interesting story you can share from that stage of your career?

My apprenticeship in the Wise Woman Tradition left me with many valuable impressions that continue to inform how I encounter plants and people. We were encouraged to spend time with one plant before asking any questions or reading information from a book. The awareness that each breath connects us with every plant on earth is something that I enjoy sharing. The relationships that we form with individual plants can be as intimate as with people and I continue to offer this approach.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I have been on the plant path for over twenty years. After graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BFA in sculpture, I moved to New York City in 1999 to pursue a life in the visual arts. When the World Trade Center collapse occurred in 2001, I would have been on a subway train in the area had I not been in Virginia for my father’s funeral. Following these tragedies, I sought solace and purpose in reconnecting with nature. These early explorations led me to the Wise Woman Tradition, and I began studying with Susun Weed in upstate New York. It was during this apprenticeship that I discovered a passion for connecting people and the healing power of plants.

In 2003, I founded House of Lukaya, an online and in person platform offering incense and other handicrafts, workshops, and educational resources on plant medicine. I craft each incense twist one by one, with tree free paper. It is my personal meditation and is a perfect simple daily ritual. My workshops empower folks to create relationships with local plants and make their own medicine.

Have you ever had to pivot?

In 2019, I realized a long-held dream by purchasing land to build a solar and rain powered homestead with my partner and our son. We still lived in Washington DC and traveled to our home state of Virginia once a week, getting to know the land as we cut trails by hand and planted medicinal gardens. While it was our goal to eventually live there full time, it wasn’t until news of the pandemic began to spread that we realized the time had come to take the leap. I had been focused on in person workshops and community gardens, and as more and more people became interested in home remedies, I shifted to offering online classes. I sent out nourishing herbal infusion and tincture making kits and gathered in the virtual space to teach about making medicine with plants growing nearby. Even as we began gathering in person again, the online aspect continues to be a way of connecting with folks in other regions.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

The events that led me to the plant path were anything but linear, and since then, the path continues to spiral and expand. I decided to leave the 9 to 5 world behind and give my full efforts to guide people to plant wisdom. That journey began with farmers markets and eventually, I opened a shop in Richmond, Virginia where I offered my handicrafts, local art, and a community event space. That was over fifteen years ago, and I had more enthusiasm than knowledge of how to run a storefront. I continued learning from that experience for six years, taking a position as wellness consultant and local products buyer at a then locally owned natural foods store. Working there further solidified my desire to share people’s medicine in the form of whole plants rather than pills and supplements. Without a storefront of my own, I continued vending at markets and improving on my website, offering in person and online classes. I became a mother in 2013 and moved to the city once again, this time, Washington DC. Although it wasn’t what I considered an ideal environment, I found community gardens and connected with other homeschooling moms. The years in the city provided plenty of opportunities to hone my awareness of the nature all around me, no matter the environment. I continued to envision caretaking land and that is where we find ourselves today.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://houseoflukaya.com
• Instagram: @houseoflukaya @off_gridish
• Facebook: House of Lukaya, Off Gridish
• Youtube: Off Gridish Homestead