34 - Reclaiming Sovereignty Through Nature, Intuition & Herbal Medicine with Courtney Tarbat of Feraly Rooted Essence

In this deeply grounding conversation, I’m joined by Courtney Tarbat of Feraly Rooted Essence, a wild, earth-based herbalist living in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Together, we explore what it means to reconnect with nature, live cyclically with the seasons, and return to ancestral ways of wellness that honor both the land and the body.

Courtney shares her journey from growing up outdoors, to competing as a Division II athlete, to studying kinesiology, to eventually shifting away from government-funded nutrition messaging and toward a more intuitive, land-based understanding of true vitality. Her passion for herbal medicine, wild foraging, and sovereignty over personal health led to the creation of her apothecary, Feraly Rooted Essence.

What We Discuss

• Growing up rurally and how nature shaped her wellness journey
• How athleticism and kinesiology gave her an understanding of the human body
• What rewilding means and how ancestral wisdom guides her lifestyle
•  The philosophy behind bioregional herbalism and working with the plants growing around you
•  How her apothecary began organically through sharing products with friends
•  Why her products are 100% essential-oil–free and the sustainability behind that choice
•  Simple ways to reconnect with the land even if you live in a modern, indoor environment

Connect With Courtney Tarbat

Instagram: @feraly.rooted.essence
Website: feralyrootedessence.com
Find her workshops, apothecary offerings, and nature-based wellness resources.

Connect with Courtney Podany

Instagram: @healthywithcourtneyy

Free Affirmation Audio: Your Glow-Up 

Transcript

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Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where we go beyond diets and quick fixes, and reconnect with what it really means to feel good in your body. I am Courtney Podany, nutritional therapist, personal trainer, energy worker, type one diabetic, and mom here to guide you toward health that feels simple, sustainable, and aligned. Each episode will explore how to nourish your body. Balance your energy and strengthen your intuition so you can thrive and actually understand what your body is telling you. So grab your favorite drink. Take a deep breath, and let's jump into your new nourished life. Welcome back to the Nourished Living Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Podany, and today I have a special guest with us who I cannot wait for you guys to hear from. Her name is. Also Courtney, so we're bringing the double Courtney energy today. But please welcome Courtney Tarbat of Feraly rooted essence. She is a wild woman who resides in the untamed edges of the Sierra Nevada foothills of California. From a young age, she has always been inspired by movement, wellness, and nature. Growing up, rurally immersed her in the natural world where she created an intimate relationship to the land she resides on. She holds the duality of being an athletic nature girl. She earned her bachelor's degree in kinesiology while competing in division two softball. She also holds a physical education teaching credential, being multi-passionate about sharing wellness, vitality and nature Connection birthed a passion for weaving wellness into a nature-based lifestyle where an understanding of true vitality is found when plugged back into the land as an active participant, tapping back into the old ways that allowed our ancestors to thrive. She lives cyclically with the rhythms of nature's seasons where all of her meat she consumes is a collective effort from hunting, fishing, and local ranchers. She is a self-taught herbalist where she wild forages from her bio region for her medicine. Her passion for herbal medicine and nature-based wellness was the catalyst for the creation of her heart led business. Feraly rooted, essence, Feraly rooted. Essence was established under the values of rekindling, your most feral and untamed essence through nature, connection, sovereignty, wild food and medicine, and living in reverence and reciprocity. She offers an array of herbal goods from her apothecary hosts in-person workshops, and is proud to be her community's village potion master. Welcome, Courtney. Thank you for being here today. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. Thank you for reaching out. I would just love to hear, so that was like quite the intro and it did give us a lot of background into you, but I'd love to hear it again in your own words, what led you where you are today. Yeah, for sure. Well, if you haven't already gathered, I am an earth-based gal. Um, I grew up rurally, that's such a hard word to say sometimes, but I'm getting it down. Um, but yeah, I grew up in the rural California, Sierra Nevada foothills, and I grew up in an outdoors family, and we did a lot of outdoor activities. You know, we did a lot of, um, camping, fishing, hunting, dirt, bike riding. So I was. Out in nature all the time, and that really was able to lay the foundation of what, where I am in the realm of life. Right. I actually went to college in Oakland, which was a whole different world for me. It was a total, I was just absolutely in the city and it was really hard for me, but I always had my. Small, community and nature roots to come back to, and that what really helped me through my college time and growing up, I was an athlete and was also someone who was very immersed in nature. So I had the physical wellness on one side of the duality and then loving nature in the other. And. Being able to go and play Division two softball allowed me to get knowledge on how the body works and take some kinesiology classes and some sports science classes and biomechanics, and that was really helpful to understand the building blocks of how the body works and what works with it, what works against it, and weaving that in with my nature-based wellness was really the ticket on my trajectory of where I am now. Uh, after college I went on and worked at one of my local health departments doing a job that it was incredible because I was in the community. Teaching physical education, physical activity along with nutrition and gardening and just weaving both of those together. And I thought it would be a dream and come to find out, like when you work in like the government entity, you kind of have to do what the government says. And I was having to kind of pick apart what I would and would not wanna participate. Like they had certain strict things that I had to portray. Like I was not going to say that diet soda was a better alternative than regular soda. I was not gonna be down for that. The government, suggested health and, you know, come to find out like what they portrayed as health and wellness was really, was almost like a catapult into a disaster. Be able, being able to. Not look out for your own health and to be dependent on that healthcare system instead of being able to depend on your own health and wellness system. And so kind of opening my eyes up to, wow, like this isn't really. The vibe, and it was almost a mission of mine to find out, okay, well what is true health and wellness and where do you find vitality from? It's not from a prescription bottle. It's, you know, not from a doctor's office. That is really helpful if you have certain conditions in that you can work in symbiosis with, you know, um, allopathic medicine with natural medicine, and create such a beautiful connection with yourself. And so that really set me on the path of, okay, let's go back to the land where it all started. We all came from the land. And that's where I'm gonna find what really, what is really the connection and what feels good on a core level. And just finding out like ancestrally, looking back at all of our lineages. We weren't just like these cavemen that were barely hanging on, like no. We had ancestral wisdom and an ancestral knowledge that we were able to thrive and not just thrive as humans, but have positive inputs on the land. That the land was thriving as well. The land was a direct, uh, correlation to our health because we were one as humans in the land, we, evolved together and in fact, we have to live in a symbiosis because that's how we evolved together, and it was really interesting. What really got me on this trajectory was diving into the work of Daniel Vitalis. He did a Rewild Yourself podcast that really opened up my eyes. He really looked into what health and wellness. Looks from, from an ancestral perspective and how now we are so technology based and we are so comfortable that we have essentially divorced ourself from nature. And he says that we are even like astronauts walking on our own planet. Like we have no concept of what actual connection and vitality looks like through a nature-based lens. So that's kind of where my takeoff spot was of, okay, let's get back to the land. Let's see, because I live rurally, I have this connection already, but how am I supposed to live as a human on the land? And that kind of got me to where I am now. Yeah, that is beautiful and I really like that you were able to like identify during your job with the government, like, wait, this is not right, and I need to find out what is. And yeah, we have become so disconnected with nature and our earth, unfortunately, where people are more prone to want to take something from a prescription bottle than something natural like ashwagandha.'cause they've never heard of it before. You know, where it's like, okay, people have been taking this, I can't even tell you how long. And it's natural. Right, right. Um, so what are a few of the examples of like the potions and products that you make in your apothecary? Yeah, I'm so excited to share. So I practice bioregional herbalism, so I try my best to incorporate a lot of wild growing native plants that are already growing native in my system and then in my ecosystem. And then I'm also incorporating non-native invasive plants as well to try to help control those wild po, those wild invasive populations as well. So I use a lot of. Wild crafted items in my potions. For example, I've got my elderberry syrup during this winter time of year that I forge for my own elderberries I for forged for the elder flour. I use wild forged rose hips that I go and get as well. And of course I use delicious local honey, and that is a huge staple this time of year as an elixir you take internally. And I do a lot of internal elixirs like that. I do a powdered, um, I wanna call it like an adaptogenic mushroom mix that has all of the medicinal mushrooms. It has colostrum in it too, which is a huge immunity booster. And it's basically just like an instant, um, elixir that you can put in your coffee. You can make a morning drink or make a hot cocoa out of it. And it's just a simple way to add a more nature-based wellness. Layer to your routine. Um, that's a good way to do it. I also like to do body products, so I'll infuse, um, whole plants into body oils. I'll do botanically infused serums. I also work with magnesium sprays, uh, for top for a topical level. And it's a really beautiful curation of herbal products that I've made over the years for myself. That I would give to friends and family. And over the years, people wanted more and more and they wanted to buy and it became its own little thing and I was able to, you know, make the money back from purchasing for myself. And then it kind of just became a business on its own organically. Wow, that's so cool that you were just like, Hey, I'd love to give these amazing products to people. And then it just turned into like, wait, we all need this. This is amazing. Yeah, it was. It was part of my kind of self-discovery when I was looking for, you know, what's the answer? It's okay. I'm not gonna slather these chemicals on my body. I'm gonna make my own botanical body oil out of real plant matter and I would make enough for myself and then some and then it just took off. Yeah. And skincare products are not very heavily regulated in the us unlike some other countries and whatnot. So I know that there can be a lot of harmful chemicals. People are placing on themselves every single day. So to have a natural alternative to that is super helpful. Yeah. On your website you promote that your products are 100% essential, oil free. Can you share why that is important to you? Yeah, it's kind of a multi-tiered, um, belief system for me. Um, I am not an an essential oil hater. I definitely think they have their place, but for me, that place is not in my apothecary. Um, I want to first off, give people an option that's essential oil free because. I feel like the market right now, I don't wanna say it's flooded with just essential oil concoctions, but um, if you look around it's uh, it's hard to find something that's whole plant matter based that's not with a bunch of essential oils as well. So giving people an option for something that's essential. Oil free is important for me because there's people who are sensitive because it is. It is a volatile oil extraction. It's basically like the chemical compound of that plant, and it can be strong and harsh for certain people. Um, so that's kind of my first layer of that. And for me, my herbalism practice, I feel a deeper connection with the plant if I actually work with the plant matter itself. Right. If I'm working with Yaro, which grows native around the Sierra Nevadas here, if I go to the wild tended yaro patch that I've taken care of for years, and I go and cut the aerial parts, I've got the stem, I've got the leaves, I've got the flower, I can tangibly smell and I can touch, I can feel, I can coax a little bugs out of the flowers onto a flower I kept. So it stays there and it's, it's a whole symbiotic relationship. That I have with the plant that I can put into an oil or a tincture. Instead of just going to the store, buying a Yaro essential oil and just adding some drops into a carrier oil, I think it just creates a much more deeper connection. And for me, that's really important for my herbalism practice. And it has a lot to do with my values as well. And I want to make sure I'm doing so in right relationship with the land and with that kind of the research I've done with essential oils is. A lot of times it's not as sustainable as it is kind of faced out to be. Um, for Rose, for example, it takes almost like 22 pounds of rose matter to make a five milliliter bottle of essential oil, and that's tiny. Yes. Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me when I can just take a couple handfuls of either a cultivated rose or a wild rose as well. Those smell delicious and pretty much accomplish the same thing in a slow whole plant matter infusion. So for me, it's an ethical thing as well. But that's, that's my values and that's where I see it. So it's kinda a multi-tiered thing. It's just my choice to work solely with whole plant matter and commit to that. And to be able to serve the plants in that way. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, and typically we are seeing that people are more sensitive to products and stuff and have, can have skin reactions, whether that's like a gut health thing or what, you know, but regardless, so that is really nice that you offer that option. And thank you bio. You said that you are a self-taught herbalist and you shared a. Story with me about how you were able to cure your husband's poison oak. Can you tell me about that and kind of like how, just how you knew what to do. Yeah. It's honestly one of my favorite stories because it ties into just reflecting on what nature has to say. If you just slow down and look and listen and tap into your own intuition. And with the plants being able to talk to you and your own I, intuition and wisdom combined, it creates such a beautiful thing that I think that we evolved to do as humans. And so my husband is a heavy equipment mechanic. He works on equipment, bulldozers, all these big tractors that. Run around in poison oak up in our area. It's very endemic and if you get poison oak, your body breaks out in a rash from the oils. And my husband unfortunately gets poison oak pretty bad. Um, I don't really surprisingly, but um. He, you know, will use store bought items to help. So he's got tech new, he's got all of the name brand things. But a few years ago I thought, you know what? Like I bet I can find some things growing out in the wild that can help alleviate his poison oak a little bit. So he doesn't have to just rely on those store-bought items alone. And I went out to the land and I was hearing from other, like textiles and manuscripts too, that, the cure to the disease is always growing alongside of each other. So you can always find the remedy alongside of the poison. And I went out to a few different poison oak patches and looked around and took notes of all the plants that were there. So I had mug wart, yaro, jewelweed, Manzanita, and these are all native plants in our area as well that have evolved with poison. And I went on and did my own research and to come to find out that all of these plants that are growing alongside of it are great alleviator of rashes, poison oak, bug bites, skin irritants. And that was a huge spark of interest that Wow, like I knew this and I had this feeling. It was cool to be able to draw from just a small little breadcrumb clue from manuscripts of our ancestors as well, and I made my own poison oak remedy that I infused all of these fresh, wild herbs into witch hazel and it. He doesn't even use the store-bought items anymore. It dries its poison oak up right away. It stops the itch and it's incredible. Yeah. That's so amazing. And just the fact that you listened to your intuition and were like, okay, there's, there's something here and I can do something with this to, to cure it. That's so cool. Right. And so one of the other products that I have seen you promote a lot is your fire cider. Can you tell us more about that? I love fire cider. So I feel like as millennials are now, like shots that we should be taking is shots of fire cider. If we wanna get crazy on a Friday night, it's fire cider shots from here on out ladies. Yeah, so fire cider is uh, a folk remedy and it is accumulation of basically a lot of. Kitchen herbs that we use anyways that have medicinal properties, but in a larger medicinal dose that is infused in apple cider vinegar. And, um, I use honey as well in mine to make it a little more pleasant. And it's a slow infusion of these medicinal plants. So I've got, in mine I use like horseradish. I use onion, a garlic, jalapeno. Um, I. Ginger, Rosemary, and of course I source as much as I can that I'll either garden myself or I'll, um, use local gardeners in my area that I know that I have relationship with and try to get as close to the land as I can in that way. Um, I make this little concoction that I brew up for a few weeks and it smells wild. It's bitter. It's got all these strong, strong flavors. And whenever you're starting to feel like you're coming down with something. Um, you can either take it straight or it is pretty strong so you can, uh, dilute it in some water. It is basically like nature's antibiotic. It has antibiotic properties, it has antiviral. It is really, really helpful for helping to clean out and clear up any like phlegm or congestion or respiratory issue you have going on. And it's just a medicinal powerhouse, and it's so simple, so simple. Did you say you brew it for weeks? I do, and that's really part of my values of doing like slow whole plant herbal folk style medicine is it's slow medicine. It is not like grab the ancestral oil off the shelf, put some drops in there, and boom, you have a potion. Like it's a slow labor of love process that the solvents, the apple cider vinegar, the water, the. Alcohol does its magic, but you have to let it do its thing. So it takes a while for most of these infusions, I'm having to think ahead of time and start my infusions weeks before. So I started my first batch of fire cider in August. Oh, wow. And I had it ready for like mid and September. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. And so then how long will it stay Good once you've made it? So apple cider in particular, it has a really long shelf life. Um, I don't refrigerate it. It's shelf stable for the most part, you know. Um, it is an apple cider vinegar base, so it's pretty well shelf stable for, for me, for as long as I have it because I'll use it and keep it in circulation, so I won't have it on the shelf for years. But honestly, if you forget about a bottle you have. Whenever you remember it, it's probably still good. Okay, nice. So at least you know you still get a long return from this slow process that you go through. Yes, and you know, it depends. The shelf life varies for different concoctions. For my elderberries syrup, it's basically like a fresh. That is preserved with some of the citrus that I use and then the honey as well. And so I say, you know, within two months, just use it and then we'll enjoy a new fresh batch together. So we wanna keep certain things more fresh than others, but that comes with learning the plant material that you're working with and learning the solvents and kind of seeing what you have to work with. Yeah. Okay. Nice. I feel like, yeah, you're just like a little chemist with all your solvents and all of that, but a cool one at least it is. It's fun. Other than spending time outside in nature, are there other ways you like to practice connecting with the land? Yeah, so I loved this question. It really made me think a lot. I did write some notes down on this so I didn't forget. Um, I like to rewild my spaces as a way that if I am confined in any, you know, human made space, so, uh. Apartment, an office space, my car, I can rewild those spaces by adding nature and bringing it nature inside. And I do that by collecting all of my little feral forest fines and, um, adding things I love that catch my eye into this space that actually like are proven to raise the frequency of the area. If you bring those nature-based products in. And for me, I'm like, I love my bottles bones and stones. I love my ferns and feathers, and that's a reflection of all of my spaces looks like that. Um, so that's a big part for me. I love to do that. Um. What else I love, of course, using my nature-based body products and elixir are a great way, especially if you're traveling and you're on airplanes, you can still have that nature-based dose to be able to route you back into the land. Um, you know, you can take a wild, uh, yaro tincture and be able to grab that spirit of that plant. And another way that I enjoy too is I love wearing natural fibers and natural jewelry. So I love being able to have wool and cotton and all of these natural fibers that I feel more connected to the earth. And you actually are able to be a conduit to nature because you have natural fibers that are. Plugging you into the earth instead of repelling that frequency and yeah. I don't know if you can see in the video, I've got like wood earrings and I've got a black oak necklace that I have on right now, and it just helps me walk with the spirit of the animals in the plants literally adorned by them. So that's a good way for me as well. Yeah, I like that. Because your clothes and jewelry you're in contact with all the time. Right. So, right. Definitely. Like anywhere you go, you travel or anything, or Yeah. You have to be stuck inside all day. That's a good option as well. Right. And it almost like. Helps us signify like what you stand for. Like it helps you find your clan and find your people. You know, if I'm walking through the airport with like an antler necklace, people are gonna be like, either, oh my gosh, she's a crazy lady, I don't wanna talk to her. Or they'll be like my people, right? Yes. Yeah. And it's so funny because, I actually had found you through Instagram just because we had both followed, the Murphy's. Mystical emporium? Yeah. And so that store is really cool too. And it was nice walking in'cause I was just like, ah, I know she is like about what I'm about and all this stuff. And then, following her on Instagram led me to you. But yeah, I guess wearing the jewelry and stuff would be a good way to just be like, Hey, where are you? Right. It helps to call in your kin. Yes. Yes. Well, uh, this has been so lovely. I learn something new every time I chat with you. I love it. Is there anything else you would like to leave us with today before we go about, you know, anything nature plants, elixirs. Yeah. So I really just want to encourage you wherever you are at in your journey of trying to either rewild your lifestyle or reclaim sovereignty in your lifestyle is to find your feral. So whatever resonates with you, go for that. There are so many rabbit holes in the rewilding space in the be able to reclaim your sovereignty in your freedom space. And it can get really overwhelming and it can. Come to you too, in the frequency of fear. There are so many things out there that they are out to harm us. They are out to kill us slowly or quickly. It, you know, depends on what it is, and you can either approach those things with a fear based feeling or to be able to do so in the way of being empowered. To where you can say, okay, these things, whether if it's, you know, like 5G towers or, um, chemicals in the soil and our foods, and the list goes on and on chemicals in our skincare, it, it's a rabbit hole. But if you come at it saying that, okay, like, I acknowledge these things. I am informed but not consumed. I am not gonna let it pierce my armor. Being able to, of course, limit your exposure to those things is very important. But there's sometimes when we, we just live in the age we are in now, where a lot of it is, um, unavoidable. So you have to go with that frequency mindset of, I'm able to hold my own and it's not gonna pierce my armor and I'm gonna be informed, but not consumed. And for me, going back to the land. It's a process. Of course, you have that mindset that you're gonna be committed to this. And for certain people you might be at a certain level in your rewilding journey, you might not get to wear full buck skin and to be able to eat all of your food from the land. And for some people that. A goal that they'll achieve. For some people, they don't wanna achieve that goal. It's all up to you with whatever you feel comfortable with. Um, for me, a huge thing for my husband and I was to detach from the factory farm meat system. That was a huge goal for us. And we have officially been Factory Farm free for probably four years now, and that took a lot of layers of incorporating little by little changes and we were able to hunt and procure our own food. We would go on fishing trips and get our own food and so many other layers within that. Uh, relying on our community, ranchers and farmers and trading for work and it's. You make it work and you piece it together with what works for you, and we want to get as close to the source as possible for us. We've been eating our own meat, our own procured meat, our um, friends. Ranchers meat for years. But this is actually the first year that we have done the whole process start to finish with, after the animal hits the ground, we do all of the hanging the meat, aging the meat, cut, wrap, put it in the freezer ourselves. And that took a few years to be able to build up to, and you just get to where you wanna get to, slowly but surely, and you enjoy the process of being where you're at as you move on. That's a really beautiful message, and I resonate with that so deeply because that's kind of how I felt when I was starting my podcast, because I never wanna come at someone and be like, well, don't do this. Don't eat that. You know? I am just trying to make sure that people are aware. Awareness is huge. They're aware of what's. Going on so that they can make the best decisions for themselves and their family. That's it. At the end of the day, like I might be like, Hey, I like these brands. Here are some cleaner options, but I'm not trying to force anyone to make decisions. They're not ready to or don't want to. So, um, yeah, and everyone's process and journey is different with whatever goal they have in mind, so Yeah. Right. I love that message. Thank you Courtney. I appreciate it. Yeah. Well, I have really enjoyed getting to know you and I am looking forward to trying your products. Can you share, where everyone can find you, your Instagram website, wherever you are. Yeah, so I am on Instagram at feraly rooted essence, feraly rooted essence. I'm sure you'll put all the handles in the notes. Um, I'm on Instagram is my main social. I'm on. And then I also have my website at feralyrootedessence.com. So that's a great way to find me. I am starting to put together workshops. I did an awesome workshop this last year. I'm hoping to do some foraging workshops, so maybe you can come up to the hills and do some wild foraging. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Yes. That would be amazing. Yeah, I, I think we need that in this time, in this era we're at, we need to be able to unplug in this, in, out of this technology and plug back into the earth. So being able to provide more of that for the people who are looking for that and yearning for that is what I'm here for. Right. Yeah, if you have one, I will definitely come up. And thank you again so much for being here. I really enjoyed our talk. It was great, Courtney. Thank you. Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning into the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. Until next time, stay nourished.