Hello! I’m Sarah Sorci (she/her), an herbal educator, writer, and therapeutic gardening facilitator based in Western New York.

I offer resources for folks seeking empowerment, environmental sustainability, and nature + ancestry connection through the plant world.

My Work

Like many gardeners, I enjoy growing useful veggies and herbs. And, I want to cultivate native plants to support their populations and local wildlife. 

I love finding the best of both worlds: native species that are edible and/or medicinal and easy to grow! Look for my upcoming online gardening course, Native Culinary Herbs, in late 2024 or 2025.

As an American of European descent, I live far from my ancestors’ homelands. Working with ancestral plants for food, medicine, floral beauty, and ritual is the most potent way I’ve found to connect with ancestry.

My Lumia Box project is for folks who’d like to strengthen their connection to cultural heritage and ancestry with the help of plants and the natural world.

I love offering therapeutic garden programming for people with disabilities. I currently manage the Beautiful Blooms Garden Program at Aspire of WNY (Lakewood).

Training & Background

Since founding Sweet Flag Herbs in 2015, I’ve offered hundreds of classes and plant walks throughout WNY and beyond. I’ve teamed up with Greystone Nature Preserve, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Master Gardeners, CHC Learning Center, SUNY Brockport, the University at Buffalo, and many more.

I worked on the student services team at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine from 2019-2022, and I’ve contributed course content to Herbal Academy.

I came to herbalism through an Environmental Studies/Sustainable Development degree at Denison University and working on veggie/herb farms in WNY and WNC. I worked for three seasons at Lockwood’s Garden Center in Hamburg specializing in herbs, perennials, and native plants.

I’m a 2014 graduate of the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine's Holistic Herbalism program. I’ve also taken clinical herbalism classes with the Eclectic School of Herbal Medicine. I’m grateful to the unnamed elders, foragers, and tenders who have contributed to our collective herbal knowledge.

After earning a certificate in Horticultural Therapy from the Horticultural Therapy Institute/Colorado State, I worked as a therapeutic gardener with individuals with autism at St. Gerard House (Hendersonville, NC).