My Story

Hi, I'm Katie Calcaterra,

Founder and Farmer at Big Love Botanicals

I started Big Love Botanicals to share the healing power of plant medicine and to empower people to support their own health and well-being.

When I was a little girl playing in the fields of rural Missouri, I remember finding comfort in picking wild chamomile and smudging it on my wrists so that I could smell its comforting scent for hours. When a film crew came to town, I caught the creative bug and eventually, a train to New York City to start a career as a wardrobe stylist for film and television. While it was exciting, the fast paced environment led to chronic stress, poor digestion, migraines and a slew of other nasty symptoms.

I was lucky to find a naturopathic doctor who helped me heal naturally from the inside out. This altered my life in such a profound way that I felt inspired to continue learning and sharing how to use food and plants as medicine, how to eat in a way that supports mental health and optimal digestion, and how to grow and nurture medicinal plants and flowers.

I come from a long line of homestead gardeners, including my mother and both my grandmothers. As I continued to learn about herbalism and plant medicine, I felt called to get may hands in the dirt and I spent a year immersed in a production farming training with New York Farm School, a NYC-based program designed to bring local farming to underserved communities. After which, I honed my culinary skills at the Natural Gourmet Institute and then became a Certified Conscious Postpartum Doula with the Center for Sacred Window Studies, with a focus on nourishing and caring for new parents using Ayurvedic principles. Soon after, I became a mother myself and began trying out homemade remedies to keep me and my baby healthy and strong. I am always learning and am currently enrolled in an herbalism immersion training program that informs a lot of my work and the medicine I make.

I now live and work in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania with my beautiful family and newfound friends; growing flowers and herbs, making plant medicine, and hosting workshops to share this ancient knowledge and build community.

From Calming Lavender Salve to Elderberry Syrup, Fire Cider, fresh plant tinctures and so much more in the works, Big Love Botanicals grows and forages a large majority of our ingredients locally, and everything we source is organic and prepared with love. 

Thanks for visiting and if we haven't already, I hope we can meet in person soon!