A curious mind.
A wild heart.
I’m Dr. Michele Burklund—a naturopathic doctor, writer, and lifelong student of the natural world.
Welcome to Medicine Wild.
It evolved
as I evolved.
2011Healthy Fashionista begins
2018A new name: Medicine Wild
TodayStill questioning. Still searching.
I started this website in 2011, when it was called Healthy Fashionista. I wanted to create beautiful posts filled with information that made you want to keep reading—to make a medicinal plant feel as fascinating as it really is, and a new idea about health feel like something you could bring into your life.
There was fashion, there were flowers, and there was an ongoing search for what it means to feel well. I was studying medicine, spending time in gardens, and finding my own way of bringing those worlds together.
As my life and work changed, the journal changed with me. In 2018, Healthy Fashionista became Medicine Wild. The name felt closer to what I had been exploring all along: the intelligence of plants, the healing traditions that connect us to nature, and the science that helps us understand our bodies.
I originally created this blog to educate people, in a beautiful way, about the healing power of nature. Now, in the age of AI, I want this edition to bring us back to the essence of nature—and to the practice of listening within, which can become hard to hear beneath so much information.
Remember the smell of an old book. The feeling of picking fresh herbs, their scent lingering on your fingers. Bare feet on the earth. Before you read another word, take one minute and go back there.
That is my invitation. Learn something. Feel something. Leave room for wonder.
The roots are still here.
The World’s most Innovative
Medical School Program
After my bachelor’s and master’s degrees and premedical studies, I earned my doctorate in naturopathic medicine at Bastyr University.
Bastyr’s five-year, full-time, in-residence doctoral program offers the rigor of conventional medical education, including a full year of human cadaver dissection and advanced coursework that mirrors MD and DO training.
It also provides immersive education in clinical nutrition, botanical medicine, counseling, functional diagnostics, physical therapeutics, and mind-body medicine.
My training took place not only in the classroom and patient clinic…but also within Bastyr’s botanical medicine laboratories, commercial-grade therapeutic nutrition kitchens, and cultivated medicinal gardens used for research and formulation.
I trained on Bastyr’s campus within more than 51 acres of protected forest, studying plant intelligence, clinical mycology, and wild-crafted medicine directly from the living environment.
A doctor’s questions.
An editor’s eye.
Alongside my clinical work, I’ve written for national wellness magazines and served as an Associate Editor at Better Nutrition. Bringing complex ideas into an inviting, thoughtful story has always been one of my favorite parts of this work.
My career also includes scientific strategy, botanical product formulation, and the creation of wellness products and protocols. I’m interested in the details: the plant, the preparation, the purpose, and the person who will use it.
Medicine Wild is where scientific questioning meets something more personal. A quiet morning. A bath. A conversation with the body. The sense that nature has more to teach us if we slow down enough to listen.
Ancient knowledge.
Modern science.
Science is important to me. So is traditional use. Generations of people have observed plants, prepared medicines, tended their communities, and passed on what they learned. That accumulated knowledge deserves serious attention.
When a practice has a long history of use, I want to understand that history: who used it, how it was prepared, and what they observed. If modern clinical research is still developing, I will say so precisely, while giving the traditional record its full place in the conversation.
Modern studies help us ask focused questions about benefits, mechanisms, and safety. Traditional medicine holds knowledge of preparation, relationship, season, and lived experience. Each brings something valuable. A long history of use still calls for attention to the particular plant, preparation, and person.
Medicine Wild balances ancient knowledge with modern science. Here, plant knowledge, Taoism, spirituality, and the wisdom of lived experience have room to speak in their own language.
Beautiful stories.
A deeper relationship with life.