DEBORAH LITTLEBIRD is an herbalist, botanical farmer, artist and story carrier. Deborah curates tea sanctuary experiences in wild landscapes and sacred spaces, inviting others to create sanctuary on the ground right beneath our feet. These bespoke earthen thresholds are rooted in her spiritual life and offer a contemplative practice in the shelter of Tea.
Deborah is a graduate of Rosemary Gladstar's Science and Art of Herbalism Certification Course and as a practicing herbalist for over 35 years, Deborah shares her passion for plant medicine and wildcrafting through teaching backyard herbalism for creating one's own kitchen cupboard apothecary.
Deborah has a Fine Arts degree from Kendall School of Design and during the 1980s she worked as an Art Director and Graphic Designer in Michigan before relocating to New Mexico in 1991. There, she joined her husband, Larry Littlebird (Laguna/Kewa Pueblos) in producing storytelling conferences, oral tradition projects and land based retreats. Their collaborative work culminated in the co-founding of HAMAATSA, an indigenous continuum and nonprofit dedicated to perpetuating tribal American oral traditions.
Deborah was mentored by her husband, a revered Native American culture bearer and master storyteller and together the couple led contemplative spiritual retreats, story camps and regenerative living workshops on a 320-acre wild land sanctuary they stewarded. They gathered with people from across the globe sharing talking circles, sacred council and ceremony and co-produced six historic tribal American storytelling conferences in the 90's called Hama-Ha bringing together elders from First Nation tribes to share cross-cultural story experiences. Some of their most important work was leading Listening Circles and Walking Pilgrimages for healing historical trauma and bearing witness to Native American genocide.
As a creative director, Deborah has produced storytelling projects and films including Slow Story©, a video series featuring Larry Littlebird as he walks about on his aboriginal homelands. With her husband’s blessing, Deborah is continuing to perpetuate Littlebird's rich storytelling legacy. After her husband passed in 2025, Deborah is painstakingly working on archiving Larry Littlebird's oral tradition legacy so it will be available for future generations.
Last year, Deborah turned to clay handbuilding as a cathartic process for her grief and was inspired to create her own tea bowls for the land-tea sanctuaries she hosts. She combines the subtle nuances of earth, clay and plants to express an elemental beauty in her tea cups, botanical plates and vases.
Through her work, Deborah weaves together artistry, herbal wisdom and reverence of place, creating experiences and objects that honor the interconnectedness of land and spirit.
