About My Raggedy Herbs

Lori Coats

For several years my husband and I owned and operated one of our state’s first Agritourism businesses, the historic Erick Honey Farm. It is there that I fell in love with honeybees and the unique culture and industry of Agritourism. For several years I worked as the Western Region Marketing Coordinator for the Oklahoma Agritourism Program where I worked to educate, develop, support and market Agritourism producers in the State of Oklahoma and to captivate the interest of consumers who are looking for agricultural based vacations, getaways and experiences.

After leaving the Dept. of Ag, I had the privilege of working at the beautiful Myriad Botanical Gardens in OKC. I’m a born and bred Okie – A mother to four amazing kids and a Grandma to a bunch of awesome grandkids!

My husband of more than three decades is still my best friend. My family and I live on family land and we are the fourth and fifth generations to love and cultivate it. I love cooking, reading, sewing, farmers markets, photography, food preservation, chickens and of course EVERYTHING herbal!

I have been an Oklahoma Master Gardener since 2008 and I regularly teach herb workshops throughout the state. For the past 25 years, I have been working with specialty crops, value-added products and learning herbalism.

Gardening is my unexplainable passion. The wonder, the progress, the miracle, the frustrations, the mystery, the weather, the diversity, the food, the work, the simplicity. It speaks to me on many levels and challenges me to always continue learning and improving. I mean really, growing and eating flowers and liking it – who knew?

I was blessed to have the influence of parents, grandmothers and great-grandmothers who loved to make jelly and preserve homegrown food. At the young age of twelve, my mother taught me how to can tomatoes. To this day, I love canning, dehydrating, fermenting, freezing and sharing our bounty!

People frequently ask me where the name My Raggedy Herbs came from and what it means. According to my husband, I am a “professional crafter”. His opinion is based solely on the amount of money that he believes is involved in crafting and therefore, I must be a professional. . . For years, I have made primitive, raggedy dolls. I jokingly say, but seriously mean, that I’m just a Raggedy Ann kinda gal living in a Barbie doll world so merging my Raggedy world with my gardening and herbal world just seems natural.

I’m so glad that you are here! I hope that you will join me on this amazing journey.