Foundations of Western Herbalism Class

Starts January 2016! Enroll now, class is limited to 10 students.

People’s Medicine
Interested in herbalism? Becoming an herbalist or owning an apothecary? A holistic practitioner of some sort wanting to add to your healing repertoire? This class is for you!

The Curricula
Theories of healing and the body

Systems of the body

Health conditions and their symptoms

Herbal classification and actions in the body

Cultivation and wildcrafting

Harvesting and processing

Medicine making

Materia medica (learning about individual plants)

and an introduction to other overlapping systems of healing: TCM, Ayurveda, aromatherapy, homeopathy, flower essences.

In this class, we will balance hands-on time outdoors (in the warm months) and in the apothecary with "book learning”.

The Commitment
We will meet monthly, with independent studies in between (and students can feel free to contact me or come into the store in-between at any time). 


Currently we are looking at Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday evenings and will decide on a specific day each month when the students enroll.

The class would involve 2 hour class sessions every month as well as homework and independent study. It would also involve intermittent classes not on regularly scheduled days (weekend days in gardens or wildcrafting, for example). These days would be scheduled in advance with students present to make it possible for a good attendance. (This course is designed for working adults with life commitments.)

The Cost
I firmly believe that herbalism is folk medicine- that is, it a skill that belongs in the hands of the people. To that end, I am working to make the cost of the class as affordable as possible- both to students investing in their education and to me, giving lots of time and attention to the class.

The cost of the class is $1000, which includes a binder of information we will cover (handouts are accumulated as we go into each unit) and you will work from, class instruction time and outings, guest lecturers, and a 10% discount in the store (to help pay for extra books, herbs, and materials).

Payment Options
For some, the class can be paid for in full. For others, installments are necessary. We have a few options for you. A non-refundable deposit of $200 is required to hold your space in the class.

After the $200 deposit has been paid, you can choose to pay in three, five or seven installments:
3 installments: $200 deposit plus 3 payments of $275
5 installments: $200 deposit plus 5 payments of $175
7 installments: $200 deposit plus 7 payments of $150

Payment for the class must be made in full by the third class (March 2016).

Choose your option:

Payment in full:

Name of Person Attending Class

Deposit, and a note about which payment option you choose:

Name of Person Attending Class

3, 5, or 7 Month Plan?

A Note about Herb Schools
There are plenty of schools out there that promise a "master herbalist certification", but there is only one objective certification that is nationally recognized by everyone: Master herbalist certification from the American Herbalists' Guild. They are focused on standards of education to train clinical herbalists (people who treat patients one-on-one). They have a list of schools on their website that meet their criteria- all of these schools have clinics attached for you to do internships. If the school is not listed on their website, it does not meet their criteria and has not been certified. There are no AHG accredited schools of herbalism in the state of Ohio. There are however, several qualified teachers. This class is not focused on teaching you to be a clinical herbalist, but instead prepares you to be a community herbalist, one who feels confident treating friends and family, learning about the amazing human body and plant world and how they support one another, or perhaps going on to a Master's Degree from a healing school that does have a clinic.

Required Texts

Medical Herbalism, David Hoffman
Medicine Maker's Handbook, James Green
Earthwide Herbal (Volumes 1 & 2), Matthew Wood
Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Midwest, Matthew Alfs

You can get these books on your own or use your 10% discount and get them through the shop.

Learning Herbalism is an Embodied Experience

As some of you know, I have been leading an 18 month class called "Foundations of Western Herbalism" at the shop. The idea is to create an appreciation for herbalism as a method of healing, to create a group of informed folks who are empowered to help themselves and others in this holistic method of healing, and to learn and grow myself (I learned herbalism in California, and the native flora there is quite different from the natives here. I get to become a student all over again and learn the powers of what grows here and how to use them with my existing knowledge!)

Currently, I have 10 students, meeting every two weeks. We started with learning some herb basics, like how to choose a high quality herb, endangered plants to avoid wildcrafting or instead to cultivate yourself, and the medical actions herbs have in the body. We now are in the midst of our third body system (we started with the immune system, went on to respiratory, and are now on digestive). We spend a month on each system: extensive readings on each system and the herbs that support it, one lecture on the anatomy and physiology, one lecture on the diseases and treatments for that system.

To learn all about herbalism, there is lots of lecture (and lots to memorize!). That can get rather, um, boring. I often try and find illustrative videos to show the workings of anatomy and physiology- it helps the visual learners take an otherwise dry subject and bring it to life. But there is a balance that needs to be achieved, in my opinion, about what we learn and how we learn it when it comes to this subject. Lectures cannot be avoided, but there must also be hands-on learning, working with others and the plants, getting out-of-doors and being in nature (cultivation, wildcrafting, plant identification, harvesting).

One of the less common "herb school" experiences, is in my opinion, one of the most valuable: I have my students ingest herbs as we learn about them. I give them an herb or formula for a two week period and they take it in ever-increasing doses and report back about how it affected them. Nothing like a truly embodied experience to reinforce the actions of a given herb!

And if one day you are going to recommend someone you know take this herb for a specific reason, I believe that you yourself should have taken it as well- know what side effects it can have, both positive and negative. Hear from other students with differing biochemistries how it affected them (it will affect them differently, you know.) I want these students to have their herb learning to be an embodied experience.

If you took herb classes, how did your education differ from what I talk of here? Did you enjoy the experience?

July Workshops

This month, we have two workshops available to those that love hands-on learning! Pre-registration is required, so get online here and send your payment!

Wildcrafting and Wilderness Medicine
is going to be led by Jonathan Tepperman of Dirtlab Bush Craft. He is going to take us on a walk to seek medicinal plants. If we are lucky, we will be able to collect 15 or so! Once we have completed our walk, we'll build a fire and process some into instant medicine! Learn survival skills, how to identify medicinal plants around you, and how to ethically harvest them, all in the span of two hours!
Thursday, July 24th 7-9 PM @ Camp Mary Orton; $25

Digestive and Cocktail Bitters
is co-led by Lily of Boline Apothecary and Mykie of The Bitter Wife (a local Columbus cocktail bitters maker). Peter, the Spirits Manager at Weiland's Market will be on hand to let us sample some wares from their astounding bitters collection.
We'll be learning about the importance of bitters in the diet, the history of this medicine-turned-cocktail-additive, and sampling lots of wonderful blends courtesy of Weiland's and Strongwater (the bar we are using for the workshop- they are providing soda for sippin'!). Then, you get to make two pints of your own to take home- a digestive blend and a cocktail blend.
Saturday, July 26th, 3-5 PM @ Strongwater Bar (401 W. Town Street); $35