25 Days of Herbal Holidays Countdown

2018 Holiday Sale on herbal courses!

Sunday, December 2

SPECIAL OFFER:
SUPER HOLIDAY DEAL ENDS TODAY!

All programs are on sale, but our Herbalist Path Packages have super deals this weekend only to make the holidays even sweeter!

What are your goals as you explore your herbal path and education? Do you want to support your family with herbs and natural approaches to your health and wellness? Do you want to learn herbalism to round out your knowledge so you can start a business?

SHOP HERBALIST PATH PACKAGES – Super Sale ends Sunday!

Whether you are just getting started in herbalism or have been exploring this natural path for some time, you might realize that there are several directions to take as an herbalist! Perhaps you are interested in opening up an herb shop or selling your own natural body care products. Maybe your passion is for people, and therefore…

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Practice Essential Oil Safety

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Beth Schreibman-Gehring, Chairman of Education for The Western Reserve Herb Society unit of The Herb Society of America

Essential oils with rocks I love working with essential oils and have for several decades. It’s been lovely to witness their surge in popularity over the past 15 years. Essential oils are wonderful for diffusing and creating a relaxing aura of comfort. Certain oils like lavender, frankincense, and rose are skin care standards which, when used correctly, are lovely additions to any wellness program

While essential oils are great, consumers must know proper safety.

Without safety measures, bad things happen. For example, I’ve been to a yoga class where a well-meaning yogi dabbed oils directly onto my skin during shavasana to promote relaxation. In theory this would be lovely, but it could cause an allergic reaction for some people. The yogi should be aware of the participants’ sensitivities.

LavendarEssentialOils660 In another case, I saw a young woman…

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ENCOUNTERS IN GRATITUDE AND A CHANCE TO LISTEN

Good Witches Homestead

by Guido Masé November 19, 2018

A long time ago, Anne and I traveled to Ireland. We vagabonded slowly down the west coast from hostel to hostel, over green hills to rugged seaside cliffs, stopping at standing stones and the ruins of circle forts, visiting old-growth forests left intact for hundreds of years. One day we were wandering in the southwest corner of the island with the goal of reaching one of those old forests. We crossed over a small waterfall. We walked between two ancient, massive linden trees whose roots and branches had grown together, leaving an almond-shaped opening just wide enough for us to cross. And finally, we came to the oak wood we’d been seeking. The trees were old, yes, but not very tall: craggy, leaning at odd angles, with moss covering their trunks up to the lower branches. This forest is still part of a protected area…

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Watch Webinar on Native Wildflowers

The Herb Society of America Blog

By Jen Munson, HSA Education Chair

ginseng American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) a globally rare plant species

The diversity of the world’s plants has dwindled and/or is threatened. In fact the International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that 54 percent of the 19,000 plant species they have identified are at risk. In New England it is estimated that almost 20 percent of New England’s native plants are on the verge of being lost and another 5 percent has already disappeared. Native plants are under threat from invasive species, habitat loss, climate changes among other impacts.

The New England Wildflower Society seeks to preserve New England native plants. Based at the Garden in The Woods botanic garden in Framingham, Massachusetts, their mission is, “to conserve and promote the region’s native plants to ensure healthy, biologically diverse landscapes.” They secure and preserve seeds from rare plants to protect genetic diversity…

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Remembering Who We Are: Chinese Botanical Guides

Remembering Who We Are …

Ancestral Apothecary

Bekah gets to know the plants of her grandmother’s village in Guangdong, China.

As part of our studies in the Cecemmana program, we as students are encouraged to study our ancestral medicines. We are encouraged to ask questions like: who were the healers in our families? What plant medicine did they use? What healing foods did they eat? What healing songs did they sing? In the first two years of Cecemmana, we as students researched the answers to these and other questions and then presented our findings. In my first year of Cecemmana, I looked forward to learning more about the herbal medicine practices of my Chinese heritage.

I found that before I could get to know the plants, though, I had to better understand my family. Growing up in a mixed race household in a predominantly white community, my sister and I grew up feeling disconnected from our Chinese…

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Power of The Seed

By Ancestral Apothecary

Sustainable Wild Collection Protects People, Plants, and Animals

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Chances are, you’re deeply connected with wild plants and don’t even realize it.

All of us in countless ways, whether we recognize it or not, are deeply connected to wild collecting.

Wild plants, as the term suggests, aren’t grown on farms. Instead, they’re collected in meadows, forests and deserts. Since ancient times, they’ve served as natural and essential ingredients in foods, fibers, dyes, cosmetics and traditional medicines.

Consider the açai berries in your super smoothie. They’re wild collected in the Brazilian Amazon. The pure maple syrup you save for special breakfasts most likely comes from the forests of Canada or the northern regions of the United States. The candelilla wax in your favorite skin care products originates in the deserts of northern Mexico. The licorice root used in candies and lozenges could be wild collected in many places — Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan or Uzbekistan. And at Wildwood Enterprises, more…

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Elderberry’s | Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism

Good Witches Homestead

CSCH is thrilled to begin the process of creating an Herbal Healing Center at Elderberry’s, a delightful 4-acre farm in Paonia, Colorado! Experience traditional Nature Cure and Vitalist therapeutics among the gardens, herb beds, fruit trees, and wildlands nearby.

Source: Elderberry’s | Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism

Elderberry’s is home to a charming, periwinkle-blue 1908 farmhouse, graced with Peach, Plum, and Apple trees, where chickens free-range among organic vegetable and herb gardens. Our botanical sanctuary is on the edge of town, in a quiet, peaceful, varied landscape with huge Cottonwood trees shading the lawns. It’s the perfect place to shed the chaos of city life and recharge your vitality. Eat fresh food right from local farms and gardens and rest in the camping meadow under brilliant stars or stay in one of our tiny houses. Find yourself at home among healing waters, where the Minnesota creek and mountain snowmelt converge…

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Second Annual Holiday Herb Fair

Ancestral Apothecary

Saturday November 25th from 1 to 6 PM

Studio Grand Oakland, 3234 Grand Ave, Oakland

Join Ancestral Apothecary for our second annual Herbal Fair this holiday season! This a great opportunity to have fun doing holiday shopping and to support your local community of herbalists. All the vendors are students or teachers from our Cecemmana Herbal Programs.

You’ll find unique, hand-crafted herbal gifts and products like herbal chocolate, tea, flower essences, tinctures, salves, body care, and much more. We’ll also be offering limpias, Reiki and have a raffle with great gifts.

This event is also a fundraiser for our Herbalism Diversity Fund. We are raising money for scholarship for our students of color. If you can’t make this event but still want to donate to this fundraising campaign, check our our Generosity Fundraising Page.

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American Botanical Council Publishes Online Version of The Identification of Medicinal Plants Book

Crooked Bear Creek Organic Herbs

Online access to identification book provides new quality control resource for herb industry

AUSTIN, Texas (October 19, 2017) — The American Botanical Council (ABC) announces a new benefit for its members around the world: the online publication of The Identification of Medicinal Plants: A Handbook of the Morphology of Botanicals in Commerce, a manual that addresses the macroscopic assessment of 124 medicinal plants used in North America and Europe.

The book was originally co-published in 2006 by ABC with the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. It was written by Wendy Applequist, PhD, associate curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s William L. Brown Center, and illustrated with botanically accurate black-and-white line drawings by artist Barbara Alongi.

Accurate identification of the correct genus and species of botanical raw materials is the first step in quality control of botanical preparations. While several methods of identification are addressed in the…

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