Free Ways to Learn About Herbalism:
17 Resources for Training as an Herbalist
Written by Juliet Blankespoor with Devon Kelly-Mott
Photography by Juliet Blankespoor
When I first started learning about herbalism three decades ago, it was slim pickings in the educational arena. I could only find a few herbal books at my local bookstore. Perusing the bulletin board at the health food store for herbal classes or conferences proved fruitless. Finding books, teachers, or like-minded plant people was no small chore. You see, there was no Internet. One needed to be creative and enterprising.
I desperately wanted to learn about plant identification—especially medicinals—so naturally, I became a loiterer; a lurker of botanical proportions. I would spend entire afternoons at a botanical garden, visually matching the labels to their plants, committing the herbs to memory in a tactile and tangible sense. The plants came alive! For me, putting a face with the name is still the best way to learn.
Juliet, stalking a Titan Arum at the US Botanic Gardens, in her formative herbalist years
Nursery owners would give me odd looks as I spent hours prowling the herbal aisles, picking up pot after pot, reading the tags, and eventually pressing the leaves of sage, catmint, and borage to the recesses of my mind.
Not only did I loiter, but I also excelled at the art of pestering. Armed with long lists of coveted herbal books, I enticed my librarian into masterful schemes involving interlibrary loans and waitlists. I sewed a blue velvet pouch for my oversized botanical flashcards, which I pulled out at every dull turn (no cell phones to pass the time!).
I eventually found my first herbal teacher and conference, and the door to herbal treasures opened. These days, thankfully, it is 576 times easier to learn about medicinals. And there are still lots of free (or super cheap) ways to learn if you’re resourceful and enterprising.
Fledgling herbalist Juliet Blankespoor and her friend Lori on an herb gathering expedition
Juliet’s Tried and True Methods for
Herbal Learning
1. Take a free herbal course. Not to brag, but our Handcrafted Herbalism Mini-Course is absolutely gorgeous and hilarious while also informative and engaging.
2. Pester your librarian. Browse our Herbal Book Hub for our favorite books on herbal medicine, foraging and wild foods, and herb gardening. If you discover a few your home library can’t live without, some of my favorite herbal books of all time are available used for just a few dollars online.
3. Transform the mundane into mastery. We all brush our teeth and travel in our cars or on foot, and those in-between moments add up. Try learning about herbal astringents as you swish and spit. Get your podcast on, people! Peruse our list of herbal podcasts. We love listening to Aviva Romm’s Natural MD Radio!
4. Sit at the feet of the experts. Explore the American Herbalists Guild free webinar class offerings.
5. Skip the Netflix binging. No matter how dope Leslie Knope, those hours might be better spent slurping up knowledge instead of snorting out your nettle tea. Instead, binge on herbal YouTube channels.
6. Lurk about plant nurseries. Seriously, don’t knock it until you try it. And you might just get to take home some new green babies. If it’s winter, or you don’t have an herbal nursery nearby, we highly recommend perusing the Strictly Medicinal Seeds catalogue. Their plant descriptions are an education unto itself.
7. Get your flashcard on, good people! I’ve made a lovely set of plant ID flashcards consisting of videos and photographs. And another set of cards for memorizing herbal action terms like diuretic, sialagogue, and galactagogue (think pee-pee, spit, and lactating aliens from faraway galaxies). You can access them on our Highlighted Instagram Stories (you'll need to be logged in to see them). We’ll be adding more flashcards every season, so be sure to follow us on our Instagram page to play along.
8. There are some excellent free herbal books available online:
- A Modern Herbal by Margaret Grieve
- Classic Texts on Eclectic Medicine by Michael Moore
- The Complete Herbal by Nicholas Culpeper
- King’s American Dispensatory by Dr. Wooster Beach
- Native American Ethnobotany by Daniel Moerman
9. Learn from one of the greatest herbalists of modern times. Michael Moore was my teacher and my teachers’ teacher; he left quite the herbal legacy when he passed in 2009. Peruse Michael’s invaluable online offerings. You can sign up for free access to his Herbal Therapeutics and Constitutional Evaluation course, representing the last classes taught by this infamous herbal elder.
10. Interested in offering free or low-cost herbal health care? Check out The Herbalista Health Network’s vast array of resources and information.
11. Get in on the action! FOMO? Catch up on your herbal actions (what other kind of action is there?). View this comprehensive free pdf outlining herbal actions from herbalist Christopher Hobbs!
P.S. You won’t want to miss our herbal action flashcards in our Instagram story highlights. Find us at @chestnutschoolherbs!
12. Explore Mountain Rose Herbs’ educational offerings.
- Read their free e-book, Guide to Herbal Preparations.
- Check out their blog for fun recipes and seasonal topics!
13. Take a look at the Queering Herbalism website—it’s full of information for and about Queer and BIPOC healers. Download their free e-book, Queering Herbalism, compiled by Toi of the Queering Herbalism Blog. Not queer yourself? Then take two looks—cultural competency is crucial for herbalists.
14. Marvelous monographs and more materia medica, oh my! Explore Herb Rally’s extensive list of herbal monographs.
16. Work-trade at conferences. Most herbal conferences offer work-trade positions, which is a great way to meet other herbal enthusiasts as well as attend herbal classes. In my early twenties, I work-traded at the Medicines from the Earth conference, where I now sometimes teach. Peep the pages of our Budding Herbalist Guide for a list of well-known herbal conferences!
17. Interested in herb gardening? Explore some of our favorite resources for springtime herb gardening!
JULIET BLANKESPOOR is the founder, primary instructor, and Creative Director of the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, an online school serving thousands of students from around the globe. She's a professional plant-human matchmaker and bonafide plant geek, with a degree in botany and over 30 years of experience teaching and writing about herbalism, medicine making, and organic herb cultivation. Juliet’s lifelong captivation with medicinal weeds and herb gardening has birthed many botanical enterprises over the decades, including an herbal nursery and a farm-to-apothecary herbal products business.
These days, she channels her botanical obsession through her writing and photography in her online programs, on her personal blog Castanea, and in her new book, The Healing Garden: Cultivating and Handcrafting Herbal Remedies. Juliet and her family reside in a home overrun with houseplants and books in Asheville, North Carolina.
DEVON KELLEY-MOTT sprouted in the lush hills of Western Massachusetts and was called to the herb world at an early age. She transplanted to the mountains of Western North Carolina in 2011 to study the vast biodiversity the Southern Appalachian region has to offer. During this time she has worked on numerous herb farms, organized and hosted herbal events, and created an herbal product line called Apothefaerie.
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© Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com, 2011-2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine and chestnutherbs.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Christopher Kilian says:
Greetings, Are you featured on YouTube by any chance? Thank you
Meghan Gemma says:
We are on YouTube and will be adding more videos in the coming months. You can find us here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-m6c-_DxHvrAxFZo-eTDQ
Fetoren Jones says:
Wanted to inquire about herbalist and how I might become one to better myself, family and friends.
Sarah Sorci says:
What a beautiful goal, Fetoren! I would suggest checking out the free Budding Herbalists Guide that we offer (#16 in this post) for a more extensive list of resources for herbal learning.
In case you’re interested in enrolling in an herbal course at this time, I’ll also mention that all of our courses are 20% off through January 18th. More info about our courses can be found in the top menu bar under “Online Herbal Classes.”
Shannon Woodward says:
Great list! Thank you, Juliet and Devon. 🙂
Lisa Jacks says:
I am about to make a large order from Mountain Rose Herbs and they are telling me there is a discount code that qualifies me for 20 percent off, but I cant find it. Can you either email it to me or direct me to the page, please?
Sara Kinney says:
Hi Lisa,
This is a blog article, but you can find the discount code for current students in the Course Guidelines page of your course. I believe the discount is for 10%, but if they want to give you 20%, that sounds good to me!
Sue Sierralupe says:
Podcasts are also free. Real Herbalism Radio is dedicated to factual information on herbs and homesteading. We have over 500 free articles on the subject on our website http://www.thepracticalherbalist.com.