ONLINE FORAGING COURSE:
Edible and Medicinal Wild Herbs

Registration for the Online Foraging Course is now closed.

Check out our other online programs, which have ongoing enrollment: The Herbal Immersion Program (which includes the Foraging Course material)

and the Herbal Medicine Making Course.

Sign up for our newsletter below for free tutorials (videos + articles) on foraging and herbal medicine, and to be notified about future course offerings.

Are you intrigued with the idea of foraging but intimidated by where to start?

Foraging can be safe and a basketful of fun!

I know how daunting it feels to learn about wild plants without a reliable mentor. The herbs in this course are a big part of my life, and they play starring roles in my kitchen, apothecary, and herbal practice. I’ve been an herbalist and forager for nearly three decades and have taught thousands of students about the magic and wonder of wild foods and herbs.

I’m excited to pass on this ancient knowledge so that you too can confidently identify and forage for abundant, healing plants. What’s more, you’ll fill your kitchen and apothecaries with the most nourishing wild medicines on earth.

I’m thrilled to share the bounty
of wild medicinals and edibles with you!

Juliet Blankespoor

~Juliet Blankespoor

Green Mastermind at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

Are you intrigued with the idea of foraging but intimidated by where to start?

Foraging can be safe and a basketful of fun!

I know how daunting it feels to learn about wild plants without a reliable mentor. The herbs in this course are a big part of my life, and they play starring roles in my kitchen, apothecary, and herbal practice. I’ve been an herbalist and forager for nearly three decades and have taught thousands of students about the magic and wonder of wild foods and herbs.

I’m excited to pass on this ancient knowledge so that you too can confidently identify and forage for abundant, healing plants. What’s more, you’ll fill your kitchen and apothecaries with the most nourishing wild medicines on earth.

I’m thrilled to share the bounty
of wild medicinals and edibles with you!

Juliet Blankespoor

~Juliet Blankespoor

Green Mastermind at the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine

Watch Our Video About the Foraging Course!

Foraging Course Outline (375 hours)

Herbal mandala.

MODULE 1

Introduction to Herbalism and Foraging

Cultivating Relationships with Healing Plants • Guidelines to Foraging and Wildcrafting • Poisonous Plants and Notable Constituents • Harvesting and Drying Herbs

Giving a child medicine.

MODULE 1.1

Herbal Safety

Introduction • Essential Oils and Allergic and Topical Reactions • Adulteration, Contamination, and Notable Constituents • Herb-Drug Interactions • Pregnancy and Lactation • Serious Health Conditions and Concerns • Herbal Safety & Contraindications Guide • Herbs to Avoid in Pregnancy and Lactation Chart

Close-up of a calendula flower.

MODULE 1.2

North American Herbal History and Traditions

Connecting With Your Own Herbal Lineage & Honoring Other Traditions • An Introduction to the History of Herbalism in North America: European, Native American, and African Influences • A History of European & North American Colonial Herbal Medicine • A History of Native American Herbal Medicine • A History of Black Herbal Medicine from Africa to North America • History of Latin American Influences on Herbal Medicine in North America • Black Herbal Elders with Lucretia VanDyke • Herbal Accessibility: Uniting Culture & Community Gardens

Mimosa blossoms.

MODULE 2

Botany and Plant Identification

Introduction to Botany • Botany: Floral and Reproductive Parts • Edible Flowers • Botany: Leaf and Vegetative Terminology • Plant Families

Jars of colorful dried herbs.

MODULE 3

Core Medicinal Preparations

Herbal Tinctures • Herbal Infusions and Decoctions • Herbal Honeys and Syrups • Vinegars, Poultices, Compresses, Soaks, Infused Oils, and Salves • Introduction to Herbal Action Terms

Harvesting chickweed with the haircut method.

MODULE 4

Early Spring Foraging

Chickweed • Violet • Purple Dead Nettle • Cleavers • Creasy Greens • Garlic Mustard • Stinging Nettles

Daylily blooms.

MODULE 5

Spring Foraging

Lamb’s Quarters • Japanese Honeysuckle • Daylily • Rose

A pollinator visits a bee balm flower.

MODULE 6

Summer Foraging

Yarrow • Mullein • Raspberry and Blackberry • Mimosa • Bee Balm and Wild Bergamot

Hands carrying a basket of harvested burdock root.

MODULE 7

Late Summer Foraging

Goldenrod • Elderberry • Burdock • Dandelion • Yellow Dock

Pink Ramanas roses.

Course Review and Integration

Two and a half months of integration with review videos, time to work on experiential projects, and complete your certificate requirements

A person holds a basket full of harvested elderflowers.

Meet Our Featured Botanical Stars

Full Program Outline and Course Hours

The Full-Color Printable Course Manual is 600+ pages!

The electronic Course Manual is filled to the brim with color photos, step-by-step tutorials, and herbal wisdom. It’s ready to be printed into a large, luscious binder or viewed on any screen.

– To get a feel for the lessons found in the course manual, please see our sample lesson on Dandelion.

Identify wild herbs with confidence

Are you afraid of identifying plants on your own?
Or scared you’ll pick the wrong plant?

It’s natural to be cautious when taking the leap into foraging! After all, few of us have had the opportunity to learn what our ancestors knew by heart. I know this trepidation all too well: I grew up in the suburbs and could barely tell a dandelion from a daisy when I left home. But I truly wanted to learn about foraging. By approaching the plants with an open heart—and learning plant identification—I’m proud to say that I now know hundreds of wild plants like the back of my hand.

I’ve distilled the essentials from decades of foraging and teaching into the course that I wish I had when I was first starting out!

In the Foraging Course, you’ll learn all the botanical skills and harvesting ethics necessary to safely and confidently forage wild foods and herbs.

We've had over 8,000 students from more than 50 countries enroll in our online herbal classes!

Here are just a few glowing testimonials from students in our Foraging Course...

Watch the videos and read the lessons on any device, at your own pace and convenience.

Foraging Course graphic

You'll also get downloads of the audio from the videos and a printable 600+ page course manual. You'll have one year plus one bonus month to earn a certificate, but all the course materials are yours for life!

The online program includes:

Beautiful and engaging video instruction, filmed in the field over the seasons with the stars of the program—the plants themselves

A GORGEOUS electronic Course Manual – containing over 600 pages of extensive written lessons and instructional photographs. View the manual on any device or have it printed and bound.

Access to a team of experienced herbalists and foragers for questions and guidance for thirteen months after enrollment

Review worksheets, experiential projects, and quizzes at the end of each module. 

A 375-hour certificate of completion, upon completing all the required coursework within thirteen months

Access to our student forum (currently hosted on Facebook) where you can share triumphs, troubleshooting, and more with a lively community of herbal enthusiasts

Stinging nettles pate served with carrots and other fresh vegetables.
Hands hold a basket of harvested elderflowers.

The online program also includes:

Over 60 herbal recipes, ranging from medicinal preparations, wild foods dishes, natural body care products, and culinary herbal concoctions

Recipes from top herbal and wild food experts including Dina Falconi, Rosalee de la Forêt, Robin Rose Bennett, and Kiva Rose Bell-Hardin – click here to see the full list of instructors and recipe contributors

59 videos and 61 lessons, clearly organized into 9 modules

Downloadable audio files so you can listen on the go

Lifetime access to the course materials, including all videos and written text (any new videos and materials we add to the program will also be yours)

The online program includes these bonuses:

10% discount off bulk herbs and medicine making supplies at Mountain Rose Herbs’ online store for one year after enrollment

One-time 15% discount on the book ‘Foraging and Feasting: A Field Guide and Wild Food Cookbook,’ by Dina Falconi for one month after enrollment

These bonuses are not included in the cost of tuition and are subject to change. 

The course materials are yours for life!

You’ll have ongoing access to all the videos, audio, and online written materials indefinitely.

By joining our learning community, you’ll not only have access to an amazing educational experience—you’ll also be gaining entry into a trusted source of herbal information to revisit year after year. It’s like a perpetual library card to a whole world of herbal knowledge. As a bonus, you’ll also have access to all fresh material that we’ll be adding to the course over the years. (Please note that when the course closes, instructors will no longer be available for questions or guidance.)

A collection of freshly harvested edible flowers on a plate.

 

Hands holding a bowl of harvested honeysuckle flowers.

Here’s what you’ll be able to do after completing the program:

Identify, harvest, and prepare wild food + medicine from 21 of the most abundant and nourishing “weeds” on earth

Teach your children the joys of foraging and preparing their own herbal remedies, laying the foundation for self-care and knowledge of the natural world

Create your own medicine chest filled with high-quality botanical remedies made from wild medicinals

Use tonic herbs to promote long-term health and help prevent illness

Address common health complaints with your own high-quality teas, tinctures, syrups, and other homemade remedies

Practice the ancestral skills of seasonal foraging and medicine making

You’ll also be able to:

Put your new plant identification skills to use by learning about the other edible and medicinal wild plants growing in your neighborhood

Gather common wild foods and prepare them into delectable + nutritious meals

Share the abundant herbal harvest with your family, friends, and neighbors

Create value-added medicinal and culinary products from wild herbs

Connect with plants, the earth, and the cycles of life on a deeper level

Integrate wild foods and herbs into your home garden

A person wearing a red scarf holds a giant sarsaparilla root.

Meet Our Core Instructors

Meet Our Featured Contributors

We LOVE happy students!
Read over this section to ensure that we’re a good fit.

Who’s this course for?

Anyone yearning to build a connection with the wild world of food and medicine

Budding foragers who want to learn how to safely identify and forage edible and medicinal wild plants + who are excited to go deep with 21 wild foods and herbs

Folks who are willing to take the time to learn basic botany and plant identification

Anyone living in a mild temperate region who has at least 15 of the 21 plants covered in the course growing in their area (See our list of Botanical Starlets to find out whether the plants we cover grow in your area)

Wild foods enthusiasts who want to round out their knowledge to include medicinal uses of wild plants and medicine making with them. Herbalists wanting to learn more about wild foods and wild cookery.

Plant enthusiasts looking to jazz up their kitchen with new flavors and foods and to build a vibrant medicine chest with hand-hewn natural remedies. Students can prepare the recipes that fit with their lifestyle and diet and avoid the ones that don’t.

Who this course is NOT for:

Those looking for a general course on herbal medicine

Folks who are interested in a program that briefly covers each and every wild food and herb around (We’re going for quality over quantity in our plant relationships)

Anyone who runs and hides when botany is mentioned

People who live in these regions: lowland deserts, tropics, subtropics, and extremely cold climates (most of the plants we cover won’t be growing in your area). See our Online Medicine Making Course instead.

Anyone who wants to learn about medicinal herbs only or who is interested in wild foods only

People who are upset by seeing meat or dairy in recipes (the majority of dishes in the course are gluten-free and vegetarian, but some contain dairy and a few contain meat)

To get the most out of the course, be sure at least fifteen of the plants we cover actually grow in your area.

Watch Our Sample Video from the Course - Dandelion!

Download our sample lesson on Dandelion.

Course Bundle Savings:

Foraging + Medicine Making

Ready to build your own herbal apothecary with your wild bounty?

Dive deep into the world of botanical medicine by learning how to craft homemade herbal medicines and natural body care products.

Learn more about the Herbal Medicine Making Course here

Learn more about the Course Bundle here

*A third of the Medicine Making Course material is already included in the Foraging Course. The pricing reflects the overlap in material, and you'll save on the two courses if you enroll with the bundle!

Because of the seasonal nature of the Foraging Course, it needs to be taken first if you enroll with the bundle, followed by the Medicine Making Course.

Not quite sure which of our online courses
is the best fit for you?

Take a peek at our full Course Comparison Chart
to get started on your herbal journey!

December 7th & 8th ONLY!

book bonus graphic 2

new-year-sale-graphic-24

Online Foraging Course Payment Plan:

$119

$99

12 monthly payments

Foraging + Medicine Making Bundle Plan:

$119

$99

14 monthly payments

Foraging Course
Full Payment:

$1,199

$959

Save $229 when you pay in full

* Full payment includes FREE printed course manuals!

Course Bundle
Full Payment:

$1,399

$1,119

Save $267 when you pay in full

* Full payment includes FREE printed course manuals!

* * Course manuals for full payment enrollments will ship within 4 weeks. Free printed manual offer only available for US residents at this time. All students receive a free electronic manual upon enrollment. 

Online Foraging Course Payment Plan:

$119

12 monthly payments

Foraging + Medicine Making Bundle Plan:

$119

14 monthly payments

Foraging Course
Full Payment:

$1,199

Save $229 when you pay in full

* Full payment includes FREE printed course manuals!

Course Bundle
Full Payment:

$1,399

Save $267 when you pay in full

* Full payment includes FREE printed course manuals!

* * Course manuals for full payment enrollments will ship within 4 weeks. Free printed manual offer only available for US residents at this time. All students receive a free electronic manual upon enrollment. 

If you're not fully satisfied, we'll give you a complete refund up to 2 weeks after you enroll.

Walk in the footsteps of your ancestors

Gathering food and medicine is in your blood.

Your ancestors ate wild plants and harvested them for medicine. And, deep down, you remember these traditions.

As a child you probably played some version of “hunting and gathering” or “potion-making” by pure instinct. Imagine the joys of rediscovering this instinctual art: collecting food and medicine by the seasons; greeting plants and trees as friends and familiar providers; and infusing the food and medicine you prepare with these meaningful connections.

If you grew up near a natural place—even a single hedgerow in the backyard—you know the wonder of crossing from the everyday world into the enchanted territory of the wild. As an adult, this realm is still within your reach, and the skills you need to feel at home are right at hand.

Botanical Illustration

Is it truly sustainable to forage for wild plants? Won’t that hurt the plants?

Botanical Illustration

Great question! We specifically chose only the most abundant and “weedy” plants for this course—plants with a large footprint and near global distribution. Harvesting rare plants is strongly discouraged in all our courses. We care deeply about the future of plant populations and sustainability in herbal medicine, which is why we’ve created the most comprehensive course on growing medicinal herbs (the Online Herbal Immersion Program), including rare woodland medicinals. We are active Partners in Education with the United Plant Savers, a nonprofit organization with the mission of protecting rare, native North American medicinals. To read more about how foraging can be a sustainable part of the local food and medicine movements, read Juliet’s article here.

Botanical Illustration

I’m a total newbie to herbs and foraging—will I be lost?

Botanical Illustration

We begin at the ground level and build from there. You don’t need any prior experience or knowledge! We’re here to answer your questions and lead the way in a clear and easy format.

Botanical Illustration

Why online? Can I really learn about foraging herbs from an online format?

Botanical Illustration

Most people love learning about plants in person, but sometimes this just isn’t practical for those of us with busy schedules and full lives. We crafted our engaging videos to be as close to live instruction as you can get, with a front-row seat in the forest and field—the plants are our esteemed co-stars. Throughout the course, Juliet, along with her trusted team of core instructors, demonstrates the real ins and outs of identifying, wildcrafting, and making medicine with wild plants. This is not your typical instructor sitting in a classroom with a blackboard. We’ll be up close and seriously personal with each of the twenty-one plants covered in the program. We love how the medium of film allows us to dynamically showcase the plants, visiting them in all their growth cycles and zooming in close for the kind of botanical detail only possible with a hand lens or high-powered macro camera.

Online learning is a convenient way to learn; you can take your class with you wherever you go and complete the lessons at your own pace, when it works for you. Easy access to our team of moderators ensures you get the support you need—in most cases, your questions will be answered within 24 hours. And you will be able to connect with a rich community of foragers from around the world! We recommend finding local teachers whenever possible and combining in-person education with our online courses. This is especially helpful with plant identification; finding a local instructor versed in the local flora can help round out your studies with us.

Our multimedia program is designed for you, whether you learn best from reading, writing, or watching. With each module, you’ll be provided with hands-on assignments to further engage all your senses and creativity. We truly believe you can learn about foraging herbs and wild foods through video and clearly written instruction, or else we wouldn’t have created this program!

Botanical Illustration

Will I be able to forage all the medicinal herbs you cover in my area?

Botanical Illustration

Visit our Botanical Starlets page to see which plants we cover in the course and whether they grow in your region. If you live in the desert, tropics, or subtropics, the course will not be applicable. Consider our Online Medicine Making Course instead. 

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How does the course work? What will I get exactly?

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When the course opens, you’ll receive login information to enter the student portal, where you’ll access all the course materials. Our welcome video will walk you through all the nitty-gritty details, including how the website works and the layout for the entire program. Each module is composed of four to seven individual lessons, which consist of written text, an instructional video, lesson reviews, and experiential projects.

You’ll have complete access to the entire program once the course begins. To keep you on track and engaged, you’ll receive monthly emails from us with an introduction to each module. Some of our projects are time-sensitive and need to be completed in accordance with the seasons. Within this time frame, you can create a schedule for class time that works for you. See below for more on the course timeline.

The lessons are a combination of video and written materials, which you can read electronically or as a hard copy (via a printable 600+ page PDF that comes with the course). After you’ve explored all the materials and completed the lessons in each module, you’ll complete the experiential projects and self-guided review worksheets. These exercises are designed to help you integrate and review the course material and fine-tune your knowledge.

When you’re ready, you’ll take the quiz at the end of the module. If you’re working toward a certificate, you’ll need to reach a grade of 80% or higher to progress to the next module. You can take the quiz again, if needed. If you have severe test anxiety or a learning difference, please contact us—we will create another form of assessment that feels comfortable to you! We mean it; we welcome and support all types of learners.

You can see the whole course outline here.

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Who is this course designed for?

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  • Urban and rural dwellers, who have access to clean, unsprayed natural places
    -
  • Permaculturists who wish to explore the realm of healing plants and wild foods
    -
  • Homeschooling families with older children and teenagers who are excited to explore medicinal wild plants together (see the FAQs below for details)
    -
  • Herbalists trained in the medicinal use of herbs, who want to know the wild plants in their region on a more intimate level
    -
  • Outdoor educators who want to integrate plant identification and wild foods into their teachings
    -
  • Farmers who are interested in unique new crops and herbal and wild value-added products

Read on for more answers to your burning questions!

You’ll have ongoing access to all the videos and online written materials indefinitely. By joining our learning community, you’ll not only have access to an amazing educational experience, but you’ll also be gaining access to a trusted source of herbal information to revisit year after year. It’s like a perpetual library card to a whole world of herbal knowledge. As a bonus, you’ll also have access to all the fresh material that we’ll be adding to the course over the years. Please note that after your 13-month enrollment, instructors will no longer be available for questions or guidance, but the connections you foster with other herbal enthusiasts will help support you through a lifetime of herbal learning.

Upon completing the course you will be able to:

  • Identify, harvest, and prepare wild food + medicine from twenty-one of the most abundant and nourishing “weeds” on earth

  • Teach your children the joys of foraging and preparing their own herbal remedies, laying the foundation for self-care and knowledge of the natural world

  • Create your own medicine chest filled with high-quality botanical remedies made from wild medicinals

  • Use tonic herbs to promote long-term health and help prevent illness

  • Address common health complaints with your own high-quality teas, tinctures, syrups, and other homemade remedies

  • Practice the ancestral skills of seasonal foraging and medicine making

  • Put your new plant identification skills to use by learning about the other edible and medicinal wild plants growing in your neighborhood

  • Gather common wild foods and prepare them into delectable + nutritious meals
  • Share the abundant herbal harvest with your family, friends, and neighbors

  • Create value-added medicinal and culinary products from wild herbs

  • Put your new plant identification skills to use by learning about the other edible and medicinal wild plants growing in your neighborhood

  • Connect with plants, the earth, and the cycles of life on a deeper level

  • Integrate wild foods and herbs into your home garden

We donate need-based scholarships annually in partnership with several nonprofit organizations and through our own scholarship program (see our partnerships page). Scholarships are not currently available for the Foraging Course, only for the Herbal Medicine Making Course and the Herbal Immersion Program. However, all of the content in the Foraging Course is included in the Herbal Immersion Program.

 

Juliet Blankespoor is the green mastermind behind the program, and is the primary instructor and choreographer. She has been growing medicinal herbs and foraging for wild medicinals and edibles for close to three decades. Juliet has been involved with many aspects of herbal medicine, including owning an herb nursery and tincture business and directing an herbal school. Her extensive knowledge of wildcrafting, plant propagation, and cultivation comes from years of growing and harvesting medicinals for her tincture business and nursery and gardening with herbs in many different climates.

Other core instructors include Meghan Gemma, Lorna Mauney-Brodek, and Asia Suler. Read their full bios.

Most of the herbs featured in the course grow in urban areas, and we’ll cover how to forage safely in public spaces.

Most experienced wildcrafters and herbalists will benefit from our course, as we offer detailed instruction and information on the plants. Some of the material will be review, but we believe that most people will gain valuable insights, especially in the area of botany and plant identification. If you’re an experienced forager but are newer to medicinals, you’ll be sure to see the plants we cover in a new light. Look over the curriculum and list of plants covered to help you decide if the program is right for you. To get a sense of the level of instruction, watch the sample video on dandelion and read its accompanying lesson. Finally, we do offer a guarantee. We want our students to be completely satisfied with their learning!

Yes! As long as you have fifteen of the plants we cover growing in your area (see our Botanical Starlets page) and have a solid command of the English language, you’re welcome to take the course. About 10% of our students reside outside the United States. We provide metric conversions for all recipe measurements. Please note that businesses who have offered perks to our students may not be able to extend those offers to international students.

If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you have an extra year to earn your certificate, since the modules are arranged by season.

There are many ways you can approach the program. If you’re enrolling purely for your personal needs and aren’t working toward a certificate, you can take all the time in the world. You can binge watch on the weekends or slowly sip it in on Tuesday nights. That said, please know that you’ll only have access to us for questions and guidance for 13 months. And the plants that you’ll be studying have their own schedules! We’ve arranged the course lessons so that you’ll be learning about each new plant when it’s actively growing and you can locate it in the wild.

If you’re working toward the certificate, you have a time frame of 13 months to complete the program. There are several reasons you may want to aim for a certificate. The dangling carrot can help you keep your eyes on the prize, so to speak. Motivation is even more important with distance learning, where it’s easy enough to fall off the wagon. Gaining a certificate can also give a strong feeling of personal satisfaction—a milestone after hard work and dedication. Finally, the certificate may help serve your career goals.

Another benefit of completing the course in your 13-month window is that you have the advantage of being able to ask us questions and get our feedback on your assignments. This will really help you hone in on your plant identification, foraging, and medicine making skills, and you’ll become a more confident herbalist knowing that you have our support and guidance!

The bottom line is that we want the program to work for you and your life, however that looks. Each of you will have a different approach, tailored to your needs. Some of you will move through the materials quicker, while some of you will gain the same benefit but spread your learning out over a longer time period. But remember, however you engage with the program, you’ll get out as much as you put in!

This is a 375-hour program with 7 modules, each of which contains approximately 2-5 hours of video instruction and 4 to 7 written lessons. You’ll want to plan time for watching the instructional videos, reading assignments, studying for quizzes, and completing worksheets and experiential projects. Each module will take about 30 to 50 hours of your time, depending on its scope, your pace, and depth of work. To earn a certificate for this program in the allotted timeframe, you’ll want to budget about 8-12 hours a week. If you need to take a break from the course for more than a few weeks at a time from February through July, it’s likely that you won’t be able to complete some of your time-sensitive assignments, as some of our featured plants might be dormant.

If you want to earn a certificate within the allotted 13 months, we suggest starting on the coursework right away when the course opens. Many of the assignments need to be completed when the featured plant is ready for harvesting, so you’ll need to steadily move through the course each month. You’ll receive an email from us to introduce you to each module and help keep you motivated and on track.

If you live in the Southern Hemisphere, you have an extra year to earn your certificate, since the modules are arranged by season.

After the course closes, you’ll have ongoing access to all the materials, but our team of herbal moderators won’t be available, and it will no longer be possible to gain a certificate. Ultimately, we created this deadline because we believe it will help motivate you to finish the program.

Yes! The material in the Foraging Course is included in the Herbal Immersion Program. If you enroll in the Foraging Course and decide you want to dive in deeper, you can deduct the tuition from the Herbal Immersion. (All of the tuition for the Foraging Course will be applied toward the tuition of the Herbal Immersion.) The Immersion is a longer, more in-depth program that focuses on growing medicinal herbs and their therapeutic uses. See the details here.

You can earn a certificate for both programs, and you'll have a full two and half years to earn an Herbal Immersion certificate in addition to the nine and half months allotted for the Foraging Course.

Since the course is seasonal, enrollment is only open for a limited period of time at the beginning of each year. See the question above on completing your coursework within the 13-month enrollment period.

After satisfactorily completing all the assignments and quizzes, and submitting your experiential projects for review, you’ll receive a beautiful certificate of completion by email. All coursework must be submitted within 13 months, and you must be paid in full before receiving a certificate. The certificate will state that you completed 375 hours of coursework and list the subjects covered. (You can find the subjects and the breakdown of hours in the course outline.)

Currently, there is no certifying or licensing agency in the United States for herbalists, so there is no such thing as a certified or licensed herbalist, despite what some schools advertise. However, many people find that a certificate represents the hours and dedication poured into one’s herbal studies. Additionally, a certificate offers a sense of pride for completing the program. In any case, you will learn valuable skills that we believe are essential for foraging and wildcrafting, and the foundation for many plant-based herbal livelihoods. We want to be clear that we are not an accredited university or vocational school. We are a school of traditional herbal medicine. Read more on the truth about herbal certification.

No, this course doesn’t fully train you in all the necessary subjects to begin a practice, such as anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, constitutional assessment, and drug/herb contraindications. If you’re interested in becoming a clinical herbalist, our Herbal Immersion Program can serve as the first step on this career path, followed by a clinical program.

We’re excited to get to know you! Our staff reviews your assignments and gives you personalized feedback and suggestions for each assignment. We also moderate the student forum, which is currently held on Facebook, and we take part in the lively discussions happening there.

If you have questions for us, we’re happy to help. In most cases, your questions will be answered by one of our staff within 24 hours, Monday through Friday. We can answer any questions directly related to course content via written communication through our website. Please note that we can’t answer general herbal questions not connected to the course content or questions about your personal health.

You’ll be able to ask us questions during the 13 months that the course runs. After this time, you’ll still be able to connect with other students via our student forum for alumni. Since you still have access to the course after your enrollment expires, you’ll have continued access to our growing bank of common Q&As. (Our herbal team isn’t available by phone, except to provide assistance with technical issues or problems related to accessing the course.)

You’ll have the option to be part of a private student forum where you can share triumphs, troubleshooting, and inspirations with a lively community of herbal enthusiasts. Currently, this forum is held on Facebook. Our staff moderates this forum and takes part in the discussions.

 

You can also interact with other students and our staff by leaving comments at the end of each lesson. Other students will be able to see your comments and respond. This is a good way to connect with students if you’re not interested in joining Facebook.

We have worked hard to offer this program at an affordable price and ask that you respect all the time, effort, and trust put into its creation by keeping your login information to yourself. When you sign up for this course, you enter a pact of community trust along with every one of the students and teachers. It is, of course, always okay to share your own insights and inspirations with friends and family, but building a healing community begins with respectfully supporting one another in our livelihoods. So we thank you in advance for helping us build a stronger, more trusting community by keeping your login information to yourself.

However, we do encourage sharing your course materials with your children ages 13 and up. We want to nurture the next generation of plant lovers and gardeners. This is a great program for homeschooling families with older children and teenagers interested in plants. If you wish to share the course with your children, be sure to watch our sample videos and lesson plans to gauge the level of instruction before enrolling. Please contact the school for more details if you wish to use this program for your homeschooling curriculum.

When you enroll, you’ll receive a list of foraging and medicine making supplies. The only two supplies you absolutely need are a hand lens and at least one good field guide for your region (the more the better when it comes to plant identification!). We’ll send you guidelines to help you choose the right ones.

The rest of the supplies list includes items you may already own or can improvise with what you have on hand, such as assorted mason jars, an electronic scale, stainless steel funnels and labels, pruners, shovels, garden gloves, and so on. How much you spend on ingredients and materials will differ, depending on how prolific you are with the recipes and what tools and ingredients you already own. We estimate you might spend anywhere from $100 to $300 depending on these factors. As our student, you’ll receive several discounts to various herbal suppliers.

Hands down, the biggest difference is our plant-centered approach and emphasis on sustainable wildcrafting and homemade medicines. We practice and teach a combination of bioregional and DIY herbal medicine. In addition, we provide a wealth of detailed, hands-on video instruction that is not found in other programs. Our manual is a hefty 550+ pages, full of close-up photos and detailed plant profiles. Our staff is available to answer your course-related questions within 24 hours, Monday through Friday, and we review your assignments and give you feedback on each one. We also take part in the lively discussions happening in our student forum.

Yes, all of our course videos are closed captioned. We believe in making our content accessible to everyone, so we've ensured that all videos come with accurate and synchronized captions. If you encounter any issues with the captions or need further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact our support team.

The primary mission of the school is to educate about holistic healing, which includes discussing socioeconomic factors that affect health, safety, and freedom. A healer cannot truly practice holistic herbalism without understanding and addressing the stress, violence, and discrimination that marginalized people face on a daily level. If a person isn’t safe–or faces discrimination that affects their access to basic necessities and optimal health care–because of their race, religion, age, ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity, then their health is affected. It’s that simple.

The discrimination that affects human rights is a universal concern–transcending political affiliation. We believe these topics are central to any productive conversation regarding holistic herbalism (which takes into account how societal influences affect health, safety, basic human rights, and well-being).

Click here to read the Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Anti-Racism Statement.

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