Want to help us continue to do this important work
of spreading botanical education during this difficult time?
Join us for ongoing education on Patreon starting at just 5 bucks a month
Become a Patron!
or make a one-time donation via PayPal.
Register for these upcoming events now!
Make Your Own Herbal Home Remedies Virtual Course
Thursdays in January • 6:00 PM EST
Online (Zoom)
Sliding Scale $100-200
Pre-registration required
Start the new year off right, with a healthier you! This is your year! Throw resolutions out the window and turn intentions into practice. Take the first steps to becoming your own Herbalist. Be able to help your loved ones and your community.
This series is all about empowering yourself with your own natural healthcare! We’ll take away the mystery of herbal formulating, while introducing you to the magic of creating your own herbal products. From Abby Artemisia's years of experience as a professional forager, herbalist, and parent, she’ll share knowledge on how to make these formulas, from harvest to cup, jar, or plate.
We’ll come together online to learn about and discuss the various basic formulas that we’ll be making in the following classes: teas, tinctures, oils, salves, and tonics (or food used as medicine). It’s a lot easier to understand what these formulas are when you can hear them explained and see them being made. You can even follow along and make your own formulas at the same time.
Join the class live on Zoom to be able to interact and ask questions (don't worry, you can turn your video off if you want to stay in your pj's :) , or watch the recording (sent out after class). Handouts included for each class.
Registration is sliding scale to make it accessible for everyone. If you can afford to give more, please do, as it supports our non-profit work to make this knowledge accessible.
Making Your Own Herbal Teas
There’s nothing more soothing than a cup of tea. Learn how to make your own therapeutic and beverage teas. We’ll talk about the different ways to prepare them, depending on which part of the plant you’re utilizing and what its constituents are. We’ll discuss what the differences are between herbal tea, and green, black, white, and rooibos tea, among others.
Become your own master blender. Abby will teach you which common wild and cultivated plants make great teas. And most importantly, she'll teach you how to make a delicious cup of tea, making it easier for picky kids (and adults) to take their medicine.
Making Your Own Herbal Tinctures
Learn how to make your own herbal extracts. Tinctures are herbs extracted with alcohol, glycerine, or vinegar. They are super convenient, as they’re portable and more concentrated than tea. Tinctures are an easy method of extending the shelf life of herbs. They can also be a great way to get kids to take herbs.
We’ll discuss and demonstrate the different methods for making tinctures, local herbs that work well as tinctures, along with how to harvest and process them.
Making Your Own Herbal Oils & Salves
Herbal oils and salves are two ways of preserving herbs for topical use. They can be used for skin irritations, like cuts, burns, and even splinters; or for massage or pain relief, along with many other uses. We’ll discuss which plants are most beneficial in oils and salves, including many local wild plants.
You’ll get to watch a demonstration of how an oil is made and then turned into a salve. We’ll talk about the best ways to do this to preserve the plants and keep the oils from going rancid, extending the shelf life of your formula.
Food as Herbs, Herbs as Food
Hippocrates was definitely onto something when he said, “Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.” The tastiest and easiest way to ingest herbs for health is through our food. It's also a great way to get kids to take herbs.
We’ll share some of our most delicious, tonifying recipes for medicinal herbs, along with some tips and tricks on whipping them up. We’ll discuss the best recipes for each season and their corresponding health concerns. Of course the best part will be sampling the recipes after you make your own!
Abby's book, The Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders, is an optional and helpful textbook for this class. Get your signed copy here.
You can get this class for free when you register for The WANDER School's Wildcrafted Herb School. Find out all the details here.
Wildcrafted Herb School - Roots (1st Year Program)
Second Fridays & Saturdays, April - November
April 8-9, May 13-14, June 10-11, July 8-9, August 12-13, September 9-10, October 14-15, November 11-12
10:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Burnsville, NC
This is a DIFFERENT kind of herb school.
We pride ourselves on that.
In this program you will truly learn the Wild Craft of Herbalism.
We believe that the best medicine for our bodies is already available in the plants that grow in the same habitat that we live in, and have adapted to the same environmental issues.
As the world changes and it becomes more difficult and less sustainable to ship herbs from around the world, knowing that everything we need surrounds us, is a comfort and a big leap in the direction of our own security.
It's about connecting with ourselves, each other, and our habitat.
We, at The WANDER School, have never been big fans of sitting in a classroom, we like to wander. So, we think there's a different way to learn.
We'll gather together one Friday and Saturday a month, April - November, at The WANDER School in Burnsville, NC, on the edge of the gorgeous Pisgah National Forest, on the South Toe River.
Fridays will be field trip days. We'll get out into nature to see, touch, taste, and smell the plants. We'll create relationships with the plants, learning how to recognize them through basic botany and spending time together. Then, we'll sustainably and ethically harvest them. We'll bring the plants/plant parts back to school and get real hands-on experience making them into food, medicine, and crafts.
Saturdays will be spent at the school and in the herb gardens. You'll get experience growing wild and cultivated herbs and learning their favorite habitats. We'll also have a different speaker each Saturday. Topics will include, but not be limited to (and are subject to change):
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge and how it is shared appropriately
- Reciprocity in Herbalism (including a field trip to Cherokee, NC)
- Racism/appropriation in Herbalism
- Cherokee and other Native American tribal and African American/Black Herbalism
- Traditional Cherokee foods
- Folk Appalachian Herbalism
- Nature Connection
- Botanical Drawing
- Herbs and Formulas for Skincare
- Ecology and Habitat
- Tree Medicine
- Cooking Wild Foods
- Having an Herbal Products Business
Another important part of this course is learning about and practicing Reciprocity. A part of Herbalism that's often left out of teaching in the American culture is asking where the knowledge came from. There is a long folk herbal tradition in Appalachia, which has been a melting pot of Indigenous knowledge and knowledge from the descendants of enslaved people, and beyond. Though this has created a wide and rich body of knowledge, its roots are not often acknowledged. This is a large part of why The WANDER School became a non-profit, to acknowledge, and go beyond that, to continuously figure out ways that we can give back for this knowledge.
Throughout the course we'll become true Community Herbalists, by giving back to our Cherokee neighbors (and others) through making medicine that can be given away, and more. We'll also learn what cultural appropriation is and how to avoid it in our herbal practice.
Because we don't want to spend so much time sitting in lecture in the classroom, as part of your tuition you'll receive Abby's book, The Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders, and her Make Your Own Herbal Home Remedies course, so you can start the course with a foundation of basic herbal medicine making. You'll have plenty of opportunities to practice and learn more in and out of class, with plenty of medicine to take home.
The WANDER School is a United Plant Savers Partner in Herbal Education. That means you'll automatically get a student membership to United Plant Savers!
Formed in the spirit of hope, United Plant Savers is a group of plant enthusiasts committed to raising public awareness of the plight of our wild medicinal plants and to protecting these plants through organic cultivation, sustainable agricultural practices, and the replanting of native medicinal species back into their natural habitats. Our goal is to ensure that these valuable medicinal plants will be preserved for our grandchildren and our grandchildren's grandchildren.
Members of UpS:
- Receive the annual Journal of Medicinal Plant Conservation
- Participate in Spring and Fall dispersals of seeds/plants for replanting purposes
- Access our directory of nurseries, seed sources, and farms that supply “at-risk” herbs
- Receive discounts to Planting the Future conferences and other herbal events
- Become eligible for community grants and other benefits
Throughout the course, you'll get to:
- Make your own Herbal First Aid Kit
- Create a Materia Medica (your own herbal encyclopedia)
- Make a Foraging Basket
- Visit a traditional Cherokee garden
- Practice working with herbs for various issues, with friends, loved ones, and your community
- Forage wild and medicinal Plants & Mushrooms
- Learn how to create and organize your own home Apothecary
- Practice Plant Meditation for deeper connection with the plants
- Learn to Grow common herbs and Steward wild herbs
- See, Taste, and Try Wild Food Cooking
Be prepared to create lasting relationships with other plant lovers. We will gather together in circle every morning to check in about where we are in our relationships with the world and the plants. Students from herb courses often go on to meet outside of and after school is over, becoming friends, learning from and with each other. Come ready to connect!
You'll graduate with a certificate on Graduation Day, which will include a party potluck and medicine show to celebrate all you've learned and share medicine with your herbie friends.
This is a 3 year program. The second 2 years are not mandatory, but build on the knowledge of the first year, going deeper each year into Botany, Medicine Making, Clinical Herbalism, and more.
Lodging is not included, but there are several local lodging options, including Inns, Airbnb's, and Campgrounds, that will be shared before class begins or can be emailed upon request.
Your Investment in Your Health Empowerment:
- $2,000 if paid in one full payment before January 1, 2022
- $2,250 if paid in one full payment before March 1, 2022
- $2,500 if paid in one full payment before April 1, 2022 (if space is still available)
Payment Plans are available upon request. The total is $2,500 to cover administrative fees, and must be paid in full by April 1, 2022, with a $500 deposit.
One Scholarship position will be available for a BIPOC person. Email Abby to apply.
Two partial Work Trade positions will be available, on a first come, first served basis for people with a financial need that would make attendance impossible otherwise, with a $1,000 payment by March 1.
We welcome all people into the Herb School, including BIPOC, Queer, single parents, and differently abled people (though you will need to be able to hike). Please let us know your needs and concerns, and we'll do our best to accomodate you.
All prospective students will have a Zoom or phone interview with Abby before being accepted into the program, to ensure that you are a good fit for the program and the program is a good fit for you. Contact us to schedule yours now, or with questions.
Refund Policy:
As we are a very small business, we cannot offer refunds, unless we cancel the course. If you have a family or health emergency, and need to drop out of the course before it starts, we will try to offer you a refund, minus a $500 administrative fee, if you or we can find a replacement to take your place. Thanks for your understanding; the tuition supports our family.
Virtual Plant Walk
Explore the Appalachians from your couch, and learn how to empower yourself with your own free and vital wild food and medicine!
Join botanist, herbalist and professional forager, Abby Artemisia, to meander through the abundance of wild food and medicine that can be foraged in the late summer/early fall.
Abby believes nature education is so important, especially information on wild edible and medicinal plants, to help us survive in these tough times. That's why she adapted her plant walks to a virtual format, to help you continue to thrive whether you're far away or COVID is keeping you away from group activities.
This plant walk, in the gorgeous Blue Ridge mountains of North Carolina, features plants that you'll find throughout much of the central and eastern US. Plants included: Sourwood, Sassafras, Witch Hazel, Black Birch, Hemlock tree, Blackberry, Ragwort, Violet, and Mountain Mint. For a special treat, the following mushrooms are included, too: a variety of Chanterelles and Leatherback Milkcaps.
Abby teaches you how to harvest the plants and mushrooms, including tips for a sustainable harvest. She tells you about making formulas like teas, tinctures, salves, syrups, and spices, for conditions including coughs, pain, viruses, skin irritation, stagnation, and more. She teaches the Family Method of Identification, giving you patterns to make it easier for you to start to recognize plants and how they're related.
You'll get a private link to the video that you can access anytime and as often as you want but please don't share the link - as we offer SO MUCH free education already and every purchase is important to our small business.
You can even email Abby about the virtual plant walk with your thoughts and questions!
Foraging Wild Spices Masterclass
Get 26 modules all about how to forage safely and ethically, what to forage when, and how to make declious spice blends, all from a Professional Forager!
Check out the free chapter preview and get yours today at Anchored Outdoors. (The class can only be bought on that website.)
Virtual Botanical Discovery Session
Take advantage of this seriously special offer!
When you’re walking around outside, and you think...
dang I wish I knew more about these plants!
More plant knowledge could help me survive, if it all came to that...
Your wish is granted.
You can now join botanist, herbalist and professional forager, Abby Artemisia,
for a private virtual plant walk customized FOR YOU.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS!
- Buy Your Session (or Gift), choosing as many hours as you'd like. If you are buying multiple gifts, please checkout with multiple orders, so each gift recipient receives a unique order number.
- Schedule Your Session: Book a time slot with Abby via email. You will need the order number* to schedule.
- Prep for your session: Test the videoconferencing options agreed on at booking. If you don’t have data reception where you live, or you’d rather do it inside on your computer, just bring the plants you most want to know about (or several pictures of each one). That is very common! Just make sure you walking around outside and note the plants you want to learn about.
- LEARN! Join the videoconference at your scheduled time to begin. During your Virtual Botanical Discovery Session, Abby will focus on a few plants to help you understand your connection to them better through some practical tips on identification as well as the benefits those plants can provide you as food and medicine.
- Grow! Each Virtual Botanical Discovery Session lasts (1) hour. You can do a 2 or 3 hour session also, if you have lots to learn! You'd be surprised how fast an hour flies!
*Your order number becomes available on the thank you page after purchase below, and in the email you'll receive after purchase with the subject "Your downloads are ready!" You will need to note this order number to schedule.
THIS OFFERING MAKES A GREAT GIFT!
If purchasing a Virtual Botanical Discovery Session as a gift, make sure to note the order number you receive, and give THAT to the lucky recipient when you give the gift. You can just print or email out the PDF you receive after purchase to give to to the lucky recipient once you've added the order number details!
HERE'S WHAT FOLKS HAVE TO SAY ABOUT VIRTUAL BOTANICAL DISCOVERY SESSIONS WITH ABBY...
- "I was really curious about the trees that were growing outside my window. I felt pretty lonely during quarantine, and they seemed to just keep me company. Abby helped me learn more about them." -Angela G, New York
- "I had no idea that I could eat the weeds that I was pulling out of my garden! I just wanted to know more about them, and turns out now I have extra free food!" -Susie, Ohio
PAST EVENTS
SUMMER 2019
- At the Upstate Herb, Homesteading, and Foraging Festival at Putney Farm in Honea Path, SC Abby taught one of the classes on herbs and homesteading skills, and showcased her wildcrafted apothecary and new book Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders at one of the booths featuring very interesting crafts and wares. Everyone was excited that Green Deane made it to South Carolina!
- Wild Herb Weekend is an annual conference, held in the beautiful high mountain location of Valle Crucis, NC in late July. There is something for everyone at this intimate little conference. Whether you grow herbs for a hobby, use herbs for healing, or want to start a commercial herb operation, you will find many interesting sessions and hands-on workshops and plant walks to participate in!
- Abby headed to Treasure Lake in Petersburg, KY for a PawPaw Paradise Propagation and Advanced Foraging Adventure collaboration with Doug Crouch. We’ve gone plant walking before, but this was a chance to go deeper into botany. Participants left with a better understanding of plant identification and learned real world tips for processing and preserving the precious Paw Paw treats for food and medicine.
- The 2019 Great Lakes Herb Faire was a two and a half day gathering in Chelsea, Michigan (near Ann Arbor) at the beautiful, rustic, Cedar Lake Outdoor Center which is located at 2500 Pierce Road in Chelsea, Michigan. This event is dedicated to the sharing of herbal knowledge and the celebration of our community and bioregion. We will have dozens of speakers primarily from around the Great Lakes with a seasoning of herbalists from non-Great Lakes states. Our intention is to empower knowledgeable herbalists and beginners alike, provide a space for networking and sharing knowledge, and to strengthen our regional herbal community.
AUTUMN 2019
- Southeast Wise Women Herbal Conference in Hendersonville, NC
- Tree Medicine Walk & Workshop in Marshall, NC with Cindi Quay of Cindi's Sacred Garden teamed up to offer a half-day walk and workshop on Saturday, October 26 from 10a-3p in Marshall, NC designed to honor the medicine of trees.
- Rooted in Gratitude in Petersburg, KY at Treasure Lake with Doug Crouch of Treeyo Permaculture co-taught about the importance and functions of roots, how to grow them and make them into food and medicine. Everyone went home with a tincture for their winter first aid kit and some Jerusalem artichokes to start in their gardens, after a scrumptious root-filled lunch!
WINTER 2020
- Botany for Foragers, Herbalists, & Everyone Else at Treasure Lake in Petersburg, KY was for foragers, herbalists, and wild adventurers, to identify plants and mushrooms in the forests and fields. We went a short plant walk and learned some basic botany while creating our own field journal over a hot cup of tea.
- Botany through the Seasons: Winter Edition in Asheville, NC was developed because being in one of the most botanically diverse wild areas in the world can be amazing and daunting at the same time. What an incredible gift to be able to collect free and vibrant food and medicine all around us anytime! If you want to be able to do this safely (aka don’t poison yourself or others) and sustainably, you need to know the basics of botany.
- The Herbal Handbook for Homesteaders Book Signing at Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe - Asheville, NC Abby Artemisia, a botanist, herbalist, and professional forager, has created this user-friendly resource. If you're an herbal novice, this guide will demystify the world of herbs. For those with some herbal experience, it will take you deeper into helpful home remedies with new techniques and recipes.
- Herbal Salve-Making Workshop with Cindi and Abby - Black Mountain, NC Partnering again are Abby Artemisia, Botanist, Herbalist, Forager and owner of The WANDER School and Cindi Quay, Traditional Native American Herbalist and owner of Cindi's Sacred Garden, to bring you a hands-on herbal workshop on how to create Herbal Salves for topical application!
SPRING 2020
- Wild Edible Botany and Plant Walk co-led by Erica Klopf in Marathon, FL. This will be a beginner's intro to botany of wild and cultivated plants. The purpose is to make botany accessible to everyone, whether you’re an aspiring (or practicing) forager, herbalist, or plant enthusiast. You'll get to know some of the tips and tricks to basic plant identification using the patterns, or families, method of identification. Once you start noticing how plants are related, it's easier to recognize them. Plants in the same family are often edible or medicinal in similar ways. We'll talk about basic flower and plant anatomy and introduce you to some helpful descriptive words.
- Botany for Everyone in Sarasota, FL. This will be a beginner’s intro to the science of Botany. The purpose is to make botany accessible to everyone. You’ll get to know some of the tips and tricks to basic plant identification using the patterns, or families, method of identification. Once you start noticing how plants are related, it’s easier to recognize them. Plants in the same family are often edible or medicinal in similar ways. We’ll talk about basic flower and plant anatomy and introduce you to some helpful descriptive words. Then we’ll get some real world experience, identifying plants in the gardens. This is your chance to delve a little deeper into your study, getting to know what the plants are really about and resources to help you along the way. This is an indoor and outdoor class.