Herbalist Lifestyle Program

Year 1

2022 registration has closed.
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HERBalachia offers a unique education through teaching local plant identity, world herbal traditions, sustainable harvesting practices, medicine making, and an overall inward journey of the self. This program is designed for:

  • Beginning herbal students
  • Health care practitioners
  • Healthy lifestylers
  • Nature lovers seeking their Plant Tribe

HANDS-ON APPROACH

By “studying herbs”, we don’t mean watching a video!
Despite the rush to online classes, we believe the most effective herbal studies occur in person, hands-on, and in nature. Our students learn through:

  • Herb walks and field trips (local forests, creeks, fields)
  • Lecture, demo & discussion by local enthusiastic specialists
  • Communion with Nature, personal experiences outdoors
  • Supervised harvesting: ethical, reciprocal, and in gratitude
  • Hands-on medicine preparations in class
  • Take-home medicine samples and assignments
  • Community building and sharing experiences

My heart and my Head are full of love for plants,
for these teachers and for this wonderful journey. Aho!
—Victoria Hanson

Materia Medica

SYLLABUS

• FOCUS ON 25 LOCAL MEDICINALS: selected by our faculty for their safety, ease of identification, and usefulness. These plants will be studied in terms of scientific and common names, botanical identification, part used, preparation/dosage, actions/indications, and safety/contraindications.
 
• HERBAL ENERGETICS: We will visit the herb growing in its outdoor habitat, learn to connect with the plant’s energy, handle it, smell it, taste it, and prepare its medicine together.
 
• HANDS-ON MEDICINE MAKING: to create your own apothecary: decoction, infusion, maceration tincture, infused oils, salves, syrups, vinegars, and honeypills.
 
• WORLD HERBAL TRADITIONS taught by trained professionals: Chinese herbalism, Ayurvedic herbalism, Native American traditional herbalism, Appalachian folk traditions
 
• BOTANY/ PLANT IDENTIFICATION: plant communities and relationships
 
• WILDCRAFTING: Art and ethics, how to I harvest safely, effectively, and in consideration of plant life and needs of other species?
 
• ECOLOGY & AT-RISK SPECIES STEWARDSHIP: how do I know if a plant is at-risk and if I should harvest it? How do we determine this?

 

FACULTY

Read about our all-star faculty, which includes Master’s degree herbalists, botany professor, Ayurvedic practitioner, native American medicine woman, mushroom and herbal propagation experts, among others.

Although, we all came in with varying degrees of knowledge (understanding) of the topics,
there was no shortage of help with those that may have needed assistance.
—Henry Layne Jr.

2022 Lifestyle Program Schedules

7- modules of 12 hours each: (84 hours total)

We are excited to offer two schedules/locations for the Lifestyle Program this year. Choose the one that best fits your schedule.

UNICOI, TN PROGRAM

2022 Registration is now closed.

WEEKENDS: Sat/ Sun
10am-5pm

April 23, 24
May 21, 22
June 25, 26
July 23, 24
Aug 20, 21
Sept 17, 18
Oct 8, 9

Approximately 3-4 hours per week of home projects and reading is required in addition to class hours.

Location:

Blackberry Blossom Campground
Blackberry Blossom Campground
250 Blackberry Blossom Land
Unicoi, TN 37692

ABINGDON, VA PROGRAM

2022 Registration is now closed.

WEEKDAYS: Thurs/Fri
10 am – 5 pm

April 21, 22
May 19, 20
June 23, 24
July 21, 22
Aug 18, 19
Sept 15, 16
Oct 5, 6  *please note Wed/Thurs this final week!

Approximately 3-4 hours per week of home projects and reading is required in addition to class hours.

Location:

Abingdon Vineyards

Full Bloom Farm House
27378 Osceola Rd,
Abingdon, VA 24211

COVID POLICY:

In this challenging climate for schools, we adapt our program when necessary by strategically utilizing Zoom for ‘didactic’ classes such as botany, herbal energetics, etc. This will be employed ONLY if necessary to maintain CDC guidelines.

Should this become necessary during the 2022 school year, know that we keep things lively by mailing out packets of herbs to smell (incense!), taste (Ayurvedic foods!), and teas to prepare so you can follow along at home! Our ‘COVID pivots’ have been met by rave reviews by students.

For in-person classes such as plant walks and medicine-making, we follow strict CDC guidelines. When necessary, we perform symptom/temperature checks before class and mask when indoors. While occasionally inconvenient, we are committed to doing whatever it takes to SAFELY enjoy our time together.

Tuition: $1650

How do I register?

After you complete your online application, HERBalachia Director Michelle Bouton will contact you for a brief student interview and to arrange payment:

  • Your $550 deposit will save your spot for the 2022 program
  • Follow-Up Payment due date:
    • $1100 by March 15, 2022

Deposit is non-refundable, and no refunds will be made after the first day of class.

Please budget an additional $200 for books and class supplies.

For questions, please contact Michelle Bouton: Michelle@HERBalachia.com

Goals of HERBalachia:

  • connect herbalists, growers, and educators
  • promote safe herb usage through training responsible and compassionate community herbalists
  • be a repository of Appalachian herbal knowledge, traditions, and seeds
  • build confidence in the medical community of the contribution herbalists can make to patient health
  • create opportunity for local experts to teach and share their knowledge
  • instill stewardship of at-risk species and sustainability of foraging practices

Don't miss out on HERBalachia programs, workshops, and events!

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