Herbalism Roots

One Herb at a Time: Dandelion Root

Sometimes, keeping it simple is one of the best ways to get to know an herb.

Kim is talking about using single herbs as teas, with dandelion root as the focus. Dandelion root is traditionally considered a cooling hepatic herb, meaning it has an affinity for the liver, and it’s also well known for supporting healthy digestion.

Working with herbs individually gives students the opportunity to really experience each plant, its taste, energetics, actions, and how it feels in the body. 🌱

🌱 Rooted in the earth, learning by doing.

Our Herbalism Roots students spent an incredible weekend with our gardening instructor, Sharona Thompson, at her Ruby Hill Tiny Farm, an urban homestead right in the heart of Denver. It’s inspiring to see just how much can be grown and cultivated in a backyard space!

Students got hands-on experience in Sharona’s garden while also taking part in a community service gardening project at a local food forest and pollinator garden. 🐝🌼

They brought that experience home with them, too! Students received seeds from the pollinator garden to start creating pollinator-friendly spaces in their own neighborhoods, plants from Sharona’s garden, and eight different plants they propagated themselves. 🌿

One of the highlights was seeing mycorrhiza in action, breaking down wood chips, supporting the soil, and helping promote healthy plant root growth.

And, of course, the weekend wouldn’t have been complete without Holly’s homemade bagels, Maria’s homemade pupusas, Sharona’s chickens, and a few adorable appearances from Meow Kitty. 🐓🐈

We love exploring both the science and spirituality of gardening. Learning how to grow your own plants and herbs for healing creates a deeper connection to the plants we work with and the earth they come from.

Thank you to our students, Sharona, and her neighborhood for such a beautiful weekend of learning, community, and connection. 🌱💚

🌿🍸 Plants, herbs… and cocktails?

Martin and Kim are sharing a few fun resources for exploring the botanical side of cocktail making!

📚 The Drunken Botanist is a favorite not only for its recipes, but for the fascinating history behind the plants, herbs, fruits, and botanicals that have found their way into our glasses.

🌱 Wildcrafted Cocktails is another beautiful resource, filled with gorgeous photography and inspiration for incorporating wild and botanical ingredients into creative drinks.

🔮 And just for fun, there’s even a Botanical Cocktail Oracle deck, combining botanical inspiration with a little creativity and play.

Whether you’re interested in herbalism, plant history, or simply discovering another way plants show up in everyday life, these are some fun additions to the bookshelf.

As men age, prostate and urinary function, stress, libido, and cardiovascular health can become increasingly important areas of focus. Martin shares three herbs traditionally used to support these changing needs.

Saw Palmetto (Serenoa repens) is well known in traditional herbalism for prostate and urinary health. It is used both preventatively and therapeutically to support healthy prostate function and address changes in urinary flow and frequency that can occur with age.

Oatstraw (Avena sativa) is a deeply nourishing nervine traditionally used to support the nervous system. Herbalists often turn to oatstraw during periods of prolonged stress, nervous tension, anxiety, exhaustion, and low vitality or libido.

Hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) has a long history as a cardiovascular herb. The berries, leaves, and flowers are traditionally used to support the heart, circulation, and overall cardiovascular function, both preventatively and therapeutically.

Herbalism is about understanding the whole person and how our needs change throughout different stages of life. These are just three examples of herbs that have a long history of use in supporting men’s health as they age.

Interested in exploring the art of natural perfume making? 🌿✨

Kim and Martin are sharing two book recommendations for anyone interested in perfume making, especially when working with essential oils.

📖 Perfume Making by Mindy Green
📖 Scents & Sensibilities by Mandy Aftel

Both of these books are older and can be a little harder to find, but they’re well worth the hunt!

Working with essential oils is about so much more than choosing scents you enjoy. Learning how different aromas blend, develop, and complement one another can help you better understand the art behind creating natural fragrances.

If natural perfumery is something you’d like to explore, these are two great additions to your herbalism bookshelf. 🌹🌿

🌳 Herbalism outside the classroom! 🌿

Our Herbalism Roots students headed to Cheesman Park with Martin for a tree tour focused on the folklore, mythology, traditional uses, and medicine of trees.

There’s something special about learning about plants while actually standing beneath them. Students had the chance to slow down, observe, identify different trees, and explore the stories and traditional knowledge connected to them.

And yes… our inner tree huggers definitely came out. 😂🌳💚

Experiences like this are such an important part of herbalism. Learning to recognize the plants around us, spending time with them, and building a deeper relationship with the natural world.

A beautiful day of trees, stories, plant medicine, and community. 🌿✨

🌿Plant Spotlight: Osha 🌿

Martin is sharing about a plant that is especially near and dear to his heart, Osha, also known as Bear Medicine. 🐻🌱

Found in the Rocky Mountains, Osha has a long history of traditional use, but it’s also a plant that needs our care and protection. Martin talks about what makes Osha so special, some of its traditional uses, and why mindful harvesting and conservation are so important.

One of the beautiful parts of being an herbalist in the Rocky Mountain region is having the opportunity to experience plants like Osha in their natural environment. Spending time observing, connecting, and even meditating with the plants can offer a completely different way of learning, one that goes beyond what you can find in a book.

Take a few minutes to learn about Osha and why this Rocky Mountain plant is so special. 🌿💚

Some books don’t just teach you something. They change the way you look at the relationship between people, plants, and the natural world. 🌿📖

Kim is sharing a book that is especially meaningful to her, Sastun: My Apprenticeship with a Maya Healer by Rosita Arvigo. Her copy is even signed by the author!

The book follows Arvigo’s journey in Belize as she apprentices with Don Elijio Panti, a highly respected traditional Maya healer who lived to be over 100 years old. Through their time together, she learns about medicinal plants, traditional healing practices, spirituality, and knowledge that had been passed down through generations.

Even the title has significance. A sastun is a sacred stone traditionally used by a Maya healer as part of spiritual healing and diagnosis.

Sprinkled throughout the story are remedies and recipes, but what makes the book so special is the bigger message woven through it: humans and nature are deeply interconnected. It’s also a story about preserving traditional plant knowledge and protecting the rainforest that makes that knowledge possible. 🌱

We love when our instructors share the books and teachers that have shaped their own paths in herbalism.