Recommended Resources

Any beginner herbalist - or any experienced practitioner, for that matter - needs information from a variety of sources on a whole host of topics. You might, for example, want to consult a phtyochemist's assessment of the most effective extraction medium for a particular herbal constituent, a clinician's notes on botanical treatments for influenza from 1918, and a recent email from a discussion list - all within the same twenty minutes.

Here are some resources for learning and for sourcing herbs that we turn to ourselves, and think are especially valuable for students of herbalism.

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Free Course! The 4 Keys To Holistic Herbalism gives you a foundation for whole-person approach to plant medicine and healing.

Here is the model we use in all of our teaching in our clinical practice. When we look at an issue systematically we have the best chances for success.

So when you're choosing an herb to work with you can understand how the medicine works in different bodies and different situations.

Get the 4 Keys to Holistic Herbalism Today

Holistic Herbalism Podcast!

Conversations and Q&A with clinical herbalists Katja Swift & Ryn Midura of CommonWealth Holistic Herbalism.

Subscribe to our podcast & learn about holistic plant medicine!

Book Recommendations & Reviews

Check out our favorite books about herbalism!

You can also hear about some of our favorite books in this podcast, and see the books we reviewed in the video review series on our YouTube channel!

Also, we have an entire extra page dedicated entirely to book reviews! It's true, we have a lot of books.

Check out our epic book list here.

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Learning Herbalism

You can learn a lot with self-study, and there are a lot of free resources out there that are good - here are some of our favorites!

We release a new episode of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast weekly (more or less) - you can find them all in iTunes, your favorite podcast app, and on our website here!

We offer a selection of free herbal education videos on our YouTube channel.

And check out our blog for lots of great information on clinical herbalism, as well as our Instagram feed!

 

Conservative & "Evidence-Based" Sources

Practical Info From Practitioners

  • Henriette's Herbal Homepage is one of the oldest and best herbalism websites on the internet. Use the search bar and you'll get results from historical texts, curated selections from discussions on herbal email lists over several decades, Henriette's own excellent blog posts, and more. She moderates an active email discussion list as well.
  • Medical Herbalism - "A Journal for the Clinical Practitioner", is edited by Paul Bergner, our mentor and friend. The North American Institute of Medical Herbalism is the site for his distance learning programs - his recorded classes are the best you can get.
  • The Institute for Traditional Medicine is a great resource for info on Traditional Chinese Medicine, as well as Ayurvedic and Western herbalism.
  • Stephany Hoffelt's Domestic Medicine offers both rigorously researched history and authentically lived experience in equal measure. Much well-needed myth-busting to be found here!
  • Toi Scott of Queering Herbalism offers a ton of resources for anti-oppression and social justice matters relevant to herbalism, including a list of POC healers.
  • Competent Care for Transgender, GenderQueer and non-Binary Folks - Larken Bunce & Vilde Chaya Fenster-Ehrlich have put together this great resource, including herbal considerations.
  • Tammi Sweet and Kris Miller run Heartstone Herb School, and they have a blog as well as online classes. Their list of free webinars is constantly growing too, so check it out! We ♥ Heartstone!
  • Sam and Suchil Coffman run Herbal Medics Academy and The Human Path, and they've got great online courses in addition to a lot of free videos, podcasts, and now videocasts also!
  • herbcraft.org - Heed the advice left to you by the previous students: "Read everything jim mcdonald has ever written. Twice." He also has a very extensive curated list of the writings of other herbalists on various topics here.
  • The Enchanter's Green is herbalist Kiva Rose's website. It includes a lot of content excerpted from Plant Healer as well.
  • Northeast School of Botanical Medicine is run by 7Song, and this site includes an abundance of his handouts and class materials. Check out his blog, too!
  • Rosalee's herbal blog roll will keep you busy for a good while!
  • The American Herbalists Guild is a professional organization for herbalist in the United States. They have many helpful resources.

Historical & Ethnobotanical Sources

  • Henriette's Herbal Homepage is an excellent place to get information from historical sources on herbal practice in the Western traditions. Use the search bar and you'll get results from many historical texts (alongside Henriette's own excellent blog and articles, selections from mailing list discussions over the years, and more).
  • The Southwest School of Botanical Medicine is the late Michael Moore's website, with tons of his own work as well as publications from the Eclectics and Physiomedicalists. (This is Michael Moore the herbalist, not Michael Moore the filmmaker.)
  • The Physiomedical Dispensatory, William Cook (1869) - This is a particularly useful example of an herbal text from the herbal physicians of the 19th century United States. Know your history!
  • Native American Ethnobotany Database, by Dan Moerman at University of Michigan. As with all databases and ethnobotanical works, consider this a simple starting point, not a definitive authority on indigenous botanical practices. (That is to be found with each people.)

Sourcing Herbs

Here are some of our recommended places to acquire herbs for preparing your remedies and delights.

Boston Area Stores

  • Cambridge Naturals has shops in Porter Square and Brighton, and has a nice selection of bulk herbs, and tinctures.
  • Soluna Garden Farm has a shopfront in Winchester and a space at the Boston Public Market; also does online ordering.
  • Crose Nest in Hudson hosts a botanical apothecary and a lovely collection of curiosities.
  • Seven Arrows Farm has a shopfront in Attleboro, also does online ordering.
  • Artemisia Botanicals is an herb shop in Salem.
  • Whole Foods markets all have some tinctures, supplements, etc; some may have a selection of bulk herbs too.
  • Daily Table, while not herbal, is an important resource for those in the Dorchester area - a non-profit grocery store which keeps prices low by recovering food from supermarkets, growers and food distributors that would otherwise have been wasted.

Boston Area Herb CSAs

Online Ordering

in the Northeast:

Elsewhere:

Also check out Jim McDonald's list of wildcrafters, growers, & medicine-makers.

 

PS: Want to eat some bugs?

  • Aketta - recipe-ready crickets and cricket flour!
  • EntoMarket offers roasted crickets, and a bunch of other insects as well!
  • Chapul offers protein bars and powder.
  • Exo has bars, powder, and whole roasted crickets.

Nutrition

There's more to it than just herbs - the food you eat and the way you move your body (or don't!) also play a big role in staying healthy!

  • Mark's Daily Apple, one of our favorite "paleo/primal" blogs. Mark also talks a lot about appropriate exercise, and he should know, given that he's a former professional athlete.
  • Chris Kresser is an old school paleo blogger who has moved into the "functional medicine" world.
  • Paleo for Women by Stefani Ruper is an important resource, as a lot of the paleo conversations are conducted using info only tested or relevant in males.
  • The Whole 30 is a great website for straight up, simple dietary instructions, with plenty of good explanation.
  • Examine.com is a good resource specifically oriented towards making sense of the available scientific studies on supplements & products. Keep in mind, when you see them discuss herbs, that they are only considering those sources of information.
  • Evolutionary Psychiatry - a pretty great blog with lots of alternative psychiatry commentary, often based on nutritional approaches, written by a psychiatrist.
  • The Cholesterol Myths, a website by Uffe Ravnskov (a well-respected scientist and researcher), explains why the lipid hypothesis (dietary cholesterol causes heart disease) is completely bunk. Click the "about me" link for an exhaustive linked list of interviews, papers, books, etc.
  • The Weston A Price Foundation has good information about soy and fat, and about traditional preparations of foods, but does not address food allergies or the issues surrounding carbs/sugars and insulin resistance.

Movement

  • Nutritious Movement, the work of biomechanist Katy Bowman, is a great place to learn about alignment, biomechanics, and natural movement.
  • MovNat is a system of movement skills development with a focus on building physical capability in nature. It's a great fit for herbalists and nature-lovers!
  • Sock Doc is written by a chiropractor with a clear understanding of the importance of alignment and natural movement principles.
  • Traci Picard provides a good list of resources in her blog post, Work! It! Out!

Take Action!

Use these websites as resources to learn about some of the Big Issues in our world today, but don't just read - make it real, do something!

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