Herbalism Roots

🔥🌿 Fire C***r, herbal tradition, and a little herbal history!

Kim and Martín are diving into Fire C***r! 101 Zesty Recipes for Health Boosting Remedies Made with Apple C***r Vinegar by renowned herbalist Rosemary Gladstar.

Beyond the recipes, they share the interesting story behind the term “Fire C***r.” Rosemary Gladstar helped popularize the herbal preparation decades ago and later became involved in the effort to keep the name Fire C***r available for everyone to use rather than allowing it to become a trademarked term.

It’s a great reminder that herbalism isn’t just about the plants and preparations—it’s also about tradition, community, and keeping herbal knowledge accessible. 🌱🔥

***r

Plant Spirit Healing

Our students learn a traditional healing session that brings together plant medicine, sound, movement, and energetic practices into one intentional experience.

Throughout the session, plants are incorporated topically alongside practices that support energetic and emotional healing.

Guided meditation
Plant brushings
Singing bowls
Rattles
Smoke medicine
Thai herbal compresses
Herbal adornment
A custom flower essence blend

It was such a beautiful experience watching our students practice the full sequence and bring all of these elements together with care and intention.

We love seeing them develop their own connection with the plants and the healing practices they’re learning.

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. 🌿💚