River Prairie Apothecary

09/14/2025

Catch a class or an herbal free clinic this fall with my teacher, Gigi!

"On the road again!"

I will see you in my classes and trainings in the upcoming days & weeks. Truly looking forward to seeing many of you again!

Duluth, Minnesota 9/12
Duluth Folk School

Eau Claire, Wisconsin 9/14
Willow Rain Wellness Center

9/20-9/21
Massage Alchemy & FM Wellness Collective
Fargo, North Dakota Region

9/23
Herbalists Without Borders
Free Peoples Clinic
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin

9/26-9/28
North House Folk School
Grand Marais, Minnesota-North Shore Lake Superior

10/2
Northwood Technical College
Rice Lake, Wisconsin (& online numerous other locations Northern Wisconsin)

10/4-10/05
Folklore Village
Dodgeville-Madison, Wisconsin-Driftless Region

10/11-10/12
North House Folk School
Grand Marais, Minnesota-North Shore Lake Superior

10/15
White Bear Center for the Arts
Twin Cities, MN Region-White Bear Lake

10/17
The American Swedish Institute
Minneapolis, Minnesota

10/18
Women's Environmental Institute
North Branch, Minnesota

10/21
Herbalists Without Borders
Midwest Free Peoples Clinic
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin & WarmLine (call from anywhere)

10/24-10/25
Green Wisdom School of Natural & Botanical Medicine
Satellite Office & Classroom
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

11/01-11/02
North House Folk School
Grand Marais, Minnesota, North Shore Lake Superior

11/06
Northwood Technical College
Rice Lake, Wisconsin (in-person) & online in numerous northern counties of WI

11/07
The American Swedish Institute
Minneapolis, Minnesota

11/12
White Bear Center for the Arts
Twin Cities, MN Region, White Bear Lake, MN

11/15
New City Center
Minneapolis, Minnesota

11/25
Herbalists Without Borders
Midwest Free Peoples Clinic
Chippewa Valley, Wisconsin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Visit our website for comprehensive course listings and much more:
www.greenwisdom.weebly.com

Schedule a patient health & wellness appointment with Gigi:
https://greenwisdom.weebly.com/clinical-services.html

Online & Flex Courses--plan ahead for this fall & winter:
https://greenwisdom.weebly.com/flex-study-tele-seminars-ecourses.html

Need help with anything? Reach us here and someone will assist you:
https://greenwisdom.weebly.com/contact-us--paypal.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you friends, students, patients, and colleagues!
I truly look forward to being with you this season.

With peace and healing,

Gigi

08/20/2025

Eeeeeeeeeee!!! on a casual stroll through the woods yesterday with my pal we stumbled upon a variety of different chanterelle mushrooms, including a couple black trumpets!

The reddish ones are called Cinnabar, those are probably the easiest to identify when it comes to chanterelles.

There are look-a-likes, so do your homework before you harvest and eat them. One important factor in identifying chanterelles is making sure that they have that mild apricot-like smell, some people describe it as pumpkin-like.

Chanterelles do not grow on wood, they grow on the forest floor, usually not in clumps (single mushrooms, growing here, and there, though sometimes they can be close to each other). They are smooth, not fuzzy. They do not have real gills, they have false skills, so when you run your finger over them, they shouldn’t break off easily like true gills.

Black trumpets are the tastiest by far, but it’s really hard to spot them on the forest floor as they blend in with old leaves. When you fry them up in butter they taste like Parmesan.

Luckily, the mosquitoes weren’t overly friendly, they just took a bite here and there 😅 we got a little rained on so we also got a rainbow. What a gorgeous eve!

Pro-foodie tips when it comes to eating wild mushrooms:
- Start slow, don’t eat a lot
- be 200% confident about your ID. If there’s any question at all, it’s not worth it..
- cook wild mushrooms well. Do not eat them raw or al dente.
- increase the vitamin D in your mushrooms by letting them sit in the sun for a little bit before you cook them
- store extra fresh mushrooms in the fridge in a paper bag or cloth towel (not plastic)
- when you harvest your mushrooms, use a knife so you leave behind the very bottom of the mushroom. This increases the odds of those mushrooms coming back in a future season. It also decreases the amount of dirt you’re going to have to brush off your fresh mushrooms…
- and my number one piece of advice is that if you are knowledgeable, please share your knowledge and abundance with others. But do not teach people to eat things that you are not 300% confident about though…

08/17/2025

The forest of

08/16/2025

Gah, I love plant walks so much! 

I was spoiled with a small crew which meant I got to connect with folks 1:1 at times.

Thanks to all you plant folks who came out despite the very questionable weather, and please reach out if you have any questions about what we saw, talked about, or if you figured out some of the plants that were mysteries to us  🫶🌱🫶

Chippewa County Land Conservancy is such an incredible local organization, what a privilege it was to lead a plant walk with them for the third time. Thank you. 🙏

08/09/2025

I loooove this lil preserve- it is along an old railway, and so there are a surprising amount of native plants due to the fact that there were rail fires which helped some of those seeds to germinate in the past.

Once you get to the preserve, there are very old pines, as well as a cool little creek that runs through them.

And all along the way there are shrubs and weeds offering lots of food and medicine. 

I am most excited about one of the invasive plants we will see in the woods, we will be harvesting some medicinal roots. So if you’re like me, (when I first got into herbalism), I was really intimidated about digging roots, but it is not that hard, let me show you just how easy it is! 

Next weekend: Late Summer Foraging with River Prairie Apothecary at Joas Preserve. Kerri’s last 2 plant walks at Joas sold out, so you won’t want to miss this!

⏰ When: Saturday, August 16 @ 1-3 PM (backup date is August 17)

📍Where: Joas Nature Preserve in Chippewa Falls

🌱 Learn about responsible foraging and ID edible and medicinal plants with master herbalist and forager Kerri Kiernan of River Prairie Apothecary.

🥾 1 mile hike, including foraging education
Optional activity: Join in removal of an invasive, yet medicinal plant.

You’ll take home:
- A very medicinal plant root to make your own remedy
- DIY handout emailed to you after the event

Sign up today on our website, under Events!

Tickets are $15, but free for CCLC members (check your email).

08/09/2025

Next weekend: Late Summer Foraging with River Prairie Apothecary at Joas Preserve. Kerri’s last 2 plant walks at Joas sold out, so you won’t want to miss this!

⏰ When: Saturday, August 16 @ 1-3 PM (backup date is August 17)

📍Where: Joas Nature Preserve in Chippewa Falls

🌱 Learn about responsible foraging and ID edible and medicinal plants with master herbalist and forager Kerri Kiernan of River Prairie Apothecary.

🥾 1 mile hike, including foraging education
Optional activity: Join in removal of an invasive, yet medicinal plant.

You’ll take home:
- A very medicinal plant root to make your own remedy
- DIY handout emailed to you after the event

Sign up today on our website, under Events!

Tickets are $15, but free for CCLC members (check your email).

08/07/2025

Ope I got 🦨’d

Too dry this year up in the northwoods for chanterelles… but I did find this netted jacket in the brush along a lake! It completes my aesthetic perfectly…

Since it’s so dry, maybe I’ll be able to walk up to some of the tamaracks in the bog. I love drinking herbalist Nathan Wright’s Tamarack root bark tea for nervousn system support.

I also looooove the smell of the bog, especially the labrador tea and wintergreen that grows there.

I gathered a few wintergreen leaves on my unsuccessful chanterelle walk back to the car after sprinkling a little bit of my own gifting herbs on a patch of wintergreen.

It always feels good to take a quick intentional moment to say hello and thank you to the woods. My harvest bag might be mostly empty but my heart is still full 🥰

And I didn’t even have to pay the mosquito tax!

08/01/2025

Stepping outside for a brief moment in the smokey sunshine with bumblebees, a friendly monarch, blossoming echinacea and blue vervain. ☀️ 🌞 🌼 ✨
Happy

08/01/2025

Arg… I spent too much time outside 😫my poor throat and lungs 😷

Herbs to the rescue!

DIY

(you probably already have some of these plants dried in your house or maybe fresh outside. Grab that headlamp!)

I work with aromatic and healing culinary plants to soothe and assist the body with dealing those gnarly tiny particles we are breathing when there’s in the air.

Materials:
Fresh or dry plants ✔️
Aromatic plants (you want to smell and won’t react to)✔️
Heat safe bowl ✔️
Recently boiled water ✔️
A towel ✔️
15 minutes ✔️

How to:
- Put your Herbs in a heat safe bowl
- Boil water and pour over herbs
- Carefully breathe in the steam, but start from further above as you can always move in closer
- Put a towel over your head (and steaming bowl) to increase the effect of the steam start
- Enjoy the steam for 5-10 minutes, or longer if you are really enjoying it.
- At the end of your session go ahead and try and cough up any loose phlegm.

Tips:
* Feel free to take breaks.
* breathe in and out alternating between your mouth and nose.
* stay hydrated! Continue to assist your body with flushing out the toxins by drinking water.

Why?
The steam is soothing and assists the natural cleansing process of the tissues of your respiratory system.

BONUS:
Do a foot soak when ur done!

Herb ideas:
* Mint, oregano, thyme, rosemary, beebalm, mountain mint, basil, ginger, cedar, pine, lavender

… what else can you think of that would be really accessible and lovely to breathe in?