Sweetgrass Herbals

04/05/2024

Hello out there!

Here's a note to say that registration has just opened for our 3rd Year Clinical Practicum, which can be taken in person or via Zoom. I'm really excited for it - hope you'll join and/or share with friends who might like to join!

Designed for those who wish to gain the knowledge and confidence that only real-time clinical observation and corresponding custom-tailored herbal formulation can offer, this Clinical Practicum offers the following:

4 small-group, advanced classes, including 6 full-length initial consultations with volunteer clients in a group setting

6-10 follow up consultations with the same clients

Interactive clinical time that offers both observation and engagement for each student

Group discussions of health issues presented and the creation of custom-blended herbal protocols for each client

Practical skill-building: intakes, health histories, assessment techniques, client/herbalist rapport, formula-making

In-depth study of whatever health issues our clients share

An understanding of how to approach each clinical interaction holistically, taking into account both physical and emotional well-being and addressing each to the best of our ability with appropriate herbal, lifestyle, and dietary suggestions.

(Link to learn more and apply is in the comments.)

11/15/2022

MASSACHUSETTS folks: I'm teaching a class this coming weekend for the Herbal Community of Central Mass on Brain Herbs & Healthy Aging (for all decades of life!). I'm excited - it's a topic I love and one in which the herbs really shine. Come join us! Pre-registration is required. Link to register in comments.
Please share with others who might be interested!
*******
Medicinal herbs offer us potent and sophisticated support at every stage of life. This class focuses particularly on herbs to help us live with strength and vitality. We'll cover herbs to support brain health, clarity and focus, cardiovascular health, good quality sleep, muscular-skeletal strength, and more. We'll take a look at how to keep digestive function strong to maximize the absorption and assimilation of nutrients in every decade of life. We'll also discuss adaptogenic herbal allies that help us nourish the deep energy reservoirs of our bodies - the true springboard for a healthy, energized life. This class is suitable for adults of all ages.

02/15/2022

As a momma of two and a clinical herbalist, I created the class HERBAL ALLIES FOR PREGNANCY & POSTPARTUM to share practical knowledge about the medicinal herbs that can help us move with strength and grace (and good sleep!) through our pregnancies and postpartum. Staying healthy, rested, and well-nourished during pregnancy, as well as focusing on deep healing and strengthening during our fourth trimester (postpartum) and beyond is crucial for us to enter motherhood - be it our first, second, or fifth time - with the energy, vitality, and calm we need to take good care of ourselves and our babies.

This class will be held on ZOOM (so you can join from anywhere!) on Saturday February 19th from 3:00-4:30EST. You can learn more and register at the link in the comments ❤

01/31/2022

WIRED, TIRED, AND BURNT OUT - Herbal Support for Pandemic Times
Sunday February 6th 3:00-5:00pm EST on ZOOM (join from anywhere!)
These days, as we enter year 3 of the COVID pandemic, wired, tired, burnt out, anxious, frustrated, sad, and more are all-too-familiar feelings. Our physical and emotional health has suffered from the isolation, lack of connection, and pervasive stress that we've been living with for over two years now. While our bodies are always doing their best to move toward healing, it is good to give ourselves some extra support now - the strain has been unprecedented, and isn't over yet. Let's show ourselves some love.
This class offers information about herbs to support, soothe, and strengthen your nervous system and endocrine system (home of the adrenals and thyroid, among other organs), and herbs to increase your resilience to stress of all kinds. In addition, learn about potent herbal allies for restful sleep and sustainable energy.
This class will cover herbs that are safe for kids as well as adults.
Link to register in comments. Please note that in order to sign up, you have to both fill out the short registration form and "check out" and pay. Thanks!

01/19/2022

Registration is open for 2022's 2nd Year Practical Herbalism Intensive! Learn more & submit an application at sweetgrassherbals.com.

Working with the medicine plants is a calling. If you feel it too, nurture that feeling, whether it’s a tentative stirring in your soul or an already full-fledged passion. It is one of the deepest, oldest, wisest, and most absolutely normal things about being a person. The plants - both those we call food and those we call medicine - are our venerable teachers, and it is their generosity and nourishment that have kept us alive for as long as we’ve been people. Forever and ever we’ve lived in relationship with them. It is only in the last little while that many of us have lost that tangible connection. As a person who has dedicated her life to learning, remembering, and listening to the wisdom of the green world, I know that this path of understanding, while complex, is not complicated. It makes sense to our hands, to our minds, to our hearts. When we go to the forest or the garden with a pocketful of gifts and a basket in hand, our feet feel the old path we have suddenly stepped onto, and our bones rejoice.
This course is titled Practical Herbalism, which I know sounds dry at first glance. But I mean practical like this:
likely to succeed or be effective in real circumstances;
concerned with the actual doing or use of something;
(and especially) to describe a person skilled at manual tasks.
We have lost the reverence for manual labor, and in fact, think of it as something to avoid. But in reality, labor done with our hands and bodies is where the magic happens. Our hands carry the memories of a thousand ancestors harvesting flowers, stripping bark, grinding seeds. This is not figurative: try it and see what happens. Your hands will remember how to do the work with ease and grace while your mind is still wondering how to begin.
And so Practical Herbalism takes on a new dimension. Not only are we learning what we need to be effective herbalists in real-life scenarios, we are also awakening the latent magic already residing in our bodies and souls, and in doing so, are learning what it means to be connected to the plants, to our bodies, to the presence of disease and imbalance. Once we know that, we can begin to really see how to move things in the direction of sanity and equilibrium.
Expect lots of practical skills in this course, and leave open a throne for the old wisdom to blossom in your heart as well.

02/02/2020

Registration's open for 2020!

Here's what previous students had to say about this course:

"Creating Your Home Apothecary is an amazing year of study that deepened my personal relationship with plant medicine and the potential to share with others. It is encouraging to know and be reminded that Mother Earth is always providing for us."

“Emily has an amazing way of teaching about plants like they are friends, and of telling the stories of how they heal and nourish the body. This makes it easy to learn, remember, and feel more connected to them. ”

“This class was fabulous. Very informative and Emily is a great speaker whose passion is clearly conveyed. I have spent time this year trying to learn everything about plants that I can, coming from a total novice having never tried tea to a full-on herbal enthusiast with help from Emily’s guidance through this class, which has created a great foundation for me to build on. ”

“Emily is a delightful teacher who holds a seemingly unending amount of knowledge and experience with plant medicine. She has a beautiful way of imparting her wisdom and sharing in the magic of medicine making. I would take her class over and over again!”

- REGISTRATION IS OPEN FOR 2020 -

04/20/2019

Studies in fish and mice found genome-wide changes in the gene expression of patterns in the skin, brains and liver following exposure to white fluorescent light. Both the skin and brains exhibited increased inflammation and immune response following exposure.

04/18/2019

Herb friends! I have a discounted ticket available for this AWESOME conference! Interested?

The Good Medicine Confluence is one of the world's most inspiring herbal convergences, offering specially developed classes and intensives like nowhere else, providing the inspiration, ethos, skills, and tools for the effective healing of our world, and the deepest enjoyment of our purposeful lives.

This year's gathering has an amazing lineup of over 150 classes on topics like The Art & Practice of Herbalism, Natural Healing, S*x & Herbs, Medicine Making, Pregnancy & PostPartum, Disaster Preparedness, Cannabis Science, Entheogens, Herbs for Stressful Times, Ancestral Herbalism, Cultivation, Hydrosols, Extraction, Distillation, Clinical Skills, Materia Medica, Herbal Cocktails, Diversity, Transgender & Q***r, Savoring & Delight, and much, much more...

This year's Good Medicine Confluence is happening from May 15 - 19 in beautiful Durango, Colorado.
Affordable lodging & camping available.
Learn so much more at http://planthealer.org/intro.html

Tickets for the full 5 day confluence cost $419 in advance, but I have one ticket available (as part of a teacher compensation package) for only $390. If you are interested in purchasing this discounted ticket, please be in touch with me directly at emily@sweetgrassherbals.com

Happy Spring!

03/26/2019

One spot just opened back up in our 2nd year Advanced Practical Herbalism course - would you like it? More info at link in comments. Happy spring!

03/11/2019

After a hiatus of a few seasons, our much-loved herbal CSA is back for 2019! A great way to stock your home with locally-grown, potent herbal formulas to keep you and your family / housemates healthy year-round. Also makes an excellent Mother's or Father's Day gift, if you want to know the truth :) Full and half shares available for in-person pick up or mailed seasonally. Learn more here:

We work with the seasons, harvesting from our gardens, wildcrafting from the mountains, and - when need be- supporting our local organic medicinal herb farms to create powerful tried-and-true herbal blends to keep you healthy year-round.

01/22/2019

Is this the year for you to deepen the powerful,
life-giving relationship between yourself
and the medicine plants?

Our Second Year Practical Herbalism Intensive is two thirds full; perhaps one of the remaining spots has your name on it?

Link in comments

06/05/2018

Upcoming Lyme Class!
Saturday, June 9th in Bristol, Vermont:

The Lyme saturation in which we find ourselves is a powerful teacher about post-antibiotic medicine, the sophisticated movement of plant medicines through ecosystems and the human body, the incredible ability of bacteria to adapt, survive, and continually strive toward balance, and about turning to the plants for healing when few other options remain and watching them literally bring life back. The Lyme complex of infections, the ticks, the forests and fields, do not have to be our enemies – in fact, they are our teachers. And once we understand what's happening in our bodies when faced with these infections, we don't have to feel afraid – we know what to do; we can move toward healing.

Pre-registration is required; please sign up at the link below.

Saturday June 9th, 9:00am-12:00pm The Lyme saturation in which we find ourselves is a powerful teacher about post-antibiotic medicine, the sophisticated movement of plant medicines through ecosystems and the human body, the incredible ability of bacteria to adapt, survive, and continuall