Twin Star Herbal Education & Community Apothecary

Twin Star Herbal Education & Community Apothecary Lupo Passero ~ Clinical Herbalist, Flower Essence Practitioner and Educator
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About Twin Star

Twin Star offers community classes and workshops on herbal medicine, holistic health, and natural healing. We are located in the beautiful hills of Western Connecticut where Lupo Passero, Herbalist, Educator and Flower Essence Practitioner shares her teachings both nationally and throughout the surrounding area. Twin Star offers a myriad of classes ranging from half day workshops to 7 month long herbal intensives. Lupo covers a variety of topics including herbal medicine, flower essence therapy, energy healing and holistic health including the safe and effective uses of vitamins and supplements. If you are interested in having a herbal class or workshop held in your community please inquire within. connected with the plant world, Lupo Passero has studied botanical medicine from a variety of perspectives. A mother twice blessed, Lupo has a first hand passion for helping the family enjoy healthy and holistic experiences with pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting. Her humble beginning with herbs and flower essences in her own life inspired her to learn more and go on to teach others. About Lupo

Lupo spent over a decade developing an intimate relationship to the diverse medicinal plants of the Appalachians Mountains of North Carolina, where she studied at the North Carolina School of Natural Healing. Shortly after graduation Lupo began her career in herbal education promoting traditional herbalism at several various institutions (including The Appalachian School of Holistic Herbalism and The One World Healing Institute). Lupo has been teaching private workshops in various locations along the both the North and Southeast for many years now. Her classes involve a variety of topics including folk history, modern botanical science, plant identification and making herbal remedies. Lupo has also worked closely within the Natural Products Industry for many years specializing in both education and customer care. She is considered a valuable leader in this field and combines her work by educating consumers and retailers of the proper, efficacious, and safe uses of both herb and vitamin supplements. Lupo has served as Secretary and board member of the American Herbalist Guild for, an organization pioneering professional modern Herbalism since 2007. She lives in New Milford CT and when she is not traveling she can be found in the woods with her camera or at her local yoga studio.

04/09/2026

Young nettles rise bright and alive, full of minerals and energy. They do not let you forget yourself. The sting wakes the skin, brings blood to the surface, asks for presence.

Harvesting them with your hands becomes an initiative. You choose to meet the plant directly. You move slower, more aware. You learn how to touch with intention and respect.

In the kitchen, the sting softens in boiling water. What was sharp becomes nourishing. Nettles fold beautifully into eggs, cream, and cheese, transmuting into something warm and grounding.

Nettle Quiche

Preheat oven to 375. Place pie crust in a dish and pre bake for 8 to 10 minutes if you want it crisp.

Blanch fresh nettles for 1 to 2 minutes, drain, squeeze dry, and chop. Dice an onion and cook until soft, then add nettles and cook briefly.

In a bowl whisk 4 to 6 eggs with 1 cup milk or cream. Stir in shredded cheese, salt, pepper, and any seasonings.

Spread the nettle mixture into the crust and pour the egg mixture over top.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the center is set and the top is golden.

Let it rest for 10 minutes, slice, and eat.

And just like that, from sting to sustenance. 🌿

There’s a reason this year feels different.For the first time, we’re gathering for our Green Witch Immersion during Belt...
04/08/2026

There’s a reason this year feels different.

For the first time, we’re gathering for our Green Witch Immersion during Beltane, a sacred turning point on the wheel of the year associated with fire, fertility, creativity, and full-bodied aliveness. 🔥🌸

This isn’t just a shift in timing, it’s a shift in energy.

Beltane is a threshold, a moment that invites you to step fully into growth, into expression, into the life that’s been quietly asking for your attention.

So this year, the immersion becomes something deeper. More embodied. More alive.

We’ll be working with the plants in their peak vitality, gathering in a season meant for connection and celebration,
and stepping into the path of the green witch in real time, with the land, the season, and each other.

If you’ve been feeling the pull, this is your invitation to cross the threshold with us.

✨ Spots are limited
✨ May 1 - 3
✨ Asheville, NC

04/05/2026

Ritual Herbalism Podcast Episode 10: Ostara and the Medicine of the Spring Equinox

This is the season of return. It is not only a story of resurrection, but of a great remembering.

Long before modern holidays, the turning of the earth was understood through the descent and return of the goddesses, and through the plants that rise with them.

During winter, life retreats underground. Roots, bulbs, and seeds hold their energy in the dark, unseen but alive.

Then something begins to shift.

When Persephone rises from the underworld, the green world rises with her.

The first leaves appear. The first bitter greens emerge.

These plants carry the medicine of transition. They awaken the body after winter’s stillness and gently stir digestion, circulation, and movement.

One of the clearest teachers of this threshold season grows almost everywhere. It is dandelion.

Dandelion is a plant rooted in darkness and reaching toward the light. It holds the wisdom of descent and return.

It reminds us that growth does not come from nowhere. It comes from what has been quietly gathering below the surface.

To explore the deeper roots of this season through herbalism, myth, and plant medicine, listen to Episode 10 of the Ritual Herbalism Podcast.

Yesterday I asked a room of 30 budding herbalists one question. What does it mean to be a modern day herbalist.What came...
03/31/2026

Yesterday I asked a room of 30 budding herbalists one question. What does it mean to be a modern day herbalist.

What came back was not just about plants or remedies.

It was about remembering. It was about reconnecting to something that has always been there, and also grieving what has been lost.

There was a shared sense that this knowledge was not passed down in the ways it could have been. That something was interrupted. That many of us are learning now what once would have been part of everyday life, held in families and communities, shared through relationship and care.

A modern herbalist is someone who chooses to step back into that relationship. Someone who begins to trust nature again, who learns to care for their body in a more whole and connected way, and who moves from being a passive consumer to an active participant in their own healing.

There was a desire for self sufficiency, but not in isolation. There was a desire for community, for mutual aid, for being able to support one another with real, tangible skills. To make medicine not just for yourself, but for the people around you.

There was also an awareness that many people are not getting the support they need, and that we are navigating systems that can feel distant from the body and the land.

To be a modern herbalist is not just to learn about plants. It is to build relationship. With the land, with your body, with each other, and with the wisdom that has been carried forward in pieces.

It is remembering, and it is also grieving what was never passed down, and what was stolen. And somewhere in that, it is choosing to begin again, together.

I feel grateful to be cultivating spaces where this kind of remembering is happening, in mind, body, and spirit. 🌿

03/22/2026

Beltane Gathering: The Green Witch Immersion 🌿🔥

As the wheel of the year turns toward Beltane, we gather in the Appalachian Mountains to honor the season of fire, fertility, and full-bodied life. Beginning May 1, the Green Witch In-Person Immersion in Asheville, NC invites you into a weekend devoted to the living magic of the land and the wisdom of the Green Witch path.

Together we’ll celebrate this potent seasonal threshold through ritual, plant allies, spellcraft, divination, song, and hands-on apothecary making. Our time will be rooted in deep relationship with the natural world as teacher, ally, and co-creator.

Beltane is a time for community, creativity, and awakening, when the earth is vibrant, and the veil between worlds feels alive with possibility. Whether you’re new to earth-based practice or a seasoned practitioner, this immersive weekend offers space to deepen your connection to seasonal magic, the plants, and each other.

🌸May 1-3 – Asheville, NC
🔥 Beltane seasonal magic
🌙 Intimate gathering + immersive learning

Come celebrate the turning of the wheel and tend the flame of your relationship with the earth.

03/18/2026

Episode 10 of the Ritual Herbalism Podcast is now live. 🌸🌻🌺

Ostara, Persephone, and the Medicine of Dandelion

In this episode we explore the Spring Equinox, the moment when day and night stand in balance and the earth begins its quiet awakening.

We talk about the myth of Persephone, the ancient story of descent and return, and the plant teacher that appears almost everywhere in early spring: dandelion.

Its roots live in the darkness of the soil while its bright leaves and flowers rise toward the returning sun.

A reminder that life often begins beneath the surface before it emerges into the light.

We also explore the medicine of dandelion as a spring bitter and close with a simple equinox ritual centered on the cosmic egg, an ancient symbol of new life and possibility.

The return of the light is already underway.
Listen wherever you stream podcasts or through the link in bio.

St. Patrick’s Day holds many layers.Beneath the modern celebration is a much older story, one of land-based traditions, ...
03/17/2026

St. Patrick’s Day holds many layers.

Beneath the modern celebration is a much older story, one of land-based traditions, of people who lived in deep relationship with the earth, the plants, and the unseen. Many of those ways were suppressed, displaced, and rewritten over time.

Ireland carries a long history of colonization, famine, forced migration, and cultural erasure. And still, the language of the land remains. The hills, the plants, the stone, the water, they continue to hold memory.

For those of us with Irish ancestry, this day is not just about celebration. It is about remembering. Reclaiming. Honoring what endured.

My own lineage traces back to Knocknashee in the west of Ireland, the Hill of the Fairies. For the past ten years, through my family of origin and with Twin Star Travel, I have returned to that land and brought others with me, walking the same hills, listening, learning, and remembering our relationship to place.

We belong to the land, and the land has not forgotten us. And on this day of Irish Heritage, the hills, the plants, the stone, the water… are still holding our story.

☘️

03/16/2026

The Wild Foraged Apothecary is calling… 🌿

Join us for the Twin Star Tribe & Wild Forged Apothecary. This is a deeply immersive, hands-on herbal apprenticeship rooted in the living landscapes of Appalachia. Over the course of this 120-hour certificate program, we’ll step outside the classroom and into the wild to learn directly from the plants, fungi, and ecosystems that sustain us.

Together we’ll:
✨ Ethically forage medicinal plants and mushrooms
✨ Learn plant identification and sustainable wildcrafting practices
✨ Create teas, tinctures, salves, and other herbal medicines from plants we gather ourselves
✨ Formulate, label, and prepare herbal products ready to share or sell
✨ Collaborate on a Community Supported Apothecary share that gives herbal remedies back to the community

This program is for herbalists ready to deepen their relationship with the land, build real medicine-making skills, and step into the work of community herbalism with confidence.

📍 In-person in the Appalachian region (Asheville area)
🌱 April – November immersion
📜 120-hour Wildcrafted Herbal Product Certificate

Registration is open. Come learn from the land.

The number thirteen once belonged to the moon, to the women, and to the rhythms of the earth.Long before modern calendar...
03/13/2026

The number thirteen once belonged to the moon, to the women, and to the rhythms of the earth.

Long before modern calendars, the year was understood through thirteen lunar cycles. The waxing and waning of the moon guided planting, harvest, healing, and rest.

Our bodies still carry this rhythm. Many women bleed with the moon, thirteen times in a year. A quiet calendar written in the body.

To remember the thirteen moons is to remember the women who came before us. The mothers, midwives, healers, and plant keepers who listened closely to the land and carried knowledge of the plants through generations of care.

The same knowledge that fed families, tended the sick, and held communities together. What was once feared was once sacred. And that wisdom still lives in the plants.

Foundations of Herbalism begins Monday for those who feel called to learn the plants and remember the old rhythms once again.
🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔

Apprenticeship Applications are Open for our Next Cohort ✨🌿Join us for a deep immersion into the art, science & spirit o...
03/10/2026

Apprenticeship Applications are Open for our Next Cohort ✨🌿

Join us for a deep immersion into the art, science & spirit of herbalism.

For over a decade, Twin Star Herbal Education has nurtured the next generation of community herbalists through hands-on learning, mentorship, and reverence for the plants. This is not a simple work-study exchange, but a rare opportunity to apprentice closely with Lupo Passero and the extended Twin Star Tribe.

Beginning April 6, 2026, we are offering TWO unique apprenticeship mentorships designed to cultivate both skill and spirit.

🌱 HERBAL APPRENTICESHIP (IN-PERSON | Asheville, NC)
A 9-month immersion for one dedicated herbalist ready to deepen their path.
Includes:
• Full access to all in-person classes & events
• One-on-one mentorship with Lupo
• Hands-on medicine making, wildcrafting & apothecary building
• Botanical business strategy + community mutual aid work
• 5–8 hrs/week alongside our Asheville team

🌿 MARKETING APPRENTICESHIP (REMOTE POSITION)
A digital exchange for one passionate communicator.
Includes:
• Free tuition to all online classes & digital programs
• Herbal certifications
• Experience in social media, content creation & community engagement
• 5–10 hrs/week working with our digital team (from anywhere)
• Skill-building in conscious marketing rooted in plant wisdom

Whether you thrive with your hands in the garden or your creativity online, both paths offer powerful entryways into ritual herbalism and community healing.

🌙 APPLICATION DEADLINE: March 20, 2026

This is your invitation to walk more deeply with the plants, the land, and the healing work of community herbalism. 🌿

Herbalism is an act of resilience.Resilience is not just endurance. It is preparation. It is memory. It is the quiet kno...
03/08/2026

Herbalism is an act of resilience.

Resilience is not just endurance. It is preparation. It is memory. It is the quiet knowledge of what to do when systems fail.

Plants teach this. They return after fire. They grow in disturbed soil. They adapt to drought, to cold, to neglect. They do not ask permission to survive.

Herbalism carries that same energy. It is knowledge passed hand to hand. It is seeds saved. It is medicine grown in backyards and windowsills. It is communities remembering how to care for themselves.

Resilience is not individual toughness. It is collective capacity.

To learn the plants. To grow them. To share them. To keep the knowledge alive.

That is resilience.

What has helped you or your community stay resilient?

Our Foundations of Herbalism class begins in two weeks! We still have a few spaces left in Asheville, and we would love ...
03/03/2026

Our Foundations of Herbalism class begins in two weeks! We still have a few spaces left in Asheville, and we would love to have you join us!

I've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about what it means to be an herbalist. I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to do this work and to continue offering these classes year after year. I absolutely love watching our students create unique and independent paths for themselves. There are so many different ways to be an herbalist, and the only thing that truly matters is that you have a deep love for the plants and integrity in your work as a steward.

This path calls to us in so many different ways. If you are feeling the call, reach out. We hope to have you join us in Asheville in 2026. All other cohorts are full.

Reach out with any questions about our programs. The world needs herbalists now more than ever.

Also, do not forget to look up. There is some very real and magical medicine in the sky right now.

Happy Eclipse. XO

Address

5 Booth House Lane
New Milford, CT
06776

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Our Story

Our classroom is located at 65 BANK STREET on the second floor above William Raveis. Learn more about our classroom below. Our new Downtown Apothecary is located at 20 BANK STREET, inside of Makery Co-working in New Milford! We have new hours, inventory and services! And...We have a second apothecary location coming soon! Twin Star North will be a full service Apothecary located at 354 Litchfield Rd, opening April 2nd.

Both locations are meant to be a service to both our students and community. We specialize in local, small batch, handcrafted, community supported herbs, teas, aromatherapy, flower essences, crystals, classes, readings, consults & more! About Twin Star Herbal Education Twin Star Herbal Education offers community classes and workshops on herbal medicine, holistic health, and natural healing. We are located in the beautiful hills of Western Connecticut where Lupo Passero, Herbalist, Educator and Flower Essence Practitioner shares her teachings both nationally and throughout the surrounding area. Twin Star is blessed to have a wonderful staff of Naturalists and skilled teachers and offers a myriad of classes ranging from evening workshops to 9 month long certificate training programs. Lupo and staff cover a variety of topics including herbal medicine, botany, flower essence therapy, plant spirit healing, goddess studies, primitive skills and much more. If you are interested in having a herbal class or workshop held in your community inquire within. Please visit our website for a full listing of classes, services and our staff.

twinstartribe.com