Our popular science-based courses on family herbalism, medicine-making, homesteading skills, and gardening take place in our beautiful open-air forest classroom, surrounded by native plants and venerable trees, with the song of the river in the background. Our classroom is also available to host workshops taught by others.
Herb school offerings change seasonally. Work-trade is available and children are welcome.
Work-trade students planting along the at-risk medicine trail
Old Ways Herbal is located in Newfane, VT: 20 minutes from Brattleboro, Putney, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, 2 hours from Montpelier, and under 2.5 hours from both Burlington and Boston in gorgeous Southern Vermont.
For more information about our farm and practice, please read About Us.
Upcoming Courses & Workshops
Please use the Contact Form at the bottom of this page to register, or the general Contact Form for the site.
Winter Session 2016-17: Scroll down for information on the Medicinal Herbs in the Vegetable Garden Intensive & Tincture Intensive.
Summer Session 2017: Scroll down for information on the Home Herbalist Course & Home Medicine Maker Course. Please note that no intensives are scheduled for next summer!
Autumn Intensives 2017: Scroll down for information on the Bark Harvest Intensive & Tincture Intensive.
Descriptions below. For descriptions of other regularly offered classes & workshops, please see Previous Classes.
Winter Session 2016-2017
Tincture Intensive
This all-day class offers an in-depth look at making great herbal tinctures. We will focus on important concepts such as solubility and energetics to make reliably effective tinctures at home. Basic principles of formulation will also be discussed. Participants make and take home a tincture. Sign up period for this class closes March 5.
March 11, 11 AM-3 PM, $80
Medicinal Herbs in the Vegetable Garden Intensive
Just in time to plan your gardens! This all-day intensive provides an in-depth discussion of growing medicinal plants in the home garden. We will focus particularly on using medicinals as companion plants in the vegetable garden, as well as creating microclimates for optimal cultural conditions and on spring and fall maintenance of perennials. Other relevant topics will also be covered. Sign up period for this class closes April 3.
April 8, 11 AM-3 PM, $80.
Summer Session 2017
The Home Medicine Maker Course (Level 1)
This hands-on course covers the essentials of making safe, effective herbal remedies at home for the whole family, focusing on foundational principles of herbal medicine, what makes remedies work, and delicious recipes. To aid our understanding, we will cover central principles of Western herbalism, energetics, solubility, and formulation. Throughout the season, students will learn to make some of the most popular forms of herbal remedies, including tinctures, salves, honeys, syrups, elixirs, and vinegars. The medicine we make as a class will be guided by the seasons, and the herbs we choose will change as the season unfolds, allowing students an in-depth understanding of the medicinal uses of a number of local plants. We will discuss growing or wildcrafting the herbs in our formulas, so students can incorporate their learning into their future herbal practice. Plant walks, group harvesting, & hands-on practice form a core of this course.
Participants take home the remedies made in class and extra herbs the group harvested, as well as written information on the recipes, guiding principles, and uses of herbs.
Students harvest milky oats
This course is appropriate for beginner and intermediate level students. It is very beneficial for any herb student who hasn’t completed a top-down study of the practice of Western Herbalism.
As always, children are welcome, but they are their parents’ responsibility while they’re here.
Schedule
This course meets one Saturday a month from May through August, from 11 AM to 3 PM, in our beautiful forest classroom.
Principles of Home Herbalism and the Medicine of Spring Tonics, May 20
The Science of Solubility: Making Reliably Great Tinctures, June 17
The Art of Formulation: Infused Honeys & Syrups, July 15
Putting it All Together: Medicinal Oils & Salves, August 12
Make Up Day, just in case! September 9
Tuition & Sign Up
Tuition for all classes and materials is $194 before April 1 (10% discount), and $215 after April 1. You can also sign up to take individual sections of the course for $60, provided there’s space in the class. Work-trade is available; see the work-trade policy for details. Please use the Contact Form at the bottom of this page to register, or the general Contact Form for the site.
The Home Herbalist Course (Level 2)
This 5-part course focuses on specific uses of herbs (materia medica), how they work in the body, basic physiology and disease process, contraindications, etc. organized by body system. We will dive deep into the interactions between body systems and how disparate symptoms can indicate deep-set imbalances. Although classes are titled for a specific body system, each class will discuss numerous systems as we see them cooperate in the body. We will weave in our learning from the Home Medicine Maker Course about holism, synergy, energetics and more. There will be individual and group assignments to help you internalize and personalize your learning.
Medicinal Herbs in the Vegetable Garden Intensive
This course is appropriate for the intermediate and advanced student, so please have a basic understanding of herbal medicine. Those of you who have never studied with me before are more than welcome to sign up: I will send you a list of principles to familiarize yourself with before the course, to ensure you aren’t left out of discussions.
Schedule
We will meet 1 Sunday per month from May through September, from 11 AM to 3 PM, in our beautiful forest classroom. This course is much more effective when taken as a whole, so single-class registrants will be accepted only on a case-by-case basis.
As always, children are welcome, but they are their parents’ responsibility while they’re here.
Building Intelligent Cells: Immunity, Autoimmunity, & the Influence of Physical and Emotional Stress
Sunday, May 21
Woe is Me: Nervous System Complaints & the Digestive Connection
Sunday, June 18
A Seat at Every Table: Digestion, Metabolism, & Filtration
Student harvesting milky oats
Sunday, July 16
Intricate Web: Endocrine Regulation, Stress, & Physical Holism
Sunday, August 13
Flexibility & Fluidity: Musculoskeletal & Cardiovascular; and Summary
Sunday, September 10
Make Up Day, just in case!
Sunday, September 24
Tuition & Sign Up
Tuition is $248 before April 1 (10% discount), and $275 after April 1. Single-class registrants will be accepted on a case-by-case basis, $65 class fee. Please use the Contact Form at the bottom of this page to register, or the general Contact Form for the site.
Autumn Intensives
Bark Harvest Intensive
This all-day class provides a rare opportunity to experience educational wildcrafting. We will learn to identify and harvest a selection of the following trees: willow, prickly ash, witch hazel, birch, and/or cherry, based on seasonal availability. Wildcrafting methods and ethics will be discussed, as well as bark processing techniques and medicinal uses for your family’s health. Participants taken home plenty of processed bark. Please sign up early as this class tends to fill up! Sign up period for this class closes October 5.
Mushroom Log Inoculation Workshop
October 8, 11 AM-4 PM, $80. Raindate October 21. This class is not appropriate for young children as we use knives and handsaws.
Tincture Intensive
This all-day class offers an in-depth look at making great herbal tinctures. We will focus on important concepts such as solubility and energetics to make reliably effective tinctures at home. Basic principles of formulation will also be discussed. Participants make and take home a tincture.
November TBD, 11 AM-4 PM, $80