Discomfort and evasion are natural responses to our world. Our ancestors, from a single-celled organism up to Mitochondrial Eve, all survived only because they had strong drives to avoid uncomfortable and dangerous situations. But in our modern world, avoiding all discomforts can stunt our growth, or make us seem more fragile than we really are. This is not about “grinding through” difficulty, or hurting ourselves in an effort to be “good”. After accounting for one’s own personal state of ability/mobility/resilience, and after accommodating one’s needs, and after receiving adequate nourishment ..read more

IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IN JULY 2024, USE CODE "LAVENDER" AT CHECKOUT TO GET 20% OFF ANY OF OUR COURSES OR PROGRAMS! This originally aired as Episode 188 of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast. All herb schools are different, in their focus and their style. When you’re choosing an online herb school, whether for a short course or a long program, here are some key questions to consider: How can you ask questions to the teachers & admins? Is there a free course you can take first? What’s the teaching method (text, audio, recorded video, live sessions, etc), & does it match your learning sty ..read more

IF YOU'RE SEEING THIS IN JULY 2024, USE CODE "LAVENDER" AT CHECKOUT TO GET 20% OFF ANY OF OUR COURSES OR PROGRAMS! This originally aired as Episode 139 of the Holistic Herbalism Podcast. We're replaying it in June 2024 because of the increase in interest in cognitive troubles associated with COVID. Don't despair - you can take steps to protect your mind! Here' s the study mentioned in the intro: Quan et al. Post-COVID cognitive dysfunction: current status and research recommendations for high risk population. Lancet. 2023;38. Maintaining a sharp & healthy mind has always been one of t ..read more

With heat waves hitting heavy, and hurricane season on the move, we’re thinking about disaster preparedness – again! In this episode, we’re covering an aspect of disaster preparedness we haven’t discussed on the pod before: food. Whether you’re putting together a bug-out bag, or building up a bug-in bag (or box, or cabinet, or whatever), you’ve got to have food. What’ll matter in this context includes protein, fiber, calories, flavor, and – believe it or not – sugar. Since environments and emergencies differ, what you pack yourself might be a little different from what we do. We’ll give you so ..read more

The single most important factor in the success of your business is your ability to manage your time and be productive. Great – cause that’s not hard at all, right? ? Trouble is, this is not something you’re just born knowing how to do. It’s a skill you have to develop – but you can do it, and this course will help! Enroll for free and over the next month, you will learn so much about how to get control of your schedule – so that you have time for your business without burnout! (Plus you’ll find a bunch of great bonus material to help with other aspects of your business, too!) You can enroll ..read more

We continue this week with Katja’s series: Starting Your Herbal Business! Today the focus is on the practice of clinical herbalism. Building and running a practice as a clinical herbalist isn’t only about your interview skills, your ability to formulate a personalized remedy, or your capacity to build a holistic health plan in collaboration with your clients. Support work, research, and administrative tasks will take a fair amount of your attention – not to mention continuing education! Clinical work involves a lot of teaching. You teach your clients how to prepare their remedies, you teach th ..read more

When you’re an herbalist, it’s normal to get questions from people about herbs. Usually they’re thinking that it’s a simple question, and expecting a simple response: “What’s good for IBS?” “Chamomile.” But the truth is a lot more complex than that! When you learn about herbalism, you come to understand that there are no herbs “for” any disease state. Instead, there are herbs who can exert influences on the body, and those may match well (or poorly) with the specific state of an individual person. So you become less enthusiastic about simply giving someone the name of an herb when they ask “wh ..read more

We continue this week with Katja’s series: Starting Your Herbal Business! Today the focus is on an herb shop or herbal apothecary, with or without a tea bar for tastings and treats. Running an herb shop involves a fair amount of administrative work: ordering, stocking, inventory, payment processing, taxes, etc. Sharpen up your spreadsheets, folks! That’s not all there is to it, of course – there’s a huge aspect of community-building involved. Talking to people, planning events, and serving as a hub for your herbal community are also part of the gig. In fact, if we can give only one piece of ad ..read more

This week Katja brings you the first in a new series we’ve been wanting to produce for you: Starting Your Herbal Business! Today the focus is on herbal products – tinctures, salves, elixirs, tea blends, all that good stuff! Listen in for a simple explanation of what you’ll need to know if you want to build an herbal products business of your own. It’s not just about knowing your herbs – although of course that comes first! It’s also about medicine-making at scale, creating effective & regulation-compliant labeling, marketing effectively and sincerely, and finding what makes your remedies u ..read more

Today we reach the end of our apothecary shelves! This series started way back with episode 170 on Achillea & Acorus, and today in episode 227 we’ve finally come to Zingiber. Today’s entire episode is all about ginger. (Yes, it deserves its own entire episode. If you don’t already believe it, we will convince you!) We discuss Katja’s evolving preference for fresh vs dried ginger in our tea blends at home, and some of the variations in activity between fresh vs dried ginger. We talk about quick topical applications of this wildly accessible herb, to relieve muscle aches, joint pains, and ot ..read more