Late last week, I finished the Client Care section. Now, I am able to officially begin the the Master Clinical Herbalist course! For those that are interested, here is a link to the course.
To say I’m excited, is an understatement. When I was in college, and first discovering the world of herbal medicine, this course was one of the first ones that I stumbled upon. But, at the time, the cost was prohibitive for someone who only worked during the summer months. But now, since I’ve taken the plunge and begun the Phytotherapy Diploma, this course is included.
The Master Herbalist course seems to be one of the best ones on the market and it seems to be rather in-depth. Like I said, I’ve been waiting a few years to do this program. Even though I have taken other herbal courses in the past, I never really followed the program correctly. Meaning, I didn’t experiment with herbs, I didn’t make things. I read the materials, took the quizzes, but nothing really stuck. I didn’t get my hands dirty — I didn’t learn much.
I’m hoping for that to change with this program. I am hoping to make some herbal remedies and really get down and dirty with the herbs. This is also the portion of the Diploma program that I’ve been waiting for to make this part of the blog (the herbalism section) more than just updates. I have a few topics planned for this section specifically.
In recipe news, I didn’t meet my goal of 6 recipes, but I did make a few. Mostly desserts. I did get to post another original recipe, you can check that out here if you missed it.
However, this isn’t a recipe update. It’s an herbal update!
During the month of June, I worked on the Mircobiology unit. This unit was interested and I enjoyed that the supplied supplementary “textbook” was current. It even had information on COVID-19! After completing that unit, I moved onto the Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy unit. This has a few different lessons in the module and many videos and resources, so I will be focusing on this one for the month of July.
I anticipate beginning the Master Herbalist Program sometime in September. This is where my speed will slow a bit and my focus will shift to including more time to study. Eventually, I will have to make remedies and experiment with different herbs, which will be exciting! This course is it’s own separate course that has a length list of requirements that must be met in order to complete the course. At last look, I think there was around 2 dozen different things that had to be completed in order to earn the certificate.
Once I begin this course of the program, I am planning to do an herbal update every two weeks. This will help me stay focused and make sure I am dedicating enough time to my herbal studies. But for now, back to Pharmacognosy.
By the way, if someone who reads this can tell me how to PRONOUCE “Pharmacognosy,” I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
Earlier today, I submitted all the assignments for the Ethnobotany module in the Phytotherapy Program at Heart of Herbs. I now move onto the Microbiology module.
In a few more modules, I will be beginning the Master Clinical Herbalist course portion of the program. That is when I plan to post these Herbal Updates a bit more frequently.
Though a little chilly, the sun is shining and the snow is melting! Spring is on the way, and I couldn’t be happier! I’ll be taking the weekend off from blogging and cooking, need to recharge a bit. See you soon!
You might want to make a cup of tea. This is a long post!
I first discovered that herbs could be used as medicine when I was in college. I was an undergraduate history major studying Medieval Europe. One day, while roaming the seemingly never-ending stacks of my university’s library, I came across a book on the pagan religion Wicca. After thumbing through it, it sparked an interest in me and I checked it out of the library. While I was reading that book, I learned that herbs were used in Wiccan rituals for magical purposes. The book also taught me that herbs could be used as medicine. While I can’t remember the title, had some simple herbal tea recipes and recipes on making salves and lip balms.
Eventually, my interest in using medicinal herbs led to its own research. One day, I stumbled upon Mountain Rose Herbs. MRH is a company from the West Coast that sells bulk herbs, prepared herbal products, herbal medicine supplies, and more. At the time, their site had a page dedicated to herbal education programs.
First, I looked for programs that were located in my home state. But sadly, there weren’t any. The closest one was in Vermont and it only offered on-site learning. At the time, I couldn’t do that. So I just started looking for schools and teachers that offered distance learning. Yes, this was being done long before the pandemic! It was at this time that I learned that the United States offers no formal certificate or licensure for herbalists. But that was okay with me (it still is!), I only had a passing interest in herbalism. I wasn’t about to go and change my career or anything.
Luckily, the summer months were coming. Which meant that I would be working all summer long. So, I found a school that offered a decently-sized program for the money and I decided that if the interest still remained come the fall semester, I would register for a course.
So I worked a lot and saved some money. When it came time to go back to school that September, I gave myself a couple weeks to settle into the semester and then I did it! I enrolled in my first herbal studies program. Sadly, the school or program no longer exists, even though I wish I could recommend it. A few years ago, the people running the school decided to take a different direction. They closed the herbalism school and opened a different type of natural health program. Much more collegiate, a lot more money.
But for me, at that time, the program I was doing was stellar! I learned a lot and completed the course fully. But, I wanted more!
The company that I’d just finished studying under offered a more advanced level course. I decided to take it as well. And it was during this course that things started to change a little bit. My college courses became more difficult and time-consuming. I made more friends and went off-campus more frequently. Spending less time in my dorm room meant I had less time to study herbs. One of the issues with all of these distance learning programs is they are “at your own pace.” This, does have its benefits. But, for a young college student, things can easily be overlooked and before you know it, your course completion time is nearing and you still haven’t done 80% of the program!
So sadly, the more advanced level course was lost..though I still kept the course texts until recently. After that my interest in herbs kind of ebbed and flowed. I didn’t enroll in any programs but I still looked at videos on YouTube every once in a while. I kept getting emails to some of the schools I looked into in the early days of my interest, so I considered myself to “staying up to date” on things.
After a few years, I chose to enroll in a very long, in-depth, and expensive program. It was a very reputable program and was certified by the AHG, the American Herbalist Guild. In fact, this program was being run by one of the founding members of the AHG. I liked this course because it covered a lot and it seemed like would provide me with a great education. And it did. One of the other benefits was that I was able to pay in installments. Sadly, I never completed it past the first 12 lessons. In fact, I stopped after lesson four. Life got in the way. And even though I also kept most of those materials, I decided to move on from it. Maybe I’ll do it at another time.
Fast forward three years and we enter the spring of 2020. One of the schools I had looked into a few years prior and took a quick course from them was offering a great deal due to the pandemic. So, I took them up on the offer. The Herbal Academy (HA) out of Massachusetts, was offering their Introductory Herbal Course and their Intermediate Herbal Course for a fraction of the cost and at a payment plan. So last spring and into the summer I paid it off. I am now about halfway through the first course and still have time before I “need” to begin the Intermediate one.
I am really enjoying the HA courses. The program is filled with text, videos, handouts, projects and more! I do intend to complete both the Introductory Herbal Course and the Intermediate Herbal Course. But, most recently I decided to enroll in another course. And to be honest, it’s what I am calling my “dream program.”
I’ll have more on that in another post soon. Stay tuned!
Wow! That was a long one. If you’ve read this far, thanks for sticking with it. I hope you learned a little bit more about me.
While this blog has started out as a food blog that focused on Ina Garten recipes, it’s constantly evolving. Over the last few months I’ve taken steps to widen the content of this site in order to align better with things that I want to write about.
After all, this is my little corner of the Internet, so I can do that 🙂
I’ve come to really enjoy the blogging experience. I know I do not have many readers, but I appreciate the ones that I do! It makes me so happy when one of you “likes” my posts or just takes a moment to poke around my little site.
It wouldn’t be February in New England without another snow storm! This one fell during the day which has been unusual for snow storms so far this year.
However, it did lead to some treacherous driving on the way home from work! I’m glad I was able to get home saftely!
The view from my basement window. Too much snow, not enough sun!
Many of these were taken around my property, but the weather was so nice today that I took a walk in the neighborhood. I was able to snap a few more photos. One my walk I was able to hear the birds chirping and the snow melting off my roof.
Too bad that will all change in less than 24 hours. More snow is on the way! Granted, not as much as last weekend, but still.
And this stuff was just starting to melt away, too….
