Is this for you?

There are two ways into our Fundamentals of Community Herbalism: a guided year with a cohort, set dates, and live classes with us, and a self-paced version you move through on your own schedule, with monthly live Q&As. Same curriculum, different container. Most of what follows is true of both. Where it isn't, we say which is which.

A few answers to the questions people ask us, and to the ones they don't ask but wonder about.

Do I need experience?

No. Some of our students have been reading herb books or taking classes for a decade. Some have never made a strong herbal tea. Both do fine, because we start at the beginning and build in order—flavors, actions, patterns, medicine making—rather than assuming you picked up the basics somewhere.

If you've been studying on your own, you'll probably recognize the feeling of knowing a lot of scattered things that don't add up to a method. That's the most common way people arrive here. You're not behind. You just don't have the frame yet.

Do I have to want to go pro?

No. And most of our students don't.

Only a minority of people who apply to us mention wanting a clinical practice, a credential, or a livelihood in herbalism. The rest want to take care of their families, their neighbors, their crew. They want to be the person people can call. That's a completely legitimate reason to spend a year or two on this, and it's who the program is built for.

There's a certificate at the end. It's a fine thing to have, and it will help you go further if you decide to. But for many, it's not the point.

How much time, really?

In the guided programs, the year has a set shape that you follow. Guided Fundamentals runs about four hours of video lessons a week, plus three to four hours of reading, assignments, and hands-on practice. Call it seven to eight hours in a regular week—about one full day.

But not every week is a regular week. Every fourth week is an Integration Week—no new lessons at all. You have one peer session and otherwise the time is yours to catch up, review, or make medicine. There are also two full break weeks: school is shut down, with no expectations whatsoever.

Advanced runs a bit heavier: roughly four hours of video and four to five hours of independent work, in the same four-week rhythm.

Self-paced has no weekly requirement at all. Some people finish in six months, some take two years. It's the same material and roughly the same lesson hours, spread however your life allows, with a live Q&A on the third Tuesday of each month if you want it.

What is the work actually like?

Whichever version you're in, it has two halves.

First, the lessons. Video classes, handouts, readings. You watch, take notes, and jot down questions.

Then the doing part. An assignment might be to sit with one herb all month and record what you notice. To make a preparation and report on how it went. To find an open flower, draw it, and label the parts. This is the half people are surprised by, because a lot of online programs skip it. But you can't learn herbalism without the embodied, experiential piece, and without people to share it with.

What differs is the rhythm. In a guided cohort, new lessons unlock Monday morning and everyone is working on the same material that week; every four weeks the whole cohort meets live with instructors on Zoom for three hours—review, discussion of the readings, questions, practice cases. Self-paced, you unlock the next module when you've finished the last one, and the forums and the monthly Q&A are there to support you.

What if I fall behind, or lose momentum?

You will, at some point. Nearly everyone does. It's the most common worry we hear, and both versions are built with it in mind.

In a guided year, Integration Weeks exist so that a bad stretch doesn't leave you with no way back—a full week, every month, to close the gap with nothing new piling on top. The two break weeks give you more. And if something larger happens—an illness, a loss, a crisis—talk to us. We know all of our students by name, and we would much rather work something out than watch you disappear.

Self-paced, there's no such thing as behind. The course will always be there for you. The trade-off is that nothing outside you keeps you moving. If you've started self-directed courses before and not finished them, that's worth knowing about yourself. The guided year exists for exactly that reason.

Can I afford it?

Guided Fundamentals is $2,100 for the year and Advanced Community Herbalism is $2,550. Self-paced Fundamentals is $1,450. We know that's real money.

But every guided program can be paid in ten monthly payments. No interest, no fee, no added cost for choosing the plan. You don't need to apply for it, qualify for it, or explain yourself to anyone. You just choose it when you enroll.

Self-paced has its own payment plan, plus group discounts for two or more people enrolling together and a discount for Black and Indigenous students. Details here.

Who is this not for?

We teach that health is shaped by the conditions people live in—including poverty, racism, transphobia, and much more—and that's woven through the curriculum, not bolted on. If you want herbalism without that, there are good schools that will give you what you want, and we'll happily point you to them.

We also teach an integrative approach. We think conventional medicine has real strengths and real failures, and we say so about both. If you're looking for teachers who reject biomedicine outright, that isn't us.

Our school is not gender-essentialist. Our teachings affirm and accommodate the existence and the needs of transgender and non-binary people.

So which course?

The short version: guided if you want a cohort, a schedule, and regular contact with us—especially if accountability is what's been missing. Self-paced if your life won't hold a fixed weekly commitment, or you already know you learn well on your own. If you’ve already been to school, our Advanced cohort might be for you.

See how all our programs fit together  →

Still not sure?

Write to us. A real person will answer, and we'll tell you honestly if we think a different program—or a different year of your life—would serve you better.