Each week you will also look at a particular plant family. This will expand your understanding of how plants are organised, enable you to recognise patterns among related plants and their medicinal uses. Learning plant families and their shared botanical and medicinal characteristics is a great way to deepen your herbal knowledge.

In each class you will also make a fresh herbal medicine that you can take home.
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We will discuss the practice of compiling plant information in a herbarium. Herbaria are collections of dried/preserved samples that document the identity of plants and fungi; they can be beautiful handmade artefacts, or large important databases, for example, the herbarium at Kew houses seven million specimens. You can experiment with preparing your own herbarium samples from some of the local herbs you encounter over the five weeks.

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Classes will be held at different community gardens in Bristol, and you will be sent full directions and a map of how to find each place each week. Here are some of the venues we use:

Herbalists without Borders Garden, St Werburghs
New Roots Garden
Grow Wilder (Avon Wildlife Trust)
The Haven Garden
Windmill Hill City Farm

​You don't need to have been on any previous courses or have any prior knowledge to join us.

Week 1

Theory
​Basic plant identification, looking at different plant parts, learning botanical terms and using a hand lens.  An introduction to grouping plants into families and the common characteristics of some of these families. 
​Introduction to important herbs: St Johns Wort, Marshmallow, and Comfrey.

Practical
​​Making an infused oil from fresh herbs

Week 2

Theory
Introduction to the Mint Family and how to identify its members.
​Important herbs: Lemon Balm, Lavender and Sage.

Practical
​Make a fresh herbal tincture. 

Week 3

Theory
Introduction to the Sunflower Family and a close look at the anatomy of its flowers.
​Important herbs: Elecampane, Daisy and Calendula.

Practical
 A fresh bitter liqueur.

Week 4

Theory
Introduction to the trees and flowers of the diverse Rose Family.
​Important herbs of this family: Hawthorn, Agrimony and Meadowsweet.

Practical
An aromatic distillate.

Week 5

Theory
Introduction to parsley family, it’s delights and dangers, its tasty and toxic family members.
​Important herbs: Angelica, Fennel and Celery.

Practical
​An ointment, using the infused oil from the first class.

Cost

These are very rough guidelines so please pay the tier that you feel comfortable with. No judgement, just get in touch if you have queries. We are striving to keep things affordable whilst making our living.

Top tier £260
So this is the tier that is appropriate if any of these apply to you: You have a full time reasonably paid job, home/land owner, you are able to afford holidays and other luxuries

Middle tier £240
So this is the tier that is appropriate if any of these apply to you: low waged or part-time waged or struggling to afford holidays/luxuries.

Low tier £210
This is the tier for those who are unwaged or struggling financially. 
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Cancellation Policy: The deposit is only refundable if you cancel your place no later than two weeks before the course is due to start. The full balance is payable a week before the start of the course.​

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