Choose Your Own Herbal Adventure

Roadmaps for Herbalism

To help you navigate through all the classes available to you as a DIY Herbal Fellowship Member, we created a “Choose Your Own Adventure” challenge, with 6 Roadmaps for Herbalism. These 6 roadmaps are herbal paths that guide you through your studies with intention.

Each of these 6 herbal paths focuses on one aspect of herbalism from foraging, to gardening, to creating a family apothecary with herbal medicine making, to mastering the first 20 herbs that are growing close to home. Each herbal path draws from the Masterclasses and Herb of the Month classes inside the DIY Herbal Fellowship Membership to offer you a robust and thorough concentration in one area of herbal study. There are 5 Herbal paths focused on different areas of herbal study and 1 Herbal Path focused on developing a robust Materia Medica knowledge through the Herb of the Month classes.

Inside each herbal path you’ll find an organized program of study, that guides you through the classes, giving you confidence in your understanding of one aspect of herbalism — a deep dive. The practical projects inside each course will help your brain to retain what you learned and also support your herbal medicine making skills, while you build a personal herbal apothecary. The course quizzes give you the opportunity to document your learning in a tangible way.

Once you complete all the classes inside a specific herbal path you’ll receive a certificate of completion, acknowledging the hours of study you’ve invested in that area of herbology. Each herbal path varies in the number of hours of study required. Check the “Learn More” button to explore the content of each herbal path and choose the path that most speaks to where you are right now in your herbal studies.

Herb Forager Path

This herbal path explores herb foraging techniques, while creating a bioregional herbal apothecary. In this Herbal Path you will explore botany, identifying herbs in the wild, and safe foraging techniques. You’ll also focus on creating herbal remedies from plants that are local to you, as well as the realm of herbal preparedness and apocalypse herbalism.

Students following The Herb Forager Path will learn to identify herbs using botanical pattern recognition, plan their herbal apothecary using local herbal resources, and plan for community resilience by identifying the local herbal abundance and passing on information and/or remedies to friends, family, and the local community.

Herb Gardener Path

This herbal path explores herb gardening techniques, for backyard gardening and container growing. In this Herbal Path you will explore propagating herbs and growing herbs in different climates and contexts. Students following The Herb Gardener Path will plan a robust, sustainable herb garden using a wide variety of gardening and propagation techniques, including hydroponics and permaculture.

Bioregional Herbal Ally Path

This materia medica path focuses on 20 bioregional herbs that can be foraged or grown in a garden in the temperate zones of North America and Europe. Requiring 150 hours of focused herbal study on the Materia Medica of local plants, this herbal pathway will prepare students to use local plants in herbal medicine making and create greater self reliance, sustainability, and resilience. Master the 20 herbs that are growing close to home with this guided study.

Family Herbalist Path

The Family Herbalist Path is for those who are using their knowledge of herbs and herbal remedies to create a robust, natural apothecary for their own family using local herbal resources and herbs that are brought from around the world. The Family Herbalist Path consists of 20 Masterclasses and 10 Herb of the Month classes representing 135 Hours of Herbal Study, including 75 Hours of Materia Medica study.

This herbal path explores medicine making techniques, as well as the special needs of children, pregnant and nursing mothers, the elderly, and the men in the family. In this Herbal Path you will explore the resources and benefits that herbs have for family members, neighbors, and even the family pets. Students following the Family Herbalist Path will create a robust, resilient herbal pantry and apothecary, that can sustain their family through the normal health challenges of infancy, childhood, pregnancy, and natural aging.

Herbal Medicine Maker Path

This herbal path explores medicine making techniques, both for internal use and topical use. In this Herbal Path you will explore the herbal actions and benefits that herbs have in the context of herbal remedies. Students following The Herbal Medicine Maker Path will create a robust, resilient and organized herbal pantry and apothecary, which can sustain their family and their communities through normal health challenges, and offer support when medical services are not readily available.

Community Herbalist Track

The Community Herbalist Path focuses on Anatomy, Physiology, and Medicine Making for specific health challenges. Beyond first aid, this advanced herbal study engages those who want to reach into the community, to serve those who are underserved by the current medical paradigm. This is an advanced herbal track for those who have already completed some masterclasses within the DIY Herbal Fellowship. The Family Herbalist Path and the Herbal Medicine Maker Path should be completed before beginning this herbal path.