I began my journey as an herbalist with my best friend. I had just moved into my first home and I was eager to start a garden which my friend was delighted to help with. That same year, this friend invited me to join in on a journey of harvesting stinging nettle. Stinging nettle became my first ally as I learned to work with the plant to alleviate seasonal allergies. Shortly after this meeting of stinging nettle, I had my wisdom teeth pulled and my best friend who graciously picked me up from the procedure gifted me yarrow to use as part of my recovery. I wanted to provide this friend with a gift as a thank you so I found myself at Healing Spirits Herb Farm in Avoca, NY where I was introduced to tinctures, flower essence and salve. The owner of Healing Spirits shared my excitement in discovering the healing abilities of plants and encouraged me to grow my own herbs; gifting me my first packet of herbal seeds, Calendula! These moments planted seeds in my heart and my garden to become an herbalist. To combine medicinal plants with my understanding of energy as both a physical and spiritual practice.
For many years following this I went on a journey with the plants to discover their healing abilities and my own abilities to communicate with nature. I became self-taught by the plants and through books and it wasn’t long before I was making and experimenting with medicines I made myself. I kept in touch with Healing Spirits all through my period of self paced learning and often found myself going there to ask questions which they answered with an open heart and mind. They were so giving in sharing the knowledge of plant medicine and they never kept the knowledge to themselves in the name of capitalism; they knew that plants are a gift to all of humanity and that they are meant to be shared.
When my third child was born I found myself consuming crappy content online during those long hours nursing and soothing a newborn in the middle of the night. I realized that the time I was spending mindlessly perusing the internet could be used to learn something beneficial and that is how I found Dr. Patrick Jones on Youtube. After watching a few of his in depth herbal videos I signed myself up for his online herbal school called The Homegrown Herbalist. His program deepened my knowledge of plants and encouraged me to learn more about the human body. An added bonus was that he is also a Veterinarian and has decades of practice in using herbs with animals too!
I highly recommend that if you are interested in taking your herbal journey another step further that you continue your education by completing The Homegrown Herbalist course. I gained so much in taking this course. Within the course, he shares how to treat serious injuries that aren’t covered in most herbal programs; being a vet he served as the emergency room for animals and gained insight into treating things with herbs that most herbalists would send someone to the hospital for rather than attempt to treat with herbs. I am not saying that you should forgo a trip to the emergency room if needed; what I am saying is that this course has so many in depth opportunities to learn and elevate your understanding of how herbs work with the body. I also gained a better understanding of the body systems, organs, etc that I didn't have before completing the course. This course provided an online forum and place to ask questions + explore clinical herbalism with a network of support.
Taking an online course is sometimes the most accessible way for people to get started in herbalism. If you’re interested in taking The Homegrown Herbalist course with Dr. Patrick Jones, I recommend you start off by watching one of his YouTube videos and seeing if you align with his teaching style before committing to the full course. He offers a lot of in -depth free content that is accessible to everyone on YouTube. If you do decide to enroll in his full course, I would be so grateful if you use this affiliate link of mine to join the course. I signed up to be an affiliate after taking the course because I truly believe the content is of high quality and I would recommend this course to anyone with or without the affiliate link; however, being an affiliate helps me to keep going with my own goals to share herbalism with the world and keep herbalism alive in our future generations. You can also use my affiliate link to purchase products or other courses from The Homegrown Herbalist. There is a great line of pet-friendly products.
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After completing the course with Dr. Patrick Jones I also went on to complete an Apprenticeship with Healing Spirits Herb Farm. It wasn't that I needed to become an apprentice, the Homegrown Herbalist school gave me enough skills to be a working herbalist; it was about the desire to see the ins and outs of a working Herb Farm and a love for learning. Working in person with Healing Spirits gifted me an in-person community and opened up my network of practicing herbalists. It was really rewarding to work with the owners who supported me from the very beginning in stepping into the world of plants.
And guess what, the friend who got me started is still my best friend and we share love, laughter and plant medicine. Plants bring people together and facilitate healing in so many ways. I encourage you to sign up for my email newsletters so that you can be a part of the Sun-Kissed Botanicals herbal community as we continue to build it. With love, I embrace you on your journey of herbalism and I aim to share free herbal content with you in the spirit of the plant world being a gift to humanity just like Healing Spirits Herb Farm and Dr. Patrick Jones have done with me. Becoming an herbalist and passing on the knowledge of plants and nature to my children and the community continues to be a source of inspiration, joy and purpose for me.