January 11: New Year Intentions ~ Food As Medicine ~ Dietary Reboot
Cleansing, Detoxifying, Restorative foods to include in 2025
Join our whole food natural gourmet cooks to hit the reset button on our diet and start the year off right with good nutrition.
You will be given a list of “Food as Medicine” to gather for your pantry to prepare some simple recipes which will help eliminate sugar cravings, reduce inflammation and restore energy and replenish hormones.
Embrace natural foods and learn how common ingredients can retorse health, reduce inflammation and feed the nervous system.
Incorporate Superfoods into your daily diet, using medicinal mushroom and adaptogen powders to build vitality, stamina and increase energy.
Set your intention to nourish, balance, tone, and restore your body. Start today.
We will create the following products to support each individual to radically reboot their eating eating habits
- Smoothies: Make a Protein based Smoothie for a nutritious boost
- Juicing: Cleanse after the holidays to return to balance.
- Daily Tea Blend: Create a blend for strength and resiliency.Cleansing and Detox Plan: Build a one-month plan. pdf provided to guide you.
February 8: Botanica Erotica Love Feast
Indulge in a sensual experience of foods and herbs that awaken your creative side.
Enjoy a playful banquet featuring aphrodisiac cordials, stuffed dates, and delicious small plates of erotic delicacies.
Craft a take-home cordial to share with a partner or friends to spark joy and lessen inhibitions.
Come experience the effects of setting the stage, creating the feast and indulging the senses in a safe container of the herb school yurt. Dress provocative and playful as desired. ❤️
- Aphrodisiac botanicals as food and beverages.
- Stimulating & nourishing plant constituents for Reproductive & Endocrine
Deliciously tantalizing nibbles to create a love feast.
March 8: Tea Apothecary
Build your home apothecary with herbs that you gather from the wild, purchase from reputable vendors and seek out from exotic places.
Discover the recipes, supplies and processes of having what you need to make tea blends.
Learn the art of blending dried herbs to create supportive, nutritive tea, medicinal and delicious herbal tea blends. Also incorporate flavors, actions and energetics into tea formulas to create an super effective, delicious and colorful blend.
We will also focus on other water extracts; infusions, decoctions and syrups.
- Formulation Science: Understand primary action herbs, secondary supportive herbs, and flavor enhancers, energetics and aesthetics.
- Herb Tasting: Sample herbs and discuss their properties.
- Daily Blend Creation: Build your personalized tea blend.
April 12: Wild Plant Forage for Medicine
Explore the wonders of spring as we forage for our Spring Tonics. learn which herbs are spring ephemerals and are best harvested when they are in abundance this time of year. We will craft some fresh herb bitters, syrups, teas and tonic vinegars from foraged wild plants.
- Garden Walk: Identify and gather ramps, nettles, morels, and more from the Botanical Sanctuary.
- Herbal Tonics: Prepare wild-foraged tonics to boost health as teas and tinctures.
- Detox Support: Learn ways to support liver and lymphatic detoxification, using our spring herbs of the Blue Ridge mountains.
May 10: May Day Celebration in the Botanical Sanctuary.
Celebrate May with a Tea Party in the Sanctuary. to identify over 100 plants useful to know in our region.Be in the Sanctuary of botanical medicine as we honor ourselves and this sacred space with a Garden Tea Party.
Create lovely self-care products for all Moms and Beloved.
- for Protection: Sow yarrow, rue, and agrimony to honor those who have served.
- Honoring Lineage: Enjoy rose heart love cordial, rose glycerite as we name our mothers, grandmothers and those who have been a significant factor in our lives.
- Medicine of Place: Create sacred spaces for healing and recovery.
- Ceremonial Planting: Plan your own sanctuary with rosemary, rue, and roses.
June 14: Tincture Making with Fresh Plants
Alcohol extracts allow the herb’s powerful medicinal constituents to be extracted into alcohol as the solvent, held in solution and is shelf life stable for 5 years. This process of extraction allow us to capture valuable plant remedies to be utilized for our own family as need arises. Learn to make tinctures using fresh plants harvested from Green Comfort.
- Simples: Single herb extracts
- Cordials: Sweetened extracts incorporating fresh fruits
- Bitters Creation: Use native plants and garden weeds to extract the bitter constituents
- Digestive Aperitifs: Craft carminative remedies to aid digestion and reduce gas & bloating
July 12: Plant Identification Walk
Enhance your plant identification skills using botany books and your senses. Ever wonder what plants are on your walk or grow on your land? We will stroll The Botanical Sactuary, the mediterraen garden, the weedy edges, the tree lined property and fenced in vegetable gardens at Green Comfort where we have identified over 200 species of plants. you will recognize many from your yard and surrounding areas. Familiarize yourself with what is useful as edible, medicinal, native, invasive and culinary.
- Botany and Beyond: identify plants by color, patterns of growth, leaf arrangement and flower petals.
- Organoleptic Exploration: Use taste, smell, touch, and sight.
- Deepen Nature Connection: Build a stronger relationship with the natural world by listening to their stories.
August 9: Harvest & Preservation Techniques
This is the harvest season! We will create delicious food and herb products to stock the Pantry. Master the art of preserving foods and herbal remedies through various methods. We incorporate some hands-on with demonstration so you have a good opportunity of implementing these techniques at home.
- Canning: Learn traditional preservation of food. Can fresh tomato sauce with loads of the traditional mediterranean herbs.
- Ferment: Cucumbers and other garden veggies with some herbs.
- Freeze Drying: Explore this modern technique of saving the freshness of food and herbs.
- Tea Herb Stocking: Dry, Garble and Store herbs from the garden to Create tea blends.
- Jams, Jellies and preserves: Make a Hot pepper jelly of fresh peppers.
September 13: Herbal Spa Day
Create natural, nourishing Face and Body Products using herbs from the garden like Calendula, Lavender, Roses and Rosemary.
We will make and experience the natural face care and body products using simple ingredients and herbs to wash, tone and moisturize from our faces to our feet.
- Product Making: Formulate face creams, body lotions, and more.
- Self-Care Rituals: Learn to incorporate your creations into daily routines.
October 11: Home Health and First Aid Kits
Learn what items you may want to consider, gather or pack for the unfortunate to the inevitable. Do you desire to be self sustainable? We gather food but what about essentials and life saving items in case of emergencies. In the class we will discuss how to anticipate and pack for the unexpected.
Consider and explore asembling a kit for for home, office and car. Inventory and refresh Do your first aid supplies and clothing and food items to have in an essential bug-out bag.
Where is your home first aid kit? Check out what we recommend in our pdf for this class and make your shopping list. Is it ready for extended use for yourself, your loved ones and possibly your community?
Are you ready to hold in place? Do you have loved ones who need home health care due to impairment? Plan to assemble personalized health care items including breathing devices, sitz baths and other items that Teresa will show and tell so you can be prepared for anything!
Discuss the shopping list to include both store bought and naturally created items. Craft a few natural products to expand your first aid supplies.
- Home Care Essentials: Identify key items for your kit.
- Salve Making: Craft healing remedies for common mobility issues or ailments.
- Combine Powders: Prepare herb powders for antimicrobial, styptic and antidote to food poison.
November 8: Winter Medicine Making
Seasons are changing, it’s time to boost immunity and fight flu with homemade herbal products. Make ahead of the need, if you have them in the refrigerator, you will use these incredible “wise woman” formulations.
Create the best plant medicine right in your kitchen. If you don’t know how then come and make them with us!
- Garlic Honey: Ferment for antimicrobial and cardiovascular benefits.
- Vir Oxymel: Create antiviral syrups with herbs, vinegar, and honey.
- Cough Syrup: Make stabilized decoctions for respiratory support.
- Seasonal Cordials: Brew elderberry and elderflower remedies.
- Fire Cider and Honey Ginger: Customize traditional recipes.
December 13: Cordials, Elixirs, and Bonbons for Holiday Cheer!
Come enjoy some holiday cheer while we mix and brew to create a magical elixir during the month of giving and receiving.
Prepare seasonal herbal medicines and DIY gifts for the holidays, like all good elves do.
We will make and enjoy:
- Bonbons: Craft delicious chai spice and Cacao and nut treats.
- Energy Boosters: Add powdered adaptogenic herbs
- Magical Blends: Create matcha lattes with mushrooms.
- Festive Cordials: Make spirits bright with happy heart elixirs.
- Vitality Elixirs: Brew kava cacao lattes and superpower tonics.
Registration by choosing a package that suits your time and interest;
Immerse yourself in the world of herbal medicine at Green Comfort, where you can explore the extensive programs in creating and using natural remedies. Whether you’re interested in a single day of learning, a series of three or six classes, or the entire comprehensive series that earns you a certificate of completion in Herbal Apothecary, there’s an option to suit every interest and schedule.
Once you’ve chosen your preferred package and completed the payment, we’ll promptly send you a welcome letter. This will include detailed directions to our location and a syllabus outlining what you can expect from your selected classes. Our curriculum is designed to provide you with both foundational knowledge and practical skills, empowering you to include natural remedies of food as medicine for your health and wellness.
We are thrilled to welcome new participants, especially those who have been eagerly anticipating the opportunity to join us for a single-day session. At Green Comfort, we believe in fostering a sense of community where everyone can learn and grow together. By joining our classes, you’ll find a supportive network of individuals who share your passion for natural living.
So, why wait? Take the next step in your journey towards a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. Come join us at Green Comfort and discover the transformative power of herbs in enhancing your well-being.
See you in 2025!
Tuition: to include herbs, handouts, light lunch.
- Single Class: $133
- Any 3 Classes: $399.
- Any 6 Classes: $789.
- All 12 Classes: $1,500 for the entire series and notebook with entire Herbal Apothecary curriculum with recipes and instructions.
Green Comfort
School of Herbal Medicine
100 Rock Mills Road Castleton, VA 22716
540-937-4283
Teresa@greencomfortherbschool.com
Classes
Holistic Herbal Foundations
Herbal Apothecary
Clinic Practicum
Herb Camp
Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine offers a broad range of classes and unique programs that appeal to the nature lover, plant enthusiast, healthy home cook, gardener, medical practitioner, and budding herbalist. Our courses are taught by incredibly knowledgeable herbalists, master gardeners, botanists, and healers from diverse backgrounds. Learn more about our instructors here.
Beginner & Intermediate Classes:
Our two beginner programs, Foundations and Herbal Apothecary are offered one weekend a month September through June, for the mother, homesteader, and aspiring “community herbalist.” And our one-day Farm’ocology classes are a great way for beginners to experience Green Comfort’s botanical sanctuary without committing to a full program.
The Foundations of Medicinal Herbalism is a wonderful beginning to your herbal education as we delve into body systems, understanding physiology and studying the actions of plants known as material medica, and then apply the herbs to physical needs and imbalances by developing protocols of treatments.
The Herbal Apothecary program is Green Comfort’s original course, combining demonstrations with hands-on laboratory methods of learning. This course makes the information practical and applicable to the herbal student who is wanting to integrate the use of herbs into home and profession. Students are aided in creating their own home apothecary by taking inventory and documenting what is added during the 10 month program, then presenting a final project. This series is a wonderful program to incorporate the art of herbal crafting into your life.
Farm’ocology is a series of one-day classes meant to introduce participants and the community to specific complimentary topics. Workshops are taught by Teresa as well as guest teachers who are experts in their fields. They are invited to teach at Green Comfort School of Herbal Medicine and we provide the facility, promotion, and day-of coordination.
Herb Camp is a unique opportunity for adults of all levels of experience to getaway and immerse themselves in nature.
Advanced Clinical Training:
Our more advanced programs are for those interested in pursuing clinical herbalism or applying herbalism in their field of practice. Clinical Practicum and our Herbal Energetics training both offer opportunities to apply your herbal knowledge when seeing clients and formulating medicines.
Two sessions of Clinical Practicum run a year, Spring and Fall, for twelve consecutive weeks. This program is a practicum meaning the herbal student works along-side Teresa to see clients, record intakes, ask questions and offer their suggestions as to what systems are affected, actions needed and herbs which will restore balance, tone, nurture and nourish. These clinics do require the student herbalist to follow up with clients and research a topic thoroughly to contribute to protocols we construct together. The teaching is in the doing. We have established very professional protocols for Hashimoto’s, Parkinson’s, Lyme, and other diseases which the clinic students have access to. The clinic is a real service to the community and to the student to gain confidence and practice.
Herbal Energetics Advanced Clinical Training is the newest course offering an opportunity to develop a working knowledge of traditional diagnostic techniques which practitioners can integrate into a health consultation. Learning how to interpret information given by meridians, face, pulse and tongue enable the practitioner to choose the correct herbal remedies as they will match the constitution of the individual being treated. This is a six weekend series for the continuing education of the western trained herbalist.
Whatever your herbal education level or interest, we trust you will visit with us and check out our offerings.
