Outdoor

Summer herb school

Join us this summer for a five week evening herbal course led by local herbalists, growers and medical herbalism students, Melissa Harvey and Mariam Mohamed.

Fully booked for this year.

About the Course:

Dates: 5 Tuesday evenings, June 23rd, June 30th, July 7th, July 14th, July 21st

Time: 6-8.30pm

Set entirely outdoors in our beautiful community herb garden, each session will introduce you to a number of healing plants, their uses, identification and how to incorporate them into your life. Practical remedy making sessions will teach you how to gather, harvest and make your own healing remedies with herbs tended to by the local community. Beginning at midsummer, this is a chance to dive into the vibrant world of herbalism when the plants are at their very best.

The course aims to introduce and deepen an understanding of herbs and their uses by spending time with them in the garden. Over the course you will get to know in detail five plant families, understanding their patterns, characteristics and traditional uses. This is an accessible way to be introduced to botany and plant identification. Alongside this, through sensory and intuitive herbal practices we will be deepening our relationship with the herbs in the garden, getting to know them through observation, taste, smell, drawings and more.

We will be getting to know and spending time with herbs like aromatic mints, lavender, chamomile, fennel, calendula, lemon balm, catnip, anise hyssop, thyme, yarrow, sage, meadowsweet, basil, chives, garlic and more.


Each week we will learn basic herbal medicine making skills to take care of yourself and your loved ones. Herbs will be harvested fresh from the community garden and you will get to take recipes and remedies home with you.

Topics Include:

Herbal remedy making: teas, infusions, vinegars, oxymels, infused oils, balms, aromatic waters, flower essences

Food as medicine

Drying, harvesting and storing herbs

Basic botany and plant identification

Herbal energetics

Using herbs safely

Self-care skills

Herbal folklore

Intuitive and sensory plant connection practices

Herbs for skincare, digestive health, psycho-emotional health, first-aid and general wellbeing

Course outline:

Week 1: Teas and infusions, harvesting and drying herbs, intro to plant identification and plant families, lamiaceae family

Week 2: Vinegars and oxymels, intro to herbal extractions, seasonal and plant energetics, rose family

Week 3: Food as medicine, alliums and apiaceae family, cooking and making a shared dinner together with herbs from the garden


Week 4: Infused oils, balms and ointments, asteraceae family (Mariam)


Week 5: Aromatic waters and flower essences, using a copper still, aromatic medicine

About your facilitators


  • Melissa is a grower, teacher, composter, community herbalist and trainee medical herbalist. She has been based at the School Farm CSA site for over 10 years, and set up Wyse Worts plant nursery, growing and selling medicinal and culinary herb plants, in 2020. The aims of the nursery include encouraging more people to grow and incorporate herbs into their everyday lives, as well as to facilitate better connections between people and the more unusual medicinal plants they might take. Alongside this, she teaches plant and soil ecology on the regenerative land-based systems at the Apricot Centre, and works with Sustainable South Hams on community composting. 

  • Mariam is a community herbalist, ethnobotanist, trainee medical herbalist, community gardener and founder of Radical Plant Folk. She is currently completing her clinical herbalism training with the Plant Medicine School, Exmoor. She has been studying herbalism for the last 8 years and has completed many hours of training and learning from herbalists all over the country.

    She is passionate about bringing accessible herbalism into the community and has been teaching and facilitating workshops in the local community for the last 4.5 years.

    A lover of plants, Mariam believes everyone should have access to the traditional knowledge of plant medicine.

Cost and booking:

Cost (including all materials): £200

Concessionary places: We have a limited number of concessionary places available for folks on low incomes and who cannot afford the full course costs, please get in touch if you are interested: hello@radicalplantfolk.com

A £50 deposit is required to secure your booking. 

Payment plans are available so please get in touch. 

Please note:

As we are a small social enterprise we are unable to offer refunds unless made within 24 hours, or due to unavoidable circumstances. Occasionally if we are able to sell your ticket we can offer a refund or swap your place for a later date.

However you choose to book, thank you — your support helps the garden grow, and we can’t wait to welcome you.

Follow the link below to book your place. For any questions please email hello@radicalplantfolk.com

Fully booked for this year.

Check back later in the year to join our waitlist for next summer :)