Herbal Materia Medica Monthly offers an unparalleled journey into the world of medicinal plants, providing depth and insight rarely covered by most herbalists ❧
Develop a deep understanding of the nature of herbs and their effects on the body.
From the tallest tree to the deepest root, we have you covered! Each month, you’ll embark on an in-depth study of one medicinal plant in this self-guided exploration of herbal allies.
Over the course of the year, you’ll get to know 12 remarkably diverse plants: dandelion, hawthorn, yarrow, willow, Oregon grape, nettles, chamomile, raspberry, mugwort, elecampane, holy basil, and lavender. You’ll explore roots, leaves, flowers, bark, berries, and aromatic herbs while becoming familiar with plants that range from nourishing everyday allies to some of herbalism’s most valued traditional medicinals.
Four times a month, you’ll receive new insights into the plant of focus. We’ve structured the subscription this way to keep the experience engaging and digestible—providing more than you imagined possible in easy-to-comprehend, manageable sections.
And your exploration doesn’t stop with the featured 12. The final portion of the program includes the bonus Exploring the Power of Herbs, introducing 20 additional plants and their medicinal and nutritional benefits, along with simple ways to begin using them. You’ll meet oregano, marshmallow, lovage, culinary sage, thyme, calendula, St. John’s wort, valerian, motherwort, horehound, spilanthes, echinacea, mullein, ashwagandha, viola, turmeric, horseradish, peppermint, fennel, and cottonwood.
That’s 32 herbal allies in all—giving you a broad introduction to the tremendous variety of plants used in practical, everyday herbalism.
There’s so much valuable information to explore! Plus, you have access to Materia Medica Monthly for a full year, with the ability to revisit previous lessons anytime for review.
How do you develop a deep, intimate relationship with plants, understand human anatomy and physiology, and truly know how herbs work within the body? How do you build the competence to use herbs effectively—and with confidence?
One of life’s greatest purposes is service to others. Our Herbal Materia Medica Monthly program is designed to help you gain a profound understanding of plants and hands-on practice, empowering you to serve your community—whether that means supporting family and friends, working with customers, or caring for clients. Become your village herbalist!
Self-reliant herbalism is the practice of building personal knowledge, skills, and confidence to care for oneself, family, and community using plant medicine. It means understanding how to grow, harvest, prepare, and safely use herbs based on sound science and lived experience. Rather than relying solely on outside practitioners, self-reliant herbalists develop the ability to make well-informed choices and take an active role in their own health and well-being.
Medical freedom is the right to make informed decisions about one’s own health care, including the option to choose herbal, nutritional, and other natural approaches. It means having access to a full spectrum of information and being empowered to decide what is appropriate for your body, your family, and your values—without coercion or unnecessary restriction.
A holistic herbalist focuses on treating the whole person, not just their symptoms. Symptomatic relief is temporary; when you address the root cause, the symptoms resolve naturally.
When creating formulas, we apply a three-part technique that incorporates:
Together, these elements work synergistically to create well-rounded, effective healing formulas.
However, herbs are rarely the only answer. True healing also involves lifestyle, behavior, stress and anxiety management, diet, and movement. Through our program, you’ll learn to integrate these key aspects into your practice, creating a comprehensive approach to wellness.
"I’ve come across so many people who have come from your lineage. The quality and integrity in their knowledge - it’s a different level. It’s so steeped in."
Becoming familiar with the phytochemicals in plants is essential! As you navigate the complexities of phytochemistry, remember that mastery takes time and practice.
Taking a steady, focused approach—exploring one constituent group at a time—allows you to fully grasp their actions and applications.
For some, studying plant constituents and the menstrua that extract and preserve them may seem overly scientific. However, this knowledge is at the core of traditional herbalism. The alchemists of the past may not have had terms like polysaccharides, antioxidants, or terpenes, but their work laid the foundation for modern herbalists by classifying and documenting how herbs interact with the body.
By embracing this wisdom, you strengthen your ability to create effective, well-balanced herbal preparations with confidence and skill.
It was in the 17th century that alchemy became chemistry as the emphasis leaned more toward experimentation and critical thinking and relied less on spirituality and mysticism. We, as experienced or budding herbalists, can explore both critical thinking and the mystical side of plants.
Suzanne is a brilliant teacher that meets the diverse needs of her students with grace and ease. She is impressive at capturing both the science and subtleties of plants with harmonized precision. I was inspired every week in learning so many different skills within the herbal medicine realm. Truly, Suzanne is more than just a fabulous teacher, she is an extraordinary human being. She has a heart of gold and generously shares with her students, the wisdom of countless years in her craft with wit and humor that would make anyone delight to be in her presence. I am forever full of gratitude for the incredible experiences and knowledge that Cedar Mountain Herb School brought me!
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Key to the difference between healing and harming is 100% correct identification. Organoleptic identification is learning the herbs through sight and smell, taste and touch (if appropriate). Lookalikes can be confusing; we take the difficulty out of the equation.
How to grow the herbs in your garden, their needs and requirements. How and where to find your chosen plants in the wild to harvest with a mind towards stewardship of plant stands and surrounding community.
When to harvest plants and their parts for highly effective remedies. As one of my apprentices says: “To me, the importance of picking herbal medicine at the correct time, (with) the ray flowers are pointing towards the sky, the purple of the hypericum at different times in the bud, flower. I don’t think I had really understood there was a difference between pollinated and unpollinated plants prior to the class. I don’t think other herbalists that I follow really teach that.”
This gives you the “why and how” of herbal medicine. It’s not enough to say that hawthorn is “good for the heart.” How is hawthorn good for the heart and what makes it so? Gaining an understanding of plant constituents and their actions in the body gives validation, especially when communicating with those who think herbal medicine is hippy voodoo.
Sensations that plants arouse in the body – the feeling it can elicit or how the body responds. These are not polarities. An herb is rarely either/or. The plant, how it is prepared, the time and circumstances of the harvest, and the part of the plant harvested can impact the energetics as well as how the herb interacts with each individual person. Plants have affinities to specific systems in the human body. Mind blowing, so humbling.
In order to make effective remedies that have optimal shelf life, students will gain a firm understanding of solubility of the medicine and nutrition of the plants, stability of mentrua and optimal methods for preparing remedies.
When I worked at Tenzing Momo, an herb store in the Pike Place Market back in the 80s, a gal offered a product for “women’s health.” It contained over 50 herbs! Even back then, a rookie herbalist, I knew that formula would cause deleterious effects in the women who took it. From simple to complex formulas, it’s imperative to know which herbs will complement each other to create formulas to treat a person holistically. Learn how herbs work with each other and herbs that work against each other – and why – in formulas.
Dosages, body constitutions and contraindications. Gain a firm understanding of dosing herbal preparations. Not every person can, or should, take the same dose of a preparation. A “standard dose” for one could be overdosing another. Learn to distinguish needs and body constitutions which dictate dosing and contraindications.
Learn how to get the medicine to the people in ways they will delight in taking so that healing can occur!
There’s something beautiful that happens when we make commitments – to our health, our growing wisdom and our community. We believe in YOU and are so happy to welcome you in! ❧
Our Herbal Materia Medica Monthly self-study program will help you tap into your critical thinking, so that you will open your heart and mind to plant medicine on a level that will be inspiring and rock solid.
This is a 12-month educational program designed to build real understanding over time. Choose to pay in full for the year or split your tuition into two monthly payments.
There’s so much valuable information to explore! You’ll have access to Materia Medica Monthly for a full year, with the ability to revisit previous lessons anytime for review.
“Should we have faith in the innate intelligence of the human mind-body and heart-center, we may awesomely upgrade the very nature of your reality.”
— D.D. Palmer
Calculate the volumes of any two alcohol proofs to create a tincture of a particular strength.
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