Come and learn with us!

Education is at the heart of what we do. At the core of the entire Foliage Botanics mission is the goal of building more herbalists, healthy herb-supported people, and stewardship-minded humans. We aim to ignite curiosity and connection with the natural world, break down the green wall that separates us from our plant kin, and build community and conversation around ecology and plants.

All our classes are fit for beginner and advanced herbalists and botanists alike. I serve as the facilitator and leader, but I believe in lateral learning spaces and always encourage mutual sharing—I’m a learner here too.

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“Hannah is a sure-footed forest guide, generously sharing her deep knowledge of plants as beings in their own right as well as beings in relation with humans. Hannah’s teachings are warm, engaging and accessible, drawing harmoniously and simultaneously from the many wells of scientific botany, ecology, a multitude of herbal medicine traditions, and her lived experiences.”
— Tusha, student

An online class, live on zoom Sunday June 2nd at 10 am EST. This class will also be recorded for anyone who can’t make it live.

Let’s talk about “invasive” plants. What are they? How do we classify them? And how do we start to shift the narrative around them into one of kinship and healing? We are going to dig into all of it—the histories of some of these plants, the common ecological ideologies that surround them, and some of the ways people are working to challenge the narrative of moral dichotomies that shrouds the conversation. Japanese Knotweed, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, Purple Loosestrife, even Dandelion and Burdock and other common perniciously weedy things! This is a class on practicality, on political and cultural reflection, on ancestral remediation and reparation, centering the medicinal virtues of these plants and ways to incorporate them into our herbal practices as bioregionally-minded herbalists.

SLIDING SCALE $35-55 (see sliding scale image below for reference)

 
 

Spring Wildflower Walk at Thompson Pond Preserve, Sunday April 14th at 10 AM.

Come peep the spring ephemerals with us! This is one of my favourite places for early woodland wildflower admiration, a collision of multiple incredible ecosystems at the base of Stissing Mountain.

All community plant walks cost $20 and last around 2 hours, typically on Sunday mornings throughout the growing season. No one turned away for lack of funds! Folks who have more are encouraged to give extra to contribute to our “pay it forward” fund which enables others to come for less and supports the foliage botanics scholarship offerings. Come wearing good weather-appropriate walking shoes and gear, we often don’t cancel for rain. Then we’ll gather and walk the trails, identifying and discussing the plants we see and reveling in nature together in community. Email to RSVP foliagebotanics@gmail.com, all payment expected now in advance to save your spot.

 
 

Forage & Feast, Sunday May 5th 1-4 pm at the farm where foliage botanics is based in Pine Plains NY. This is the first of a series of foraging & feasting events through the summer, we’ll take a walk, discuss and harvest some of the wild edible plants we meet paying special attention to ethical foraging principles and prioritizing non-native/invasive edible plants, and then we’ll cook them up and feast upon them together! This class is on a sliding scale from $45-$65. Please see the green bottle image below to assess where you fall on the scale.

“You’re an incredible teacher. You always held space for us in a down to earth way and I always admired the different ways that you encouraged us to keep learning—from welcoming all types of questions to our projects and, most admiringly, the way you weren’t afraid to admit when you din’t know an answer, or asked others in the group what they thought. I loved learning from you and Wild Medicine Ways helped me deepen my connection and appreciation and love for the world around me...I cannot express enough my gratitude for this program and how much I will miss gathering with you, our group, and the land.”
— Autumn, WMW student 2023

Wild Medicine Ways

Our main herbal learning opportunity is the Wild Medicine Ways course, an 8-series class rooted in bioregional learning of herbal medicine & botany that meets once a month over the course of the growing season. Applications are open! See the Wild Medicine Ways page for details or email us at foliagebotanics@gmail.com