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.
Keep reading for upcoming classes and plant walks!
“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.”
PLANT WALK & WORKSHOP LIABILITY RELEASE AGREEMENTS + REFUND POLICY
UPCOMING CLASSES & PLANT WALKS 2025
January 12th: Winter Botany Intensive
February 9th: Winter Botany Intensive
March 16th: Winter Botany Intensive
March 30th: Wild Medicine Ways begins
April 13th: Spring Wildflower Walk at Thompson Pond, 10am: Register here!
April 26th + 27th: Wild Medicine Ways
May 4th: Nettle Day on the farm, 12-3pm: Register here!
May 18th: Wild Medicine Ways
May 25th: Spring Tree Walk at Thompson Pond, 10am: Register here!
June 14th: Distillation in the Garden, 11-3pm: Register here!
June 22nd: Wild Medicine Ways
July 12th + 13th: Wild Medicine Ways
August: no classes or walks
September 13th + 14th: Wild Medicine Ways
October 11th + 12th: Wild Medicine Ways
October 19th: Fall Tree Walk
November 9th: Last day of Wild Medicine Ways
Spring Wildflower Walk, Sunday April 13th, 10am at Thompson Pond Preserve in Pine Plains NY: Join us for our annual spring ephemeral woodland romp at one of our local abundant preserves! Thompson Pond is truly unique for wildlife, flora and fauna alike. We’ll gather at the main trailhead and hunt for the early spring bloomers that are just so magnificent this time of year. Sliding scale $30-50, no one turned away for lack of funds—please reach out via email if you need a lower cost spot! Register here. In the event of truly terrible weather, we will reschedule to Saturday April 19th.
Nettle Day—an afternoon of Nettle story-telling, gathering, feasting, & medicine-making, Sunday May 4th, 12-3pm, Pine Plains NY: Come spend an afternoon in the Nettle patch in honour of Beltane and the halfway point between spring and summer. We’ll discuss Nettles bountiful medicinal & nutritional properties, sip tea, share Nettle stories & lore, gather fresh leaves, feast on Nettle snacks, and make a few Nettle medicine preparations together. Attendees will leave with a head full of Nettle’s history & mystery and a basket brimming with fresh leaves to do with as they wish. Register here. This class is sliding scale $65-$100—accessibility rates are also available, reach out to foliagebotanics@gmail.com to discuss a lower cost spot. You may also pay on a 2-month payment plan at each tier. If the weather is looking terrible for that Sunday, we may rearrange and host it on Saturday May 3rd instead.
Spring Tree Walk, Sunday May 25th, 10am at Thompson Pond Preserve in Pine Plains NY: Join us in returning to our beloved Thompson Pond to peep late spring wildflowers and check on the trees, now in full leaf! We’ll walk about 2 hours and focus on our re-emerging woody plants who call this diverse preserve home. Sliding scale $30-50, please reach out via email if you are in need of a lower cost spot, no one turned away for lack of funds. Register here.
Distillation in the Garden, Saturday June 14th, 11-3ish, Pine Plains NY: Join me for a peaceful afternoon in my herb garden, a day of distillation in all its many forms—from the simple practice of making space for plant connection & reflection to the incredible art of using the copper still to capture the inner beauty of the flowers. This is a day not specifically for “learning” or piling on new information (though there will be some of that!), but a moment for quiet engagement and slow transformation, assisted by the plants in my own personal plant sanctuary. We’ll certainly get some hands-on time and experience the copper alembic still from set-up to finished distillate—in our case, a hydrosol! We’ll talk about at-home methods too and discuss the properties and benefits of this kind of medicine. All with the thread of working with the plants with a kind of unhurried openness for the learning process and listening to our own personal callings, in a beautiful setting I love! A few botanical refreshments will be offered. Bring your lunch, bring a journal if you’d like! Everyone leaves with a bottle! This class is sliding scale, $85-$120—accessibility rates are also available, reach out to foliagebotanics@gmail.com to discuss a lower price! You may also pay on a 2-month payment plan at each tier. Register here. In the event of truly terrible weather we may reschedule to Sunday June 15th or Saturday June 21st!
In registering for a foliage botanics walk, class, or program, you are consenting to our set of learning agreements, liability release, & refund policy! Please read those carefully here.
We offer a number of longer-term, cumulative learning opportunities over the course of the year. Click the link to each to learn more.
Wild Medicine Ways: our 9-month, in-person, hands-on bioregional herbalism & medicine-making program, runs March-November
Winter Botany Intensive: a 4-session in-person program diving into winter woody plant identification
Wild Medicine Ways
Our main herbal learning opportunity is the Wild Medicine Ways course, which runs March-November, a 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
“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.”
