At Foliage Botanics, we are committed to accessibility and so try to provide a variety of avenues for students from all backgrounds and financial situations to access and participate in our offerings. Herbal medicine is for everyone and I never want money to be a barrier to receiving the herbs, herbal support, and herbal education that you need. There is always room for everyone at the table, so please never hesitate to reach out about finances. I want to outline here how & when to receive financial assistance as well as some other ways we try to break down that barrier in the world of herbalism here at FB. If you are seeking a discounted rate for any of our offerings, please read this page in its entirety!

I want to say, first, that the discounts I provide are offered out of my own values in diversity, equity, and justice in herbal medicine, not out of needing less money for my own income. Financial transparency is important to me and currently, as a practicing herbalist, I am only able to pay myself about 15-20K per year. I do not have nor have ever had any inherited money, I do not own my own home or any land, and I am a mother to a young child.

I ask that when assessing your own financial circumstances and needs to please take my personal circumstances into account and to try to truly examine your own financial and social positioning with a mindset of honest self-reflection and abundance. Discounted rates are a place of mutual aid for receiving access when truly needed, not a discount for discount’s sake. All of my up-front pricing has shifted to being solidarity-forward, so that those who pay the full price now help support me in offering accessibility rates to those who need them.

Supporting Black & Indigenous herbalists: I recognize that contemporary western herbal medicine has an incredibly extractive history and much of my own privilege and access to this knowledge has come at the expense of BIPOC communities. For every educational offering, we provide space for at least 2 BIPOC students to attend at a 50% or greater discount, which can also be paid on a payment plan. You may also always use the code BIPOC to receive 50% off in the apothecary on herbal goods and classes. Please do not use this code if you are white and purchasing medicines/classes for a BIPOC friend from your own funds. I ask that you use your own access and privilege to do that.

I also recognize that, as a white herbalist, I may not always be the right teacher for BIPOC students! In light of this, each year I make a donation to an herb school that centres BIPOC teachers and students. In the past, we have donated to The People’s Medicine School in Ithaca, NY and Shabina Lafleur-Gangji’s Plant School for Black, Indigenous and Racialized Peoples in Guelph, Canada. Feel free to send me some suggestions or request support in your own personal herbal studies—foliagebotanics@gmail.com

Payment Plans: We offer payment plans to any and all students for all of our long-term courses with no extra fees tacked on. I don’t believe in penalizing people for having less money than others and want to provide educational opportunities to students from a variety of backgrounds, especially those who are not easily able to pay the full tuition up front. That being said, payment plans are a vehicle for accessibility and I ask you to be discerning between the ease of paying on a payment plan and the actual need for one. Because many of my students choose this option, I simply ask that everyone adhere to the payment plan timeline, communicate openly with me about adjustments that they may need, and familiarize themselves with my cancellation policy, which is always provided for you clearly for each unique class program. Payment plans are a first-line approach for when an offering or program feels out of reach and I ask you to please consider making this option work before seeking a discounted rate. If you do not see a payment plan option for something but would like one, please reach out and we can easily make this happen in most cases!

The True Cost/Solidarity Pricing: You may have noticed that much of my pricing is higher than it once was. In the past I priced everything with accessibility in mind and am shifting to a pricing system that focuses now on solidarity first. This means that my prices are set higher so that students with more finances, privilege and higher earning potential help support Foliage Botanics in our effort to provide more accessibility, so I don’t have to shoulder it all myself. By paying at the true cost rate, you help me pay myself more for my work while continuing to offer accessibility rates & scholarships to those who have less, to donate to BIPOC-led herbal programs, etc. By paying the full rate you help to support us in our mission of providing equity in herbal learning!

Please pay the full price if some of the following describes you:

  • you own your home or rent a higher-end property

  • you have investments, retirement funds, inherited money or access to financial savings

  • you have access to family resources in times of need

  • you may have debt but it does not affect your ability to meet your basic needs

  • you have a higher education degree or are currently studying to earn one

  • you have regular access to healthcare & the majority of your healthcare expenses are covered by insurance

  • you travel for recreation, are able to take an annual vacation or travel abroad without great financial burden

  • you have expendable income to purchase non-essential items

  • you work part time or are unemployed by choice, including unemployment due to full-time school in a degree-earning program

  • you have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education, gender and racial privilege, class background, etc. Even if you are not currently exercising your earning power, I ask you to recognize this as a choice.

If you have more to give, you are also welcome to contribute to the Solidarity Jar, which also helps support providing access to BIPOC/trans/lower income students!

It is my hope, too, that in implementing solidarity-forward pricing I also help to raise the bar for the herbal community at large and serve as a better example of assessing what we collectively deserve to make and how we attribute value to plant-oriented work.

Accessibility Rates: Accessibility rates are available to those for whom the full price is a barrier and who would not be able to participate otherwise. There may be limited availability for accessibility rate spots, so please try to register and utilize these discounts as soon as you know you would like to participate in one of our classes.

Please consider seeking an accessibility rate if you:

  • are descended from enslaved people or Native American Indians— please use code BIPOC for 50% off or request a BIPOC scholarship!

  • experience discrimination in hiring or pay level due to race, religion, gender presentation or sexual orientation

  • are a returning citizen who has been denied work due to incarceration history

  • have medical expenses not covered by insurance

  • receive or qualify for public assistance including food stamps and healthcare

  • have immigration-related expenses

  • are an elder with limited financial support

  • are an unpaid community organizer or are underpaid in a career that is justice & equity focused

  • are a single parent supporting children and/or someone fully supporting other dependents/aging parents

  • cannot afford a vacation/time off without financial burden

  • live paycheck to paycheck and have no or very limited expendable income

  • frequently stress about meeting basic needs (food, housing, healthcare) & don’t always achieve them

  • have unstable housing or rent a low-end property

  • would otherwise be unable to participate in this offering/program without financial assistance

If you have read this far and would like to receive an accessibility rate so that you can more comfortably attend one of our educational programs, please email me at foliagebotanics@gmail.com to discuss a price &/or payment plan that works for us both.

~ Sliding Scale ~

Sliding scale: Sliding scale is a tool for economic justice that, when done right, helps create a more equitable system for pricing products & services that makes room for everyone. At Foliage Botanics we frequently offer a sliding scale on our offerings to enable those who have less to participate and to encourage those who have more to give a little extra in support of this. I love what Britt Hawthorne has to say about sliding scale here.

Within a sliding scale model, I welcome my students and customers to self-select where they fall. This allows for those of higher means to help provide a cushion that enables me to be paid what I deserve and also continue to offer BIPOC, trans, and folks of lower means access to herbal education and wellness. In our sliding scale model, the middle is the base, true rate. The higher end is for those who have more to give and the lower is for those with less.

Sliding scales ask us to reflect not only on our income levels but also on a variety of factors, privileges, and resources we have access to that affect our class standing—race, gender, education, earning potential, support systems, debt, investments & other money access, etc. When self-selecting your place in the scale, I ask you to consider all of these factors, not just your current income. Please be mindful that if you purchase something at the lowest end of the scale when you can truthfully afford the higher ticket prices, you are limiting access to those who truly need the gift of financial flexibility.

At the end of the day, the sliding scale and all our vehicles for providing financial accessibility thrive on TRUST and I am only able to continue offering them if we are all honest with ourselves and our financial situations. When done well, tools for accessibility such as these help grow strong and sustainable communities while also respecting the work of the practitioners and teachers offering their services and care. Bioregional herbalism is anti-capitalist work at its core and is, I believe, a vehicle for helping shift the framework around resources to one that embodies collective abundance. The plants want us to know them and they want us all to have enough.