Herb Mentor Radio

Juliet Blankespoor shares 5 easy-to-grow herbs for container gardening with medicinal benefits that range from immune support to gentle skin care to first aid essentials — with just these 5 herbs you’ll be well on your way to having a full blown home apothecary.  With her B.A. in Botany and her new book The Healing Garden, it could be easy to assume that Juliet must have always had a green thumb... but Juliet reveals that she didn’t start gardening until her 20s, and her first garden was a total flop! Listen as Juliet guides us through how she went from a “flop garden” to stewarding several thriving herb gardens. Plus, Juliet shares the key to having a green thumb — it’s a lot simpler than you might think. You can find Juliet and get your copy of The Healing Garden at https://chestnutherbs.com/ Get a special offer on HerbMentor at https://HerbMentorRadio.com Build your herbal first aid kid with your Herbal Preparation Cards: https://Herbal.Cards

Some of Abi Huff’s earliest plant memories begin in her mother’s garden: delighting in the abundant beds of sugar cane and taro root, and climbing the apricot tree to feast on its delicious fruit. Abi carries these stories in her transformative work as an ever-evolving community and clinical herbalist, educator, medicine maker, intuitive life strategist, healing justice organizer, and overall plant nerd.

 In this episode, we dive into Abi’s work as a politicized herbalist and how to create more inclusion within herbalism. We also discuss food as medicine and how ancestral healing is deeply intertwined with herbalism. Abi then draws connections between stress and immunity and how herbs can support the radiant wellness of our nervous and immune systems. Abi then shares a simple way that you can incorporate healing herbs into your everyday life. Abi’s passion lies in connecting people to their inner wisdom, and responsibility to the planet and each other through gratitude for, and relationship with the plant kingdom. 
You can find Abi on Instagram @_thestingingnettle_

Explore the healing plants of the Southeast with CoreyPine Shane, including mimosa and sweet gum trees. Also, how to discover a plant’s personality so you can become an herbal matchmaker. This is a great episode for all you wildcrafters. CoreyPine Shane is a Holistic Clinical Herbalist who founded the Blue Ridge School of Herbal Medicine in 1999. He is the author of Southeast Medicinal Plants: 106 Wild Herbs for Health and Wellness and has taught at schools and conferences across the country and in Europe. CoreyPine has written extensively on herbal medicine and is a professional member of the American Herbalists Guild. CoreyPine says, “Herbal medicine is your medicine. Not that you own it but that you inherited it because your grandparents or maybe your great grandparents used plants to heal themselves. Even if they didn’t call it herbal medicine. This is just a remembering and a reconnection.” Visit CoreyPine at PinesHerbals.com and BlueRidgeSchool.org

Jocelyn Boreta is the cofounder of the Botanical Bus, the granddaughter of a farmworker, and a community organizer committed to cultivating health equity through the empowerment of indigenous knowledge and self-healing communities. Long before the Botanical Bus became a bilingual mobile herb clinic serving Latinx and Indigenous farmworkers in Sonoma County, the seeds of this project were sprouting as Jocelyn Boreta and other local herbalists met weekly at a community garden to share their herbal knowledge. And when the devastating 2017 North Bay fires hit, they knew it was time to address health inequities in their community and launch the Botanical Bus. In this episode, Jocelyn shares the origin story of the Botanical Bus, why herbalism is activism, her go-to herbs for stress relief, how food is medicine, and the importance of culturally relevant care. You can learn more about Jocelyn and the Botanical Bus at TheBotanicalBus.org and follow them on Instagram @botanical.bus and Facebook @bilingualmobileherbclinic.

In this episode of Herb Mentor Radio, John Gallagher interviews Amanda McQuade Crawford, an experienced herbalist and author. Amanda is a prominent figure in herbal medicine, having authored books like "Herbal Remedies for Women" and "Herbal Menopause." She is a member of the National Institute of Medical Herbalists, a founding member of the American Herbalist Guild, and the founder of the National College of Phytotherapy. Amanda discusses her upcoming book, "Herbs, Nutrition, and Other Natural Therapies," and her work at the International Herb Symposium. The conversation dives into topics including managing hot flashes, addressing adrenal fatigue, and Amanda's activism for sustainable practices.

7Song is an herbalist, naturalist, and director of the Northeast School of Botanical Medicine in Ithaca, NY. He is known throughout the herbal community as someone passionate about meeting new plants, someone who loves to help people whereever he travels, and as the “herbal first aid guy.” He has run the first aid tent at the Rainbow Gatherings for years. 7Song is an herbal practitioner and Director of Holistic Medicine at the Ithaca Free Clinic. He also teaches nationwide at herbal conferences and gatherings, as well as the California School of Herbal Studies. In this interview we discuss herbal first aid, go over a case study, and chat a bit about learning plants. You can visit his site at http://www.7song.com

I am truly honored to share with you a mentor that…well, let’s put it this way. There would be no HerbMentor.com without her. Also, I doubt I would be an acupuncturist as well if I had never met EagleSong. EagleSong is not only an extraordinary herbalist and gardener, but also one of the most grounded teachers and mentors you’ll ever meet. She has an eloquent way of sharing her views of health, herbs, sustainable living, gardening, and so much more. EagleSong was the first to teach me how to step back and look at the bigger picture when it comes to health. She has a way of “bringing it all together” and making sense of what can be an overwhelming course of study. Sure I had lots of influential mentors, but when it comes to herbs and health, EagleSong’s guidance became a foundation for me. It is the bedrock that LearningHerbs.com is built on. It is my hope and dream that YOU continue this lineage and one day teach others in your communities about herbs and health. In this Interview, some of what we cover includes… * What gardening and plants can teach us about health * The importance of community herbalism * A VERY unique look at Black Cottonwood EagleSong, CCH is a Community Centered Herbalist who started RavenCroft Garden in the Seattle area in 1991. Though she has been a practicing herbalist for over 30 years, she has also been the chief gardener at the world famous HerbFarm Restaurant as well as the environmental horticulturalist for Willows Lodge, ranked the #12 hotel in the U.S. Visit http://ravencroftgarden.com

James Jungwirth and his family run Naturespirit Herbs, located in the Siskiyou Mountains of southwestern Oregon. They are harvesters of edible and medicinal wild seaweed, herbs and mushrooms. They are also clinical herbalists and producers of high quality herbal medicines. I met James at the Northwest Herbfest in Oregon last summer. I was immediately drawn to his table, which was filled with the most beautifully harvested sea vegetables I have ever seen. If you have ever ordered kelp or other seaweed from Mountain Rose Herbs, there is a good chance you have purchased their handy work. I FINALLY caught up with James to ask him some questions about sea vegetables. We cover medicinal and edible uses, as well tips on harvesting. There is PLENTY of useful information even if you do not live near an ocean with cleaner waters for harvesting. I made sure our conversation was mostly geared towards folks who would not be harvesting their own. Visit http://naturespiritherbs.com

Kiva Rose is an herbalist in the Anima Medicine Woman Tradition. She teaches and practices down to earth herbalism, nutrition and healing based on the same principles our ancestors followed within an adaptive and contemporary context. Kiva is the author of The Medicine Woman’s Herbal, an in depth guide to common nourishing herbs, traditional and wild foods, and healing the Medicine Woman way. She makes her home in the Mogollon Mountains of the Gila bioregion of New Mexico, where she and her partners, Wolf and Loba, live in a small off the grid cabin at the Anima Botanical and Women’s Sanctuary. Visit http://bearmedicineherbals.com

Maria Atwood, CNHP is a Certified Natural Health Professional and has produced a DVD called Cook Your Way to Wellness. Her focus is on fermented foods and nourishment, in the tradition of our ancestors, the Weston Price Foundation and Sally Fallon. Sally Fallon is the author of the celebrated book Nourishing Traditions, who said Maria’s DVD is "A great companion to Nourishing Traditions! Perfect for beginners new to Nourishing Traditions principles." In this interview, Maria and I talk about the origins of this traditional style of nutrition, why it’s so good for us, as well as some ideas on how to bring it into your life. We discuss kefir, beet kvass, bone broth, fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut, how to eat well on a budget, and where to begin. We also answer questions gathered from HerbMentor members, which includes weight loss in relation to this style of eating. You can check out Maria’s DVD and lots more at http://TraditionalCook.com