I’ve known Thomas Elpel for several years, and was really excited to have the chance to talk with him again. Tom sat down with me to discuss how a basic understanding of botany can be helpful for herbalists, but our conversation went way beyond that. While not strictly an herbalist, Tom is definitely a plant person through and through, and his curiosity about the natural world is infectious!

Tom has written many books about a variety of subjects. His book Botany in a Day, which can help you learn to recognize and identify plants through their botanical families, was transformative for me when I was first learning to identify plants! Tom has shared a sample page from Botany in a Day about the oleaster plant family with us; you can download your copy here: https://bit.ly/40PkFNr

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How learning to recognize plants by the patterns of their botanical families can be useful to herbalists and other people who work with plants

► Why it’s so important to actually go out and experience the natural world – the way the deer do!

► Why “invasive plants” is a complicated term, and how working to eradicate plants with this label can sometimes do more harm than good

► Four ways that plants in the oleaster family can benefit the environment around them

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know him, Thomas J. Elpel is the director of Green University in southwest Montana, and is the author of nine books ranging in topics from wilderness survival to consciousness. He is best known for his book Botany in a Day: The Patterns Method of Plant Identification. With his background in wilderness survival skills, Tom applied a self-sufficiency ethic to all aspects of his life, from living in a tent and building his own stone and log home to later launching his own publishing company. Tom has produced two card games that teach plant family patterns and one that teaches wildlife ecology. He is presently writing a book about the ecology of the American West.

I can’t wait to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book...

I’ve got something a little bit different for this week’s episode!

You know all those commercials for pharmaceutical drugs? The ones that list all the crazy side effects while showing people strolling on the beach or at a dinner party having fun? Well, for this week’s episode I envisioned what it might be like if there was a similar ad for herbs.

You’ll also hear about one of my online courses, Cooling Inflammation. Not all inflammation is bad, but when it runs amuck, it causes all sorts of problems, including chronic pain and illness. With Cooling Inflammation, you’ll learn how to get real results with herbs so you can have more energy, less pain, and resilient health without buying expensive supplements or eliminating your favorite foods. Get more information and sign up here. Through Thursday, Cooling Inflammation is available at a reduced price, but after that the course won’t be available at all for a while – so don’t delay!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in her full story here.

I’ve known Beth for many years, and I knew from experience that the two of us were going to have a lively conversation! It was a joy to sit down with her to discuss kava - a plant that has been supporting her since day one of her herbal journey, and one that I have also found to be super helpful in times of stress and anxiety. Beth has gotten to know this plant so well that her friends sometimes even refer to her as the Kava Queen!

Beth has worked with kava in so many different ways, from tinctures to powders and even chocolate bars! One of her favorite ways to take kava is in her delicious smoothie recipe, which she calls Kava Kolada. You’ll find a beautifully illustrated recipe card here, so that you can give it a try too: https://bit.ly/3YBeQQJ

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How kava can help you lower your walls and speak from your heart

► Why kava is so great during times of grief, stress, and anxiety

► Five different herbal preparations for kava

► An unusual way that kava affects you - and how that might help you when you go to the dentist!

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Beth’s love of nature came from growing up on her family farm. She spent years walking the woods collecting treasures (bluebells being her favorite), and "sucking the sugar" out of red clover blossoms. A sun worshipper at heart, at 26 she fled the snow & moved to the desert. There she discovered the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts (SWIHA), where she studied herbalism, hypnotherapy, aromatherapy, astrology & more. She graduated with an Associate’s Degree in Holistic Healthcare with a specialty in Western Herbalism, taught by the brilliant herbalist JoAnn Sanchez. She worked for Whole Foods, herb shops, Dr. Hauschka, SWIHA, and many herb companies, and she taught herb classes. In 2009, life led her to Austin, and her dream of owning an herb shop came true. Sacred Moon Herbs came to birth on April 17th of 2012 in Dripping Springs, Texas.

I’m excited to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book

I’ve only worked with black birch a little bit, and I was really excited when Amelia South told me she was interested in discussing this beautiful tree! Amelia had so much to share about black birch, and I left the conversation wishing I could be out in the woods smelling and tasting it right then. I’d be surprised if you don’t leave this episode feeling super interested in black birch, too!

One of the things Amelia shared was how black birch has supported her with pain relief in so many different situations, from arthritic pain to tummy aches. We have a beautifully illustrated recipe card for Amelia’s Tummy Ache Tea, which you can find here: https://bit.ly/3BYlYyZ

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How to work with black birch both topically and internally for pain relief

► How to use your nose to distinguish black birch trees from wild black cherry trees

► Six tips for harvesting birch bark (and any tree bark!) ethically and respectfully

► How talking with the plants has helped Amelia in her herbal journey

► Why it’s important to learn from plants through your senses, not just about plants through reading books

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Amelia is a professional foraging instructor and practicing herbalist living on her small organic farm in eastern Connecticut. She helps people reconnect with nature, heal their bodies with wild food and medicinal plants, and reclaim their gut health by escaping the toxic Western diet. She teaches many lessons on her TikTok channel as well as YouTube.

I’m thrilled to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies That Heal and co-author of the bestselling book Wild Remedies: How to Forage Healing Foods and Craft Your Own Herbal Medicine. She's a registered herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild and teaches many popular online courses. Read about how Rosalee went from having a terminal illness to being a bestselling author in

I’ve heard about Pam Montgomery for many years, so I was excited to finally meet her! Pam’s approach to herbalism really focuses on developing relationships with the plants, and it was fascinating to hear her discuss the ways she makes those connections and gets to know herbs on a deeper level.

Pam recently had the opportunity to do a deep-dive with lavender in the fields of Provence, and she had so much wisdom to share about this lovely herb! She also shared her very versatile recipe for Lavender Syrup - something you’ll want to have in your fridge year-round. You can download a beautifully-illustrated recipe card for Lavender Syrup here: https://bit.ly/40dgyua

While the scent of lavender is seemingly everywhere these days, there is so much more to it than just a lovely fragrance! Here are just a few instances when you might turn to lavender:

► To improve your sleep

► To relieve stress and reduce anxiety

► In wound care, for both pain relief and as an antimicrobial

From its calming effects to its ability to regulate inflammation, this is definitely a versatile plant. Be sure to check out the entire episode for even more ways lavender can benefit your health!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► The difference between English lavender and lavandin - and why it’s important to know which one you're working with!

► The type of emotional trauma that lavender is especially beneficial for

► How making connections with plants can be just as healing as working with them in medicinal preparations

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Pam Montgomery is an herbalist, author, international teacher, Earth elder and new-paradigm thinker who has passionately embraced her role as a spokesperson for the green beings and who has been investigating plants and their intelligent spiritual nature for more than three decades.

Pam is the author of two books, one of which is the highly acclaimed Plant Spirit Healing: A Guide to Working with Plant Consciousness. Her latest book, Co-Creating with Nature, will be published in the spring of 2025. She teaches internationally and virtually on plant initiations, spiritual ecology and co-creative partnership with Nature. Pam is the founder of the Organization of Nature Evolutionaries, or ONE, and was a founding board member of United Plant Savers.

I’m delighted to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book

It’s been many years since Patricia and I have been together in person, and it was an honor to sit down with her again and hear her stories and wisdom. She had a lot of insights to share about the process of becoming a Registered Herbalist through the American Herbalists Guild (including why you would want to do so in the first place!), as well as tips about some of the most important herbal knowledge that new herbalists often don’t consider.

And of course, Patricia also discussed how she works with an often-overlooked part of the elder plant - the leaf! She shared several of the gifts of elder leaf, as well as how she likes to formulate with it, and included her adaptation of an old recipe for Green Cooling Salve. You can download a beautifully-illustrated recipe card here: https://bit.ly/3Ykj3tn

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How elder leaf can be worked with to relieve sore throats

►What makes elder leaf such a soothing topical remedy

► Four different medicinal preparations for working with elder leaf

► Why it’s so important for herbalists to be able to recognize “red flag” health conditions

►What it means to be a Registered Herbalist with the American Herbalists Guild

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, Patricia Kyritsi Howell, RH(AHG), is an herbalist, teacher, and author of Medicinal Plants of the Southern Appalachians, an essential resource for the region's native flora. She is the founder and director of the BotanoLogos School of Herbal Studies in the mountains of North Georgia, United States. Patricia is the Academic Coordinator for the American Herbalists Guild's annual symposium and oversees the AHG Registered Herbalist application review process.

After almost thirty years of clinical practice, Patricia now devotes herself to supporting student practitioners as a mentor through the online course Crafting Your Herbal Practice, which she teaches in collaboration with Kat Maier and Emily Ruff. Patricia is passionate about supporting aspiring herbalists to take their place as essential healthcare workers in their communities. She lives on unceded Cherokee land in Tiger, Georgia.

I can’t wait to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the bestselling book Alchemy of Herbs: Transform Everyday Ingredients Into Foods & Remedies

It was such a pleasure to have Yarrow on the show! Yarrow is a dynamic speaker who is super passionate about building relationships with herbs and their ecosystems. As you’ll hear in this conversation, Yarrow sees herbalism as a bridge to help people tune back in to the natural world, and he weaves in nature connection with everything he does.

Yarrow spoke extensively about reishi mushrooms - not just how they can benefit us physically, but also how they can improve our mental and emotional health, and how they can help us to better understand and learn from the other beings in the forests they are found in. He also shared many ways reishi can be worked with medicinally, including his incredibly detailed recipe for a Reishi Dual Extraction. You’ll find a link to a beautifully illustrated recipe card here: https://bit.ly/4eNNptq

Here are just a few ways reishi can be worked with to benefit your health:

► As a grounding influence, to help you connect with the nature around you

► As a tonic to strengthen your immune system

► To improve insulin sensitivity and support blood sugar regulation

For more, be sure to check out the entire episode!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► How reishi can help with your brain health and vision

►Tips for finding and harvesting reishi mushrooms

► Why it’s so important to make connections with the places where you gather plants, even (or especially!) when the plants are out of season

► Six different medicinal preparations for reishi

►Why dual extractions of mushrooms are considered more potent than simple dried mushroom powders

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know him, Yarrow Willard is a second-generation Clinical Herbalist, living in the unceded territory of the Comox First Nations on Vancouver Island.

He is the co-creator of Harmonic Arts, the Wild Rose College of Herbal Medicine and the Canadian Herb Conference. As an online personality and YouTube educator he is known as the Herbal Jedi. His mission is to help empower the modern age with tools and teachings for reclaiming health through deepened connection to the natural world.

Yarrow’s approach to plant medicine is one of curiosity, connection, and contemplation. His teachings often are infused with old world energetics, modern measurables, and direct plant communications, in a playful and digestible way.

I am so excited to share our conversation with you today!

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using herbs successfully begins with knowing who YOU are. Get started by taking my free Herbal Jumpstart course when you sign up for my newsletter.

If you enjoy the Herbs with Rosalee podcast, we could use your support! Please consider leaving a 5-star rating and review and sharing the show with someone who needs to hear it!

On the podcast, we explore the many ways plants heal, as food, as medicine, and through nature connection. Each week, I focus on a single seasonal plant and share trusted herbal knowledge so that you can get the best results when using herbs for your health.

Learn more about Herbs with Rosalee at herbswithrosalee.com.

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Rosalee is an herbalist and author of the...

I’ve been emailing with Holly for years, but as much as we’ve interacted via email and recipe exchange, this was our first time face-to-face and it was great to finally get the chance to meet her! In this episode, Holly shares so much fascinating information about elderberry (one of my very favorite herbs!) - from folklore, to crafty uses for the twigs, to tips for harvesting the berries, and of course the many ways this amazing plant can be worked with medicinally!

Holly also shared her recipe for Bright Vinegar for Colds, which just looks so delicious and enticing! You’ll find a beautifully-illustrated recipe card for Holly’s recipe here: https://bit.ly/4gGhZar

When might you turn to elder leaves, flowers, and berries for your health?

► When you need a soothing remedy for angry emotions, angry fevers, or angry skin

► As a topical first aid ointment for burns

► To help shorten the duration of colds and flu (or prevent them from starting in the first place!)

► As delicious and nutrient-rich food and drink

In addition to discussing the many benefits of elderberry, Holly also shared some fantastic tips for learning about herbs, especially for the beginning herbalist - so if you’re new to herbalism you’ll want to be sure to give this episode a listen!

By the end of this episode, you’ll know:

► Why it’s important to experience herbs hands-on and not just through book learning

► A fun tip for harvesting elderberries from high up in its branches

► How elderflowers can be worked with for emotional support

► Nine medicinal benefits of elder berries, flowers, and even leaves!

► and so much more…

For those of you who don’t know her, herbalist, entrepreneur and author Holly Bellebuono has spent 30 years teaching plant medicine and business courses for natural and organic product makers. She directs The Bellebuono School of Herbal Medicine and Selle Impact Consulting.

Holly lectures globally at conferences, retreats, and universities. Her documentary book Women Healers of the World: The Traditions, History & Geography of Herbal Medicine was named Book of the Year by The International Herb Association.

Holly’s seven nonfiction books have been published in three languages. Her 8th book will be released Spring 2025: Once Upon a Place: Forests, Caverns, and Other Places of Transformation in Myth, Fairy Tale, and Film.

I’m delighted to share our conversation with you today!

Are you interested in learning more about Holly’s herbal Tuscany retreat, which will be happening in May of 2025? You can find information about it on her website here - but if you want to join, don’t delay, as spots will fill up quickly!

Holly also has a new book, Once Upon a Place: Forests, Caverns & Other Places of Transformation in Myths, Fairy Tales & Film, coming out in March of 2025. You can pre-order her book here.

Access the transcript for this episode:

https://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/podcast156.html

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Get full show notes and more information at: herbswithrosaleepodcast.com

For more behind-the-scenes of this podcast, follow @rosaleedelaforet on Instagram!

The secret to using...