Herb Mentor Radio

Long before it had a Latin name, elecampane had legends. Some said elves lived beneath its enormous leaves. Others said the herb grew from the tears Helen of Troy wept as she was carried from her homeland.

Elecampane (Inula helenium) is a striking plant, and it earns every inch of its mythology. In a garden, it can grow up to ten feet tall, with leaves stretching two feet long and a summer crown of bright yellow, daisy-like flowers that bees visit in droves. The roots – creamy white to yellow, spreading wide beneath the soil – are where all the medicine lives.

Herbalists have treasured those roots for thousands of years.

Let's explore 3 medicinal uses of elecampane with herbalist Sorrel Hartford.

And after learning these 3 benefits of elecampane you might be wondering how you can learn more about other common herbs.

Here’s the easy way to learn more about our favorite common herbs: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about popular herbs like catnip, aloe, elderberry, and more.

Get your FREE Herb Notes printable flashcards here: https://www.learningherbs.com/herb-notes-flashcards/

This month on HerbMentor Radio, Kimberly Gallagher and Mimi Prunella welcome North Carolina herbalist, educator, wildcrafter, and Red Moon Herbs owner Jeannie Dunn for a journey into the rich forests of the Southern Appalachians. Together, they explore woodland herbalism, sustainable wildcrafting, and what it means to build a relationship with medicinal plants that includes not only harvesting them, but tending and protecting the places where they grow.

Jeannie takes listeners into the cool, green world of an Appalachian rich cove, where extraordinary biodiversity creates habitat for some of our most treasured woodland medicines. She reflects on growing up on her family’s North Carolina farm and the generations of women who taught her to grow food, preserve the harvest, work with plants, and care for family and community. That lineage eventually found a natural home in the Wise Woman tradition and continues to shape Jeannie’s approach to herbalism today.

The conversation celebrates Jeannie’s beloved mantra, “Eat More Weeds,” and the value of turning toward abundant plants growing close to home. Jeannie and Mimi explore how favoring common weeds can also take pressure off slower-growing woodland medicinals and discuss how herbalists can move beyond sustainable harvesting toward active stewardship of vulnerable plant communities.

The episode’s anchor herb, American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius), opens a deeper conversation about one of Appalachia’s most storied medicinal plants. Jeannie shares her relationship with ginseng and the complicated history surrounding its harvest, trade, and conservation. She also introduces an intriguing alternative to digging the prized root: working with ginseng leaf, offering another way to experience the medicine of this remarkable plant while keeping its roots in the ground.

Listeners will also hear how these values shape Red Moon Herbs, where fresh, local plants, seasonal medicine making, and responsible sourcing remain central even as an herbal business grows. Jeannie reflects on Western North Carolina’s vibrant herbal community, the Asheville Herb Festival, and the extraordinary ways herbalists, growers, and neighbors came together following Hurricane Helene.


In this episode, we explore:

Discover More
Jeannie Dunn / Red Moon Herbs
Instagram: @redmoonherbs
Website: https://redmoonherbs.com

Explore National Geographic Herbal: 100 Plants That Heal by HerbMentor Radio co-host Mimi Prunella Hernandez and continue learning with Mimi at @herbalandhome and herbalandhome.com.
 

Are you ready to take your herbal learning to the next level?

Sounds like it’s time to check out HerbMentor!

HerbMentor offers a wide variety of rich herbal content — including an in-depth course on food as medicine — that gives you the opportunity to choose your own herbal adventure, take your time, and connect with other herbal learners and experts whenever you login.

Are you just starting to make herbal remedies?

Ashwagandha is an ancient Ayurvedic herb with a fascinating reputation: its name roughly translates to “smell of a horse,” while a companion saying promises that it gives you the strength of a stallion.

Ashwagandha, or Withania somnifera, has been used medicinally for thousands of years, and Ayurveda has long valued it as a rejuvenating rasayana — an herb that nourishes, strengthens, and promotes longevity.

Let's explore three medicinal uses of ashwagandha with herbalist Sorrel Hartford.

And after learning these 3 benefits of ashwagandha you might be wondering how you can learn more about other common herbs.

Here’s the easy way to learn more about our favorite common herbs: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about popular herbs like catnip, aloe, elderberry, and more.

Get your FREE Herb Notes printable flashcards here: https://www.learningherbs.com/herb-notes-flashcards/

In this episode of HerbMentor Radio, Mimi Prunella welcomes Kimberly Gallagher and Lauren Morgan to explore Rhythms & Relationships, a new LearningHerbs course that invites us into a slower, more relational way of practicing herbalism.

Kimberly Gallagher is co-founder of LearningHerbs and HerbMentor, where she has spent years helping thousands of people cultivate joyful, practical relationships with medicinal plants through education, community, and everyday herbalism.

Lauren Morgan is a community herbalist, dreamworker, author of Seasonal Herbalism, host of the Herbs and Dreams podcast, and founder of Herbs & Dreams. Her work weaves together herbalism, dreams, Earth-based spirituality, and deep relationship with the living world.

Together, Kimberly and Lauren invite us to consider the plants not simply as remedies to be studied but as living beings with whom we can cultivate meaningful relationships. While many of us begin herbalism by learning constituents, actions, preparations, and botanical names, this conversation explores another way of knowing the plants through presence, listening, and lived experience.

They discuss how slowing down allows us to reconnect with the rhythms that have always guided herbal traditions. From the changing seasons and lunar cycles to our own bodies, dreams, and intuition, herbalism becomes less about accumulating information and more about participating in a living relationship with the world around us.

The conversation also explores the role of dreams in herbal practice, the wisdom that emerges through the senses, and the importance of creating space for stillness in a culture that often celebrates speed and productivity. Kimberly and Lauren also reflect on the beautiful experience of creating this course together, sharing how their friendship, time on the land, and deep reverence for the plants shaped both the course and their work together.

In this episode, we explore:

Learn more about Lauren Morgan and her work at: Herbs & Dreams

Learn more about Rhythms & Relationships and the LearningHerbs community at: LearningHerbs

Are you ready to take your herbal learning to the next level?

Sounds like it’s time to check out HerbMentor!

HerbMentor offers a wide variety of rich herbal content — including an in-depth course on food as medicine — that gives you the opportunity to choose your own herbal adventure, take your time, and connect with other herbal learners and experts whenever you login.

Get a special offer on HerbMentor at https://HerbMentorRadio.com

Are you just starting to make herbal remedies?

Build your natural first aid kid with our free Herbal Preparation Cards: https://Herbal.Cards

Lavender is one of herbalism's most recognized and beloved plants: familiar enough to live in a garden bed or a scented lotion, yet grounded in a body of clinical studies that most people never get to see.

Lavender, or Lavandula angustifolia, has been used medicinally for centuries across Europe and the Mediterranean, and it continues to impress modern scientific research. The Botanical Safety Handbook gives it its highest safety rating, making it one of the most accessible herbs you can add to your home practice.

Let's explore three medicinal uses of lavender...

Follow along with herbalist Sorrel Hartford to learn about 3 benefits and key contraindications of lavender.

And after learning these 3 benefits of lavender you might be wondering how you can learn more about other common herbs.

Here’s the easy way to learn more about our favorite common herbs: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about popular herbs like catnip, aloe, elderberry, and more.

Get your FREE Herb Notes printable flashcards here: https://www.learningherbs.com/herb-notes-flashcards/

This month on HerbMentor Radio, Kimberly Gallagher and Mimi Prunella welcome Appalachian herbalist, storyteller, and educator Heather Wood Buzzard for a delightful conversation celebrating the remarkable plants many people overlook. Together, they explore the world of weedy herbalism, where common plants become nourishing foods, trusted medicines, and lifelong teachers.

Heather shares the story of her unconventional introduction to herbalism, digging dandelion roots for dollars as a young wildcrafter, and reflects on the lessons those humble weeds taught her about perseverance, humility, and the value hidden in ordinary places. Her love of storytelling shines throughout the episode as she weaves together childhood memories, Appalachian traditions, and the healing power of narrative herbalism.

The conversation also celebrates Heather and Mimi's collaboration on National Geographic Backyard Guide to Edible Wild Plants, exploring why learning the abundant plants growing close to home is one of the best ways to begin a relationship with wild foods and medicines. Together they share favorite edible plants, laugh about organizing a field guide around plant parts, and reflect on how much they learned from one another during the writing process.

Listeners will also hear Heather's unforgettable childhood memory of discovering a sprawling patch of wild passionfruit, learn why daylilies deserve a place at the table, and discover the surprising appeal of a hearty bowl of cream of weeds soup. Along the way, Heather offers thoughtful reflections on how wildcrafting teaches mindfulness, observation, and restraint, reminding us that gathering plants is as much about relationship as it is about harvest.

In this episode, we explore:

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Follow Heather: @plantsandstory

Website: https://www.heatherwoodbuzzard.com

National Geographic Backyard Guide to Edible Wild Plants:
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/770136/national-geographic-backyard-guide-to-edible-wild-plants-by-mimi-prunella-hernandez-and-heather-wood-buzzard/

Are you ready to take your herbal learning to the next level?

Sounds like it’s time to check out HerbMentor!

HerbMentor offers a wide variety of rich herbal content — including an in-depth course on food as medicine — that gives you the opportunity to choose your own herbal adventure, take your time, and connect with other herbal learners and experts whenever you login.

Get a special offer on HerbMentor at https://HerbMentorRadio.com

Are you just starting to make herbal remedies?

Build your natural first aid kid with our free Herbal Preparation Cards: https://Herbal.Cards

If you've ever sipped a cold IPA on a warm summer evening, you've already had a brush with one of herbalism's most interesting relaxing herbs. Hops (Humulus lupulus) is most famous as the plant behind craft beer's signature bitter flavor. Long before artisan breweries started putting together tasting notes about citrus undertones and fruity finishes, herbalists were treasuring hops for its ability to help people unwind, sleep, and digest.

Want to learn about the healing gifts of hops?

Follow along with herbalist Sorrel Hartford to learn about 3 benefits and key contraindications of hops as a medicine plant.

And after learning these 3 benefits of hops you might be wondering how you can learn more about other common herbs.

Here’s the easy way to learn more about our favorite common herbs: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about popular herbs like catnip, aloe, elderberry, and more.

Get your FREE Herb Notes printable flashcards here: https://www.learningherbs.com/herb-notes-flashcards/

Joining us is Brandon Ruiz, a community herbalist, educator, urban farmer, and author whose work beautifully weaves together gardening, foraging, culture, and community. Brandon shares how gardens become places where relationships grow, not only between people and plants, but between generations, neighborhoods, and cultural traditions.

Brandon takes us on a heartfelt journey to his grandparents' land in Puerto Rico, where the sights, scents, and medicinal plants of his childhood first inspired his love of herbalism. Today, he returns to that same land not only to reconnect with his roots, but to inspire the generations who first nurtured his curiosity.

The conversation also explores Brandon's transition to Philadelphia and his work with the Norris Square Neighborhood Project, where gardens serve as living classrooms that bring together children, elders, food traditions, public art, and Puerto Rican culture. Through community gardening, Brandon demonstrates how cultivating plants can also cultivate belonging, memory, and connection.

Tulsi takes center stage as this month's anchor herb, becoming a beautiful example of how one fragrant plant can invite curiosity and open the door to deeper relationships with herbalism. Brandon shares why tulsi so often becomes a gateway plant, drawing people into the garden through its aroma before leading them toward the broader enchantment of medicinal plants.

We also celebrate Brandon's new book, How to Forage for Medicinal Plants Without Dying, and discuss how confidence, intention, and responsible stewardship can help transform fear into meaningful relationships with the plants growing all around us.

In this episode, we explore:

You can find Brandon @yucayekefarms. For info on the Puerto Rican Herbalism Gathering, visit https://prherbalism.podia.com/

Are you ready to take your herbal learning to the next level?

Sounds like it’s time to check out HerbMentor!

HerbMentor offers a wide variety of rich herbal content — including an in-depth course on food as medicine — that gives you the opportunity to choose your own herbal adventure, take your time, and connect with other herbal learners and experts whenever you login.

Get a special offer on HerbMentor at https://HerbMentorRadio.com

Are you just starting to make herbal remedies?

Build your natural first aid kid with our free Herbal Preparation Cards: https://Herbal.Cards

Holy Basil (Ocimum tenuiflorum or Ocimum sanctum) has been revered in Ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years, but its health benefits are uniquely relevant to the demands of modern life.

Want to learn about the healing gifts of Holy Basil?

Follow along with herbalist Sorrel Hartford to learn about 3 benefits and key contraindications of Holy Basil.

And after learning these 3 benefits of Holy Basil you might be wondering how you can learn more about other common herbs.

Here’s the easy way to learn more about our favorite common herbs: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about popular herbs like catnip, aloe, elderberry, and more.

Get your FREE Herb Notes printable flashcards here: https://www.learningherbs.com/herb-notes-flashcards/

In this episode of HerbMentor Radio, we continue our journey through National Geographic Herbal with Chapter Four: Topical Herbalism.

To guide us into this deeply sensory and ancestral world, we are joined by herbalist Shereel Washington, founder of Ixalted Natural Body Care & Botanicals. Shereel brings a rich perspective rooted in folk herbalism, body care traditions, ancestral knowledge, and relationship with the plants that nourish and protect the skin.

Together, we explore how topical herbalism lives far beyond modern skincare trends. Shereel shares vivid childhood memories of being lovingly coated from head to toe in warm cocoa butter, opening a conversation about touch, care, scent, and the ways herbal body traditions become woven into everyday life and memory.

We also explore how herbs work through the skin to influence the body more deeply, supporting comfort, inflammation, restoration, immunity, and relationship with ourselves. From herbal baths and foot soaks to infused oils and body butters, the conversation highlights topical herbalism as both practical and deeply nourishing.

Shereel also shares beautiful insights into traditional herbal craft, including working with infused animal fats as deeply nourishing carriers for topical remedies. The conversation explores how herbal oils, salves, and body butters made with tallow and other traditional fats carry both practicality and ancestral memory, connecting modern herbalists back to longstanding traditions of skin nourishment and whole body care.

In this episode, we explore:

Learn more about Shereel Washington and her work at Ixalted Natural Body Care & Botanicals and at Berkeley Herbal Center.

Are you ready to take your herbal learning to the next level?

Sounds like it’s time to check out HerbMentor!

HerbMentor offers a wide variety of rich herbal content — including an in-depth course on food as medicine — that gives you the opportunity to choose your own herbal adventure, take your time, and connect with other herbal learners and experts whenever you login.

Get a special offer on HerbMentor at https://HerbMentorRadio.com

Are you just starting to make herbal remedies?

Build your natural first aid kid with our free Herbal Preparation Cards: https://Herbal.Cards