Whether you're an adventurous wildcrafter or an herbalist who always sticks to the trail, knowing key survival skills is an essential part of your herbal toolkit.

Jason Knight is the co-founder of Alderleaf Wilderness College, one of the leading outdoor schools in the United States offering training in wilderness survival to a broad range of clients, including the US Forest Service, REI, the Seattle Mountaineers, and the cast of the award-winning film, Captain Fantastic.

In our latest episode of HerbMentor Radio, we chat with Jason, who has been teaching wilderness survival skills since 1997.

I've been friends with Jason for over 25 years and have been meaning to interview him on the podcast to talk about survival skills for herbalists — and when I saw that he'd written a new book, The Essential Skills of Wilderness Survival: A Guide to Shelter, Water, Fire, Food, Navigation, and Survival Kits, I knew it was time to finally have him on HerbMentor Radio.

In this long awaited conversation, Jason shares...

Learn more about Jason Knight and grab a copy of his book on WildernessCollege.com.

PS...

Growing out of sidewalk cracks and wild meadows alike, dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a persistent plant that can teach us about resilience and adaptability. While it may be despised by lawn purists, herbalists recognize that dandelion isn't a pesky weed: rather, dandelion is an important plant with many healing gifts.

Follow along with herbalist Tara Ruth to learn about 3 benefits of dandelion.

And after learning these 3 benefits you might be wondering how you can learn more about dandelion...

Well, here’s the easy way to learn more about plantain: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes.

You’ll learn all about dandelion, plus 11 other common herbs like catnip, aloe, echinacea, and more.

Visit HerbNotes.cards

It’s not everyday you meet a seasoned herbalist with over 35 years of clinical experience. And it’s even rarer to meet one who is an expert in holistic oncology.

Drawing on her decades of experience supporting people with cancer, medical herbalist Chanchal Cabrera has distilled her learnings into an accessible book for both everyday people and practitioners, Holistic Cancer Care: An Herbal Approach to Preventing Cancer, Helping Patients Thrive during Treatment, and Minimizing the Risk of Recurrence.

In this conversation, we delve into the realms of prevention and cancer support during treatment, gaining invaluable insights along the way. While chatting with Chanchal we learned…

Whether you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, are seeking preventative info, or are a caretaker, I hope this interview with Chanchal can offer some support on your journey.

You can learn more about Chanchal Cabrera’s work and find her book, Holistic Cancer Care, on chanchalcabrera.com.

Plus, you can learn more from Chanchal at the Shift Network.

If you are a practitioner or advanced student of herbal medicine, you can also join Chanchal in person for a five day clinical case studies intensive, which she is co-facilitating with David Winston at her home and teaching gardens on Vancouver Island.

PS…

Looking for more herbal resources? 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.

You can join HerbMentor for just $1 to see if it’s part of your own herbal path.

PPS...

Get a special offer on HerbMentor right here.

Build your herbal first aid kid with your Herbal Preparation Cards

Chances are you've probably stepped on your fair share of the herb plantain (Plantago major, P. rugelii, and P. lanceolata). This abundant medicinal plant loves to grow within pathways and even the most well-manicured lawns. It's so prolific, in fact, that when many people see it growing wildly in their yard they weed it out and hope it doesn't come back.

But herbalists know that this common herb offers many extraordinary healing gifts. Not only is plantain a first aid superstar, it also helps with more chronic issues too.

Follow along with herbalist Tara Ruth to learn about 3 benefits of the herb plantain.

And after learning these 3 benefits you might be wondering how you can learn more about plantain...

Well, here’s the easy way to learn more about plantain: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about catnip, plus 11 other common herbs like catnip, aloe, echinacea, and more.

Get the FREE Herb Notes cards right here...

Nadine Joseph used to work as a chronically stressed neuroscience researcher. Faced with intense burnout, she turned to herbs and fell in love with adaptogens. After experiencing the transformative effects of calming adaptogens, she felt determined to share these powerful herbs with more people.

Nadine founded Peak & Valley, an herbal products business that sells ethically sourced adaptogen blends for skin, brain, and stress support.

In this episode Nadine shares her journey from making adaptogen blends in her kitchen to now nationally distributing Peak & Valley products with major companies like CVS and The Vitamin Shoppe.

In addition to sharing the highs and lows (or the peaks and valleys, if you will) of her adventure as an herbal entrepreneur, Nadine shares…

Learn more about Nadine and Peak & Valley at Peakandvalley.co and follow her on Instagram at @peakandvalleyco

PS…

Nadine has a very special gift for HerbMentor Radio listeners.

Follow this link to claim your gift.

PPS...

Get a very special listener offer on HerbMentor right here.

You can also see all the podcasts on our blog right here.

When most people think of catnip (Nepeta cataria), they think of it as that plant that makes our feline friends get very hyper. But here’s the thing,: catnip isn’t just for cats! Catnip tea and tincture too offers many healing gifts to us humans as well — perhaps the most surprising of all is that catnip calms and relaxes humans.

Yes, that’s right. The leaves and flowering tops of this plant that hypes up cats has a calming effect on our human nervous systems. Follow along with herbalist Tara Ruth to learn about 3 surprising benefits of catnip.

To learn more about catnip, Download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes. You’ll learn all about catnip, plus 11 other common herbs like cinnamon, aloe, echinacea, and more.

Check out our FREE Herb Notes cards here: herbnotes.cards

Shereel Washington graduated from the California School of Herbal Studies Community Herbalist Program in Clinical Herbalism, and she has completed over 1200 hours of herbal craft making training. She is an instructor in Scarlet Sage's Community Herbalist Program & in the Land of Verse Apprentice Herbal Certification Program, as well as in herbal classes and intensives at the Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium in Mendocino. Shereel also teaches dance and qi gong at the Deep Root Center for Spiritual Studies MOVE: Spirit & Rhythm Dance Program in Oakland, CA.

Early in this episode Shereel invites us to unpack the term "Western Herbalism" and to honor the immense influence that Black, Indigenous, and People Color have had on herbalism on this continent. She then goes on to share her research and experience with Black North American Herbalism while diving into traditional herbalism recipes and stories.

Shereel also shares with HerbMentor Radio listeners...

You can learn more from Shereel on Instagram @ixaltednaturalbody

PS...

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

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.

You can join HerbMentor for just $1 to see if it’s part of your own herbal path.

We have a special offer right here for HerbMentor Radio listeners.

PPS...

Would you like to start building your herbal first aid kid?

Download our free recipe cards here.

Yarrow’s leaf and flower are most typically used by Western herbalists, but there is also traditional usage of the roots. In this article, I’ll focus on the medicinal uses of yarrow leaf and flower.

Yarrow’s leaf and flower are most typically used by Western herbalists, but there is also traditional usage of the roots. In this podcast, I’ll focus on the medicinal uses of yarrow leaf and flower.

Want to learn more about the medicinal uses of yarrow?

Now that we’ve just scratched the surface of the many benefits of yarrow, you might be wondering how you can learn more about this powerful plant.

Well, here’s the easy way to learn more about yarrow: download a FREE deck of our top 12 Herb Notes here. You’ll learn all about yarrow, plus 11 other common herbs like cinnamon, aloe, and more.

I hope you enjoy Herb Notes, our new "3 healing herbal uses in 3 minutes" addition to the HerbMentor Radio podcast.

Nada Beydoun is a registered herbalist with a BSc. in Microbiology and Immunology and Masters in Applied Human Nutrition. Her interests include SWANA region herbal medicines, and she has a community work background in refugee settlement and empowerment.

And Fatima Matar is a passionate gardener supporting the work of growing and bringing awareness to milkweed and Monarchs since 2019. Outside of driving around with a backseat filled with milkweed plants, you can find her doing photography as a freelance photographer.

And Nada and Fatima just so happen to be cousins! Several years ago, after learning about the dire situation of declining monarch populations and milkweed habitat loss, these two plant enthusiasts embarked on a journey to start stewarding milkweed for monarch butterflies.

Monarch butterflies rely on milkweed to lay their eggs and feed their larvae. By growing milkweed, we can support endangered monarch butterflies and other vital pollinators.

Together, in this episode of HerbMentor Radio, Nada and Fatima dive into the gifts of the wondrously aromatic milkweed, why they grow milkweeds for monarchs, and the ecological and cultural importance of monarch butterflies.

Nada and Fatima also share...

You can learn more from Nada and Fatima — and check out more of Fatima's beautiful milkweed and monarch photography — on Instagram at @beybotany and @naturewithfatimam.

Please note: pleurisy root (Asclepias tuberosa), which is a species of milkweed, is contraindicated during pregnancy, and this plant does increase the risk of cardiac glycoside toxicity if taken with drugs or herbs that contain those constituents.

PS...

Get a special offer on HerbMentor right here.

Build your herbal first aid kid with your Herbal Preparation Cards!

Christa Sinadinos is the author of The Essential Guide to Western Botanical Medicine, and is the founder and director of the Northwest School for Botanical Studies in Fieldbrook, California, where she has trained hundreds of students. She has more than 25 years of experience as a clinician, teacher, gardener, and medicine maker.

In this episode, we have one of those aha moments with Christa. We were chatting about herbal garnishes like parsley, and Christa said...

When we think about any of the herbs that people use to decorate the plate, they often are good for digestion.

Then we started to rack our brains thinking about all of the the herbal garnishes we've ever seen: mint, lemon, parsley — all herbs that promote healthy digestion!

These herbal garnishes have been passed down for generations as a simple kitchen herbalism remedy for digestive health, but we never thought about garnishes this way until chatting with Christa.

In addition to totally blowing our minds about garnishes, Christa shares how to work with angelica, the surprising health benefits of parsley, her #1 herbal condiment for immunity, and how she wrote our favorite herb book.

ALSO... while supplies last, readers will receive $20 off Christa's book The Essential Guide to Western Botanical Medicine with the promo code LHSave$20.