A couple of years ago, like many people, I didn’t know there was such a thing as being a clinical herbalist. I was going through some creative block and working through Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way, but instead of delving more into photography (which had been my intention), my thoughts and writings kept returning to plants. Once the idea was in my mind, I couldn’t let it go. I started doing some research into herbalism to see if it was even a viable career, and realized with excitement: “Wait, I can do that?” and immediately started my hunt for herbalism resources.
In this article I’ll talk about some of the free resources I’ve found, as well as some tips for taking paid classes.
Free Herbalism Resources
Herbalista.org
When I first became interested in herbalism, I didn’t know much about it. I had very limited experience with plants, despite my interest in them, and a pretty black thumb (let’s not talk about the amount of “unkillable” plants I’ve sent to an early grave… RIP Money Tree). I figured herbalism was for people who were great gardeners, knew every plant they encountered, and drank tea eight times a day.
But my curiosity was piqued, and I’m nothing if not stubborn. Through some web searching I found Herbalista’s website and saw they had a free course called Herbalism Foundations. I wasn’t sure yet if I even truly liked herbalism or if this was just a random kick I was on. So I gave myself the mandate to finish the entire Foundations course before I would allow myself to do any kind of paid course.
Herbalista’s Foundations course is one of my favourite herbalism resources to recommend to beginners. They introduced several topics that I haven’t seen in many other “basic” courses elsewhere. Lorna Mauney-Brodek is very engaging and knowledgeable, and it gave me a great knowledge base to be able to hit the ground running when I did eventually take a paid class. There are many other courses like Herbal Medicine Making, Community + Clinical Care, and In the Field (a botany and urban foraging class) which are all available for free. That said, if you have the ability to donate, please do! Donations keep courses like these available, and help to fund their wellness education programs, free clinic, and more.
*note: As of this writing, the Free School is not available while Herbalista move their classes to a new website. They should be available again sometime in February 2026
Virtual Conferences
The next thing I found was a virtual conference run by The Herbal Academy. They run a virtual conference every year, with a wide range of speakers and subjects. Webinars range from basic to intermediate, with broad topics such as everyday uses, cultivation, and narrower topics like menopause. Webinars also always inevitably lead you to other herbalism resources, with each of the speakers having their own books, websites, and classes.
If this is something you’re interested in attending, the 2026 Virtual Herbalism Conference starts February 15th!
There is such a wide variety of webinars, you’re just about guaranteed to find one you like. There are other places that run similar events, such as Ecoversity.
Herbalism Guilds
Another great herbalism resource is to find your local herbalism guild. Many countries have an herbalism guild, and there may even be one for your specific province/state or region. Do a web search for “[your country/province/state] herbalism guild” and see what comes up. If there isn’t a guild, there may be some other group in your area that you can use to help you find more local resources.
My local guild has a calendar with local events, webinars, paid and free classes, and a newsletter that sends the good stuff straight to my inbox.
Web Search
Knowing how to search for herbalism resources in your area will help you figure out what you have access to. I’ve searched many combinations and variations of the following keywords, with or without my province name:
- Herbalism
- Conference
- Meetup
- Virtual
- Webinar
- Seed Swap
- Harvest
- Festival
- Sowing
- Plant Swap
- Farmer’s Market
While many of these aren’t herbalism-specific, I’ve yet to go to a seed festival that didn’t have at least one herbalist kiosk!
Podcasts/Radio
The only one I’ve listened to so far is The Herbal Highway, but there are many others. This was originally a radio show from KPFA, but the entire archive of their show is available in podcast catchers. You can also find the full archive on their website! Unfortunately, the last episode of The Herbal Highway aired on February 4th, 2025. With over 800 episodes to listen to, it will be a while before you run out.
Paid Herbalism Resources
Books
Once I had some foundational knowledge, I wanted to devour as much as possible about herbalism. Rosemary Gladstar has some great, accessible books for beginners that have some easy to follow recipes. One of my favourites is Herbs for Common Ailments, which covers all your “first aid” type issues. My favourite first book for people learning about energetics is Kat Maier’s Energetic Herbalism. This was the book that helped me understand the relationship between the body and seasons, and different constitutions.
While I listed books as a paid source, a lot of libraries stock at least a handful of books about herbalism. If your local library doesn’t have any, see what their request process is! If they know there is an interest, they are often willing to look into procuring something.
There are so many great books about herbalism, but unfortunately there are also now books written by AI. I highly recommend looking up the author of a book before you buy it. Well-known herbalists will have websites with their photo, and typically will have spoken at conferences (you can usually find clips on YouTube).
Classes
By the time I finished Herbalista’s Foundations course, I knew I wanted to be a clinical herbalist. I started by searching the herbalism guild in my area, which provided a list of reputable schools.
I looked at all the websites for the schools with accreditation and attended each of their open houses. This gave me a great sense of what their teachers were like, what their philosophies were, etc. Some schools had a greater focus on homeopathy, which personally I have very little interest in, so those schools did not make my short list.
Eventually, I chose a school that has a science-informed approach to herbalism. I attended the open house for that school again, and asked some more specific questions, such as:
- How do you integrate new research into your lessons?
- How often do you update your lessons?
- How much importance do you place on homeopathy?
- Does your course focus more on the use of plant materials like leaves, roots, etc, or essential oils?
- Does your school provide certificates that can be used for accreditation?
Once they answered my questions, I felt like the school was a great fit for me. Nonetheless, I took the cautious route of picking the least expensive class from their catalogue, even if it was not necessarily the one they typically recommended completing first. Thankfully, this class confirmed for me that this was the best school for me. If it hadn’t been, I would have been really annoyed with myself if I’d done the expensive classes first!
Conclusion
As of this writing, I’m 2 years into a 5-year program (which I will probably be taking over 6 years since I’m also working full-time). I am more and more in love with herbalism every day, and excited to one day have my own practice!
What kind of resources have you found for herbalism? I would love to hear any recommendations you have in the comments!