Congratulations! You have been accepted into the 2025 Clinical Herbalism Program. Purchase this item to complete your registration. The pdf you receive will have all the information listed below:
 
IN-PERSON CLASSES
Our program will meet in person 10 am - 5 pm on the following dates:
 
February 15-16
April 12-13
June 7-8
*July 10-13
September 27-28
 
The majority of our in-person classes will be held at Tryon Life Community Farm, 11640 SW Boones Ferry Rd, Portland, OR 97219. The classroom yurt is comfortably heated and well lit. In our classes students and the instructor sit in a circle, some on chairs and others on pillows on the floor. Feel free to bring your favorite pillow or floor seat, although there will be some supplied. This location has a limited number of parking spaces and carpooling with fellow students after the first weekend will be required.
 
Additional information about the class schedule and syllabus will be provided on the first day.
 
The Camping Trip - July 10-13
One of the great benefits of this program is the opportunity to camp together and spend extended time in the forest. We will spend 3 days and 2 nights in the field meeting plants, harvesting, medicine making, and enjoying each other’s company. More information about the trip, including location and supply lists, will be provided at the weekend classes.
 
Planning for Accommodations
For students attending from out of town, you will need to find accomodations for the night between our Saturday class and our Sunday hike. Camping at the farm is possible: contact Brenna at brenna@tryonfarm.org well in advance if you are interested in arranging a farm stay.
 
 
ONLINE SEMINAR CLASSES
Between in-person classes we will meet online for special topics, case presentation and to discuss projects. Seminar classes will be 1-2 times monthly late February through September, held on weekday mornings for 2 hours over Zoom. Exact dates will follow.
 
 
ONLINE MATERIA MEDICA CLASSES
The 2025 Clinical Herbalism Program also grants participants full access to five months of live online Materia Medica classes. These classes are on Thursday evenings in February, March, April, May, September, and October: 60 hours of live instruction
 
The Plant Medicine series is our detailed plant-by-plant materia medica series for the many Pacific Northwest bioregions. Clinical Herbalism students can simply attend these without registering, dropping in on any class. There is no access to class recordings. The Plant Medicine series is described in detail below:
 
Each course focuses on a different group of 15-30 plant medicines, covering:
Botanical identification
Ecological roles in their native habitat
Detailed materia medica including both contemporary and historical medicinal uses
Herbal energetics
 
Location: Online via Zoom. The meeting code will be emailed to you before the beginning of each class.
 
Plant Medicine I: Tree Medicine
February 20 & 27, March 6 & 13
In this first class we look at the important trees of Cascadia, including conifers like Western Redcedar, Douglas Fir, Juniper and Pines, as well as essential deciduous tree medicines like Hawthorn, Oak, Cottonwood, Willows, Quaking Aspen, Red Alder, and more.
 
Plant Medicine II: Herbs, Flowers, and Weeds
April 10, 17, 24, and May 1
In our second class we turn our attention to herbaceous plants, both native and naturalized. Important medicines like stinging nettles, dandelion, and yarrow are taught alongside some lesser known plants of the lower elevation riparian valleys, forests, Columbia Gorge and coasts.
 
Plant Medicine III: Cascadia Mountain Medicine
May 8, 15, 22 and 29
In our third class we’ll cover some of the very important medicines of the middle and higher elevations of the Pacific Northwest. Many medicinal plants such as Oregon Grape, Devil’s Club and Red Root will be discussed in depth with regard to energetics, historical uses, experiential plant communication, and how to work with these mountain plants in medicinal healing context.
 
Plant Medicine IV: Western Mountains and High Deserts
September 4, 11, 18 and 25
We continue our Plant Medicine series spending four weeks with the plants typically found in the mountain ranges such as the Western Rockies, Eastern Oregon’s Ochocos, Blue Mountains, Wallowas, and Steens; as well as high deserts and canyon-lands. We’ll discuss Ponderosa-Aspen parkland habitat and Juniper Sagebrush plateaus as well as more remote desert plants. Wild Peony, Oshala, Bitterroot, Aspen, Juniper, Sagebrush, Green Ephedra, Arnica, Lomatium, and many other plants will be discussed in depth.
 
Plant Medicine V: The Klamath-Siskyoos
October 2, 9, 16, and 23
Southern Oregon, including the Rogue and Illinois Rivers and the Klamath and Siskiyoo ranges as well as the Kalmiopsis wilderness, is one of the most diverse plant regions of North America. We’ll discuss plant adaptations to fire and serpentine soil types, ecology, and recovery after some of the largest fires in Oregon history. In this class Oshala Ligusticums, wild Angelicas, California Spikenard, Yerba Santa, Yellow Coneflower, California Bay, Cobra Lily and many other plants including rare endemics.
 
Homework and Certificate of Completion
Out-of-class work in the second year of Clinical Herbal study is much more significant than in the first year. Expect to do on average 2-4 hours of outside work each week. There will be some required reading assignments as well as research and skill practice. Attendance for our in-person weekends is critical for completion.
 
Very Highly Recommended reference books for Pacific Northwest herbalists:
Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, Michael Moore
Botany in a Day, Thomas Elpel
Plants of the Pacific Northwest, Pojar and MacKinnon
Handbook of Northwest Plants, Helen Gilkey, 2001 edition
Trees to Know in Oregon and Washington, Ed Jensen
Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants, Scott Kloos
The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook, James Green
Making Plant Medicine, Richo Cech
 
Other readings for the course will be shared throughout the class. Expect some additional texts to be recommened or required, typically as pdfs or web links.