One Thing Led to Another

 

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I vowed not to take any more online classes until I retired, but the temptation was so great that I took a writing class again last fall. Just two days into a week-long, lunch time class I realized I wouldn’t be able to finish due to work demands. Still, I love learning and had to find a way!
 

I turned to online self-paced courses and these, I’m delighted to say, are working perfectly. There are even Facebook groups associated with the classes, and unlike in-person classes, I virtually meet people from all over the world and learn from their questions and different situations.

My first venture with an online class grew from my interest in cooking with herbs and wanting to know how to use herbs in healing teas. I’m especially interested in contraindications—when NOT to use particular herbs. 

This interest led to an online class in herbalism
with the Herbal Academy. The class turned out to be much more intense than I was prepared for, but I could take my own sweet time, any time, and it was a success! For anyone else interested, the additional cost for the book set is worth it.

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 This class led to the purchase of an herbal calendar that I love. Every other day it has useful and interesting facts on herbs ranging from history, medicinal uses, growing tips, and recipes.


 

 

Course

 

Through the Herbal Academy Facebook group I then learned of Grow, Forage, Cook, Ferment, a self-paced online class covering foraged plants and how to use them. Yes, that led to me enrolling just a day after learning of this course.

All of this has led to even more herbs planned for my garden, such as purslane, purple dead nettle, self-heal, miner’s lettuce, calendula, and more. One herb I had to remove was lemon balm as it is contraindicated with thyroid conditions. My spiral herb garden is now where the lemon balm patch was.

I’ve also learned of some edible wild plants that already grow in my yard such as chickweed, wild violet, plantain, and the ubiquitous dandelion. Since I grow organically and have no outside pets, I can be assured my plants are safe to consume (though I of course still wash them!).

As my garden grows I look forward to seeing where my herbalism and gardening paths leads next!

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