187. Fall Herbalism Classes Are Back, In Brooklyn — And There's Never Been a Better Time to Learn

Written by Clinical Herbalist Donna Cleary for Spiral Herbal Remedies, September 3, 2026

Every fall I open my shop to a small group of students and teach them something that most of the world has forgotten. Not a weekend workshop. Not a certification mill. Twelve weeks of real, hands-on clinical herbalism — the kind that changes how you think about your health, your family's health, and your relationship to the living world around you.

The fall session starts September 23rd. Early bird pricing ends September 9th. And if you've been thinking about this, now is the time.

Who This Class Is For

You don't need any background in herbalism or medicine. What you need is curiosity and a genuine desire to take charge of your health in a way that feels aligned with how you actually want to live.

This class is for you if:

• You've been drawn to plant medicine but don't know where to start

• You want to reduce your family's dependence on over-the-counter and prescription remedies for everyday conditions

• You're interested in the science behind why plants work — not just the folklore

• You feel called to understand the deeper relationship between the human body, the microbiome, nutrition, and the natural world

• You want to learn from someone who has spent 13 years as a Registered Nurse at a Harvard teaching hospital and comes from a hereditary Irish herbalism tradition documented to 1100 AD

What Makes This Different

There are herbalism courses, and then there is this.

Most courses teach you recipes. This one teaches you to think like an herbalist. By the end of twelve weeks you will understand human anatomy and physiology well enough to know why a specific plant works for a specific condition in a specific person. You'll be able to walk outside, identify medicinal plants growing around you, harvest them sustainably, and turn them into teas, tinctures, and salves that actually work.

We also go deeper than most courses dare to go. We explore the microbiome and how gut health underlies almost every chronic condition people struggle with. We talk about nutrition and how what you eat either supports or undermines everything your herbs are trying to do. We explore your relationship to the planet — on a macro level and a cellular one — and how sustainable herbalism is not just an ethical choice but a medicinal one.

And we talk about something most clinical courses leave out entirely: how the metaphysical combines with the biological to create healing. Because in 13 years of nursing and decades of herbal practice, I have never seen a body heal in isolation from the mind and spirit that inhabit it.

This is the almost-lost knowledge of our ancestors. It belongs to you.

What You'll Walk Away With

By the end of 12 weeks you will:

• Know how to identify, harvest, and work with the medicinal plants growing around you

• Understand the foundational principles of human anatomy and physiology through an herbal lens

• Be able to make teas, tinctures, and salves from scratch

• Have built a working home apothecary for your family's everyday health needs

• Understand the role of nutrition, the microbiome, and sustainable practice in whole-body wellness

• Know how to treat a nagging cough, a bug bite, a sleepless night, and a dozen other everyday conditions with plants you made yourself

For those who want to go further, levels two and three introduce Ayurvedic and Traditional Chinese Medicine, Irish and Native American herbal traditions, and how to build your own herbal practice or brand.

What the 12 Weeks Look Like

We meet once a week, Wednesday evenings from 6–9pm, right here at the shop at 810 Washington Ave in Brooklyn. Class size is intentionally small — this is not a lecture hall. Every student gets real attention and real hands-on time with the plants and preparations.

If you're traveling during a session, you can join via Zoom for that week. There is no video recording.

The Early Bird Offer — Ends September 9th

The course exchange is $1,500 for the full 12-week session.

• Sign up by September 9th — save $100

• Pay in full — save $100

• Do both — save $150

This offer ends in six days. Class size is limited and fills quickly.

👉 Register here and pay via credit card or Zelle

If you'd like to schedule a brief Zoom call first to see if this is the right fit, reach out and we'll set it up. I get back to everyone personally.

A Note from Donna

I teach because I believe this knowledge changes lives. I have watched students come in uncertain and leave confident — confident in their ability to care for themselves and their families, confident in their relationship to plants, and confident in a kind of intelligence that has nothing to do with a prescription pad.

The ancestors who carried this knowledge did not write it down to preserve it for scholars. They preserved it to pass it on. That is what we do here, Wednesday evenings, in a Brooklyn shop that smells like herbs.

I hope to see you there.

Spiral Herbal Remedies | 810 Washington Ave, Brooklyn | spiralherbalremedies.com