Herbalism, Healing, and Community: A Deep Dive with members from the South Jersey American Herbalist Guild Chapter

Tune in to this laid-back episode with Christine Osinski, Rudy Tighe, and Jackie from the South Jersey Chapter of the American Herbalist Guild.

We dive into their personal herbalism journeys, chat about the power of plant medicine, and share some real talk about the challenges in the herbal and cannabis worlds. From the struggles of transitioning from Western medicine to holistic healing, to the growing excitement around herbs, there’s a lot to unpack! Plus, we’ve got tips on some of our favorite herbs and how to use them. 

11:20 First Experiences with Herbalism
18:32 Skepticism & Challenges in the Herbal World
24:22 How Cannabis Ties into Herbalism
33:34 Our Favorite Herbs & How We Use Them
44:26 Finding Your Niche in Herbalism
52:15 Teaching & Sharing the Love of Herbalism
56:02 About the South Jersey American Herbalist Guild
01:02:42 Advice for Aspiring Herbalists

Wondering what to stock in your natural medicine cabinet but short on time? Grab your

If you've been trying to figure out the best remedies to have stocked in your natural medicine cabinet, you are in luck! I've got a free guide for you where I'm sharing the best remedies to have for all the things from colds and flu, to tummy aches, sleeplessness, and daily well-being. You can get it right here!

Do you or your kids find it hard to focus, and you just wish you could get them to stay on task?  If you've ever been there, WishGarden Herbs' Attention Ally may be the perfect thing for your kids, or you too. It's the perfect blend of herbs to calm the nerves and improve focus! You can grab yours right here.

If you're done struggling to keep your kids healthy as cold and flu season comes about, then you are going to LOVE Oregon's Wild Harvest and their Kids Echinacea with Raspberry flavoring. I know my daughter LOVES it, in fact she asks me for it all of the time, even if she's not sick!
Be sure to get yours w/ 15% off here!

Chapters

• 1:44 Discovering Herbal Remedies With AHG
• 18:53 Rise of Herbalism Industry Trends
• 32:32 Favorite Healing Herbs and Their Uses
• 40:30 Exploring Everyday Herbal Remedies
• 49:29 Enriching Herbal Education Through Collaboration
• 1:03:26 Journeying Through Herbalism Community

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:45

Hello and welcome to the Herbalist Path, a podcast where you'll discover how to make your own herbal remedies at home so that you can take better care of yourself, better care of your family and better care of our planet. I'm Mel. I'm a clinical herbalist, environmental educator and mountain-l living mama with this crazy passion for teaching more mamas and their little loves how to use plants as medicine in a safe, effective and tasty way, so that there can be an herbalist in every home. Again, it's an absolute honor to have you on the journey down the herbalist path with me so that together we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers. Hello, hello and welcome back to another episode of the herbalist path.

Speaker 1: 2:41

I am so excited for today's episode because I don't think I've ever done anything like this that we are doing today and we are having a show with four of us me and three amazing people from the American Herbalist Guild South Jersey chapter and we are going to try not to giggle too much, but it's probably inevitable because we're talking about herbs together. So that's going to happen and we will just see how it rolls. I think it's going to be super fun. We've got a clinical herbalist, We've got a botanist with a family history of using herbal medicine. We have a chemist and a lab extractor and grower of all kinds of great medicine and they are all part of the American Herbalist Guild South Jersey chapter.

Speaker 1: 3:32

So we have Chrissy Osinski, who is a clinical herbalist she is actually been a student of mine before, which is always such a fantastic honor, and she's who invited me to present later this month in their connection with the AHG on herbs to thrive in school for kids. So that is so exciting. We also have Jackie, who's their secretary of the AHG, and she has grown up around plants forever. She studied botany and chemistry and loves to forage. And we have Rudy, who owns his own Roots Organic Greenhouses in South New Jersey and does all kinds of amazing things in playing with medicine. I am totally not giving their bios in a way that really represents who the heck they are and all the amazing things that they do, so I'm going to let them do that and thank you guys so much for taking time to do this and for being my guinea pigs on what it's like to have a four-way conversation on a podcast.

Speaker 2: 4:41

Thank you Good. Well, I'm Christine Osinski and I met Mel through TikTok and we became quick friends. And yes, I'm an herbalist. I went to East West Herbology and now I am president of the South Jersey chapter of the American Herbalist Guild.

Speaker 1: 5:05

So good to have you here. I'm so excited. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 2: 5:08

It's a pleasure yeah.

Speaker 3: 5:10

Hi, I'm Rudy Tai. I'm new to herbalism, I have a background in cannabis extraction and I just recently about a year and a half purchased two greenhouses commercial greenhouses and trying my thumb at at growing plants.

Speaker 1: 5:30

I love that. That's so exciting. I'm excited to hear so much more of what you've got to say hi guys, I'm Jackie.

Speaker 4: 5:37

I'm the secretary and treasurer of our chapter. I'm the one that has a background in environmental science, so when I went college, I did a lot of foraging for research and a lot of botany and maybe too much chemistry Besides that. I actually grew up in a Puerto Rican family, and if anybody knows anything about Hispanic culture, we have plants for everything, especially teas, for spiritual reasons too. So that's my background, and I'm also a little bit new to herbalism with the Guild. But we're new and excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 6:08

You know you guys say new to herbalism, but I don't believe it, especially with a background in cannabis extraction. That is herbalism, that is medicine for the people. And we're all new to herbalism Like sure. I've been dabbling in it since the 90s that's over half my life but I'm still very new in it, you know 90s.

Speaker 3: 6:30

That's over half my life, but I'm still very new in it, you know. So yeah, it's kind of a part of it. I've been dabbling since the 90s as well, but you know.

Speaker 1: 6:35

But I'm new to it. Yeah, there's definitely a lot of different levels of herbalism and when we talk about things like the american herbalist guilt, that certainly is the cream of the crop when it comes to herbalists who really take the science and the historical evidence and anecdotal evidence of herbalism and really come together to do some powerful healing for people, which is so incredibly beautiful. There's a little question I love to ask of everybody that comes on the show and then from there we're just going to roll with conversation as how it goes, and I think I want to start with Jackie with this, because you did talk about how your Puerto Rican family brought you up with plant medicine, and one thing I love to hear about is, like your first stories, your first memories of, like how you got connected with the plants. What was that like for you Little baby Jackie?

Speaker 4: 7:32

Little baby. Jackie. I have a great story, which is not all smiles, because it starts with orange blossom water. I was pretty anxious kid. So, of course, for all kids right, one of the most nerve wracking days ever is the first day of school. And I remember just trying to explain to my mom, you know, and not so many words or vocabularies not to develop, and I was just nervous to go in. It was a new school, butterflies everywhere, and she whipped out a bottle of orange blossom water from the fridge and she just said take this, it's going to fix everything. So she gave me a teaspoon. Of course it was the worst tasting thing I had ever had in my entire life, but I choked it down and it worked. I don't know, half of it might've been psychological, but if you look in the literature there's actually a lot of research that it does act as an anti-anxiety medication. So turns out we were right. That was my introduction and ever since that I kind of try to go to plants first before anything else.

Speaker 1: 8:31

I love that. I've never used orange blossom water in that way. I've always just been like, ooh, orange blossom water, that sounds so delightful so that's awesome. I'm already learning something new on this show.

Speaker 2: 8:42

Hello.

Speaker 1: 8:43

I have my earbuds in, so right now, everybody listening Anira is giving me hugs because she's about to go to Nana's and Papa's for a few days and everybody on here is saying hello, Anira. Yeah, thank you, jackie, for sharing that. That's beautiful, it's a beautiful story, and how lucky we are that we get to pass this information to our children, right, um, so beautiful. And that one that just came and hugged me also deals with anxiety, so maybe that's something that we can use for her. That would, yeah, how about you, christine?

Speaker 2: 9:29

Well, when I retired from law enforcement after 25 years of law enforcement I got sick. I was bedridden for two years and I saw multiple, multiple doctors in the Western medicine field and I just had this gnawing desire. I can't explain what it was because I knew nothing of plants prior to this. I was somebody who would woke up in the morning and went down some diet soda. So I went to East West and I learned about lifestyle and dietary changes and I incorporated that with multiple herbs and within two years I was able to heal myself to complete wholeness again.

Speaker 1: 10:31

That's amazing. What a testament to the power of plant medicine. But I really also love that you mentioned the lifestyle and the diet pieces in there, because as much as people really love to think that the herbs are the one thing, that's doing it, the more you get to know about herbalism and this is what you'll find when you work with American Herbalist Guild herbalists is that it's a whole body, mind, soul healing process and it is not just the herbs that come in and fix you. It's shifting that lifestyle and then bringing the herbs on that are going to enhance that whole process and shift and healing 100%. Yeah, it's big time. That's such a beautiful story. I love that and it brought up questions that I'm going to ask here, hopefully in the rest of the show. But I really want to hear about you as well, rudy. Like becoming a vice president of the South Jersey chapter of the American Herbalist Guild and yet claiming yourself to be a beginner in it. I don't believe it. So I can't wait to hear about baby Rudy.

Speaker 3: 14:19

You know I didn't have the cannabis background, so you know I do make CBD oil and I got started with listening to Christine and her journey and talking to her and watching her heal herself is what started me with the old herbalists and all the different plants and that's what really sparked my interest. And I always had a garden, I was always growing something. And that's when I purchased a couple greenhouses a few years back and I said you know what I can do this. I have the extraction back. I've been growing plants for decades and listening to Christina and her story, I'm like let's just do this. Let me start growing some, some plants and see where we go from here and see where this takes us.

Speaker 1: 15:12

And that's where we, that's where I'm at I love that and I love that you kind of got introduced to it from the world of cannabis same here, um, and it's it's really fascinating. I I live in Oregon on the West Coast, and it's a very cannabis-friendly state. We're definitely pioneers in that entire industry and in using medical cannabis. One of my favorite teachers his name is Dr Glenn Nagel. He was a teacher at the Naturopathic College here in Portland, oregon. Oregon is amazing. If you don't follow him already, I think he's Herbal Wiseguy on all the social media platforms.

Speaker 1: 15:52

But one of his many, many quotes that I always love because he's hilarious, super entertaining educator was to not be an herb elitist, and that's what happens often. Elitist, and that's what happens often. I ran an herb shop for quite a while in my community and people would come there and be like, oh, it's an herb shop, where's the cannabis? And like I didn't sell cannabis out of there because there's all kinds of licensure and legalities and things I'm sure you're familiar with, um, but just to help introduce more of the world to the fact that there are many, many other plants that are incredible medicine and these are the plants that can also enhance the power of something like cannabis.

Speaker 3: 16:34

So um, that's what really you know cannabis. Um, you know we all know what that does, right, but all the other plants that came, you know, coming down the line I was, was so surprised. I'm like, oh my God, that plant does this, that plant does that. It was really an eye-opener for me, yeah absolutely. I had my chair with cannabis. So I'm like let's try something different.

Speaker 1: 16:58

You know, Yep, cannabis gets old after a few decades. I mean, it's amazing in its healing powers for sure, but recreationally it gets old after a few decades. In my opinion, however, that's all really fascinating. So now I'm really curious to hear. It sounds like Chrissy had a really powerful influence and impact on you, and it brings me to a couple of questions, kind of combined One, christine, when you were chatting about your beginnings and having a background in law enforcement of all things. And here's this cannabis extractor and understanding from a lot of my friends that have a background in law enforcement as well. Some of them have a very hard time shifting the mental perspective from that more Western medical system Like that is the way it is done, that is what works and that can be really challenging to shift when your whole life's ideologies have been that Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 18:02

How was that for you? Absolutely 100%. But it comes down to there's proof in the pudding. Like I said to you, I did, I knew nothing prior to going to school and now that's it there's proof in the pudding and the herbs do work and you know when they're done properly and you know things like that, formulated properly, they really do work, they're so powerful.

Speaker 2: 18:31

Yes, you know it's empowering. It's empowering that you're able to, because Western medicine is great and I love it, but for me, in my situation, it just didn't work. And the herbs did.

Speaker 3: 18:49

Right.

Speaker 2: 18:50

So that's, it.

Speaker 1: 18:53

Do you mind me asking what was happening in that two years, like what was really going on? I'm sure for a good one and three quarters of that time of the years you didn't know what was going on or you weren't getting proper answers.

Speaker 2: 19:08

Correct. The diagnosis of MS was being tossed around multiple times. But I have to honestly say to you, during this time was when I went to school and I was incorporating this stuff and I was healing from that, so I just kept on that path and for me personally I can't speak for everyone, but for me that's what worked.

Speaker 1: 19:36

Yeah, yeah, I remember, as I was going through clinical school I didn't have any major illness going on in life, but it certainly turned my like just overall health around, because you're opening yourself up to learning these amazing things that are totally not in alignment with what you've grown up with.

Speaker 2: 19:57

So and it's like you said, it's mind, body and soul and it all has to go together cohesively for it to work. So it can't be a puzzle Right, absolutely, you know, and it is work and it takes time.

Speaker 1: 20:15

So yeah, there's no instant fix pill and true healing with herbal medicine. That's for sure. One thing I'm also curious on that whole front. So like I would assume that you have family in some way shape or form, and how did you find any like resistance from your family in that transition?

Speaker 2: 20:37

How did you handle that. There was always that skeptic, always that skeptic, and that was fine, because I was that skeptic.

Speaker 1: 20:45

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:46

But then what was happening was I would make things like elderberry syrup you know it tastes good, you know you give it out around flu season, and it was working. Or you make a very nice tea, say you know bitters or something, and it works. And then those little things turn those skeptics into believers.

Speaker 1: 21:11

I call them those, those are the gateway herbs, you know, like plain cane and elderberry and like, oh, this stuff does work.

Speaker 2: 21:19

Even myself, I was a skeptic in the beginning. So I would, you know, put something together, maybe like a little tea with skullcap or fever. You know, you have a headache and it works and you're like, oh my gosh, this really works.

Speaker 1: 21:35

Still to this day. I am sometimes skeptical, like I ran a herbal product line for almost for about 12 years and I made some amazing formulas, but sometimes they would like just kind of go on the back burner. I would forget about them. It was just like it became like just make it and get it to the people and then I would actually need that particular blend and I would take it and be like, oh my God, this works. And then I might go back and look at the formulation that I formulated and be like, well, duh, like that's why it works.

Speaker 2: 22:11

You know this tip make sure you're right. All your formulations, oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 22:19

Absolutely, because it's so easy to make something that is just phenomenal, yeah, and then you can't repeat it. Yeah, exactly, I had that product line.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Everything was very precise and I say to my husband I have notebooks and I say God forbid anything ever happens into this house like a fire or something. Grab the notebooks, because we'll be lost.

Speaker 1: 22:41

You're so right. That's so funny. In 2020, we had to evacuate due to fires. Um, forest fires are really becoming an insanely insane thing. Um, aside from that, when we were packing up, I packed up my bester books and my notes, so, like that's coming with me, that is valuable information that I never want to lose. So, yeah, I love that. I love that. So, rudy, I want to hear more on how you found Christine and how she was able to just kind of open your eyes in that, that way, that there's a lot more healing plants beyond cannabis well, I've known Christine for a long time and, um, you know he's always talked and he getting into the cannabis.

Speaker 3: 23:26

I do more of the hemp side, so I do more of the CBD. We did just get our THC license but I haven't really tackled that part of things. But I just kind of deal with just the hemp and CBD. That's what I do with cannabis and that's what I do with cannabis and we isolate it and you know we make the, the CBD isolate, which is the powder. We send a lot of stuff out your way. We do it on a commercial, commercial level. You know how do you feel about cannabis? Because I feel like it's kind of too many people got their hands in absolutely.

Speaker 1: 24:09

I mean, I live in Oregon, I have, I have some friends that are very, very successful in the industry and I have many people that have lost everything in the industry because you know big money comes in. And we actually just had this conversation in a class earlier today inside of my apothecary mama gig. Another clinical herbalist was in teaching and we were talking about smokable herbs. But yeah, we were also talking about how you really got to be careful because there's a lot of people with deep pockets that maybe don't care about quality and efficacy of what they are able to market in a heavy, heavy way yeah, I see it's scary.

Speaker 3: 24:43

Yeah, it is scary made. Is, you know, chemical?

Speaker 1: 24:45

driven for, and it's scary.

Speaker 3: 24:45

Yeah, it is scary Because some of the stuff made is, you know, chemical-driven hardcore reactions and it's hitting the market, yeah, and it's kind of nerve-wracking.

Speaker 1: 24:55

It's all about the deep pockets and quality marketing.

Speaker 4: 24:58

Sure.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Or being wise and finding real people who actually have solid knowledge from experience and, you know, long-time studies. So yeah, that's important.

Speaker 3: 25:10

I'm into it several years now. I'm kind of losing my interest with it. Can't blame you. Because it is so commercial. You can't find any old strains of anything. Everything is new, everything is auto flower and where's you know where are those seeds coming from? What's in them? See, there's a lot going on.

Speaker 1: 25:30

I know I have a dear friend who is successful in this industry and his whole thing is all about different strains and he creates, produces various seeds of high quality.

Speaker 1: 25:41

But that leads me to, um, you know, obviously you're a businessman so I could talk in that realm to you. There's a lot of demand for high quality medicinal herbs that aren't cannabis A lot of demand, and this industry is skyrocketing in insane ways ever since 2020. I saw it very firsthand from a person who had formulations where I knew the exact price of every single thing going into my product, down to a drop of an essential oil or the gram of an herb and every label and whatnot. Every single thing since then has gone up a minimum of five times, more often than not, 10 to 20 times the amount that what I was paying in 2019. Wow, that is insane. Y'all like that is insane. And so if I were a grower of all kinds or anything, if I had those gardening skills and that passion and was a business person and was sick of the cannabis industry, I would jump all over the medicinal herb industry.

Speaker 3: 26:48

That's why I'm here.

Speaker 4: 26:51

That's my take on it.

Speaker 1: 26:54

Yeah, jackie, I want to hear from you because I've been quiet with you. What do you think of all this that we've been chatting about how it all comes together? Has anything made you just be like wait? I want to say something.

Speaker 4: 27:08

I mean everything, right, I could comment on everything, but I guess something that really sticks out to me is, you know, just you mentioning the popularity right of herbalism. It feels like it's skyrocketing, right. So I just turned 30. So I have a little bit of a different experience. But I'll just say, from you know, going to college and kind of just existing now within my generation, I see a real resurgence and passion for plants in general, whether it's you know the plant mama, feeling that you just feel good by connecting with the earth and growing something. You know homesteading, stuff like that, and all those usually naturally point to herbalism. So I'm not surprised by the way that prices are going up. That makes sense, right, because the demand is much higher maybe than it was before.

Speaker 4: 27:57

Yeah it brings a lot of good qualities to hopefully.

Speaker 1: 28:02

Yeah, absolutely, I see that same thing that you're seeing across the board and it's really beautiful to see. It's really interesting to see. I'm I'll be 46 in October, so earlier today I claimed 46. And I was, like you know, I definitely observed the same thing and even as I look at my child, who's 11, and like the interest, you know she's grown up and been completely immersed in the world of herbalism. So to her now, when I talk about herbalism it's annoying because she's a teenager, but she now knows more than most adults my age about plant medicine and then I'll see. You know the Instagrams and things and I'm like everybody's so pretty and glorious when they're around the plants and I'm like I'm dirty, but I think that's also kind of like a sign of the times and you know the different generations and that kind of stuff. So I love that that shift is happening. It's going back to the way it was right, like one of the taglines on my podcast is to have an herbalist in every home. Again, right, because this was everywhere.

Speaker 3: 29:16

I listened to a four-year podcast today at work. I just had the headphones on. Yeah, do it good, you poor guy, you poor guy. No, I enjoyed them. Thank you, I think you're right. I enjoy them. Thank you, I think you're right. I think people are going back to that. Yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:34

It's essential.

Speaker 3: 29:35

We need to go back to that.

Speaker 1: 29:37

Yeah, a huge part of the reason I got into herbalism. I never knew that I would become where I am. I didn't know I'd become an educator. I didn't know I'd have a product line that sold in health food stores across the country and into REI and all these cool things. I had no clue, but I got into it because I wanted to save that thing.

Speaker 1: 29:58

Right in your background there, rudy, if you guys are seeing this at all, he's got planet earth on the corner of the background and that was my whole reasoning for stepping into herbalism. My background is in environmental and experiential education and I've always just had a passion to share the power of mother nature with people and I was really going for like I was a backpacking guide and wilderness therapist. I just wanted to get paid to play outside all the time and and show people what inspired me so much Like mother nature is beautiful and, as I mentioned, I live in Oregon. We were talking about smokable herbs. Today, oregon is having its worst wildfire season ever and this has become a trend. That is happened more and more and more and it literally breaks my freaking heart every moment.

Speaker 1: 30:49

I think about it, like my 11 year old daughter when she was two or three, we could have campfires in our backyard almost a whole darn year. We might have like a two week burn ban. And now our burn ban starts in June and doesn't end until the rains come in October, because the wildfire risk is so extreme. I live in the middle of an incredibly luscious green rainforest. It rains here nine months out of the year, and yet we are at extreme risk for wildfires. This was not the case just 10 years ago. Sure, they happened, but nowhere near as prevalent just 10 years ago. Sure, they happened, but nowhere near as prevalent. And so that's my quick soapbox moment on like yes, we need an herbalist in every home so that we can save this damn planet absolutely I think the universe is forcing our hand at that.

Speaker 3: 31:42

Yeah, I think it's. The universe is putting us as a society, it's steering us in that direction.

Speaker 1: 31:47

I sure hope so, you know, and I'm like, is it my little bubble of happy herb land and all I do is talk about herbs all the time, and so I'm very, very much immersed in it. And I think also what Jackie had to say like she's 30 and she's really seeing it much more so, and in her generation as well, like that is, it's important, it needs to happen, for sure.

Speaker 3: 32:12

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 32:14

Okay, let's, let's. Let's shift gears, cause I'll go all kinds of heartbroken, crazy maniac on save the planet. For anybody listening that didn't recognize we need to save the planet and ourselves, right. But all that being said, let's talk herbs. Anybody listening that didn't recognize we need to save the planet, um, and ourselves, right, um. But all that being said, let's talk herbs. I would love to know from each one of you what is the most powerful, amazing herb that you absolutely and it doesn't even have to be powerful, right, it can be a gentle herb what's the one herb you can't live without? You got one herb.

Speaker 2: 32:50

Me, I'll go with me. I will have to say I love her. It will be nettle. I just I love her. Bye and um. She's my favorite. She's so nutritive and I make infusions and soups and there's so much you can do with her. I just love her. If that was the one herb I could only have her the rest of my life. She is it.

Speaker 1: 33:25

I love metals, nettles too, like and it's. You know she's a safe herb for darn near everybody, right? So nourishing, so wonderful. Have you ever eaten a nettle leaf fresh off the plant? I have not. Have you seen like I've done a few tiktoks on how to do that?

Speaker 2: 33:43

yep, I don't know about the sting, but yeah, do it it's so delicious, like it really like.

Speaker 1: 33:51

You taste it and you're like, oh my gosh, I'm tasting chlorophyll and I never imagined that chlorophyll would be just this most amazing flavor yeah, ever, but it's, it's like no other. Just grab yourself that nettle leaf and chomp on it. Of course, for anybody listening, there's a few videos. I've showed people how to do it. But you want to grab the leaf by the top of the leaf, where most of the stinging hairs are, are not? They hang off the bottom of the leaf and then you can pinch it from the top and then fold it so that all of those hairs on the inside are inside of your pocket, and then you chew on it and you do not get stung. Um, it is delicious, you deserve it. If nettles is your favorite, please, please, do that and tell me about it. Well, awesome, how about you, jackie?

Speaker 4: 34:47

we answered this question yesterday, right, rudy and christine, so I'm sorry I have the same answer as before, but for me it's always peppermint peppermint's my go-to. I just had two cups today already and I stopped myself from having another one because I have lipstick on right now. But for me it's everything. It helps with with anxiety and my GI tract was really messed up from being anxious, from having way too much schoolwork back in the day. That's when I started drinking it and it's my gospel now. And unfortunately, everyone around me doesn't like the way it tastes, so I can't convince them to give it a try.

Speaker 1: 35:26

I'll keep working on it, right who are these people that do not like the taste of peppermint?

Speaker 4: 35:31

related to me somehow, right?

Speaker 1: 35:34

I don't know how maybe they want spicier they've got the Puerto Rican going on.

Speaker 4: 35:39

I don't know put some chili on it. I'm very adaptable.

Speaker 1: 35:45

Chili mint. I mean, yeah, why not, right? I love that. I am a huge fan of peppermint. I have some in my water right now. I just love to put the fresh leaves in there all of the time, especially well, at least in the summertime. It's so delicious and, yeah, what it can do for digestive upset and helping calm, all of that is really fantastic. So I love that you brought peppermint up. I don't know that anybody has ever said peppermint on this show, so there you go, love it, love it.

Speaker 1: 36:20

Also, I love your necklace with your cute little amanitas on there. That's adorable, thank you. How about you, rudyy well?

Speaker 3: 36:28

I got the same answers yesterday and it's uh, elderberry, I know it's basic, you know, but it's um, it got us through the last few years. I got kids and it worked out great. Yeah, mr, and they like it. It was easy, so that's my favorite.

Speaker 1: 36:45

I mean, we use elderberry all the time, and just because it's well-known does not by any means discount the fact that that can be fighting off over 10 different kinds of flu viruses and shorten the duration of illness from six to eight days down to just two to three days. And as a parent, who the heck doesn't need or any human right, nobody wants to be sick all the time.

Speaker 1: 37:10

So, yeah, it's so powerful and it's so abundant. Right, like it's considered like an invasive plant in some spaces and please invade me with all your elderberry. Right? Have you used many other parts of the elder shrubbery?

Speaker 3: 37:29

I haven't, I haven't now.

Speaker 2: 37:34

Jackie, I have. Oh, I'm sorry, sorry Jack. No, no, go ahead, christine, it's OK. I mean I've used the flour, of course you know, in mixing it, for you know, colds stuff like that, like a little tea.

Speaker 1: 37:56

Yeah, the flour can be really nice as a diaphoretic which can really help people that might be dealing with a fever for too long, to help release some of the heat from the body and do it in a in a gentle, safe way instead of you know, I know a lot of parents will freak out and want to run for the tylenol or whatever when it comes to a fever and forget that the fact that like the fever is really this brilliant process of your immune system raising the body's temperature, because the viruses and the bacteria are not going to thrive under that high temperature. So like a fever is a very good thing. Of course, if it gets too high you do want to seek medical attention, but overall, what we want to do, instead of cut that fever off, is to seek something that's going to support the body in that process, and elderflower is great in that realm. Yeah, how about you, jackie? Have you used elderflower.

Speaker 4: 38:43

I mostly use the elderberry, but I'll say I lived for two years in Ireland and everything there's elderflower, flavored elderflower is everything. So I got a taste for it over there and it's funny. Now that I'm back in the us I can't seem to find it commercially, so I have to go on all of our go-to herbalist stores to pick it up yeah, elder, elderflower cordials and all that, like it's definitely a huge thing throughout all of europe?

Speaker 1: 39:10

I think so, or at least the parts I've been to. So it's definitely a big big thing. Do you guys? Have you ever heard about using the leaf for the elder shrubbery? I like to say shrubbery because I really love Monty Python but your father stunk of elderberries. I think that's how it's said. Close to that, I might've murdered it.

Speaker 2: 39:36

That's funny. I don't know.

Speaker 1: 39:37

If I don't know, she might be too young right exactly you should definitely check it out because it's highly entertaining, um, but yeah, uh, the leaf though I um, you could use it and turn it into an infused oil. It can be really nice for things like bruising and sprains and pains and things along those lines. So it's kind of fun to know how many different parts of the plant you can use as medicine.

Speaker 3: 40:08

Wow.

Speaker 1: 40:09

Yeah, and as you get into growing more commercially, that's certainly something to contemplate. Right, like I'm growing elderberry shrubberies I don't know that you do that necessarily in a greenhouse, but if you do, around the greenhouses and the elder mother, the Hilda Moher, watches over the rest of your greenhouses.

Speaker 2: 40:30

I love that little story. Isn't that a great story? Yeah, share it. Share it for us. I can't. Isn't that a great story? Yeah, share it. Share it for us, I can't, isn't it? I can't. I don't know the whole thing, but it is what she protects. What does she protect she?

Speaker 1: 40:46

just said that the Hilda Moeller, the elder mother, lives under the shrubbery and protects everything around under the shrubbery and protects everything around. And if you don't ask the Hilda Miller for her permission to harvest from the elder shrubberies, I can't remember exactly what, but bad things happen. That's right. She protects over your garden. Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's definitely a part of the history and lore of that plant which you know. I should have it memorized by now because I've taught that in classes so many times.

Speaker 1: 41:18

But that's the gist of it right now. I love that, gosh. This is fun having three of you to chat with. It's like so many different bits of insight and things to learn about. Hey, jackie, younger generation what else can we do to inspire more of the youth to jump on this plant medicine wagon?

Speaker 4: 41:44

That's a good question. Yeah, I'm the youth representative here, not even that young. At this point I'll give my two cents. Something I think that is very much on the mind of people who are becoming adults and people who are young adults is money, because things are costly. We live in a very expensive world and along with that comes the whole discussion of accessibility, and when it comes to health care in the in the US and the cost of medication, it can be really high. Sometimes we feel unethically high. So I think, if you consider herbalism right within the context of accessibility, that you really have this agency and power to either grow things yourself right or support someone local. That right there is going to inspire more people to jump on the bandwagon.

Speaker 1: 42:39

Yeah, I think that's definitely a huge speaking point that I talk to as well, and it's really interesting to like watching that really coming back to the earth kind of movement that you know. I guess it started in the sixties, right With all the hippies, but it's really really been prevalent, like post COVID Um. One thing I observed, though, is because it because it becomes so trendy, and the homesteading becomes so trendy, that you have to have the perfect image of your homestead and you end up I I've seen a lot of people because I'm on all kinds of forums that are just like struggling because now they're working so hard to keep up with it or they're falling victim to the great marketing out there and thinking they need all the highest, high homesteading helpers or whatever. It may be so, but you do bring up a really valid point.

Speaker 1: 43:35

Once you find a sustainable way to bring those herbs into your life and understand which herbs are more beneficial for you and your people that you're caring for, you can then narrow your focus, because you know getting into herbalism is so exciting and you want to know it all right, you want to do all the things and you want to use all the herbs, and I don't think I've ever met a person that didn't feel that way in the beginning or all of their herbalism journey, um, but I think one of the best pieces of advice I've ever heard is to just narrow that focus and and find the ones that do work for you so you're not struggling to pay for all the fanciest and coolest things to have on your homestead or your land.

Speaker 4: 44:21

Yeah, we're constantly battling right as younger people, the social media, the negative parts of it, which is visibility, right, and the fame lifestyle that's really popularized. But it's not real right, and a lot of people end up coming to that conclusion. The's not real right, and a lot of people end up coming to that conclusion the more they participate. Right, and being an influencer. That you know, sometimes it's a lesson that solves itself. But you're right, there's excitement to learn things and sometimes I think there might over, they might be overwhelmed once in a while. Right, Because there are so many niches within herbalism that it can seem like, oh, my goodness, what am I going to choose? How do I even start learning something that's so comprehensive? But you're just bringing it down to those basics and showing people. It doesn't have to be fancy or exotic to you, it can be. You know names of herbs that you'll recognize, like basil. Right, Talk about ginger. Those things are very familiar and learning how to work with those can be less intimidating, less glamorized.

Speaker 1: 45:20

So, yeah, it'll get solved eventually yeah, you brought up so many different points that I wanted to be like bing, bing, bing talk about right in there.

Speaker 1: 45:28

No, it's great, don't be sorry, goodness gracious, um, that's what this is all about talking about herbs and having conversation about it, right, um, but, yeah, like, like rudy said, like, oh, elderberry may be basic, but it's not right. It's not quite as basic as basil, but basil is really powerful medicine. I like to think about garlic a lot and how underrated it is as medicine for sure, right, yep, yeah, true, yeah, do you want to chat about garlic, christine?

Speaker 2: 45:57

Um well, I have to honestly say that that is one that I really used during my illness.

Speaker 1: 46:06

Mm, hmm.

Speaker 2: 46:07

And I don't now, but I made sure that I really really used it and it really that I really really used it and it really. I have to say that is one of the one things I really think that helped move the scale for me.

Speaker 1: 46:24

Yeah, what ways were you using it Actually, just raw.

Speaker 2: 46:29

I didn't cook with it much, but just raw. You know cutting, cutting the clove, letting it sit for five minutes, you know 10 minutes and, um, just getting the benefits of there. Was it spicy? Yep, it was, but you know it has a lot of good properties to it. It has no antibiotic properties to it so I think some way that that really helped maybe my gut heal. So yeah, I used it and I love just the cooking herbs, the things that we have in our own home apothecaries that we can use so easily, that are just for the lay person. Not everybody has to have gone to some big school to be really just called an herbalist. You can be a home herbalist, you can be a community herbalist. So I think those little things are great.

Speaker 1: 47:26

Yeah, and you know those little things aren't so little like. Garlic has been proven to be more effective, as, with its antibacterial properties, against eight out of nine strains that are resistant to the man-made antibiotics out there. What that's garlic y'all. It's also been shown to be if you can take three raw cloves of garlic per week, it has been shown through studies that that will reduce your chances of getting lung cancer by 44%. And it's that raw garlic that is the best medicine, because that's when the allicin is present.

Speaker 1: 48:08

Once you score garlic and kind of crush it open, allicin is one of the most important constituents within your garlic and a way to manage that heat and that burn. Like it can definitely be too much for children, it can definitely be too much for me. Like if I eat too much raw garlic it's a big, big problem. It hurts, it burns, it makes you nauseous. But you can just make a fermented garlic honey. You're still getting that raw garlic. You're still getting that raw garlic. You're still getting the allicin and you're getting the benefits of the honey because you're using a good quality honey right, supporting those local beekeepers, because there's better medicine in your honey there.

Speaker 1: 48:45

It's antimicrobial as well, so it can fight off viruses and bacteria and all kinds of amazing things. So like, yes, garlic is also a powerhouse for the gut. As all of our culinary herbs are right, they were all once used as preservatives for meats way back before refrigeration was available, and they also happen to flavor the food and they also happen to ease tummy upset and digestive issues. So like, wow, isn't it beautiful how the world turns and we come back to like these simple culinary herbs is medicine. Yeah, everybody's got medicine in their kitchen cabinet right now. It's amazing.

Speaker 2: 49:22

Yeah it is. It really is just amazing.

Speaker 1: 49:26

It's so fun I think about this with time to time. One of the main constituents in it is time. All constituents in it is thymol and if you look at like listerine, if you look at most of your over-the-counter cold and flu medications that deal with uh congestion, you're gonna see thymol and carbacrol in there that come directly from this common garden plant that will take over your garden I did one little little um and I have to say it worked.

Speaker 2: 49:56

I took time and I made a little foot bath because I got a little little fungus on my toe. It went away. Yeah, it works. It works. That's so cool, isn't it.

Speaker 1: 50:08

It's so fun to just be like that worked, or when you do get your family members to finally just be like this is working. A few of my students are having this happen repetitively and it it takes me back to when I first started like making medicine for people and how amazing it felt to have people come to me and say, oh, this worked. And they're like blown away that what you made worked and you can just be like it wasn't.

Speaker 2: 50:35

It wasn't me it's just the you know ingrained that, maybe the over-the-counter things in the pharmacy you know anti-acids or whatever it may be, we've been ingrained in that versus maybe our medicinal herbs.

Speaker 1: 50:53

Yeah, yeah, absolutely well and intentionally so right, because of large amounts of money can be in that, versus maybe our medicinal herbs. Yeah, yeah, absolutely Well, and intentionally so right, because of large amounts of money can be made when we teach people that they can't take care of themselves. Yeah, exactly yeah.

Speaker 3: 51:05

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 51:07

If we just wash all these brains and make them know that our way is the only way and everything that's happened for thousands of years doesn't work it's all hippy, hippy.

Speaker 4: 51:18

Yeah, you know, now it's, it's awesome.

Speaker 3: 51:20

Yeah, it's. Yeah, I'm sorry.

Speaker 2: 51:22

No, that's okay but, um, now it's also with your classes. I have to honestly say they're. They're awesome, they're easy to learn. You, I mean, you get the science in there, you get the anatomy and the physiology in there. You, you put botany in there, you get it all and you make it easy for everyone to learn, for everyone to learn.

Speaker 1: 51:53

Thank you so much. That is really kind of you. I love to teach. I love to take complex things and make them sound very simple. Herbalism is forever complex and yet forever simple, right and.

Speaker 2: 52:09

I think we're forever learning too. I think you'll learn forever. I mean, there's so much to learn yeah.

Speaker 1: 52:18

I think that's what makes me so passionate about it, like today, like I have guest teachers inside of my program and I'm in the middle of shifting some programs and things like that. But definitely love having my guest teachers.

Speaker 2: 52:31

Yeah, I bring them in there for my students, but I'm learning too exactly like like I've never worked with plantain, but I know you love plantain and I've learned so much from it. I'll walk down the street. I'll be like oh, that's.

Speaker 1: 52:50

I love that you think of plantain and you think about how much I love it. That that is. That is fabulous and I highly recommend you start working with it. Um cause that. That's a really powerful, abundant plant also that can work wonders with helping to heal people, especially if you're working with clients who, more often than not, are having to shift a lot of things with their gut. Right Plantain can be extremely powerful in that process of healing the damaged gut wall, just like it can with our skin, Like it's cream of the crop, and it's everywhere. It's everywhere.

Speaker 1: 53:28

And I want to just cut back quickly to your very, very kind words on how I'm teaching, because I am going to be teaching a class with you guys through the South Jersey American Herbalist Guild chapter on September 18th. So if you are listening to this show, mark your calendars. I will make sure that this show note, these show notes, have a registration for this class that I will be teaching, 100% free. Thank you to the American Herbalist Guild, the South Jersey chapter and everybody you're listening to on today's show and we will be talking about herbs to thrive in school. So we'll be talking a little bit about immune health.

Speaker 1: 54:08

We'll be talking about how to help your kids be able to focus better in school. Yes, that means you can use these herbs and focus as well. And we'll be talking a little bit about anxiety, because kids and adults in college deal with anxiety when it comes to the overload of work, when it comes to tests, when it comes to active shooter drills, like there's a lot to be anxious about, right? So those are the things we'll be chatting about in that class and I'm so honored that you guys reached out to me to teach it.

Speaker 2: 54:40

So, thank you, we're honored.

Speaker 1: 54:42

I'm so excited for it. It's going to be such a good time. I do get giddy when I talk about herbs. That's why I you know, I'm like I'm going to have a podcast.

Speaker 3: 54:50

So I can be giddy all the time.

Speaker 1: 54:55

Oh gosh, yeah. So I'm super excited about that. I just figured I'd plug that in there while we're chatting about that kind of stuff.

Speaker 2: 55:02

So we're excited, we really are?

Speaker 1: 55:04

We really are. Yeah, I'm so honored because you have so many amazing educators that you can choose from to invite, and I'm sure you'll have many more. But thank you, yeah, it's beautiful. So you guys tell me about the South Jersey chapter of the American Herbalist Guild. What are you guys all about and how did it come together? Tell me all the things.

Speaker 2: 55:28

Well, jackie and I were in the original group and then the president of that group stepped down, and then Jackie and I stepped up and we created our own completely new chapter. And here we are, and you know we're fairly new, we're four months in and but I think we have a lot of members and everybody's, you know, moving along and but I think as a whole, as three of us, our goal is educating the public and the community about herbs and herbal medicine. So that's what we're doing.

Speaker 1: 56:14

I love that, and you're doing it by bringing in guest teachers, which is such a great way to go Like yeah, Jackie and I didn't want it.

Speaker 2: 56:23

We talked about it in depth and we didn't want it to be like like the group, oh, where the same teacher was talking about the same thing over and over and then after a year you're kind of like, ah, I'm done with that. So we wanted it to be different. We wanted it to have lectures, because, that's what you know, everybody learns differently. Everybody does some, like you know, audio, some like visual, so to to kind of get everyone in the group. So we're going to do it like lectures and workshops and PowerPoints and things like that.

Speaker 1: 56:58

Yeah, I really love that and I think it's it's really important to bring in other educators. That's one thing I do inside of my main programs. Yeah, like my apothecary mama program will be in the middle of shifts when this episode airs and it will be becoming a community herbalist program starting in 2025, which I'm so incredibly excited about. The one thing that we do in there is we bring in a guest teacher every month, and the reason I needed to do that for my students is because the best thing I feel that ever happened for me in my herbal education was being able to learn from other herbalists. Like here's Jackie. She's 30 and she comes from a background of Puerto Rican people that used plant medicine in her family growing up. I bet you, jackie has booty loads of things to teach me about herbs I've never heard of like orange blossom water Right.

Speaker 1: 57:54

Like everybody, has something new to teach, and today we had an amazing herbalist I also met on TikTok. Her name is Brittany Williams, from Eudaimonia Herbs, and she was teaching on smokable herbs and how to blend those together. And you know, it's just really beautiful to bring together the many different ways to practice herbalism. Yes, herbalism is science. Yes, herbalism is art. Yes, herbalism is history. Let's learn it in all the cool ways that we possibly can.

Speaker 2: 58:27

Right, yep, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 58:31

Yeah. And then there's the perspective that you know the the learning style piece, right like. I've certainly learned from incredibly brilliant herbalists and sometimes I walk away from those classes going I know nothing. I know nothing about herbalism, yeah, and I'll go into the next classroom and I'll be like I totally got this herbal stuff. Or I'll learn from somebody who's incredibly intelligent but doesn't know how to teach yeah, I agree?

Speaker 2: 59:01

Yep, well, I agree. That's why I say to you you make it easy, you do. Yeah, thank you, I love it yeah.

Speaker 1: 59:11

I mean I come from a background of environmental and experiential ed and I just I love to teach, so it comes naturally for me, right, and some people have that and others don't. And some people may want a much higher level of teaching than I do. They want the very. I mean I definitely get into the science of herbalism and talk about anatomy and physiology and what's going on in the body and why these herbs are going to work for particular situations. But yeah, I've definitely been to those high level university style classes where I'm just like hold on what I think I know what you're saying, but wait a second, can we? I got recordings right. Can I restudy this 15 times? That'd be great, anyways. And then there's so much to be said about letting the plants teach you. Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 2: 1:00:02

Yep, just do one herb at a time, get to know that, get to know its action, its flavor, what it does in the body, and then move on to another.

Speaker 1: 1:00:16

How many different ways can you use this herb? And that brings something up about plantain again. Like this is one of my first herbs I studied in depth when I went to my very first in-person herb school. They had us pick a plant and that was the plant we studied for six months actually and we would come up with like drawings and things, and I made some fun poems about plantain and I have used plantain continuously ever since then. And and last year I had a student in the class who was like she's 87. And her husband is three years older than her. They are the most adorable couple, really amazing still gardening like super cool people. And she's like well, have you ever used plantain for an ear infection? And I'm like no, and I never would have thought of doing such a thing. She used it for her 90 year old husband and was very, very successful using it. And I'm like bam, there's another way to use plantain.

Speaker 1: 1:01:17

You know, forever learning, forever learning. How did?

Speaker 1: 1:01:22

she use it as like a tincture um, I don't 100% recall, but I think she had an oil and she had used it in that way and I wonder if, like plantain, that has really powerful drawing properties, and I wonder if it was able to draw out the infection in some way. I know that I have absolutely used plantain successfully in drawing out tooth and mouth infections for people and I wonder if that might have been what happened. Yeah, but I should ask her Deeper on that one. Pretty cool, right? Yeah, yeah, it is. I love it. It's out of this world kind of stuff. So cool. Okay, let's chat about words of wisdom for somebody listening to this show. Maybe they're new to herbalism, maybe they're not. I would love to hear from each of you the number one tip you would like to give this person when it comes to herbal medicine.

Speaker 2: 1:02:24

Mine's probably very, very simple Just go for it. Yeah, just go for it.

Speaker 1: 1:02:34

I want to add a caveat on there there. Go for it with some bits of caution, because there is a lot of poor information out there and herbs, while they are natural and beautiful and can be more safe than what the big pharma guys make, there are herbs out there that can cause harm. So do be aware of any potential contraindications that might happen with a medical condition that you might have, or if you are on any other drugs.

Speaker 2: 1:03:06

Just then go for it and jackie jackie knows I'm all about it she's like oh my god it's in. Like every post I put, I'm like Jackie, put it in there, make sure it's in there, yeah it's important, yeah, rudy, what you got.

Speaker 3: 1:03:26

I would say, um, you should do exactly what I'm doing network, meet people, talk to people, buy books, read some books, talk to herbalists that you know, try to. You know hear what they're saying, listening, learning. That's what that's my advice. Take it slow, but you know, you know, keep keep going. You know, don't slow down like meeting you, mel, is great. I'm so glad I did this podcast with you yay, I too.

Speaker 1: 1:03:53

It was like we were saying in the beginning, like I didn't get to meet you in our, in our pre-chat about the class coming up in on September 18th. By the way, free class, herbal class come join us, linked in the show notes. But yeah, I didn't get to meet you. So it's really great to connect for sure.

Speaker 3: 1:04:10

I figured I'd probably get about. I want to try to take a class, maybe next year, and to learn a little more. So yeah, it might be on your there.

Speaker 1: 1:04:21

So it's forever learning. How about you, Jackie?

Speaker 4: 1:04:28

I really agree with Rudy. Yeah, the tip that came to me was basically what he said Find a community, find someone to talk to. I think there's a lot of power and support, whether it's something that you're casually interested in or something that you maybe want to pursue formally for education. There are so many different things in herbalism that you can just switch to a new, you know niche or genre in it and you can find something that inspires you that way and you'll be in a better place for it.

Speaker 1: 1:05:02

I think yeah. So much wisdom there and how many different paths there are to journey down in the realm of herbalism.

Speaker 4: 1:05:11

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:05:12

That's part of like why I named this podcast the herbalist path. It also goes to my roots in it, like I started in herbalism, because I was a backpacking guide and literally hiking down a trail that made me go. You mean plants can heal people. Wow, and you know, down downward spiral into the rabbit hole of herbalism. 25 or so years later, here I am.

Speaker 2: 1:05:37

Yeah, it's come like almost full circle for you, huh.

Speaker 1: 1:05:41

It's. Yeah, it's really fun to think of the journey right From like not really knowing anything but just going for it, right, just doing it and learning things and trying things and experimenting, to actually investing in mentors and communities that could teach me and help me, to running an herbal product line and learning all there is to do that.

Speaker 1: 1:06:04

And that's a lot. I mean it is, and I'm crazy for doing it all, but that's the kind of person I am. I'm a I'm a just go for it kind of gal. So, yeah, I ran an herbal apothecary. I've taken many different paths on this journey and that's really what it comes down to, but it, it. I also closed the product line because I had to realize what I love the most, and and I love to teach. So your words on my teaching were really special to me, thank you. My teaching were really special to me, thank you. Yeah, any other pieces of info or things you want to share with people that are listening before we start?

Speaker 2: 1:06:47

to wrap up, I don't know you guys have anything. I have something little. I mean I'm kind of proud of it. Jack and I were writing a little children's book about herbalism.

Speaker 1: 1:07:03

Awesome. I can't wait to see it. Keep me in the loop, for sure. You know I'm kind of proud of that. Yeah, as well you should be. That's bringing more and more herbalism to our kiddos, which is magical. That's super exciting. Any idea on when that's going to come out?

Speaker 2: 1:07:22

What do you think, Jackie? We're just, we're just in the beginning process.

Speaker 4: 1:07:27

We're in the beginning phase, so definitely look out for it Summer 2025.

Speaker 1: 1:07:32

That's quick for just beginning on a book.

Speaker 1: 1:07:35

We're beginning but we're fast. I love it. That's super exciting. Definitely keep me in the loop. We'll do like another podcast and promote it and that kind of fun stuff, because I definitely have an audience that wants that kind of thing in their world. So I'm also like I've been working on a book for a couple of years but I still have yet to actually do the work on the book, because I'm always building out more lessons and courses and but all of that really goes into the, into the book.

Speaker 2: 1:08:05

Yeah, you should definitely write a book, for sure, you should.

Speaker 1: 1:08:10

Yeah, I had a great chat with Maria Noel Groves, who is another fantastic clinical herbalist and, in the AHG as well, an educator New Hampshire, wasn't she? With New Hampshire, I think? She's definitely way up northeast I'm not sure exactly where she did just move, but she brought together her publishers from Story Publishing and we had a great meeting. So I would like to reach out to them here. Maybe I can actually get a book out to the masses in 2025. That would be amazing, because I already have the title and I know what needs to go in it and I'm sure they're going to be like no, you have to put it this way and do that and all the fun things. That's exciting, rudy, any exciting or special things you want to share.

Speaker 3: 1:08:58

I'm glad I did the podcast with you. Yeah me too, it definitely gave me warm energy and I just had a really good time. Awesome. I would like to connect sometime. I have a couple questions um greenhouse questions and extraction questions for you, if we can get together sometime well, I think you and your crew have my email, so let's definitely do connect um.

Speaker 1: 1:09:24

How can people connect with you guys go?

Speaker 4: 1:09:27

ahead, jackie. Oh, we have a facebook group and a website and we'll hand them over to you now because they're a bit long to say.

Speaker 1: 1:09:34

Yeah, we'll definitely be linking to the AHG, the South Jersey chapter, that they have. We will also be linking to the class I am teaching through them on September 18th. It is a free class and we will talk all about how you can use herbal remedies to help your kiddos and yourself thrive through the school year, because let's not forget that if we as parents are not thriving, kids are really going to have an extra hard time, no matter what we give them. So we need to take care of us and that's always a really tough thing to do and at least it has been for me in parenthood and word on the street, I'm not alone, so I'm really excited about that. We will definitely link to those things.

Speaker 1: 1:10:23

Christine is somebody that I often recommend to people to reach out to. When I have people reaching out to me to work one-on-one as a clinical herbalist, which I don't really do so much anymore, my, my heart and passion is in the teaching you how to figure out your own things or other people's things. Um, so definitely connect with her. What how do how do they connect with?

Speaker 2: 1:10:46

you individually. We're going to use we've been using the um the guild. We have a separate website, I mean, and a separate email address, so they can they can reach me there, awesome.

Speaker 1: 1:10:58

I will definitely. Yeah, as I said, all those things so cool. Thank you everybody so much. And are you guys all good If I link to your own unique individual things outside of your South Jersey chapter? Sure, if you have those things, I know you've got greenhouses you need to promote. So cool. Thank you guys so much.

Speaker 3: 1:11:22

I'm so excited to see you again on September 18th.

Speaker 1: 1:11:26

Yes, we're excited. Yeah, bye guys, have a great day, see you.

Speaker 3: 1:11:31

Bye Mel, see you Mel day.

Speaker 1: 1:11:39

See you, bye, mel. See you, mel. Thank you so much for tuning into another episode of the herbalist path. Being on this journey with you is absolutely incredible. If you dig this episode, please leave me a review on your favorite podcast player and share it with your friends so that together, we can make herbalism hashtag spread like wildflowers. On another note, I must mention that, while I know you're getting some good info here, it's important to remember that this podcast is purely for entertainment and educational purposes and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. While the information in this podcast is absolutely relevant, herbs work differently for each person and each condition. That's why I recommend you work with a qualified practitioner, whether that be another herbalist, a naturopath or your doctor. So thank you again. I am truly honored that you're tuning into these episodes and on the path with me to make sure that there's an herbalist in every home. Again, don't forget to share this episode with your friends so that we can make herbalism Hashtag spread like wildflowers.