From Herbal Medicine Dabbler to Community Herbalist: How to Know You’re Ready

What if your herbal dabbling was never just dabbling… but the beginning of something much deeper?

In this episode, I’m speaking to you—the mama, the maker, the plant-loving human who’s magically become the go-to herbalist in your world. From sleepy teas to fire cider, your remedies are working—and people are noticing. But what happens when the questions get bigger, and your confidence starts to wobble?

Maybe it’s time to step into the role you’re already being called into.

🌸 You’ll hear:
00:40 – Signs you’ve outgrown the “dabbler” phase
01:45 – That moment when your friends start asking for everything
02:30 – What to do when the questions get deeper than you feel ready for
03:40 – The biggest mindset shift I had to make
04:20 – Why you might be ready to become the community herbalist your people already see in you
05:00 – How to connect with me and see if the Community Herbalist Certification Program is your next step

🎧 If you’ve been waiting for a sign—this might be it.
Because there’s no doubt: the world needs more herbal healers now more than ever.

Reach out, and let’s chat to see if becoming the community herbalist your people need is the right next step for you.
Together, we’ll keep making herbalism spread like wildflowers.

If you’ve been dabbling in herbal medicine and now your friends and coworkers come to you for their health woes…
It might be time to take the next step on the herbalist’s path and become the confident community herbalist they already see you as.💚

Feeling the call? Reach out and let’s chat to see if the Community Herbalist Certification Program is right for you!🌿

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to the Herbalist Path
• 4:53 From First Remedies to Community Impact
• 11:26 The Full Circle Moments of Teaching
• 15:25 Beyond "Slapping an Herb on It"
• 20:56 Signs You're Ready for the Next Step
• 27:45 Community Herbalist Certification Program
• 34:18 Final Encouragement and Invitation

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:34

Welcome to the Herbalist Path, a podcast that's all about helping herbalism spread like wildflowers. I'm Mel, a clinical herbalist, environmental educator and a mama who's been walking this path for well over 20 years. I created this show to help you feel confident with herbal medicine. You're going to get a blend of how-to episodes, incredible guest experts sharing their wisdom and real talk about using herbs every day, all to help you care for your family naturally, take better care of our precious planet and maybe even become the trusted herbalist in your own community. You see, this work isn't just about the herbs. It's about healing ourselves, it's about caring for each other and it's about living in deeper connection with the earth. So, whether you're blending your first tea, making your first tincture or feeling called to be the go-to herbalist in your community, welcome, you belong here, you are right on time and you are on the herbalist path. Hello, hello, hello and howdy. I am so excited and honored that you are here listening to this next episode on the herbalist path, and this episode is kind of a special one for you, especially if you've been dabbling in herbs for a while now and you've made elderberry syrup. You probably made a first aid salve or two, maybe something for sore muscles. And you felt that incredible feeling. That happens when you like actually watch an herb work, like not only work for like you, but then you give it to your kid and then you're like, oh my God, that totally worked for them. And then you start giving them to your friends and maybe your extended family members and they're like that actually works. And then before you know it, people start coming to you for like all the things hey, do you have something for this cold? My kid's got the sniffles, what would you do? Or do you have something for my kid's rash kids got the sniffles, what would you do? Or do you have something for my kids rash. And you kind of get to that point where you're like, oh man, like this is actually real, this is actually happening and this is freaking cool, right. But then there's just this kind of voice or little guy on the shoulder that's sitting there wondering is there more I could be doing? And if you have been there or you felt those feelings, then this episode is absolutely for you.

Speaker 1: 4:32

And I remember what it was like in my time when I was just starting to get into herbalism. I had all of the books and I was like doing everybody's recipes inside of those books and at that point in my journey I was all about herbal first aid. I loved, like, making bug sprays. I loved making salves. And it was because I was a backpacking guide and a wilderness therapist and, like, I've always had this deep passion to do what I can to help others connect to nature and also hope that that nature connection that they receive inspires them to want to save the planet. So that's kind of where it's all rooted for me.

Speaker 1: 5:18

But when I was a backpacking guide, I just saw all these nasty, toxic things in people's first aid kits and backpacks and I was like, well, dang, dude, you're paying me hundreds of dollars to walk you to these incredibly beautiful and sacred spaces, yet you're carrying a backpack full of toxic crap. That one is probably not that great for you but for me it really chapped my hide knowing that it wasn't the best for the planet and that's just kind of how I got into things. So I would like make all these remedies. I'd look in all those books and I'd use other people's recipes and I would handwrite my labels and I'd pass them around my little mountain community and people dug it. They thought it was so freaking cool and of course I thought it was really cool too and they would ask me for more. And yes, I definitely had those people that were like sure, mel, I am sure you're like hippie, dippy, woo, woo, crap really works. That's great, yeah, thanks. And I like I knew they never actually used it, but I wanted them to so bad Like I'd almost try and force it on them.

Speaker 1: 6:27

And later, you know, obviously, through many years of doing that, I certainly learned that like nobody's gonna let you force it on them, they're just gonna kind of, you know, either put it in the back of their cupboard if they're afraid you're gonna come over sometime, or they're just gonna throw it away and it's like kind of a big waste, right. So, anyways, I just I remember those days and it was so fun and it was so exciting and like eventually it triggered this thing for me where I was like, wait a second, why do these herbs work? What's really going on? And basically, as I was making these things, I thought I would just stick there with the first aid things, but then, like more and more people would come to me. They'd be like oh my gosh, I am sick, what can you make for me, or my kid has a rash, what can you do? And I just had so much fun concocting new remedies and new recipes.

Speaker 1: 7:25

And I really liked blending herbal teas even though I hated herbal teas but I was a bartender also as I was going through herb school and all these other things that I was doing and so I really love to like dance the medicinal properties of the plants with their flavor profiles and like make these remedies that were tasty but that also worked, and like they kept coming back to me for more and more and more, and it just felt so good to know that I was having fun blending these like cool plants together and I was actually helping people. And, even better than that, I knew that I was doing something that was really good for the planet and that just felt freaking cool. And if you would have asked me then that I'd be doing what I'm doing right now, I would have had no clue whatsoever. Like I would have been like, yeah, sure, whatever, what is an herbalist anyways? I just like making these products. I'm just here to save the planet.

Speaker 1: 8:35

But then, like it continued to evolve and somebody at one point I remember this distinctly like I had gone to a couple of markets at the restaurant like I worked at this really cool restaurant and bar. If you live anywhere near Oregon or ever come to Mount Hood to visit, you need to go to the Skyway Bar and Grill. They have live music there and like it's a barbecue joint, but it's like one of the most eclectic and cool restaurants I've ever been to in all my years. Anyways, they also had like a community little artist market and that was my first time selling any of my products and I would go to a few others after that and I remember somebody finally was like hey, why aren't you selling your teas in the market? And I was like, oh man, I didn't even think about that. I was just selling my bug sprays and my salves and things. And I eventually did that Long story short.

Speaker 1: 9:30

That's not totally why I'm getting to the story, but it kind of is. Also, I started doing that and it was exciting and then, like the local chiropractor and yoga studio decided to start selling my products. And then the natural baby cloth diaper store in the city started to and all these like little food co-ops started to and I remember like the feeling of putting together these displays and the feeling of like, oh my God, I am making an impact, like I am helping people, and I remember this, like what am I doing? And like, do I know enough to do this? But anyways, I've just been thinking about this a lot lately because I'm seeing it happen for my students right now and it brings me so much freaking joy to see them making their posts and sharing their stories.

Speaker 1: 10:26

And I think specifically about one of my students. I call her Mac and she has just been slaying it. It's so cool. She started out like I did, like you probably did, making really cool remedies in her kitchen, and then she kept experimenting, she kept playing, she kept learning, she kept growing and trying new things. And now she's got like these new cool looking labels and she's sending me messages like, look at this, I'm setting up my display for this other shop, she's putting them in, like this crystal shop and this other shop in her community and the yoga studio in her community, and it just feels so freaking cool, like such a full circle moment, to think back on that Like, wow, now my students are doing that. What a great, freaking feeling.

Speaker 1: 11:21

And she's also loving it because she's in our community herbalist program and she's been learning with me online for a couple of years and she actually used to live close to me and, like, watched me grow mountain mouths and have my apothecary. And she's kind of silly because she's always like, oh, I always thought you were so cool. She's wrong, I'm not cool at all but apparently she loved what I was doing and she had dreams of doing it too, and now she is and it's so freaking cool. And she was recently watching one of the lessons we're about to do in the community herbalist program. We're all about to kind of together do a gut healing re-challenge protocol, because it's very important in this role if you're going to help others learn to heal themselves. I'm making sure that my students do that so they can understand what it feels like, get great resources and tools and be able to empathize with their future clients if they choose to work with them. But as she's getting ready for that, she like posted this video and she's like it is so cool to think how everything's coming full circle for her as well, because she also did yoga teacher training and she has her certificate in integrative nutrition and now she's doing this gut healing protocol while also learning all these herbs and like it's so true there's so many different healing modalities that go into the world of herbalism.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Like in this program, I'm not teaching people just slap an herb on it, because if that's the case, like go become a doctor and sit in the Western medical system and like slap a pill on it, but that's not how herbs work. Instead, we go deeper. We help people get to the root cause of their problem and we also learn to meet them where they're at, because sometimes all the supplements and fancy things are expensive. But if we can teach people about the simple kitchen herbs in their home, for instance, we can do a lot of help for them and we can really open their eyes to the possibilities and to the facts that herbs really work.

Speaker 1: 13:42

And we also have to consider what's going on in their lives. Are they under great amounts of stress? Can we teach them some new stress-relieving modalities to support the nervous system? Can we teach them about their diet and how different foods can impact how their body functions? Yeah, we can. Can we teach them about different ways to get exercise? You know, telling somebody to hit the gym for an hour a day may not be feasible for somebody. They may be too busy for that. What else can we teach them? Maybe we're working with somebody who's never gotten consistent exercise and they need something nice and gentle. They can't just be like, oh, go, lift weights and become some super power lifter instantly.

Speaker 1: 14:29

Right, we have to learn to meet people where they're at and to draw out their story, because oftentimes people aren't going to tell you directly, because we're kind of jaded right, we're kind of sick of being screwed over to the left and to the right with the broken Western medical system and not truly being heard. And I think that's one of the great gifts of being an herbal healer and helping others learn to heal themselves. Like, quite frankly, we are not the healers, they are the healers, we are just the guides, right, but that's the powerful gift is like we actually listen, we actually hear on a deeper level even sometimes, and some people may be willing to share and that's really cool. Anyways, I'm really just diving deeper, kind of getting off track. I was just really sharing how beautiful it was and how exciting it is to see Mac and my other students start to really get out there and start to make an impact on their communities. Another one of my students just taught her like first class on herb. She is also a doula and a Reiki master and has other healing modalities in her whole toolkit, but now she's adding the herbal medicine to it and she's sharing that information and teaching in her community and I think it's so freaking cool, like it is so beautiful.

Speaker 1: 16:04

And maybe you're somewhere in one of those stages where you're making the things, you're doing it in your kitchen and you're giving them to your friends, or maybe you're starting to get those deeper questions from people where they're like, you know, asking you to go beyond colds and flu or to go beyond the sprained ankle or something like that, and you're feeling maybe a bit nervous, maybe. I mean, I kind of hope that you are like. I remember when that started happening for me as well. I had already, you know, made all the remedies for sprains and strains and sore muscles and first aid and for colds and flu and all of those things. But then I would have people come to me for deeper issues. Maybe it was erectile dysfunction, maybe it was some deeper skincare issue like eczema or psoriasis, and I knew that, just like throwing a salve on it, while it would like alleviate the itchiness, I knew I wasn't getting to the root cause of that, or maybe somebody? I had people coming to me approaching me on cancer and more like serious illnesses, and I remember wanting to help so bad, like I wanted to, but I was so scared. I was so scared and I would go do the research or try to do the research, but I just didn't have enough tools, I didn't have enough experience or enough knowledge.

Speaker 1: 17:38

And eventually one of my greater teachers when I was going through clinical herb school His name is Paul Bergner. He's absolutely wonderful and brilliant. I adore him to the maximum, but one of the great things that he taught me to say is such a simple statement but I'm sorry that's beyond the scope of my practice and I had to learn to be comfortable with saying I don't know, to be comfortable with saying I don't know, I don't know. That wasn't something that I was good at, because I was a straight, a student who loved to show off how smart I was in school and all this crap. So learning to say that when I wanted to help so badly was really, really challenging and it also gave me so much permission. It reminded me that it was okay not to have all of the answers, but it wasn't okay to stop learning and, quite frankly, there's nothing that could stop me on this herb learning journey and this life learning journey, like I truly love, love, love to learn. And that was one of the great things about herbal medicine.

Speaker 1: 18:55

When I first got into it was just like how fascinating it is, like the more you know, the more you want to know, kind of thing, so it's really exciting, want to know kind of thing, so it's really exciting. And eventually I kind of and it took quite a while, because when you start getting into herbalism you kind of want to know everything and you want it right now. Right, you want all the answers ready set go, because we're in such like the instant fix society for all things. We have Google, we have many, many pharmaceuticals and pills that are the instant fix. But for me, what I had to do eventually was just to shift from thinking that I needed to know everything to realizing that what people really needed from me wasn't necessarily perfection or knowing all of the things, but they wanted presence, they wanted integrity, they wanted curiosity and somebody willing to do the work to find the answer. It was being willing to say I don't know yet, but I'm going to figure it out to say I don't know yet, but I'm going to figure it out. And that was just a piece of, like, my inspiration in wanting to go deeper.

Speaker 1: 20:15

I loved learning about the herbs, but eventually it came to that point where I'm like, okay, how in the heck are these herbs working? Why are they working on the body? How in the heck does the body work? Like what a wild thing to study the human body. It is amazing, and there's always so much more information coming out. And the same thing goes with herbs and yeah, so, like I had already been through quite a few herb schools. I had plenty of herb books and I loved my herb schools for what they taught me, and I just had this unending thirst for more, like I needed to know.

Speaker 1: 20:56

Anyways, I'm kind of a rambling, but also like on a mission to share some stories and hopefully, some inspiration for you, like if you have ever felt these things and like sometimes I, I, I think about it this way. Like if you're feeling that same pool and and maybe you've got a couple of signs that I've seen in myself and that I've seen in my students, that may be saying that you're also ready for that next step. The first one is that you're getting asked for help more and more and like it's super, duper exciting and it always makes you feel a bit nervous, like you really really want to help. But then you kind of have that voice in your head that's like am I even qualified for this? Do I even know what I'm talking about? Or will I potentially hurt this person or give them the wrong thing or say something that's totally not right? Or are they on any medications? And like, how do I even figure that out? And all of those kinds of things. That's definitely a sign that you may be ready for that next step.

Speaker 1: 22:15

The other one maybe you're sick of just following everybody's recipes. Like recipes are cool, right, they're really, really great, and I share a ton of recipes with my students really great, and I share a ton of recipes with my students. But once you start to understand why things work and why maybe chamomile helps one person, chillax, but not the other, or you start to understand what's actually going on inside of the body, you eventually create or develop an almost intuitive sense on how to formulate medicine so that it actually works in incredible ways, and then you get to make your own recipes. You get to make things specific for you or specific for your child or your co worker or whoever you may be working with. And, like, sure, maybe you use those recipes that you've been handed as a as a starting point. That's super cool, and I'm sure maybe you use those recipes that you've been handed as a starting point. That's super cool and I'm so grateful that I had that. But now I'm so grateful that I am an incredible herbal formulator and I love to do that. It's fun and it's still a creative outlet for me all these years later. So, yeah, if you're like, hey, I want to create more of my own recipes, you might be ready for that next step on your herbal journey and maybe the third one.

Speaker 1: 23:35

You're starting to care more about empowering and educating others than necessarily quote being the healer. Unquote Because you're starting to learn that it's not necessarily about having all of the answers, but it's about teaching people to tune into their own bodies, to listen to what's happening in their bodies and teaching them the impacts that they could either benefit from or that could make them worse off. Right, people have that choice and that's okay, but it's our job to teach them how to do the healing for themselves and that's really beautiful. I mean it's neat to think, yeah, we're the healers and we are to some extent, but really we can't change somebody, we can't straight up. Hopefully you've learned that long ago in life, maybe through a few boyfriends or husbands or something in life. Maybe that came to you.

Speaker 1: 24:41

I know it has for many of my students and I've certainly spent my time trying to fix others and I know that you know they have to be ready for it. So, and that's kind of what community herbalism is all about it's not about you fixing everyone, but it's about you being a guide. It's about helping you or I'm sorry, helping them walk back into the wisdom of their own bodies and then they get the plants to join them on the path to the party. Right, it's really beautiful. It's a beautiful, beautiful process and right now I'm getting to experience it from a different level. I'm now getting to experience it from my students' perspectives Because I can think back of all the times like, even with my product line that I would. I still, to this day, get people writing to me about how like my products were the ones that helped them. They can't find anything else. It helped their father, it helped so-and-so, and it's beautiful. And now to see that happening for my students, when they're sending, like there's the McKenzie's sending me these messages and Stephanie and so many of the others that are sending these cool things that they're getting from their people in their community, it's beautiful and really, here's the truth.

Speaker 1: 26:09

We need more herbal healers. Yes, there needs to be an herbalist in every home and I hope that you are that herbalist in your home and we also need herbal healers and guides on every corner. Because today, if you look around at our environment in this crazy government, if you look at the lack of care for this one and only precious planet that we have, and how many people are so incredibly disconnected from their bodies, disconnected from nature, disconnected from being able to heal, we are being asked to stand up. We are being asked to take it to the next level. And if you are resonating with this, if you're like, yeah, I love playing with herbs, yeah, I love helping people, yeah, yeah, yeah, I want to do it more, but I'm not so sure and I just want to know how the herbs really work and I want to go beyond elderberry syrup and I want to go beyond fire cider. Like not knocking elderberry syrup and fire cider because they're amazing, then I want to invite you into the community herbalist certification program. It is for you. If you are like this is my time, I want to help more people. I want to help people that want to get off of pharmaceuticals Hell, I want to get myself off of pharmaceuticals. So come join us or even reach out for the conversation. Let's just start chatting about it and seeing if it's for you.

Speaker 1: 27:49

And just quickly I want to tell you a little bit how the program goes. So each month we cover one body system and I drip the content out to you so you can do it on your own timeline, but there is some guidance and structure, if that's what you prefer as well. So in the first week of each month we cover anatomy and physiology of that body system or structure from an herbalist perspective, which is going to be a bit unique from Western medicine. Like, yes, of course we get into the science, nitty gritty of it, but herbalists really do look at things in this whole body, mind, soul perspective. So we do that on week one. Then on week two we talk about different herbs and categories of herbs that you can use for that particular system, so you can start building up that herbal repertoire or monograph kind of set for yourself about different disease states and ailments and imbalances within the body and how you can help others support themselves through that different protocol that you might recommend, whether it's diet, lifestyle shifts, you know, taking five minutes to sip a cup of tea in the middle of the day, or getting out for a walk every day. Or, you know, of course, herbs yes, we talk about herbs in this time as well.

Speaker 1: 29:21

And then the fourth week is more about Q&A and practical application, connecting with the other students, learning how to actually put all of this into practice. And then you also learn about different herbal practitioner skills, like the art of an herbal intake, which is far superior to what you're going to get from a standard doctor's visit. Right At the doctors you get your checklist and you get your seven minutes and, bam, you're out and you get your prescription. But as an herbal practitioner, you learn this beautiful art of listening and being present for your people, because people are coming to you because they don't like the way they're treated. They want to be seen as more of a human and less of a number. So we do dive into practitioner skills. You also get amazing guest teachers coming in and sharing their expertise with you and you get me as your guide through this journey, just kind of creating a safe space where you can be comfortable going on this journey.

Speaker 1: 30:29

It's not about you cramming all of the information and instantly becoming a clinical herbalist overnight. It doesn't work that way. It's about learning how you can help your people, how you can build confidence in yourself and trust in your intuition and helping people, and how you can make a really, really, really big impact on yourself, your family, your community and this planet. So if your heart is like, yeah, that's me, that's my next step, I would be honored and love to be your guide. You can just shoot me a message or check out the Community Herbalist Program. I will link it in the show notes, of course, but I'm really, really excited to come together with you and to make herbalism spread like wildflowers together. It's so darn beautiful.

Speaker 1: 31:23

So wherever you're at whether you're just making that first tincture or you've got people calling you up and texting you left and right tincture, or you've got people calling you up and texting you left and right you are in the right place and you do belong here. So keep walking down this herbalist path. Keep taking time to listen to the plants, to learn from the plants, keep showing up with love, keep showing up with curiosity. This is an incredibly beautiful and powerful journey, and our world needs more of what you're growing into, now more than ever. So, all that being said, can you tell I'm passionate about this stuff? Can you tell I really truly love it? Because I really really truly do.

Speaker 1: 32:14

And if this message or this podcast resonated with you and you just want to share that with me, I would love to hear about it. Shoot me a DM on Instagram, shoot me an email, maybe reach out on TikTok, wherever you follow me on the socials or what have you. I would love to hear from you. So, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to me and this episode today. I value you in the most beautiful of ways and what you're doing is amazing. Keep making herbalism spread like wildflowers and make sure that the rest of your day is just amazing. Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the Herbalist Path.

Speaker 1: 33:05

If you're loving this journey and learning all about the various aspects of herbal medicine, be sure to follow and review the show. It helps more people find their own path with herbal medicine, and if you have a friend or know a mama or another budding herbalist who could use this kind of support, please share this episode with them, and that way we can keep making herbalism spread like wildflowers. And a gentle reminder nothing shared on this podcast is intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease. All the information is for educational purposes only, and, yeah, we throw in some entertainment too. But what it is not is a substitute for personalized care from a qualified health practitioner. Always do your own research, listen to your body and, when needed, partner with a trusted professional who honors both your intuition and your health. Until next time, take care, stay curious and keep walking down the herbalist path.