Explore the Art and Science of Herbal Medicine Making In this practical two-day course, we will make several medicines and explore the foundations of making herbal products.

We will explore why different preparations are used, what they extract from plants, and how to make informed choices based on the unique properties of each herb. You will take home several personal preparations.

What will we cover?

• Learn different methods and types of herbal preparations

• Explore basic phytochemistry (plant chemistry) for medicine making

• Create different extractions in water

• Create extractions in alcohol (food-grade ethanol) using standardized methods

• Distil essential oil and hydrosol from fresh plant material

• Create oil-based preparations and create a herbal salve/ointment

• Demonstrate other preparations such as herbal vinegars and honeys

• Explore the art of formulating blends using different herbs.

• (detailed course outline below)

Participants will leave with practical experience, several preparations of their own, and a framework for continuing to explore medicinal plants independently.

What will you take home?

• At least 3 herbal tincture preparations (or more, if you make them)

• 1 herbal mouthwash

• 1 herbal salve/ointment

• 1 hydrosol spray (from essential oil distillation process)

• As many personal products that you make during your time

• Herbal recipes, monographs and learning material to continue your journey

• Knowledge of various processes and products

Course Details

Where

Durga's Den is a ecological farm and guesthouse located in St. Ann, Jamaica (about 20 minutes from Ocho Rios). The site practices and demonstrates permaculture techniques and natural building. Accommodation is available on-site. See details below for accommodation options.

When

November 7th-8th, 9:00am - 4:00pm

Cost

$25,000 JMD / $158 USD

How to Join:

Register via this page and make your payment. A deposit is needed to secure your spot. We have two payment options:

• Pay in full 

• Pay in 2 installments: 30% deposit + 70% balance by the start of the course

Payment methods:

• Pay using your card (all major debit and credit cards accepted)

• Pay via bank transfer (both Jamaican and international).

• Pay in cash. Deposit to our bank or contact us to arrange payment.

*If paying via bank transfer or cash deposit, our payments page has our banking information and more details, once you register. We'll hold your spot for 2 days to allow your transfer to reach us. After that, we may release your spot if we haven't received it .

Instructors

David Picking is a Senior Research Fellow at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, with a PhD from The UWI in ethnobotany and biochemistry and qualifications as a medical herbalist and naturopath from the University of Westminster, London. His research focuses on Caribbean medicinal plants and their safe, effective use. Through his workshops, he enjoys sharing practical skills that help participants prepare high-quality herbal remedies.

Rodjé is a lifelong student of the herbal arts. He believes that through emboried relationship with plants, their mysteries and medicine become increasingly available to us. He has been making herbal preparations for severall years and enjoys sharing.

Babumon Thankappan is a Senior Scientific Officer at the Caribbean Centre for Research in Bioscience (CCRIB), The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona. He has extensive experience in laboratory science, analytical chemistry and science education. He has practical expertise in laboratory techniques and the preparation and analysis of natural products, and enjoys sharing hands-on skills in herbal medicine and natural product processing.

Topics in Detail

Methods & Types of Herbal Preparations

A tea, tincture, infused oil, ointment, or vinegar may harness very different properties from the same plant. We will move beyond following recipes and ask the question: What am I trying to harness from this plant, and what preparation method makes the most sense?

We will explore major extraction methods used in herbal practice and examine what each method is particularly good—or not so good—at extracting.

Basic Phytochemistry for Medicine Making

Plants contain many different groups of compounds, and a basic understanding of phytochemistry can help us make better preparations.

We will introduce important groups of plant constituents (e.g volatile compounds, tannins, alkaloids, and polyphenols) that are involved in a herb’s actions. While the emphasis is not on memorizing chemistry, we will use phytochemistry as a framework for thinking about what might happen when we infuse a plant in water, tincture it in alcohol, extract it into oil, distil it, or prepare it another way.

Herbal Actions & Herbal Energetics

Herbal actions give us a language for describing how herbs interact with the body. We will introduce common herbañ actions (e.g. astringent, demulcent, nervine, immunomodulating). We will also explore herbal energetics (qualities such as warming and cooling, drying and moistening) that give plants their unique effects in the body. These ideas offer other ways to understand the overall character of a plant or preparation and develop our ability to make sense of its qualities.

Water-Based Preparations

Water is one of the simplest and most accessible herbal extraction forms. We will explore hot infusions, cold infusions, and decoctions, including how temperature, extraction time, and plant material affect the finished preparation. For example, participants will learn why some leaves or flowers may be treated differently from a root or bark and when cold extraction or prolonged simmering may offer advantages or disadvantages depending on the plant. We will explore formulating herbal blends in water, sample various infusions, and make a herbal mouthwash using commonly available plants.

Alcohol-Based Preparations

Alcohol tinctures made with food-grade ethanol are versatile and can last for years. We will explore what alcohol extracts, the role of water within a tincture, fresh versus dried plants, plant-to-menstruum ratios, alcohol concentration, maceration time, storage, and shelf life. Specifically, participants will learn how to formulate standardized tinctures at a chosen alcohol by volume (ABV) and how to dilute stronger alcohol to produce a desired concentration. We will connect alcohol strength with plant chemistry so participants can understand why different herbs may call for different tincture formulations. Participants will practice the entire life-cycle of the tincture process from plamt preparation, measurement, maceration, decanting finished macerates, filtering, bottling, and labelling.

Essential Oils & Hydrosol Distillation

Distillation offers a very different way of working with aromatic plants. We will introduce the basic principles of steam and hydrodistillation, examining how volatile aromatic compounds are separated from plant material and how both essential oils and aromatic hydrosols are produced. As a group. we will prepare fresh plant material for distilation and complete a full distiliation cycle together, separating essential oil from hydrosol and bottling each for use.

Oil-Based Preparations

Oil extracts a different range of plant compounds and forms the foundation of many topical herbal preparations. We will learn how herbs can be infused into carrier oils, while considering plant moisture, spoilage, and storage. We will then explore how infused oils can be transformed into salves and ointments, including the relationship between oils and waxes, temperature and texture, and how to incorporate essential oils.

FAQs and Details