Advanced Apothecary

​2023 Advanced Apothecary course
Advanced Apothecary is a second-year course for all students who have completed my 9-month course in Folk Herbalism. This course is designed to give hands-on experience with forms of herbal medicine making not covered in the Folk Herbalism course. It is a class for students who are comfortable working with a basic materia medica, have begun to build up their own apothecary, and are ready to learn some more advanced medicine making techniques. 

In every class, we will be learning medicine making techniques we did not cover in the Folk Herbalism series, such as percolation, soxhlet extraction, suppositories, powdered concentrates, double extracts, fluid extracts, and cannabis medicine. The whole class will be geared to take your apothecary skills to the next level.

There will also be discussions and class notes on some concepts like tissue states, energetics, formulation and  tongue diagnosis... all topics to help you make more effective medicine for individual cases.

As with the Folk Herbalism class, folks will go home with something we make together in class every month. And at the end of the course, we will also have an Advanced Apothecary medicine show!

This is an 9-month course, and we will meet one Saturday a month in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania.

For some of the medicine making techniques taught in this class, you will need some special equipment. For the most part, these will be relatively inexpensive items such as graduated cylinders and sieves. However, the one more pricey piece of equipment that I recommend all students try to acquire before the start of the course is a good dehydrator. I prefer the Excalibur brand. I will be providing a recommended equipment list when you register, so you can begin preparing and have everything on hand to dive right in when we begin.

Can I take this course if I did not take the Folk Herbalism course?

​Although this class is primarily for students who have completed my Folk Herbalism beginning course, I am also open to folks who did not take the Folk Herbalism course joining us for the Advanced Apothecary course if they have been through a similar beginning herbalism course, have a working materia medica, and a good knowledge of basic medicine making techniques, such as infusions, decoctions, infused oils, salves, tincture by maceration, syrups and flower essences. If you are not a former student of mine but feel you are ready for this course, please fill out the form below describing your past experience and why you wish to take this course.
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We cover a lot of material in each class, and while there is no way to recreate the in-person experience for you if you miss a class, I will do what I can to catch you up, including sending you a class summary, handouts, and a video of some of the material covered.

I will be teaching the Advanced Apothecary course in Unionville, Pa in 2024 in collaboration with Lauren Simko at Arete Herbs. Registration is handled through Arete... https://www.areteherbs.com
LET'S COME TOGETHER AND MAKE GOOD MEDICINE!