You receive:

You also receive:

• A chance to ask me your questions: Each course features at least one Q&A live webinar. This is your chance to put your questions to me so that you can feel confident about using your new skills (Please note: this is not a chance to have a medical consultation or to ask direct medical questions: I cannot treat people via phone, email, text message, Face Book or Skype but, I can educate you this way).
• Access to a private Face Book group: Here you can let us know how you’re getting on with your new journey into the plant world, post pictures of the plants that you’ve found, the delicious dishes that you’ve created and/or the remedies that you’ve made. I will pop in and out of this group so this is also a good place to check things that you are unsure of and post questions for me. It’s also a great place to receive the support and encouragement of others who are learning and to see new recipe ideas.
• Documents and recipe sheets for making herbal tonics and extracts e.g. tinctures, infusions, syrups, cordials, infused oils, ointments etc.
• My basic, jargon-free, beginners’ guide to safely identifying plants (to help you to avoid any mishaps when foraging).

• My guide to using herbs safely: for adults, children & in pregnancy; including when not to use them and when to seek professional advice instead.
• A list of recommended herbal suppliers so that you can buy herbs that you want to use but can’t find growing near you.

Special Guest Experts: over the years I’ve recorded Q&A webinars with myself and special guest experts to cover specialised topics in detail. The High Summer course includes webinar recordings on Starting a Medicinal Herb Garden (with organic herb specialist Denise Dunne) and other recordings.

Includes Video Demonstrations of :

• St. John’s Wort Oil (to ease aches and pains)
• How to make herbal tinctures (a concentrated, medicinal extract)
• How to make herbal ointments (to soothe and heal the skin) 
• Poutices for first aid (medicine directly from the garden or hedgerow)
• Raspberry oxymel (a delicious tonic drink to ease sore throats and colds)
• Rosemary & nettle hair tonic (to revitalise thinning or dull hair)
• Honeysuckle cough syrup (a heavenly-tasting medicine)
• Cleavers seed coffee (a tasty, nourishing alternative to caffeine)
• Calendula poultice for varicose veins (a little known use for a common garden plant)
• Chickweed pesto (delicious, easy, quick and good for you!)
• Chickweed poultice (to soothe inflammation and itching skin)
• How to make fresh herbal tea (make your own blends from garden to cup)
• How to dry herbs

Includes step-by-step photo lessons of :

• How to make rose petal ice-cubes
• How to make meadowsweet cordial
• How to make rose petal infused oil
• How to make a soothing tea blend
• Rose infused chocolate truffles (yum!)

E-Course Bonus Features

As well as the above features, you will also receive the following:

• My list of recommended books so that you can learn more about wild food foraging and herbal medicine.
• My list of recommended, reliable websites.
• Further study: a list of courses where you can train to become a professional, qualified herbalist; information on informal apprenticeships where you can gets some hands-on experience with an working herbalist.
• A list of suppliers of ingredients e.g. herbs, bottles, jars, oils, waxes etc.
• Herbs in the City: an info sheet with tips on how to forage when you live in towns and cities.
• A brief guide to organic versus conventional gardening: otherwise known as the alarming truth about weed-killers and why you should avoid them like the plague!
• A guide to common poisonous plants (so that you can avoid them!).
• Plants for bees: bees love herbs and herbs love bees! A list of herbs to plant to encourage bees into your garden.
• Free updates: if I update any part of these courses or add new lessons then you’ll receive these updates free of charge.

All students get life-time access to the resources (documents, videos, photos etc.) in this course. On-line support from Vivienne is currently provided seasonally but will not be available for life-time!

“I know I’ve said it already, but I’m in heaven with this course! Best thing I ever did. You’re so enthusiastic yourself and so generous with your time and knowledge. It’s great that people from around the world can access it too.”

Catherine Gallagher (Early Summer E-Course)

“You’ve given us SO MUCH useful info in such a good, clear form.  Your course is excellent! ”

Kathy Locke (Early Summer E-Course)

“I am just sending an e-mail to you to say thank you for the 1st series of your E-course. I found it very interesting, full of useful information, easy to follow and profound in knowledge. And you know what? It turned out that I did not have to go further than our own garden to find all of the herbs…I made Hawthorn syrup for the very first time in my life and it is delicious with ice cubes especially on a hot summer day. So thank you again and I am looking forward to the next series.”

Edit Varga (Eary Summer E-Course)

I’ve just finished watching the webinar and I wanted to let you know that I loved it all….I liked your mix of videos and text, recipes and medicines. I honestly can’t think of a suggestion to improve it!

Margaret O’Mahony (Autumn E-Course)

You work so hard Vivienne. You are so generous with your information. I couldn’t recommend your courses highly enough. They are amazing . I’ve learned so so much by doing your two coursesI knew very little re. Lemon Balm , St John’s Wort and Roses before your course …. medicinally speaking. I was able to recognise them …. kind of ….. but your courses are so well worth the money !

Brid Ní Chleirigh

“I’ve been doing this herbalism course and think it’s rather fab! The amount of work that Vivienne’s put in is just amazing and the course is worth every penny! I honestly wish I’d had it when I was starting out. I especially love the fact that, unlike ‘normal’ distance learning type courses, you get to do it completely at your own pace. If all you’ve got is 15 minutes between putting the baby down for a nap and having to go get started on dinner, you can pick it up, learn something new, and have plenty of time to think it over while chopping your veg. It also gives you access to an associated support group where you can ask Vivienne all the questions you like and every so often, there are live webinars too!”

Mina Said-Allsopp: professional forager, Leeds, UK. http://msitu.co.uk/

As recommended in the Irish Examiner (National Newspaper): Click this link to read the review.

Read more testimonials here.

Why learn from me?

• I am a qualified and experienced professional Medical Herbalist (I qualified in 2003) based in Ireland.
• Over the years thousands of people have attended my lectures, talks, classes, guided walks, herbal clinic and/or have watched me on television.
• I am a knowledgeable, entertaining and engaging teacher.
• I have been teaching herbal medicine classes sine 2004. You can see my work here.
• I’ve been taking guided herb & wild food foraging walks for 10 years (Yes, since before it became trendy! )
• I co-presented a major national television series in which I foraged for and made an herbal remedy, natural cosmetic or wild food. I presented this show alongside celebrity chef Richard Corrigan and organic gardener Kitty Scully.Click here to see details of this television series.
• I’ve also contributed to two other television series since then. (One of them is currently in production; you can see details of the other series here).
• I have a BSc degree (with first class honours) in Herbal Medicine from the University of Central Lancashire, UK.
• I am a member of the National Institute for Medical Herbalists, the oldest organisation of professional herbalists in the world (153 years old this year!)
• I have to ensure that I am up to date with herbal medicine by doing Continuous Professional Development (CPD) every year.
• I constantly strive to learn more: about therapeutic and edible plants; about medical conditions and diseases; about scientific research and evidence.
• I regularly feature in national newspapers and television and am often asked to comment on issues affecting herbal medicine e.g. changes in legislation etc.
• I have spent several years researching local plants that were once popular remedies and food sources but which have fallen out of use or been forgotten.
• And my classes are very enjoyable and people return to them over and over again.
• The internet is full of information about herbs but little of it is reliable, lots of it is wrong and some of it is out-right dangerous! Learn from an experienced teacher that you can trust: learn from me!

What this course is not:

• This is not a qualification: after buying this course you will not be qualified to work as a professional consulting herbalist.
• It is not a medical consultation: We will look ways to improve general health with herbs and how to use safe and effective remedies for common ailments (e.g. colds, coughs etc.) but we will not learn how to treat specific, serious illnesses and diseases with herbs. We may mention these briefly and talk about them in general terms but, this is always an example of a case where I will recommend that someone consults a professional medical practitioner and/or qualified herbalist. I cannot treat people or give specific medical advice via phone, email, text message, Facebook or Skype.
• This is not a science course: we will not cover chemistry, medical trials or evidence for the effectiveness of herbal medicines (but I am working on one that will….).
• Foraging for mushrooms and fungi are not included. This type of foraging is highly specialised and extremely dangerous if you get it wrong. If you want to learn this, then I recommend mushroom expert Bill O’Dea atwww.mushroomstuff.com
• This course is not suitable for every country in the world. It covers plants that are common throughout temperate climates (e.g. Ireland, UK, Europe,USA, Canada, Asia etc.) but NOT tropical climates (e.g. Caribbean, central Africa etc.)
• This is not a promise to identify every therapeutic and edible wild and cultivated plant.
• The information that you learn in this course is not to take the place of a qualified medical practitioner. It is for educational purposes only. Qualified medical practitioners are highly skilled and helpful people. Please consult one! They are there to help you.