harvesting fresh daisies (daisy break) centred

A practical guide to using local wild plants

as herbal medicines and nutritious wild foods

Est. 2015

Discover the fascinating world of edible and medicinal plants.

This course is for your enjoyment!

Learn at your leisure for your pleasure and knowledge,

wherever you live, whenever you want.

Learn with the seasons course inclusions

Forage for and use edible & medicinal plants for your health and well-being

*This online course is packed full of videos to help you identify and show you how to use local plants as herbal medicines and nutritious wild foods.

* Watch these videos over and over again, whenever it suits you so that you become confident at using these plants yourself. 

→LEVEL: ALL.

Designed for total beginners to get started in their own kitchen, but is also popular with experienced people who would like to broaden and improve their range of skills (including professional food foragers, herbalists and other holistic practitioners).

If you are a holistic/complimentary practitioner then this course might count towards CPD credits. Please check with your professional association if they approve my course as CPD (contact me for details if you need to provide more info).

→LEARNING STYLE: INFORMAL.

No essays, tests, deadlines or homework. Learn at your leisure for your pleasure and knowledge (think of it as taking an art class simply for the pure joy of it, rather than something you work hard to train in). Dip in and out of this course whenever it suits you.

Includes all the common herbal medicine-making techniques

Watch videos of how to make the following:

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Teas, Infusions & Decoctions

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Oxymels

Pouring out ointment (2)

Ointments & Balms

red clover seeds 027

Tincture-Making

red clover seeds 019

Infused Vinegars

Self-Heal drying full size

Drying Herbs

Re-sized for website Jan 2015 thyme syrup

Syrups

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Infused & Macerated Oils

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Poultices & Compresses

Learn easy ways to include tasty wild foods in your diet

Foraged salad

Stunning Salads

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Wild Flower Cordials

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Wild Local 'Coffee'

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Infused Vinegars

Hawthorn chutney with haws

Tasty Chutneys

Rose petal ice-cubes 2

Pretty Floral Ice-Cubes

honeysuckle_full_size

Heavenly Infused Honey

Elderflower fritters 2

Flower Fritters

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Perky Pestos

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Edible Floral Decorations

Sampling my foraged food plate

Tasty Tubers

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Wild Super-Food Juices

Discover common, easy-to-recognise local plants such as:

Red Clover

Primrose

Dandelion

Daisy

St John's Wort

Roses

Hawthorn

Elderberry

Calendula

Chickweed

Rosehips

Silverweed

Hazelnuts

Self-Heal

Elder Flower

Hazelnuts

Blackberries

Meadowsweet

Sea Buckthorn

Honeysuckle

And many more……..

ENROLMENT OPTIONS

Want to enrol for yourself? Your options are below:

BEST VALUE: Buy it once, keep access forever*

Get access to and keep all the e-course content in this series with a one-off payment of €245

€245 (approx £212/US$293)

WHAT THIS INCLUDES:

* Access to the full course and the chance to join the live webinars with Vivienne

* Pay once, get to keep access to the course content forever (‘course content’ is defined as the videos, documents, photos, webinar recordings etc. but NOT access to live support from Vivienne indefinitely for the rest of her life!!)

 Payment Plan: great on a budget

Spread the costs over 4 months

With 4 monthly payments of €65 (approx £56/US$65)

(total payments = €260)

WHAT THIS INCLUDES:

* Access to the full course and the chance to join the live webinars with Vivienne.

* If you miss a payment then course access is suspended until you re-activate it by making the payment that is due.

* A great option if you’re on a budget and are keen to get started.

Got a gift voucher you’d like to use

to enrol in this course?

Want to give this course as a gift?

You’ll need to buy a gift voucher for this (otherwise the enrolment email would go out right away and spoil the surprise!).

CANCELLATIONS & REFUNDS for ONLINE COURSES:

 14 DAY MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

If you purchase an online course and change your mind about whether or not you want it then you are entitled to a refund if you cancel your course within 14 days of the date that you bought it. To do this you must email info@theherbalhub.com within this time-frame. As long as you comply with this then your money will be refunded, no questions asked and your course access with cease.

Refunds requests after this period of time will not be considered, nor will requests to swap to other courses or issue the course to another person instead.

Exclusions: This guarantee does not apply to live-e-classes or e-courses given as gifts. All types of gift vouchers are non-refundable.

Please note: Vivienne aims to process all refunds within 7 days of the refund request. Refunds take 1 -10 working days to credit back to your credit/debit card (this varies depending on the payment method that you selected [e.g. Pay Pal, Stripe, etc] when purchasing at the check-out and Vivienne does not have any control over this).

About this course and how it works

This course is designed to help you learn about local wild plants as they come in to season.

It’s organised in to 3 seasons to help you find what is likely to be growing around you right now.

The course include a mixture of recipes for making medicinal extracts and unusual culinary dishes. There is sometimes a bit of a cross-over between these recipes because many medicinal plants are also edible. ‘Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food!’

Each course is supported for set dates while the plants are usually in season (i.e. you can receive help and guidance from me via our Private Facebook group and live webinars).

Learn at you leisure!  These courses do not require doing ‘homework’ or a time-commitment each week. Vivienne has designed these courses to fit in with busy lifestyles. You can engage with them at whichever level suits you best and you can return to them year after year, to study and use the plants when they are in season. If all that happens is that you start to recognise some of these plants growing around you then this is a very pleasurable life-enhancing interest to have; if you have more time then you can try making all of the recipes, post photos of plants to learn more about identification, have a go at herbal medicine-making and get advice about experimenting with some recipes of your own.

Spring & Early Summer Herbs

Includes these herbs

  • Plantain Leaf
  • Nettle Leaf
  • Dandelion leaves & flowers
  • Primrose
  • Daisy
  • Cleavers
  • Red clover
  • Sorrel
  • Silverweed leaf
  • Elder flower
  • Hawthorn leaves & flowers
  • Raspberry leaves
  • Blackberry leaves

Includes photo lessons

  • How to make hawthorn flower cordial
  • Primrose flower ice-cubes
  • Identification photos for every herb
  • And more……

And video lessons

  • Identification videos for each featured herb
  • Hawthorn flower tea (a soothing, centering drink)
  • Hawthorn flower ice-cubes (very pretty indeed)
  • Nettle & plantain tea (can be a natural anti-histamine)
  • Plantain first aid (poultice)
  • Daisy ointment (our native alternative to arnica)
  • Dandelion omlette (an easy way to use dandelion leaves)
  • Dandelion flower pakora (a tasty savoury dish)
  • Cleavers deodorant (amazingly effective)
  • Sorrel sauce (a tasty, lemony sauce)
  • Silverweed gargle (to ease swollen gums and sore throats)
  • Silverweed compress (to ease varicose veins and piles)
  • Elderflower steam inhalation
  • Elderflower hand-bath
  • Elderflower fritters (delicious!)
  • Elderflower cordial (a sweet treat for the summer)
  • And more…..

High Summer Herbs

Includes these herbs:

  • Self-Heal
  • Yarrow
  • Lemon Balm
  • Meadowsweet
  • Roses
  • St John’s Wort
  • Raspberry fruit
  • Rosemary
  • Honeysuckle
  • Marigold (Calendula)
  • Chickweed
  • Cleavers seeds

Includes photo lessons

  • 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
  • And more……

And video lessons

  • Identification videos for each featured herb
  • St. John’s Wort Oil (to ease aches and pains)
  • How to make herbal ointments (to soothe and heal the skin)
  • Poultices 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)
  • Identification videos for each featured herb
  • And more…..

Autumn Herbs

Includes these herbs:

  • Sea Buckthorn
  • Elder Berry
  • Blackberry fruit
  • Hawthorn fruit (haws)
  • Plantain leaf & seed
  • Nettle root
  • Dandelion root
  • Rosehips
  • Dock root
  • Hazel nut
  • Cramp bark
  • Red clover seeds
  • Silverweed roots

Includes photo lessons

  • How to make hawthorn chutney (really tasty, great with cheese)
  • Rosehip syrup (boosts the immune system; rich in vitamin C)
  • Identification photos for every herb
  • And more……

And video lessons

  • Identification videos for each featured herb
  • Elderberry cordial (a delicious, immune-boosting tonic)
  • Sea Buckthorn (extracting the fresh juice)
  • Blackberry oxymel (a great remedy for sore throats)
  • Plantain infused oil (a healing first aid treatment)
  • Plantain ointment (great to treat cuts, scrapes and grazes)
  • Cramp Bark decoction (a natural muscle relaxant)
  • Dandelion root coffee (a nutrient-rich, caffeine-free roast)
  • Hazelnut & Sorrel Pesto (delicious and local)
  • Cooked Silverweed roots (our native alternative to potatoes)
  • Dock root iron tonic (easy to make at home)
  • Using plantain seeds (rich in Omega oils)
  • How to make herbal tinctures (including decocted root tinctures)
  • And more…..

 No specialist equipment necessary.

All of the extracts can be easily made at home using common kitchen equipment.

Got questions? Get help!

All courses are supported via Q&A webinars and an optional private Facebook group.

herbs in green 5 300h

Jargon-Free

Clear identification tips, safety guidelines and instructions for using the plant as food and/or medicine
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Read all about it

Document guides about herbs and their key properties (e.g. nutritional content, medicinal uses, dosages for adults and kids etc.)
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Bring The Lessons With You

View videos, photos and guides on your mobile or tablet while you are out walking/foraging
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Lifetime Access*

Content updated regularly
*applies to buying course in full, not monthly subscription option
herbs in green 5 300h

Learn At Your Leisure

No homework or deadlines: just read & watch the lessons when it suits you
herbs in green 5 300h

Private Community

Ask Vivienne your questions and help build your confidence

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

  • My guide to using herbs safely: for adults, children & in pregnancy; including when not to use them and when to seek professional advice instead.

  • 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 I recommend avoiding 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.

  • My basic, jargon-free, beginners’ guide to safely identifying plants (to help you to avoid any mishaps when foraging).

Keep 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!

*this does not apply to the monthly subscription option

Many of the plants covered in these courses are edible and nutritious.

Discover easy ways to include them in your diet

SUPPORTED VIA WEBINARS

Get support in Q&A Webinars with Vivienne

Live webinars take place during the months that the herbs are in season, from Spring until late Autumn.

NEXT WEBINAR: Live webinars for this course will resume in Spring 2023.

They usually take place at 7 pm UK & Ireland time
11 am PT/2 pm ET

  • Q & A webinars take place regularly from April – Nov.
  • Your chance to ask Vivienne your questions about making extracts and using edible & medicinal plants.
  • This really helps you to develop real confidence to do this yourself.
  • Can’t attend live? No problem. Email Vivienne [info@theherbalhub.com] your questions beforehand and I’ll try do my best to answer them during the webinar so that you can get your answer when you watch back the recording.

Get Access to the Webinar Recording Library

♥ The webinar library contains video recordings of Q&A webinars that Vivienne has given with special guest foragers on specialised topics.

♥ Topics & guests include:

  • Using foraged plants in cocktails with Lottie Muir;
  • Starting an Organic Herb Garden with Denise Dunne;
  • Foraging in the City with John Rensten;
  • Tasty Recipes for Foraged Spring Plants with Mina Said-Allsopp;
  • Contemplating Plants with Robin Harford;
  • Foraging for a Professional Restaurant with Clothilde Walenne.

Lottie Muir http://www.thecocktailgardener.co.uk

Mina Said-Allsopp http://www.wildcraftbakery.com/

Clothilde Walenne http://www.brooklodge.com/

Denise Dunne http://www.theherbgarden.ie/

Robin Harford https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/

John Rensten https://www.foragelondon.co.uk/

Here’s what people have said about this course:

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

Kathy Locke, Ireland

“Can’t wait for next year’s additions.  The great thing is that you can look at all information in your own good time, and, you can’t get enough of a good thing!”

Julie Stark, Scotland.

“It’s so exciting what you are doing. It’s a unique course. I love it.”

Sinead Fine

“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, teacher.

“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, Ireland.

“I’m doing Vivienne’s course, I’d highly recommend it. There’s something special about a course like this designed around the plants and environment that you actually live in. There’s nothing else like it in Ireland that I’ve heard of.”

Kay Bells, e-course student and foraging enthusiast, Ireland.

“I have started to really begin to connect with plants through your course..as I go out every day to collect my nettles dandelions cleavers to make my tea….and I feel very differently now when I look out into random areas of wildness (or concrete in the city) and as all I see now is medicine everywhere and it’s amazing! And it feels very nurturing and supportive like nature and plants have got my back. It feels very humbling.”

Student in Ireland

 Do you have questions about this course?

Then ask me! You can email your questions to me at info@theherbalhub.com. Please put ‘E-Courses’ in the subject line.

Vivienne has featured on the following television channels and national newspapers: 

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, Face Book 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 at www.mushroomstuff.com
  • This course is not suitable for every country in the world. This course was filmed in Ireland and is suitable for temperate countries e.g. UK, Europe, USA, Canada. There are students enroled from Mexico to Japan! It is does NOT cover plants found in tropical countries.
  • 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.

Why learn from me?:

  • I am a qualified and experienced professional Medical Herbalist (I qualified in 2003).
  • I’m a member of The Association of Foragers.
  • I started to teach classes back in 2004 and over the years thousands of people have attended my lectures, talks, classes, guided walks, herbal clinic and/or have watched me on television.
  • I’ve done foraging and herbal medicine-making demos on television and have been interviewed for documentaries.
  • 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. I’m delighted to see a revival of interest in these wonderful plants!
  • 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! This is why it is VITAL that you learn from an experienced teacher that you can TRUST.
  • I love teaching these skills and sharing this knowledge: it is a pure pleasure.
  • You can read more about me HERE>

NOT SURE IF ONLINE LEARNING IS FOR YOU?

Join a FREE introductory webinar and tour of this video course

ENROL NOW

BEST VALUE: Buy it once, keep access forever*

Get access to and keep all the e-course content in this series with a one-off payment of €245

€245 (approx £212/US$293)

WHAT THIS INCLUDES:

* Access to the full course and the chance to join the live webinars with Vivienne

* Pay once, get to keep access to the course content forever (‘course content’ is defined as the videos, documents, photos, webinar recordings etc. but NOT access to live support from Vivienne indefinitely for the rest of her life!!)

 Payment Plan: great on a budget

Spread the costs over 4 months

With 4 monthly payments of €65 (approx £56/US$65)

(total payments = €260)

WHAT THIS INCLUDES:

* Access to the full course and the chance to join the live webinars with Vivienne.

* If you miss a payment then course access is suspended until you re-activate it by making the payment that is due.

* A great option if you’re on a budget and are keen to get started.

Get support in Q&A Webinars with Vivienne

Live Q&A webinars take place regularly from April – November

(because these are the months that the plants are in season)

  • Your chance to ask Vivienne your questions. This really helps you to develop real confidence to do this yourself.
  • Can’t attend live? No problem. Email Vivienne [info@theherbalhub.com] your questions beforehand and I’ll try do my best to answer them during the webinar so that you can get your answer when you watch back the recording.