Green Herb Medicine School
Year-round program with herbalist Kathi Keville & visiting staff
Kathi’s love for history and folklore includes worldwide ethnobotany—the use of plants by indigenous peoples. These courses are all inclusive for everyone. Experience the warmth and connection of in-person guidance! Meet the herbs! Share discoveries, experiences and laughs with other plant lovers! Explore and question everything! ... and most important, fall in love with nature and its power to heal! We’ll get you into nature even if you use a cane or wheelchair.
Our school honors the Nisenan Maidu for this land and the sharing of plant knowledge.
2026 Herb Classes
Body Systems Series
Healing begins with holistic protocols with herbs, nutrition & chi gong. Delicious 9-course meal & elixir bar.
Practical formulas, recipes & tools support lasting wellness.
Herbal Apprentice with Kathi
Foraging & medicine-making. ID field trips, campout & wild food potluck. Build your own herbal 1st aid kit & home remedy chest from wild and garden. Choose from 4 weekends or take all.
Aroma~
therapy Seminar
Learn therapeutic applications of 50 essential oils & 60 garden aromatic plants & how to ID plants & quality. Hands-on formula blending & distillation. Certificate.
Wild Herb Walk &
Garden Tour
Be amazed at wild food & medicine. Learn ID & medicinal properties for 50 herbs each walk. Cultural uses & ecology. Foraging & medicine-making techniques.
Aroma-Herb Tuscany Journey
Fun, healing, soulful 12-day journey in lavender fields, natural perfume factory, lavender fest & pharmacy museum. Meet Italian herbalists, aromatherapists, gardeners, scientists & perfumers.
Learn by doing. Roll up your sleeves for hands-on instruction in herbal medicine-making, plant ID, gardening, and herb crafting that root you in the healing powers of plants. Hear Kathi—a walking plant encyclopedia of herb knowledge—offer her unique perspective as she weaves together herbal medicine systems of the world, infused with lore and science and love.
Medicinal & Aromatic Plant Distillation & Essential Oil Workshop
Seminar II: October 2026
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Essential Oil Knowledge: Take your aromatherapy practice to the next level. Combine aromatherapy essential soils and hydrosols with herbalism to heal body and mind.
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Blending & Formulation: Advanced formulation techniques allow you to customized your formulas to an individual's needs so they are more effective
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Complexion Care: Choose specific techniques and essential oils to heal skin conditions and for complexion care.. Study their safe and versititlity and their pros and cons.
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How it Works: Understand the chemistry of essential oils and how it interacts with our own physiology to make your own educated decisions about quality, effectiveness and safety of each essential oil and aromatic plant.
Essential Oil Workshops 2026
Distillation • Aromatic Plants • Aromatherapy
All three aromatherapy seminars form a continuum with Level I certificate by Kathi Keville.
Suggested reading is Aromatherapy: The Complete Guide to the Healing Art by Keville & Green.
Distillation & Essential Oil & Aromatic Plant Workshop
Seminar I: September 19-20
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Essential Oil Knowledge: Learn modern and historical uses for 30 essential oils and the aromatic plants themselves. Experience aroma and healing properties embracing body, mind, and spirit. Most important, Kathi adds her vast personal experiences using these oils for many situations.
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Blending & Formulation: Hands-on lab sessions develop your sense of smell and creativity as you gain skills to craft amazing aromatic products for healing.
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Distillation: Help distill essential oils from Kathi's fragrance garden of 40 aromatic plants used in aromatherapy. Create hydrosols and use them as spray and incorporate them into other products.. Learn how you can distill with your own kitchen pans.. Learn different distillation methods and the colorful history of distilling.
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Aromatic Plants: Choose specific techniques and essential oils for physical and emotional conditions. Study their safe and versititlity and their pros and cons.
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How it Works: Understand the chemistry of essential oils and how it interacts with our own physiology to make your own educated decisions about quality, effectiveness and safety of each essential oil and aromatic plant.
Cost: $230 + $15 materials fee paid at class
Hours: 9:30-4:30
Come away from this workshop with skills to design and create formulas for physical and especially emotional healing and to distill your own essential oils.
Essential Oil & Aromatic Plants as Medicine & Bodycare
Seminar II: October 17-18
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Essential Oil Knowledge: Learn 20+ unique essential oils—not covered in Seminar I—that are specifically used for physical healing. Take your aromatherapy practice to the next level. Combine aromatherapy essential soils and hydrosols with herbalism to heal body and mind.
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Blending & Formulation: Advanced formulation techniques allow you to customized your formulas to an individual's needs so they are more effective
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Complexion Care: Choose specific techniques and essential oils to heal skin conditions and for complexion care.. Study their safe and versititlity and their pros and cons.
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How it Works: Understand the chemistry of essential oils and how it interacts with our own physiology. Apply higher concentrations of essential oils over the problem.
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Dedicated Products: Learn to use the secrets of essential oil care.
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Pain Mangement: How liniments trick the mind to ease pain.
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Digestive Care: Address both acute and chronic indigestion with aromatic plants and essential oils.Toxicity Concerns: Understand how the liver and kidneys deal with essential oils to make your own choices about safety issues.
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Cost: $230 + $20 materials fee paid at class
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Hours: 9:30-4:30
Natural Perfume & Incense & Essential Oil Workshop
Seminar III: November 2026
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Perfume & Fragrance Mastery: Learn advanced perfumery techniques, blending top, middle, and base notes, working with rare and unusual oils, and crafting natural colognes and perfumes. Explore esoteric oils, rectified essential oils, and terpenless options for unique aromatic applications.
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Take your aromatherapy practice to the next level with a focus on perfumery, esoteric oils, and clinical applications. This seminar emphasizes advanced chemistry, extractions, and rare essential oils while giving you hands-on experience in creating perfumes, colognes, and culinary extracts. You’ll also gain practical skills in clinical aromatherapy, designing treatment protocols, and working with specific therapeutic needs.
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Clinical Aromatherapy: Gain practical experience designing aromatherapy protocols, conducting consultations, and applying oils therapeutically for specific conditions. Integrate techniques with bodywork, hydrotherapy, acupressure, and other holistic practices.
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Culinary & Extract Applications: Create edible hydrosols, tinctures, and culinary extracts. Learn safe internal uses of essential oils and how to incorporate them into foods and beverages.
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Chemistry, Toxicity & Advanced Lab Work: Study chemical compounds, EO extractions, and rectification techniques. Understand toxic oils, safety considerations, and alternative herbal solutions. Hands-on labs include making therapeutic smelling salts, colognes, and advanced fragrance formulations.
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Professional Skills & Future Applications: Explore aromatherapy occupations, legal considerations, marketing ideas, and certificate opportunities. Apply scientific research to practical aromatherapy and creative projects.
By the end of Seminar III, you’ll have mastered advanced perfumery and clinical techniques, be confident in handling rare and esoteric oils, and be ready to expand your aromatherapy practice into highly specialized, therapeutic, and creative applications. Taking all three aromatherapy seminars fmeets Level I Certificate that mirrors Aromatherapy Training standards set by the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy.
Body Systems Class Series
Jan • Feb 2027
Digestive Tract • Jan
Liver • Jan
Kidney/Bladder • Jan
make-up snow date Feb
Heart, Circulation, Lungs & Sinus • Feb
Nervous System • Feb
Immune System • Feb
make-up snow date Mar
Deepen your holistic healing skills in this hands-on class series, with each session devoted to one of six body systems. This course strives to embody the essence of each organ and system.Learn to design custom protocols for individuals that integrate herbs, aromatherapy, flower essences, nutrition, lifestyle, emotional well-being, yoga, qi gong, sound and color therapy, and practical medicine-making. Each class combines physiology, chemistry, and the latest research with legal and ecological considerations, providing thorough handouts and suggested home study.
In these classes, you'll experience:
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System-Focused Protocols: Explore holistic healing strategies tailored to each body system.
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7-Course Meal: All the food, herbs, and spices in this delicious lunch are good for the system we study that day. Herbs like marinated fennel bulb and lees popular foods like braised turnips become entrees. You'll leave with the menu and recipes to recreate healing meals at home.
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Multimodal Integration: Not only herbs, aromatherapy, and nutrition are integrated into this experience, but also flower essences, yoga, chi kung, sound and color therapy, acupressure, mudras, healing music, and more to create this multifaceted healing experience. It embraces ancient healing methods, shamanistic practices, self-healing mind techniques, psychology, and audio, visual, touch aspects of healing.
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Personal Applications: Learn consultation techniques to use professional or to help friends and family, create specific formulas, and herbal medicines.
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Lab & Kitchen Creations: Learn to make custom herbal smoothies, teas, and create remedies at our Elixir Bar from a large section of herbs, sweeten with fruits and honey in our class lab.
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Take the Healing Home: Thorough handouts, suggested home study, and updates on recent research and legal/ecological considerations.
By the end of each class, you’ll be able to design complete, personalized holistic protocols for the body system of focus, combining multiple healing modalities for practical application at home or in professional practice.
Digestive Tract • Jan 17
Liver • Jan 24
Kidney/Bladder • Jan 31
Heart, Circulation, Lungs & Sinus • Feb 14
Nervous System • Feb 21
Immune System • Feb 28
Herbal Apprenticeship:
Medicinal & Edible Plant Weekends
TAKE ONE COURSE OR THE SERIES
Embark on a hands-on herbal immersion that blends plant identification, medicine-making, and outdoor exploration—from foothills to high mountain meadows ... of field trips, lab work, and High Sierra camping adventure, this course offers a rich, grounded journey into the healing power of plants. Become a knowledgeable herbalist, forager, and medicine-maker. Program is designed for those who have done previous training or self-study and want to deepen their understanding of herbalism. Collect data and research contacts and determine herb safety. Kathi opens her extensive library with 1500 herb books for your research. Base your plant knowledge on facts rather than rumor or internet promotions.
Bring an open mind and heart to explore medical herbalism from the ground up! Learn and observe wonders of natural healing. Take this plant journey with an experienced herbalist and group of extraordinary plant folks. It's a rare opportunity to study with a founder of the current herbal movement in her extensive herb gardens and apothecary.
From Spring through Summer, we follow wildflowers and native plant bloom from the Sierra foothills to high country mountains, making herbal preparations and studying plant ID.
Every Sunday is a different field trip exploring different eco-systems along rivers and creeks.
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Make an herbal first-aid kit and your home herbal apothecary from scratch.
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Share herbal experiences with other plant people.
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Try advanced formulating and medicine making techniques and theory.
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See relationships of plant families to their healing aspects in medical botany.
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Learn the botany key and tricks making plant ID easier.
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Prepare herbariums, flower essences, bee products and so much more!
MEDICINE~MAKING & WILD ID April 25~26 • Prepare an Herbal 1st Aid Kit & Home Apothecary from our extensive gardens. Take an advanced look at the science and history behind tinctures, glycerites, oxymels, salves, liniments, decoctions, pills, tablets, syrups, oils, and flower essences. Determine what is most appropriate in each situation.
FORAGING & WILD PLANT ID & ACORN PROCESSING May 30 • Learn to recognize the abundance of food to freely harvest in the wild and how to prepare so it's safe and tasty. Become an ethical forager. We'll explore different ecosystems to seek an array of wild food and celebrate with a wild food potluck. Learn medicinal botany to help ID plants and indigenous use of each plant worldwide. Forage ecologically to decide what and when to harvest. Give thanks.
3-DAY HIGH SIERRA HERB CAMPING TRIP July 17-19 • Enjoy easy car camping next to a high Sierra lake. Canoes or kayak, then explore unique Sierra plants for plant ID, foraging and making wild medicines. Share plant stories around the campfire. Native sweat lodge holders join us to build and enjoy a sweat lodge and share their traditional and modern wisdom about healing plants and giving respect to nature.
HERBAL~BEE PRODUCTS. MEAD & ELIXIR-MAKING August 29-30 • Learn the fine art of making delicious and medicinal elixirs and cordials and let your creativity shine. Make herbs products like oxymels, syrups, with propolis, honey, and beeswax. Infuse honey. Visit the hives of knowledgeable beekeepers, scientists who study the hives and come home with bee products. Mead-Making with samples. Get in touch with the plants to develop your own plant-based intuition. Make Flower Essences and study the latest findings about how plants communicate with each other, and us! and how we can dive into the conversation. Hear the music they produce using special equipment. Guest teachers are herbalist elixir makers.
ACCOMODATIONS: Green Medicine Herb School is located on a beautiful 10 acres in the Sierra. It has comfortable indoor accommodations, camping, and SUV parking for out-of-towners. BnBs run by herbalists are in nearby, picturesque Nevada City.
WORK STUDY: This is a true apprenticeship. Herb work is incorporated into each weekend. And a couple hours herb work helping Kathi with class, plant sale, or at home.
April 25-26 • May 30 • July 17-19 • Aug 29-30 2026
8 payment methods including credit cards
$800/4-month series
$100 deposit
+ $700 due 4-1-26
$15 materials/class
paid at all classes
$235/1 weekend
$115/1 Saturday
Or send check to Kathi Keville, PO Box 2482 Nevada City, CA 95959
Or arrange to drop cash off at Green Medicine Herb School
Wild Herb Walks
April • May • July • Aug
Explore a rich world of wild and cultivated herbs on a guided stroll with herbalist and author Kathi Keville. Discover over 40+ herbs with foraging, medicinal, edible, utilitarian, Native American, and global uses. Learn how to identify, prepare, and use these plants while enjoying Kathi’s engaging stories of history, science, and personal experience. These short, wide, and easy trails are perfect for both beginners or seasoned herbalists. join us in a hands-on opportunity to connect with nature and the healing properties of plants.
You'll experience:
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Guided Exploration: Walk with Kathi Keville, a seasoned herbalist, leading these walks since 1978.
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Herb Identification & Uses: Learn practical applications—medicinal, culinary, and utilitarian.
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Educational Insights: History, lore, and science of each plant shared in engaging stories.
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Connection: Bring a bag lunch to enjoy a picnic with Kathi afterward, if you'd like!
Connect with your local flora and plant enthusiasts.
Sun April 26 • BEAR RIVER WALK ~ Colfax
Sat May 23 • ROCK CREEK WALK ~ cancelled
10-12:30. $25 prepaid or $30 cash at walk. Teens $15/Kids $5 pd at walk.
Sun July 19 • HIGH SIERRA WALK ~ Bowman Lake Rd Loop Trail
30 min from Nevada City or Truckee
10-2:30. $45 prepaid or $50 cash at walk. Teens $30/Kids $15 pd at walk.
Bring your lunch + enjoy Kathi's wild foods samples!
If you wish, bring your lunch to picnic with Kathi after each herb walk.
You will receive email with directions & contact info for all walks.
Herb Garden Tours
May 24 • May 31 • June 13
Step into the enchanting world of herbs on a guided Herb Garden Tour with herbalist Kathi Keville in Green Medicine Herb School Gardens. Explore 3 herb gardens filled with 500 medicinal species. Strolling through beautifully landscaped display gardens, with shade and benches for a comfortable stroll. Learn cooking and healing plants from around the world. Kathi gracefully moves from historical lore to modern science, giving practical tips, herb use—all enriched with personal stories and experiences.
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A Guided Exploration: Kathi's tour is filled with entertaining tales from ancient lore as she leads you through a worldwide tour with designated areas like China, Eastern Woodland, Ayurvedic, and Celtic Lands. There's Japanese and Fragrance gardens. A great opportunity to ask herb questions of an expert.
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Herb ID & Uses: Meet familiar herbs and ones you've never heard about, but have an important use somewhere in the world.
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Educational Insights: Gain understanding about how herbs work, when to use them, or not while touring this herbal wonderland.
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Easy Walking: Mostly shaded paths with benches along the way.
Garden Tour 9:00-11:30 • $25
Herb Tea served • Nursery & Apothecary Store open
Can arrange special tours for groups of 6-12
Registration open until 12 hours in advance of tour
Aroma~Herbal JOURNEY to TUSCANY
Enjoy hands-on workshops in herbalism and aromatherapy, countryside plant walks, and excursions to Florence, Siena, San Gimignano, Perugia, and Assisi. Highlights include the Assisi Lavender Festival, Summer Solstice & Herb Day traditions, cultural explorations, Tuscan cuisine, and a rejuvenating spa visit—blending holistic health, history, and sensory delight into an unforgettable experience.