foundations of herbalism

Herbal Roots Program in New milford, ct | 175-HOUR CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

This program is for anyone who wants to be empowered to take care of their own health! The FOH course was designed to lay out a solid foundation for becoming a family and/or community herbalist.

For nearly two decades, Twin Star has been planting the seeds of herbal wisdom through our beloved Foundations of Herbalism program. Students experience the art, science, and spirit of herbalism by working directly with the plants and forming powerful, meaningful relationships. Participants learn how to identify and ethically wildcraft, gather, and grow medicinal plants, as well as become confident in making high quality herbal extracts and a variety of botanical preparations.

Over the years, we have guided hundreds of students through this foundational course designed for both beginners and those who have already begun their studies. Our goal at Twin Star is to give you the tools you need to feel self sufficient in working with herbal medicine by combining plant wisdom, intuitive practice, scientific knowledge, and energetic healing.

By strengthening our knowledge and understanding of herbal wisdom, we reclaim our health back into our own hands and continue to evolve the healing exchange between our communities, our planet, and ourselves.

Lupo, I love your lectures! You make everything so fluid and easy to understand. Your way of teaching, adding personal stories and experiences really helped me! You have taught me so much about the plants, but even more importantly, you help open my spiritual door to better understand people, including myself. The structure of the classes are enjoyable I really have gotten so much more than expected in your teachings. Thank you for all you offer.”

— Dori P. 2025 Foundations of Herbalism Graduate

What You wIll receive

This class meets once a month in person for a full day of herbal immersion. Each gathering offers plant walks, ritual, and hands-on medicine making experiences, giving students the opportunity to work directly with the plants and strengthen their connection through practice.
Each month, students will receive pre-recorded video lectures, designed to fit easily into any schedule. These visually engaging lessons can be watched on your computer or listened to on the go from your phone. Rich with content and available for you to watch again and again, allowing the material to deepen each time you return to it.
The confidence and skills to care for yourself, your family, and your community with herbal medicine, including the ability to create and use your own remedies, offer support for common ailments, and bring the wisdom of plants into daily life in safe and meaningful ways
Extensive hands-on experience preparing tinctures, teas, salves, oils, flower essences, and other botanical preparations, so that you not only understand the theory but also develop the skill, confidence, and artistry to craft your own herbal apothecary.
Earn a 175-Hour Certificate in Community Herbalism, marking your completion of the program and readiness to continue on the herbal path. This program provides the essential groundwork that prepares you to step into our advanced training, Practices and Protocols of Herbalism.
A connection to a living lineage of herbalists, along with lifelong relationships with the plants themselves and the peers you study beside, weaving you into a circle of support and shared wisdom that continues long after the program ends.

Enroll Now

Those who feel called to begin their journey into the art, science, and spirit of herbalism
Beginners seeking a strong foundation, as well as students who have already started their studies and wish to go deeper
Individuals who want to build practical skills in medicine making and create their own home apothecary
People interested in exploring the mind, body, spirit connection through the lens of herbal energetics and body systems
Students drawn to a community learning circle, where relationships with plants and peers grow side by side
Anyone who wishes to become a confident family or community herbalist, reclaiming the wisdom of herbal medicine for daily life

Who is this for

Enroll Now

What you will learn

Building Relationships with the Plants

Learn how to identify, grow, and ethically wildcraft medicinal herbs while forming deep, lasting relationships with them. You will spend time in the field and classroom, getting to know plants through direct experience, intuition, and study. Through this hands-on connection, you will gain confidence in preparing your own remedies and begin to understand the plants not only as medicine, but as teachers and allies on your journey.

Understanding the Body and Energy Centers

Explore the body through both anatomy and physiology as well as the lens of energetics, weaving together the physical and the subtle. Each system of the body is studied alongside the energy center it relates to, allowing you to experience the mind, body, spirit connection in practical and transformative ways.

By integrating science with energetic awareness, you will learn how plants support the whole person, helping you recognize patterns of imbalance and ways to bring harmony back to the body.

The Art & Practice of Medicine Making

Develop the skills to prepare tinctures, teas, salves, oils, and other botanical remedies with care and intention. You will learn techniques that are both time-honored and practical, creating a foundation for your own home apothecary.

This work not only builds competence, but also cultivates artistry — transforming simple preparations into powerful medicines that carry the wisdom of the plants and the heart of the herbalist who makes them.

Our seasonal syllabus

Each month we focus on a different body system and its corresponding chakra, weaving together physical anatomy, herbal energetics, and hands-on medicine making. This structure allows students to explore the mind, body, spirit connection in a practical and embodied way, while deepening relationships with the plants and developing the skills of a community herbalist.

March
The History of Herbalism
Herbal Concepts
Healing with the Chakras
Ethical Wildcrafting
Spring Tonics and Ciders

April
Root Chakra
The Nervous System
Herbal Energetics and Actions
Stress Remedies
Infusions and Decoctions

May
Sacral Chakra
The Reproductive System
Herbal Skincare
Medicinal Herbal Infused Oils
Community Herbalism in Action

June
Solar Plexus Chakra
The Digestive System
Detoxifying Herbs
Medicinal Salves and Topicals
The Doctrine of Signatures

July
Heart Chakra
Circulatory System
Flower Essences
Herbal Tinctures
Flower Essences

August
Throat Chakra
The Immune System
Eyes, Ears, Nose
Aromatherapy
Preparing Herbal Syrups

September
Third Eye Chakra
Herbs for Children
Medicinal Mushrooms
Herbal Powders and Electuaries
Mutual First Aid and Herbal Disaster Relief Work

October
Crown Chakra
The Herbal First Aid Kit
Medicine Makers Showcase
Student Becomes the Teacher
Graduation Ceremony

Rooted in the art, science, and spirit of herbalism, weaving intuitive practice with practical skill and scientific knowledge
Taught for nearly two decades, with hundreds of graduates carrying this lineage forward into their lives and communities
A body-systems approach paired with the study of energy centers, offering a deep mind, body, spirit connection
A balance of in-person immersions and engaging online lectures, designed to be both flexible and experiential
Guided by a circle of teachers and guest instructors, bringing diverse perspectives and voices into the classroom
Offered at Twin Star North and South, grounding your studies in place-based learning across regions

What makes our
Program unique?

now more than ever, the world needs more community herbalists

when will we meet

Our Foundations of Herbalism is a LIVE and IN-PERSON learning experience, consisting of a combination of online lectures paired with hands on, in person learning, consisting of over 50 in-depth lectures with monthly full day in-person herbal immersions. These days will consist of plant and mushroom identification walks, herbal medicine gardening, ethically wildcrafting and harvesting, plant spirit philosophy and botanical exercises as well and incredible herbal remedy making lessons (in which you will begin to build and take home remedies for your own at home apothecary).

Our Foundations of Herbalism program runs from March-October.
In person classes will be held from 10:00-5:30 on the following dates:
SaturdayApril 25, May 16, June 27, July 25, August 22, September 26, October 18 sunday*

Our online LIVE classes will be from 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. est on Monday’s:
March 30, April 13, May 11, June 15, July 13, August 10, September 14, October 12
During our first opening circle call in March 16th, we will go over the flow of the program.

After you register, you will receive access to our classroom portal that will act as your online hub for everything you need. It will list homework, dates and times for our online LIVE classes and in-person immersions, access to our online community and access to the pre-recorded video lectures for each month.

We offer a limited number of spaces each year to create an intimate class experience.
*We reserve the right to reschedule classes in the event of unforeseen circumstances.
If any changes occur, students will be notified promptly.

Meet Your Teachers

Rebekah has been an integral part of the Twin Star Tribe since 2013 and is a beloved core member of our teaching team. With years of dedicated apprenticeship and experienced practice, she has grown into a gifted and beloved teacher and an advanced medicine maker, whose work is central to both the classroom and the apothecary.
In addition to crafting and teaching about botanical and herbal preparations, with both skill and care, Rebekah is also a talented artist, creating botanical prints that celebrate the divine feminine. Her artistry, alongside her depth of herbal knowledge, brings beauty, wisdom, and inspiration to the students she guides into advanced herbal practice.

Lupo Passero is a Community Herbalist with over 25 years experience in the field of herbalism and natural health. Lupo has worked closely throughout the years within the natural products industry serving as a staff herbalist in a variety of local health food and herbal stores and has served as an educator and as a consultant for over 20 years for some of the best retailers, producers and manufacturers of herbal medicine in the country. Trained as a Clinical Herbalist in Asheville North Carolina in 2003, Lupo has been working closely with folks of all ages and backgrounds, helping them to create healing herbal regimes for better heath and wellness as well as to help support specific ailments. In 2016 Lupo opened Twin Star Community Apothecary, a full service local apothecary, combining her expertise of natural products and her deep wisdom of herbal medicine. She has created hundreds of time tested and well loved herbal products over the years and is is always happy to help create a custom tea blend, flower essence or personalized herbal remedy and enjoys supporting all individuals innate ability to heal themselves with simple and effective plant potions.

Tina Parziale (she/her - @trparz) is many things, one of which is "averse to labels". She has studied herbs over the last eight years with Lupo Passero of Twin Star, Lisa Fazio of The Root Circle, and Jade Alicandro of Milk and Honey Herbs. Throughout her life, Tina has been captivated by the power and magic of story--from folktale and myths to stories of her ancestors and the lands they hailed from. In her capacity as a facilitator, she draws connections between the past and present, and encourages participants to learn from the past to inform, inspire, and change their present. She is the owner of Fable (@ctfable + @fable_underworld)—a tea house/artisan gift shop/learning space/cocktail lounge—located on lands of the Tunxis and Quinnipiac people (Southington, CT).

Bekah has been an amazing teacher. She's fun, down to earth, incredibly knowledgeable, and so helpful with hands-on learning. Bekah has amazing vibes and infectious enthusiasm for plants. She's welcomed us to her home and garden and has brought to us the most amazing places.

— Chris C. 2025 Foundations of Herbalism Graduate

Join our waitlist

our 2026 program is currently full, but join the waitlist to be first in line for the next cohort — and in the meantime, the following immersions offer a beautiful way to begin your herbal journey.