foundations of herbalism
week long Herbal intensive | August 3-7 ASHEVILLE, Nc
With Five Increible Herbalists & Special Guest Leah Song of Rising Appalachia
This immersion is for anyone who wants to be empowered to take care of their own health!
The FOH week long intensive was designed to help expedite a solid educational foundation in Herbalism.
Come spend a week in the heart of Appalachia…
…one of the most botanically diverse regions in North America and home to an extraordinary abundance of medicinal plants. Together we’ll explore some of Western North Carolina’s most beloved herbal destinations, from the gardens at Red Moon and Twin Star to the Asheville Botanical Gardens, Kestrel Herb Farm, Ruby Ranch, and the banks of the French Broad River. Along the way you’ll discover the plants, places, and traditions that have inspired generations of herbalists.
One of the most unique aspects of this immersion is the opportunity to study with five incredible herbalists over the course of the week. Rather than learning from a single instructor, you’ll experience a rich diversity of teaching styles, philosophies, and specialties as each guide shares their lifelong relationship with the plants, offering insights shaped by years of practice, cultivation, medicine making, and field experience.
This is far more than a classroom experience. Each day combines hands-on medicine making with time in the field, giving you the opportunity to prepare an extensive collection of herbal remedies including fire cider, ginger honey, onion syrup, herbal tea blends, infused oils, medicinal salves, tinctures, flower essences, herbal syrups, and more while learning directly from the living plants. You’ll develop confidence in plant identification, ethical wildcrafting, herbal first aid, medicinal mushrooms, and the practical skills needed to begin building your own home apothecary.
Throughout the week you’ll travel between beautiful farms, gardens, forests, and gathering spaces, experiencing herbalism in the places where it naturally thrives. You’ll learn from the landscape itself while sharing meals, conversations, and laughter with fellow students, enjoying a very special and intimate musical workshop with our dear friend Leah Song, and becoming part of a vibrant community brought together by a shared love of the plants.
Whether you’re just beginning your herbal journey or looking to deepen an existing practice, this week offers an opportunity that’s difficult to find anywhere else. Few programs bring together so many inspiring locations, so much hands-on medicine making, and such an abundance of practical learning in a single experience. You’ll leave with a basket full of remedies you’ve crafted yourself, a wealth of new knowledge and skills, lasting friendships, and a deeper relationship with the plants and the Appalachian landscape that surrounds them.
Our Week together - What You wIll receive
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Hands-on Herbalism
Learn through direct experience as you prepare a diverse collection of traditional herbal remedies including infused oils, salves, tinctures, glycerites, syrups, electuaries, teas, and other botanical preparations you’ll take home.
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Embodied Plant Connection
Deepen your relationship with medicinal plants through plant energetics, ethical wildcrafting, botanical observation, creative practices, movement, and immersive experiences designed to cultivate both intuition and practical herbal knowledge.
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Community, Nature & Integration
Explore Asheville’s vibrant herbal community through local gardens, working herb farms, and guided field excursions while building meaningful connections, sharing meals and stories, and discovering ways to weave herbalism into everyday life.
A Week Filled with Local Herbal
Field Trips & Botanical Adventures
Monday • Red Moon Herbs
Our week begins at Red Moon Herbs, where we’ll get to know one another, explore the gardens, and learn the foundations of herbal medicine making. Together we’ll prepare classic home remedies like fire cider, ginger honey, onion syrup, and nourishing herbal teas while discussing ethical wildcrafting and building a strong foundation for the week ahead.
Tuesday • Twin Star Classroom & Asheville Botanical Gardens
We’ll spend the morning at Twin Star crafting infused herbal oils and medicinal salves fresh from the garden in our new classroom space, before heading to the Asheville Botanical Gardens. A must visit for all budding Herbalists! Surrounded by native flora, we’ll practice botany, plant identification, and observation skills while getting to know the medicinal plants growing all around us.
Wednesday • Kestrel Herb Farm & An Evening with Leah Song
Nestled among the medicinal herbs at Kestrel Herb Farm, we’ll prepare herbal tinctures and alcohol-free glycerites before spending the afternoon exploring plant energetics through the Doctrine of Signatures, botanical drawing, and guided conversations with the plants. Surrounded by the beauty of the farm, we’ll deepen our relationship with medicinal herbs while cultivating observation, intuition, and a greater understanding of the living pharmacy all around us.
Thursday • Red Moon & Ruby Ranch Herb Farm
We’ll return to Red Moon for another morning of medicine making, preparing herbal syrups and other nourishing remedies before visiting nearby neighbors at Ruby Ranch Herb Farm. Walking the fields together, we’ll meet cultivated medicinal plants, discuss growing and harvesting practices, and deepen our connection to herbs in the landscape where they’re grown.
Friday • Twin Star South & SPECIAL Guest Leah Song
On our final day at Twin Star South, we’ll explore the sweetness of herbal powders and botanical electuaries while bringing together the medicine-making skills we’ve practiced throughout the week. In the afternoon, we’ll gather for a special one-hour vocal workshop with our dear friend Leah Song. Leah Song is a storyteller, song-catcher, and cultural bridge-builder, best known as the frontwoman of Rising Appalachia alongside her sister. Through sound, movement, and creative expression, Leah invites participants to explore the healing power of the voice as a pathway to greater presence and self-awareness. Drawing from vocal improvisation, group harmonics, singing techniques, and embodied movement inspired by yoga, contact improvisation, martial arts, and modern dance, this immersive workshop creates a welcoming space for everyone—regardless of singing experience—to connect with themselves and one another through music.
All field trips are subject to change if inclement weather. Each excursion will be within 30 minutes of the Asheville area. We look forward to sharing specialized botanical locations where you can sink deeply into nature and intimately connect with the plants.
“Up until my course at Twin Star, never did I fully notice how much medicine, healing and support was right in front of my eyes in nature - even sometimes in the middle of a sidewalk crack! This course literally opened my eyes, heart and soul up to a new paradigm and inspired me to take in all of what the plants have to offer, and how to cherish and give back to the soil!”
— Rachel A. FOUNDATIONS OF HERBALISM GRADUATE
Those who feel called to begin their journey into the Art, Science, and Spirit of herbalism
Those craving a deep, immersive, week-long experience and ready to dive into herbalism fully.
Those who want hands-on, practical skills in medicine-making, wildcrafting, plant identification and building a home apothecary.
Those who are interested in exploring the mind, body, spirit connection through the lens of herbal energetics and body systems
Those drawn to a community learning circle, where relationships with plants and peers grow side by side
Additionally this program is for:
Students who want to begin their herbal studies with this immersive, hands-on week and then continue their learning through our Foundations of Herbalism Online program to complete full certification
Students who have already completed our Foundations of Herbalism Online and want to deepen their knowledge through a full hands-on immersion in medicine making, plant identification, and wildcrafting
Who is this for
What makes our Program unique?
This one of a kind program immerses you in the biodiverse Appalachian landscape, one of the richest botanical regions in North America, while connecting you with the people who have dedicated their lives to these plants. Throughout the week, you’ll learn from five experienced herbalists, each offering a unique perspective and area of expertise, as you travel between working herb farms, botanical gardens, forests, and riverside landscapes. Each day combines hands-on medicine making, ethical wildcrafting, botanical exploration, and meaningful discussions that deepen both practical skills and your relationship with the plants. Whether you’re beginning your herbal journey or building on prior knowledge, this immersive week can stand alone or be paired with our online Foundations of Herbalism course to achieve full certification—offering both an unforgettable field experience and a comprehensive herbal education.
when will we meet
We will meet during the first week of August 2026, the height of the growing season, specifically from Monday, August 3rd, through Friday, August 7th. Each day, we’ll gather from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., offering you a full, immersive experience throughout the week.
We offer a limited number of spaces each year to create an intimate class experience.
Meet Your HERBAL Teachers
Jenna Faccenda is a clinical herbalist and educator with over five years of dedicated study in herbal medicine and ancestral folk practices. Her teaching blends folk, practical, and hands-on approaches, offering students tangible skills to take away while centering ritual and deep relationship with the plants.
Her ancestral work is deeply informed by Southern Italian folk traditions and further shaped through time spent traveling and studying in Italy and Sicily. Alongside formal study and gratitude toward her teachers, Jenna understands plants as teachers in their own right, learning through observation, relationship, and place-based practice.
Jenna is a graduate of Twin Star’s Herbal Practice + Protocol Program and The Practicing Herbalist.
Lupo Passero is a community herbalist and educator who has been teaching the Foundations of Herbalism program for over 15 years, guiding hundreds of students through this immersive training. Her teaching focuses on helping students become confident, capable herbalists through hands-on medicine making, wildcrafting, and direct relationship with plants.
Drawing on nearly 30 years of experience in herbalism and natural health, Lupo is passionate about training herbalists who can care for themselves, their families, and their communities using practical, accessible plant medicine.
Rebekah Sutter 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.
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).
Melissa Fryar is an Asheville born Appalachian herbalist who was lucky enough to be born in her favorite plant and foraging land. She has studied with some amazing herbal elders including Rosemary Gladstar and Deborah Francis, and more importantly, from her grannies and the plants and trees themselves. Her passions include: food as medicine, folk and regional plants, a sweet old hound dog named Bocephus, and her family. She hopes to be a student for the rest of her life. Melissa has taught regionally for several herb schools and at various conferences throughout the area.
Leah Song is a musician, artist, and a ritualist, well known as the lead singer of the internationally celebrated ensemble Rising Appalachia, which she co-founded with her sister. Her work weaves together music, storytelling, and grassroots activism, uplifting traditions of folk medicine and community care. As a lifelong student of plants, Leah describes herself as a “back porch herbalist,” tending the edges where song, ritual, and the green world meet. She brings to this course her gift for creating spaces of healing through music, ceremony, and the everyday medicines of the people.
“This class gave me the knowledge to be able to take care of myself-mind,body, and spirit in such a way that brings me back to the basics, back to the earth and her medicine. Everything I have learned has been an invaluable asset to who I am as a human and I am just so grateful to Lupo for making it such a multifaceted learning experience!”
— IIona B. TWIN STAR GRADUATE
$1,100
only a few spots left! choose to pay in full and save $100 or start a payment plan.
Investment
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Frequently asked questions
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No, there are no prerequisites for enrolling in the Foundations of Herbalism program. This course is designed to welcome students at all levels of experience, whether you are brand new to plant medicine or have already begun your studies. The more knowledge and personal experience you bring with you, the more you will get out of the program, but we begin at the roots, making sure everyone can grow together.
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Yes. Our Foundations of Herbalism certificate program is offered online.
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Students are expected to arrive on time and participate for the entirety of the week.
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The Foundations of Herbalism program is unique because it weaves together the art, science, and spirit of herbalism. For nearly two decades we have trained hundreds of students, grounding them in both practical medicine-making and deep relationship with the plants. This balance of intuition and science, ritual and practice, creates a living lineage of herbalism that continues to grow through each student who joins us.
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The Foundations of Herbalism program is designed to give you the skills, confidence, and experience to begin practicing as a community herbalist. Paired with our Foundations of Herbalism online program you will learn how to make and use your own remedies, understand body systems and energy centers, and work safely with medicinal plants. Just as importantly, you will cultivate the intuition and relationships with plants that allow herbalism to become part of your daily life. By the time you complete this training, you will be able to care for yourself, your family, and your community with herbal medicine, while building a strong foundation for advanced studies.
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Yes! We’re committed to making herbal education accessible. A limited number of scholarships and flexible payment plans are available. Please inquire within by email twinstaroffice@gmail.com—we’re happy to work with you to make this path possible.