About the CSCH – A Message From Our Director

The Front Range

Hiking opportunities abound near CSCH. Come explore the beautiful Front Range of the Rocky Mountains! This is one of the trails on Marshall Mesa, just beyond the south end of Boulder.

Colorado School of Clinical Herbalism – YouTube

2014 Evening Program: Summer Solstice Fieldtrip to Switzerland Trail

Our Evening Track Fundamentals class meets one Saturday per month. This year we lucked out as the Saturday field trip coincided with Summer Solstice. We visited the beautiful higher-altitude meadows off of Switzerland Trail, between Gold Hill and Nederland. So many wildflowers this year – it’s been raining more than average. Students had lots of opportunities to practice their keying and plant identification skills.

Hands-on medicine-making class

Part of the curriculum here at CSCH is to learn professional medicine-making techniques. At the end of the Advanced Herbalism program, we have a week of Herbal Pharmacy where we learn to make tinctures by the old Percolation method – the way the pharmacists used to do back in the 1800s. After working out the math, students in this photo are setting up the first phase where the powdered herbal material (the marc) soaks in the menstruum (which...

In the Classroom

Before we begin our field trips, our botany instructor Joshua Paquette goes over the characteristics of plant families and the nuances of  leaf, flower, and inflorescence structures with students in the classroom. Each Fundamentals course dedicates two weeks to learning plant ID and introducing the botanical ecology of the Front Range. Then we take several more field trips throughout the Fundamentals and Advanced courses. Although we don’t teach...

Medicine-making: Percolation

Percolation is an older method of making tinctures, popular with botanical pharmacists and physicians in the 1800s. The old Pharmacopoeias and Formularies (now available online) still preserve their instructions and recipes.  The plant material to be extracted is dried, powdered, pre-soaked in menstruum, then carefully packed into percolation cones. More menstruum is added on top, and allowed to slowly drip (percolate) down through the plant material....

Prunella: Heart of the Earth

All-Heal (Prunella vulgaris) Lisa Ganora I was first introduced to this humble plant in the Appalachian mountains of North Carolina. Although most herbalists seemed to know its name, not that many could tell me how to work with it. It seemed as though we Western herbalists had forgotten the amazing powers hidden in this odd little non-aromatic mint. But when you look closely down the top of the inflorescence, you can see this wonderful signature: two...

Class Field Trip to Brainard Lake

The first two weeks of our Fundamentals of Medical Herbalism program are dedicated to field botany. We explore the many different environments around the Front Range, including some unique high-altitude plant communities such as those at Brainerd Lake (elevation 10,000′). In the Advanced Herbalism program, we also visit the Spring plant communities in different areas. On our field trips we learn how to identify plants with botanical keys and...

Class Field Trip – Plains Riparian Region

Boulder Valley is on the edge of the Great Plains. It can get quite dry here, and some very interesting plants choose to grow mainly in the Riparian zones – along the creeks, with the Cottonwoods and Willows. Here you can find Motherwort, Catnip, Plantain, the occasional Nettle, and other herbs more characteristic of Eastern Woodland areas.

Making Elderberry Syrup

Elderberries (Sambucus spp.) make a wonderful elixir. Research has found that certain polyphenols in the berries can inhibit the ability of respiratory viruses to replicate, and clinical studies have found that they can shorten the duration and intensity of infections. To make a concentrated Elderberry syrup, we extract fresh, locally-harvested Elderberries into raw local honey, and add this to a tincture of fresh berries. This combines very nicely with...

Purslane

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea) is a common garden weed that flourishes in our area. Besides being a tasty, tart, crunchy, and juicy salad nibble, it contains a rich supply of constituents known as betalain alkaloids. These compounds have been extensively studied for their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer properties. Purslane is also one of the few green plants that has a significant omega 3...

Lisa Ganora

  Lisa began studying herbs in the Wise Woman Tradition back in 1986 and fell profoundly in love with medicinal plants and natural healing. While studying wildcrafting and medicine-making with traditional herbalists from New England to the Appalachian Mountains for ten years, she began creating herbal products and traveled the festival circuit with an herb booth and as a workshop presenter.   In 1997 Lisa decided to study botany, chemistry, and...

Grasslands

Students hike past the old working windmill at Pawnee Buttes during our annual Mountains-to-Grasslands field trip. The Grasslands have a unique ecology where special plant species are adapted to survive the harsh conditions of the High Plains. Pawnee Buttes has long been a sacred site to indigenous peoples of the area.

Evergreen Center Apothecary