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Dana Aronson 〰️ Herbalist

@_wildkin

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🌾Clinical herbalist + educator
🫖An herbalist helping you become your own
🌱Learn seasonal herbalism that you can live daily
↓ Free resources

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This one’s for the people who were too loud, too messy, too real for the wellness world’s version of healing 🌼

The herbalism I was taught, the herbalism I practice, doesn’t live in a trendy boutique or require the right aesthetic or the right body or the right vocabulary.

It lives here. Under a tree. In the kitchen. In the hands of people who just want to feel less alone in their bodies.

If that version of plant medicine is what you’ve been looking for….you found it. Come sit 🤎

✨ Share this with a friend who would also like to come sit with us

#herbalism #herbalist #herbalmedicine #plantmedicine #herbalremedies taken in Ashland, Oregon by @_wildkin

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6 months ago

There’s a version of herbalism that never touches a plant. Just words on a label, interested in the selling. Nope ❌

I want something slower than that. Medicine you made with your own hands. From a plant you’ve sat with, watched change through a season, maybe even grown and gathered yourself. Harvested when it was ready 🤲🏼🌿

That kind of knowing can’t be bought. It has to be built, one season at a time. That’s what we do inside The Seasonal Being. Starting in just a few weeks.

Comment SEASON and I’ll send you the details✨🌾

#herbalism #herbalist #medicinemaking #plantlove #herbalmedicine taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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3 months ago

Your body doesn’t need another hack. It needs living with the seasons 🌱♾️

We have been taught to forget this. Taught that the body is a machine to optimize rather than an ecosystem to tend. Taught that if we just find the right stack, the right morning routine, we will finally feel like ourselves again ⚡️

But your nervous system was never meant to run at one speed all year long.

Autumn asks for something different than August did. Winter asks for something different than autumn. The plants know this. Milky oats don’t bloom in December. Elderberry doesn’t fruit in spring 🌾

Everything alive has a rhythm it moves with, not against.

#season #herbalism #herbalism #plantmedicine #herbalmedicine taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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2 months ago

I know…I know….we all love some eye candy and beauty, but if we want strong effective medicine, we need to take these small details into account 🌾

Whether you’re making a tincture or an herbal infused oil, your menstruum (the alcohol or oil) pulls medicine from the surfaces it touches. Cut your plants small + the liquid can move in, soften the cell walls and carry the medicine out ✨

Smaller pieces also stay submerged in tinctures (less mold), leave fewer air pockets in infused oils (less spoilage) and let you fit more plant in the jar 🫙

• Fresh leaves + flowers: chop finely • Roots + barks: as small as you can manage • Dried herbs: crumble or coarsely grind

And here’s the part I love most. This step slows you down. You stand at the cutting board with the plant, smelling what rises up, noticing the color inside the root, the stickiness of the resin on your fingers 🌼

What herbal medicine making preps are you working with lately?

#medicinemaking #herbalism #folkherbalism #kitchenapothecary #herbalist taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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3 days ago

🌿Herbalism was never meant to be a numbers game

It was meant to be slow, unseen, passed hand to hand, kitchen to kitchen, season to season.

The algorithm can’t measure that 🤎

#herbalism #plantmedicine #yarrow #herbalist #slowliving taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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4 days ago

Please stop boiling your rose hips. Here’s what I wish more people knew 🌹

That vitamin C doesn’t love the heat. Boil rose hips hard + long, and much of it breaks down before you consume it🌿

So keep it gentle. A jar of hips in cold water on the counter overnight. A batch steeping in apple cider vinegar. An oxymel with local honey. Or a simple cup, steeped just off the boil with a lid on top🫙

Some years I gather before the first frost, when they’re tart + dense + bright. Some years I wait until the frost softens them into something sweet + tender. This plant meets us either way 🤲🏼

#rose #rosehips #tea #herbalism #herbalist taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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5 days ago

Before I start digging roots, I cut the plant down 🌱

This elecampane has been in the ground three years. Yesterday I topped it, taking the aerial parts down to the crown 🌼

Why?

When the top comes off, it forces the plant’s energy back down into the roots. I wait a day or two. Then I dig.

I won’t take it all. Part of this root becomes medicine. The rest stays in the ground for another season of growing, another year of becoming. This is sustainable harvesting. This is seasonal herbalism. This is learning the language of roots.

That’s the difference between harvesting + extracting. One takes the plant in consideration 🤲🏼

Mullein + marshmallow are next. Sitting with the same rhythm 🤎

#Herbalism #herbalist #seasonalherbalism #rootharvest #learnherbalism taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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6 days ago

That “oh shit” moment. That’s when echinacea shines✨

Echinacea is usually taken frequently right at onset. Not once a day. Every 3-4 hours at the first sign something’s coming.

Echinacea’s polysaccharides work on the immune system by activating immune cells directly. Macrophages, in particular, get switched on and go looking for what doesn’t belong 👀

Keep it close during this seasons. Not for long term everyday use…it’s for the moment you feel a tickle coming on.

✔️🌿Save this for next time you’re starting to feel under the weather

⚠️Use caution when there is autoimmunity

#echinacea #medicinemaking #herbalism #herbalism taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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10 days ago

Pumpkin spice is not a trend.
It’s an herbal formula🌾

This blend comes around every autumn to keep people warm and well through the cold + dark months.

🫚Ginger stokes a sluggish belly and eases bloating + nausea.

🌰 Nutmeg settles the stomach and softens a busy mind. Just a pinch. This one is potent.

🍂Clove is fierce + protective. Deeply antimicrobial, and rich in antioxidants.

✨Allspice eases gas, cramping, and that heavy after dinner feeling.

Every one of them is warming, aromatic, and can support digestion. Exactly what the body craves as the air cools and as we start eating heavier foods.

So no….you’re not basic. You’re body is setting into the seasons 🙃

My homemade pumpkin spice recipe lives inside Herbal Homecoming, my free community for coming back to the plants.

Comment HOMECOMING and I’ll send it your way 🤎

Ceramics by @jasper_marino

#pumpkinspice #herbalism #herbalist #herbalmedicine #seasonalherbalism taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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11 days ago

Don’t get me wrong…

I love a beautiful apothecary shelf as much as anyone. The glow of amber glass. Bundles of mugwort drying from the rafters. There is something sacred in it.
But the shelf is not the whole practice🌿

The practice is the muddy boots. The tea that tasted terrible. The plant you visited every week for a year before it finally felt like kin🫖

This is what I hope for everyone learning about plants right now… that it becomes less of something you look like + more of something you live 🤲🏼

💬✨If you are longing to learn herbalism in rhythm with the seasons, comment SEASON below to hear when The Seasonal Being opens again

#herbalism #herbalist #herbalmedicine #plantmedicine #plantlove taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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12 days ago

Meet Dana, the Academic Director behind our Village Herbalist programs at the Berkeley Herbal Center. 🌿

Village Herbalist is BHC’s two-year online clinical herbalism program, designed for beginners who are ready to go deep. Dana has spent years shaping the programs to bring serious herbal education online, and here’s what she loves most about it:

🌼You can join from wherever you are.

🌼A wonderful group of teachers, each bringing their own experiences to the classroom.

🌼Medicine making! Gathering live, every single week, not only to practice, but share stories and get questions answered in real time.

Are you ready to take the next step in your herbal journey? Classes begin October 5th and spots are still available!

Check out the 🔗 in bio to learn more and apply. by @_wildkin

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17 days ago

The hawthorn is heavy with fruit right now♥️

Here’s the super simple version to make:
Fill a jar about two thirds full with fresh hawthorn berries. Cover with raw apple cider vinegar. Crush them lightly (this creates more surface area on the berries for a richer extraction). Use a plastic lid or parchment paper under a metal lid. Shake it every few days + let it steep for a month. Strain. Stir in a honey if you want an oxymel.

How to use:
🫖 A spoonful in warm water.
🌾 Splashed over greens.
🍯 Whisked with olive oil + honey into a salad dressing
🌿 Mixed into a shrub for an autumn mocktail

Ready to build your autumn apothecary? Comment HOMECOMING. The guide lives inside my free herbal community 🫙✨ taken in Oregon by @_wildkin

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18 days ago