Your herbal "tool box"

"Materia Medica" is your complete list of herbal allies ready to assist in times of need!

The most important part of herbalism is the plants themselves!

Get in-depth with more than 90 of the most versatile and prominent plants in contemporary herbalism in this fun course. 

Katja and Ryn make learning herbalism as easy as watching TV!


This course includes:

🌿 Over 50 hours of videos about how to work with and identify more than 90 plants

🌿 Printable PDF quickguides

🌿 Recipes and activities

🌿 Answers to your questions fast - next-day answers when you submit questions in writing, and twice-a-week LIVE Q&A sessions with Ryn and Katja, where you can ask your questions in person!

🌿 Lifetime access, so you can learn at your speed. And, every time new material is added, you get it for free, automatically - we're currently in the process of adding 25 hours of new content!


Learn each new herb as if it's a new friend - because it is!


You'll learn all the ways that we work with each herb, and how it can help you. Detailed safety information, plus how to know which herb to pick for which person - and more! 


What's Included?

  • over 50 hours of video

    Fun videos with close-up detail: bring the classroom with you anywhere you have the internet! (plus, new videos are added regularly to your account for free!)

  • quizzes to test your skill

    Periodic checks let you know that you're on the right track!

  • recipes and activities

    Every chapter has recipes, activities, growing tips - there are even special activities you can do with children!

  • printable quick guides

    Text resources you can print if you're a visual learner.

  • live Q&A sessions

    You're invited to our Live Q&A sessions twice every week! Plus, you can ask questions by chat while you're watching the videos!

  • join our community

    You're not alone! Join our Community Space to chat with other students - it's a private chat space where you can meet new herby friends!

Course curriculum

The complete list of everything you'll find in every chapter!

    1. Welcome to Materia Medica!

      FREE PREVIEW
    2. Live Q&A sessions twice a week!

    3. Mountain Rose Herbs + Foster Farms discount codes

    4. How to use this platform

    5. How to use Closed-Captioning

    6. The "What's New" button on your dashboard

    7. How to use the Discussions feature

    8. Meet our Friends!

    9. Chatting in the Community Space

    10. Use of Course Material (Intellectual Property)

    11. Every Body is Different

    1. Materia Medica Orientation & Introduction

    2. How to Read Materia Medica Entries

    3. How To Read Materia Medica Entries

    4. Herbal Actions Glossary

    5. Full Set of Monographs

    6. Sourcing Herbs

    7. Starter Herbs List

    8. Gardening and Wildharvesting

    9. Don't let your herbs just sit there!

    10. Plant ID Resources

    11. Herb of the Week or Month

    12. Herb of the Week/Month [printable]

    13. A Plant Sit Meditation

    14. Activities with Kids

    15. Safe Experimentation

    16. 🌿 Herb Safety in Pregnancy 🌿

    17. 🌿💊 Herb-Drug Interaction notes for Materia Medica

    1. Herbs in the garden and the wild

    2. Growing Your Own Herbs

    3. Growing Your Own Herbs [audio]

    4. Growing herbs from seed

    5. Gardening with store-bought seedlings is NOT cheating! :-)

    6. Herbs and Sustainability, or: "why i hesitate to promote wildcrafting"

    7. Herbs and Sustainability [audio]

    8. When to harvest herbs

    9. Dehydrating Your Own Herbs

    10. Dehydrating Your Own Herbs [audio]

    1. Working "in the round"

    1. Ginger - Zingiber officinale

    2. Ginger [audio]

    3. Ginger - Materia Medica text entry

    4. Ginger: Herb of the Week

    5. Ginger Activity

    6. Ginger-Chamomile cookies

    7. Ginger Growing Notes

    8. Ginger quiz

    9. More about Ginger with plant identification

    1. Cinnamon - Cinnamomum verum & C. cassia

    2. Cinnamon [audio]

    3. Cinnamon - Materia Medica text entry

    4. Studies about Cinnamon and Type II Diabetes

    5. Working with Cinnamon safely if you're a medicated diabetic

    6. More on Cinnamon with plant identification

    7. Cinnamon Activity

    8. Cinnamon Recipes

    9. Cinnamon growing notes

    10. Growing Cinnamon at home?

    11. Cinnamon quiz

About this course

  • $400.00
  • 618 lessons
  • 51 hours of video content

But wait, there's more! 🙂

In addition to the videos, we provide features to accommodate all the different ways people like to learn, so you can internalize the information easily!

  • Lifetime access - so you can review the content as many times as you like, forever!

  • Weekly live Q&A sessions with Katja and Ryn - to ask your questions directly, live and in person! (They're even archived, in case you miss one!) This course has 1 year of live Q&A support.

  • Ask questions anytime - we're always just a click away: you can ask any questions in the integrated discussion forum, and we're committed to personally answering your questions, usually within 24 hours

  • Printable PDF materials - if you like to follow the videos along on paper, or keep them handy for a quick reference

  • Downloadable MP3 files - so you can review the content while you commute, workout, garden, ... anytime!

Certificate Information

You will receive a certificate for the successful completion of this course. 

This course has 167 credit hours.

This represents the actual time of video instruction and live Q&A, as well as the time allocated for your capstone assignment, quizzes, and other assignments & activities required for completion of the course.


It is reasonable to plan about twice that much time to complete the work: this is because most students like to watch the videos more than once, review their notes, and many students complete more than the required activities. You might also enjoy joining a study group in our Student Community, and you might choose to work on extra activities together as a group to help you internalize all that you've learned. 


Regardless of how long it takes you, there is never any pressure! You have access to this material for life, and in fact, when we add updates and new materials, you receive it all for free, automatically!


If new material is added after you have received your certificate, we are happy to send you a new updated certificate to document the additional time when you complete the new material.

Two Tuition Options!

We want to make this course as accessible as possible, so there are two ways to enroll. 


If you prefer a monthly payment plan, we made it super easy - just $20/month! 

You'll get all the videos, activities, printables, and more for a new herb every week for 23 months!

This is great if you're on a budget, or if you prefer to focus on one thing at a time. Each week a new herb will unlock, like an adventure, so that you always have something new to work on!

$20/month payment plan

we offer payment plans to make our courses more accessible. a payment plan carries a commitment to complete all of the payments.


If you prefer a one-time tuition payment, you can do that for $400, which saves you $60! 

You can access all of the content in this course immediately.

This is great if you know that you like to skip around in the material, so that you can find what you need in the order you need it.

$400 one-time payment - save $60!


Either way, your access never expires, and you get free updates for life! 

What students are saying:

5 star rating

All I could ask for and more!

Summer Grogan

I am no spring chicken :) As such, deciding to study herbalism at a later stage in my life was something that, although I knew was the path for me, I was hig...

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I am no spring chicken :) As such, deciding to study herbalism at a later stage in my life was something that, although I knew was the path for me, I was highly skeptical of. I looked through so many schools and various courses and each one sounded great! Then I came across Ryn and Katja. As soon as I watched the first introduction video, something clicked. I saved up and bought this first module, the Materia Medica. I have loved every minute of every video. I am so pleased with the way they both teach and I simply cannot sing enough praises for the two of them. Their vast knowledge and true passion for what they do is evident in this course. I cannot wait to venture further in my own studies.

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5 star rating

AMAZING!

Matthew Rosenfeld

I learned so much in this module. I'm so glad I decided to take it as a part of the herbalism 101 bundle. Katja and Ryn make learning extremely accessible an...

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I learned so much in this module. I'm so glad I decided to take it as a part of the herbalism 101 bundle. Katja and Ryn make learning extremely accessible and I appreciate how sensitive they are to environmental, social and economic injustices when talking about herbalism. I'm looking forward to the medicine making portion of the bundle and feel like this gave me a really good foundation. I highly recommend it!

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5 star rating

A WEALTH OF PLANT KNOWLEDGE!!!

Dawn Martucci

I have thoroughly enjoyed this program and look forward to continuing my herbal education. It has been so informative and completely enjoyable!! Thank you ...

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I have thoroughly enjoyed this program and look forward to continuing my herbal education. It has been so informative and completely enjoyable!! Thank you Katja & Ryn!! :)

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5 star rating

Standing ovation for materia medica

eileen testa

I bought this as an early Christmas gift to myself. I unwrapped it slowly never wanting it to end . I learned so much but what’s more is that I’m motivated t...

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I bought this as an early Christmas gift to myself. I unwrapped it slowly never wanting it to end . I learned so much but what’s more is that I’m motivated to keep learning. My hunger for herbal knowledge seems to be growing! Thank you for the content and unlimited access to the videos , I will revisit often!

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5 star rating

A whole lot of goodness

Grace Bisaro

The Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica Course was awesome! Sooooo many plants, I found I would learn about a plant then walk outside my front door and see it ...

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The Holistic Herbalism Materia Medica Course was awesome! Sooooo many plants, I found I would learn about a plant then walk outside my front door and see it growing. Ryn and Katja made the content enjoyable and easy to understand and really fueled a desire and got me stoked to know and understand the plants more. I am looking forward to taking the Community Herbalist Program soon. Grace Bisaro

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5 star rating

Herbal TV - my new favorite learning style!

TJ Hom

I joined this class after listening to the free podcast for a few months. Katja and Ryn's approach to Herbalism is fun, practical, and unique. As an individu...

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I joined this class after listening to the free podcast for a few months. Katja and Ryn's approach to Herbalism is fun, practical, and unique. As an individual who has trouble with traditional approaches to learning, the Materia Medica class was refreshing, easy to follow and challenging at the same time. What I learned here helps with my aromatherapy classes and vice versa.

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5 star rating

The Perfect Match

Heather MacMillan

I absolutely adored this course. The combination of video, audio file, text and short quiz for each herb is such a brilliant idea and for me was just the pe...

Read More

I absolutely adored this course. The combination of video, audio file, text and short quiz for each herb is such a brilliant idea and for me was just the perfect match for my learning style. Katja and Ryn are so full of joy and excitement on top of their vast knowledge, that you can't help but feel inspired right along with them. I love learning with them so much and will keep learning with them until I run out of courses to take ;)

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5 star rating

Awesome teachers!

Kristi Currie

I finished Materia Medica, yay! When you first look at the list of herbs covered, it can be overwhelming. And, when you've gotten through the first few, yo...

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I finished Materia Medica, yay! When you first look at the list of herbs covered, it can be overwhelming. And, when you've gotten through the first few, you still might feel like there is NO way you will be able to retain (or understand) any of this information. But, somewhere along in the process, you start to GET IT. You might really notice this when taking a quiz - you read a question and think, 'hey - I don't remember them specifically covering this in the video(!?!)' But then...magic happens (or critical thinking, but it feels like magic) and you start to put the pieces together on your own, 'well if this herb has astringent properties than the correct answer to this question would be..." Magic! Honestly, the teaching style, the presentation, the explanation of how the herbs work in our bodies (and just how our bodies work in general), and their truly congenial personalities, make Katja and Ryn the herbal dynamic duo! You should really take this course.

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5 star rating

I love this herby course!

Deb Freeman

This course is well though out, enjoyable, and thorough. I am loving it! Each herb is presented in several manners to reinforce learning. For anyone consid...

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This course is well though out, enjoyable, and thorough. I am loving it! Each herb is presented in several manners to reinforce learning. For anyone considering the course, know that it is a great value.

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5 star rating

SO GOOD

amanda schulz

This course is extremely thorough! Katja and Ryn make the more "science-y" parts of Herbalism extremely accessible and interesting. I highly recommend this t...

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This course is extremely thorough! Katja and Ryn make the more "science-y" parts of Herbalism extremely accessible and interesting. I highly recommend this to anyone who is curious about how to work with herbs or who wants to understand why herbs do what they do.

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5 star rating

Wonderful course

Andrea Hayes

I’m inspired by both of you, thank you!

I’m inspired by both of you, thank you!

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5 star rating

Excellent course

Jennifer P.

The Materia Medica course really changed how I was learning about herbs. By the end of the course, I was seeing so many connections between the herbs and ho...

Read More

The Materia Medica course really changed how I was learning about herbs. By the end of the course, I was seeing so many connections between the herbs and how to use them. I absolutely loved this course --the instruction was top notch. I rarely had questions because each module was so thorough. Katja and Ryn are so generous with their knowledge and I have enjoyed all aspects of their teaching . I've already signed up for two more courses and I can't wait to start my next course !

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Your Teachers

Two heads are better than one!


Katja & Ryn
Katja & Ryn

Katja & Ryn almost always teach together. They each have particular talents and areas of interest, and their perspectives on certain issues are quite different! Together, they convey a fuller picture of the realities of herbal theory & practice than either one could do alone.

Katja is an herbalist and teacher working to help people rebuild their relationships with their bodies and their own ability to heal. She’s been in practice for nearly 25 years, but it all began with a desire to make her own “fancy tea” at home instead of paying high prices for imported blends at specialty stores. She’s kept that do-it-yourself ethic close to her heart.

Ryn has been a practicing herbalist since 2010. He came to herbalism by way of martial arts, where his first experiences with herbs were focused on getting back into the game and becoming more flexible, adaptable, and resilient. Passing that experience on to others is what keeps him motivated every day.

Together, Katja and Ryn teach everyone from children to elders, as well as pharmacy students from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Northeastern University School of Pharmacy, where they both serve as associate faculty. Ryn and Katja are the authors of Herbal Medicine for Beginners, and the creators of the weekly Holistic Herbalism Podcast.

Zero-Risk Return Policy

Teaching isn't just about conveying information - there's also an aspect of being someone's "cup of tea".

So we want you to take the first 14 days to really decide if you love it or not. If for any reason you feel like this program isn’t right for you - if we're just not your cup of tea - we’ll give you a full refund. You don't even need a reason - just please let us know within 14 days of purchase.

we offer payment plans to make our courses more accessible. after the two-week return policy period, a payment plan is a commitment to complete all of the payments.

Get started learning herbalism today!

We'll be here to walk you through it step by step.