Before seeds break dormancy, certain hormones activate disruption mechanisms to signal that it is time for the seed to awake.

In month one, we signal and activate a clear route. We explore our intentions and goals so that students can chart an individualized path toward their medicinal ecology goals.

Covered here, we get grounded in foundations of soil science, plant science, conservation biology, and agroecological lineages.

Pictured: Living water (Cameron peak wilderness); Rosa woodsii (Rawah wilderness); Community of herbalists learning (Mineral Roots Workshop); Chinese skullcap (Mineral Roots hoophouse) Chinese motherwort flowering plant (Mineral Roots hoophouse); Brilliant calendula blooms (Mineral Roots Field Trials).

In the natural world, weather, climate, and animal systems dominate many of the external stressors necessary to ensure germination of seeds.

In month two, students learn crucial time-tested and trialed stratification and scarification techniques for a wide variety of medicinal plant species.

We cover a wide-range of woody and herbaceous perennials as well as annual species and dive deep into medicinal nursery logistics, including materials, supplies, timing, and plant health.

Pictured: Biodiverse, medicinal species represented in our residential/suburban, demo, backyard greenhouse. nursery stock. Mineral Roots Research Site.

There are a dizzying array of “field” practices to apply - based on one’s grow site - whether backyard, small lot, small acreage, and mid-sized farm.

When we considered the varied needs of many at-risk medicinal plants - alongside the hard-working attributes of plant guilds - pieces begin to fit together.

In month three, students learn and apply conservation biology concepts to habitat restoration and ecological farm and garden planning, including pollinator and beneficial insect biology, creating plant guilds, and continued medicinal nursery skills, as we prepare for land work.

Pictured: Pictured: Oats ( Avena sativa) a medicinal annual in the grass family - providing a wide spectrum of nutrients for humans and for soil (Mineral Roots Nursery Field Trials) ; Annual, flowering buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) growing alongside perennial lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) as a companion cover-crop (Mineral Roots Field Trials); Mineral Roots restoration sites over the years; Borage and milkweed as pollinator refuge (Mineral Roots Grow Sites).

In our final month four, we explore botany, herbalism, phytochemistry, harvest and post-harvest considerations — and students learn how to make and store medicine from the land. Areas of study from the course continue to scaffold here also - including medicinal plant cultivation tactics.

Students gain the knowledge to harvest and store root crops as well in the coming late season months.

Individual student capstone projects begin to surface here as well - and attention is paid to creating tailored plans so that you are in the best place to create a thriving medicinal ecology landscape.

Pictured: A lovely fresh herbal harvest; Chinese skullcap flowers, chamomile dried and ready for storage, marshmallow root harvest, towering yarrow, and a close-up of the flowering structure of Agastache foeniculum. (Mineral Roots Various Sites).

Pictured: Diag amaranth - a native, heirloom variety from Mexico.

_ Jordan