Open Source Apothecary At Home / The twelve-month course
The twelve-month course
A free, seasonal, twelve-unit course through the whole handbook — the open version of a paid herbal programme
A twelve-unit course arranged by season, so each unit lands when its plants are actually available. Every unit carries the physiology of one body system, the two or three herbs in season, a project to make or plant, and the safety for that month. It is the open version of what a subscription herbal programme sells, with one structural difference: because it assumes you grow or forage the plant, the schedule is set by the growing season rather than by a shipping calendar — and the plants arrive when they are at their most potent. The course does not qualify anyone to diagnose or to advise others on medication, and it says so on every unit.
13 entries
The twelve-month course
A free, seasonal, twelve-unit course through the whole handbook — the open version of a subscription herbal programme.
guideUnit 1 (January): Foundations and the workbench
Before a single plant: how to tell whether a claim is true, and how to set up so you can tell what worked.
guideUnit 2 (February): The digestive system, carminatives and bitters
The physiology of digestion, and the two herb actions — carminative and bitter — that have real mechanisms behind them.
guideUnit 3 (March): The spring flush — nettle, dandelion and minerals
The first forage of the year, the chemistry of plant minerals, and the honest version of a spring tonic.
guideUnit 4 (April): Planting the apothecary bed
Propagation, dormancy and drainage — the month the garden gets made.
guideUnit 5 (May): Flowers, infused oils and salves
The skin as an organ, and the best first apothecary project there is.
guideUnit 6 (June): The nervous system, calming herbs and sleep
The month that teaches the most important honest comparison in this handbook: CBT-I beats every supplement for insomnia.
guideUnit 7 (July): Midsummer — harvesting at peak
The month the harvest-timing principle becomes something you can smell.
guideUnit 8 (August): Preservation — fermentation, drying and storage
The month that turns a glut into a year's supply — and the month with the one fatal mistake.
guideUnit 9 (September): Immune, respiratory, and the honest cold season
The month with the most nonsense sold and the least that actually works — honey, sleep, and one genuinely useful berry.
guideUnit 10 (October): Roots, decoctions and vinegar extracts
The month the two-and-three-year plants pay out, and the extraction technique that suits a hard root.
guideUnit 11 (November): Heart, joints, and where herbs must defer
The month to learn the arithmetic of risk — and why the best-evidenced thing for a knee is not a pill.
guideUnit 12 (December): Review, the medicine cabinet, and next year
Inventory, honesty about what failed, and the one habit that made the year worth it.
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