Herbal Pharmacy
July 10-12, 2026
A Hands-On Weekend Intensive in Medicine Making
with Betzy Bancroft, RH(AHG)
From theory to practice — craft remedies to build your home apothecary in an immersive medicine-making weekend
There's a profound difference between understanding herbal properties intellectually and knowing how to unlock those healing compounds through skillful preparation.
This weekend intensive bridges that gap.
Over three days, you'll move through the fundamental principles of herbal extraction — learning how plant constituents dissolve in different menstruums, how to match the right solvent to your medicinal goals, and how to craft a complete range of herbal preparations from scratch. This is not a recipe-following workshop. You'll understand the why behind each method, giving you the knowledge to make informed decisions about medicine making long after you leave.
You'll leave with multiple preparations you've made yourself, and the understanding to keep making them at home — with skill and confidence.
Four pillars of herbal medicine making
The Science of Solubility
Through hands-on experiments, discover how different plant constituents dissolve in various menstruums — alcohol, water, oil, vinegar, and glycerin. Learn to match the right solvent to your medicinal goals, considering molecular structure, taste, and key plant constituents.
From Garden to Medicine
Walk Sage Mountain's renowned gardens and wildlands with an experienced herbalist's eye. Explore ethical wildcrafting, proper harvesting techniques, and how to prepare fresh and dried herbs for extraction — gathering directly from the sanctuary's diverse plant collection.
Learn Extraction Methods
Create a diverse pharmacy using multiple extraction techniques: weight-to-volume alcohol tinctures, vinegar extracts, glycerin extracts for children and those avoiding alcohol, and hot and cold infused oils. Each method taught with attention to surface area, ratios, temperature, and time.
Fat-Soluble Preparations
Explore the world of oil-based preparations — understand fatty acid chemistry, work with infused oils using both intermediary alcohol and slow-cooker methods, incorporate essential oils safely, and master the art of salve making and emulsion techniques.
Take home herbal remedies you made yourself
Tinctures
In your choice of menstruums
Infused Oils
Crafted through multiple extraction methods
Healing Salves
Plus knowledge of emulsion-making techniques
Who should attend
- Herbalists ready to deepen their medicine-making skills
- Students of herbal medicine seeking practical extraction knowledge
- Home gardeners wanting to transform their harvest into healing preparations
- Health practitioners interested in creating custom formulations
- Anyone who wants to understand the why behind herbal preparation methods
No prior medicine-making experience required. Familiarity with basic herbal concepts is expected.
Tuition includes
- All instruction and guided plant walks
- All materials for medicine making
- Herbal ingredients, includig those sourced from Sage Mountain's gardens
- All preparations you create during the weekend
- Vegetarian, gluten-free meals — Friday dinner through Sunday lunch
- Primitive camping on site
Private cabin lodging available for an additional fee.
Invest in your herbal practice
Full tuition for the weekend intensive includes all instruction, herbs, medicine-making materials, your completed preparations, and vegetarian, gluten-free meals from Friday dinner through Sunday lunch.
Tuition includes primitive camping. Private cabin lodging available separately.
Register early and save —
early bird rate available until June 10th.
$445
$495
Three days in the Apothecary
Gather for an evening exploration of solubility through engaging experiments. Discover how sugars, fats, resins, and mucilages behave in different solvents — building your foundational understanding of extraction chemistry before the hands-on work begins.
Begin with a morning herb walk through Sage Mountain's gardens and wildlands — identifying, harvesting, and preparing medicinal plants with an experienced guide. The afternoon deepens into extraction principles and hands-on preparation: alcohol, vinegar, and glycerin extracts. Saturday evening, set up your infused oil extractions using both intermediary alcohol and slow-cooker methods.
Focus on fat-soluble preparations and their applications. Work with oils, understand fatty acid chemistry, incorporate essential oils safely, and master salve making. Strain your infused oils, create healing balms, and explore emulsion techniques. Close the weekend with a contemplative garden stroll, integrating all you've learned through the weekend.
Led by Betzy Bancroft
by author of Herbal Pharmacy
Betzy has spent over three decades teaching herbal medicine, wild edible plants, and botanical medicine throughout the Northeast. She began formal study in 1987 at Herbal Therapeutics School of Botanical Medicine and went on to teach herbal pharmacy, field botany, and clinical herbalism as an assistant instructor - work she continues today as a cofounder of the Vermont Center for Integrative Herbalism, where she is also a clinical practitioner and mentor.
A longtime neighbor of Sage Mountain for over 20 years, Betzy brings an intimate knowledge of its forests and plant communities to every walk and workshop. She is currently completing a book on preparing and administering herbal remedies for Chelsea Green Publishing, due in early 2026. Admittedly more forager than gardener, she loves to cook nourishing food, make ferments, and share the herbal wisdom she feels very blessed to have learned.
Betzy is author of Herbal Pharmacy (Chelsea Green Publishing).
Three days of learning.
A lifetime of medicine making.
Space is limited for this hands-on intensive.
Register early to secure your place — and your $50 savings.
Get your copy of Herbal Pharmacy
Betzy's thorough guide will be the go-to for clinical herbalists, alternative medicine practitioners, and herb enthusiasts—providing detailed step-by-step instructions, how-to information, and “why-to” explanations so readers can confidently move from following recipes to designing and preparing their own herbal remedies.