Herbalism Apprenticeship

The Urban Growers Collective Community Herbalism Apprenticeship offers the opportunity for participants to engage with plants; to build a relationship with plants; and ultimately, to use plants for personal, family, and community healing.

Herbal Apprenticeship Overview

This three year,  four-season apprenticeship moves in tandem with the seasons and with the other programs at Urban Growers Collective. Working with the rhythm of the seasons, we’ll seed, plant and transplant, nurture, harvest, process, preserve, and collect seeds from herbs. As we cultivate herbs we will also learn to identify and observe the wild plants ‘volunteering’ alongside those intentionally planted. 

Urban Growers Collective offers this apprenticeship model of learning to nurture individual development in the practice and field of herbalism. Distinct from workshops, classes or seminar formats, this apprenticeship is an opportunity for herbalism enthusiasts to gain a relational knowledge with growing, living herbs.  Rooted in a faith that each human being has unique gifts, this program offers opportunities that uncover and nurture those gifts. Moving beyond simple offerings of recipes and ‘how to’ classes (but also including both), our apprenticeship model provides space for an exploration of herbalism from seed to remedy.  

This program is unique. Learning is place based. Direct instruction takes place in our garden classroom; apprentices will have classes, as well as valuable solo time in that space. There, the  modern practices of acquiring an herb, and using it for its ‘valuable properties’ without ever knowing its needs or preferences, or offering it any care in return  are examined. This apprenticeship program is responsive to these times when so many people are looking to understand the meanings of  terms like ‘decolonialism’, ‘human and non-human community’, and personal autonomy.

What to Expect

As apprentices build knowledge over time, three phases of learning will be offered: self-healing, family healing and communal healing. Though such categories are permeable, primary exploration begins with the self and the element of water. As we gain personal understanding of self and the herbs, we expand. Questions, frameworks and focus change in each phase but the primary classroom stays the same.  

Together, we will learn to :

  • Identify wild and cultivated plants in all stages of growth

  • Tend plants for healthy propagation and appropriate maintenance

  • Harvest plants for use; understand best practices in harvesting wild and cultivated plants

  • Make herbal preparations through experimentation and collaboration 

  • Track current and past herbal trends

  • Create a materia medica based on observation and reputable resources

  • Learn herbal actions

  • Build a community committed to using herbs

  • Understand body systems

  • Explore Western and non-Western herbal traditions

  • Examine political impact of herbalism and roots of herbalism

  • Explore spiritual herbalism through somatic and land based practices

  • Learn cultural roots of herbalism

The apprenticeship commitment is 100 hours, onsite, in the garden classroom. In addition to onsite classes,  virtual classes will be held during colder months and in case of inclement weather. Participants will do monthly experiments with remedy making at home; group projects; and written homework. 

The tuition for this program is $2000.00 for the year. (Scholarships are available) It includes:

  • 40+ hours of direct instruction with Herbalism Conductor and UGC staff

  • Program supplies: books, remedy making materials, gardening supplies (bottles, jars, lids, waxes, filters,clippers  )

  • Soil, seeds and living plant material for the garden

  • Written assignments rooted in personal reflections with feedback from the Herbalism Conductor

  • Open access to the herb garden at the South Chicago Farm for self led learning whenever the farm is open 

  • Priority invitation to sign up for additional paid learning opportunities with UGC

  • Access to hand tools while on the farm

Apprentices’ Month at a Glance

1 5 hour Saturday class with direct instruction in growing and utilizing herbs for remedies

1 90 minute weeknight class

4–10 hours of self led plant tending/learning during Farm working hours (Tues–Sat. 9am–5pm; Sunday by special arrangement)

1-2 hours of reading/written home work (please indicate barriers to reading/writing; accommodations provided)

1-2 hours of experimentation with herbs

Applications for the 2025 Herbalism Apprenticeship Program are now closed. Submit the form below to join our waiting list and be the first to know when applications open in 2026.

If you are interested in deepening your herbal knowledge please join us for one of the many public programs that are offered in 2025. We have a monthly series of Herbal Wisdom Immersions every month, are planning an herbalism intensive for the month of July, and offer workshops through the harvest season. Register for our herbal offerings on our Eventbrite.

Please subscribe to our mailing list to receive important updates on this program and the application process.

We give priority to applicants who have been involved with UGC in some way — such as visiting our South Chicago Farm, attending a tour or herb walk, or volunteering.

Learn about Urban Growers Collective

Explore ways to volunteer at our urban farms

Read about
our youth opportunities